Three Days Out near Wasdale

[Sgurr]

I was getting closer to finishing the Wainwrights with only 30 to go, so set off down to base myself in Wasdale whence quite a few are reachable.

Saturday April 15th 2023 Grey Friar and Great Carrs

I was lucky to bag almost the last parking spot at the top of the Wrynose Pass, to be followed by several cars containing Indians whose occupants were set on climbing Scafell Pike. I didn’t think it was down to me to suggest going to Wasdale and trying it from there, maybe they were top athletes, but from conversations the next day, I think they moved over into Wasdale.


Then climbed again.


I tried this view out on BBC Weather Watchers, but they didn’t want it. There must have been watchers out in their legion on this Saturday


Up again


A couple took my photo on the summit of Grey Friar, there was a contender which I also visited


I set across over to Great Carrs




Here there was a memorial to airmen who had crashed in WW2


The summit





Once over the two passes, it was pot-hole central, and although I was only going about 30 mph, I managed to wreck a wheel. After phoning the AA from a pub, their final offer to me at 9 p.m after stringing me along, was take me home in a taxi whose company they could not yet name and meet a recovery man with another taxi on Monday leaving it in a layby over Sunday. I accepted the offer of a lift from a friend of the publican and my landlady told me that the guy who subcontracts with Keswick Motors to do all the recoveries round here, lives 1.5 miles from the car. She fixed to meet him there the next morning, he provided me with a 2nd hand wheel and I arranged to get it back to him on Monday, when a friend would have come to climb Dow Crag.

Monday 17th April 2023 Dow Crag

We parked in The Hows car park.
The nearest path was a jungle of fallen trees


Up the hill


We reached the summit in clag via the Seathwaite Tarn.



Nearly There



I hadn’t researched it properly, so wasn’t aware that scrambling might be involved. Just as well, as I would have been worrying about it.



Summit: head is above the top, so it counts. It was too slippery to attempt to stand up properly.




More clag on the way down




I slumped here while D went off to get his van.


Looking back, the clag had gone.

Tuesday 18th April. Red Pike, Scoat Fell and Steeple

We parked in the National Trust Car Park at the bottom of Yew Barrow and set off up Over Beck, crossing to the other side, and then reaching the pass below Red Pike.(M)

Starting out


Bridge over the beck




Climbing up the beck


Looking back across from the ascent of the pass to Red Pike (M)


Climbing Red Pike


Scoat Tarn (M)



Red Pike


From the ridge (M)


Scoat Fell



Climbing DOWN towards Steeple


Steeple


Walking back to the bottom


At the car park we had see an MRT vehicle and a helicopter at the back of Yewbarrow. It turned out that someone had face-planted himself on Scafell Pike and been collected with a broken jaw. (M)


Many thanks to D,(Roundfella) for driving down to keep me out of mischief on the last two days. After I had got fed up with people asking "Do you mind us asking how old you are?" I told one gent we met near Scoat Fell that he was 83 and I was 46. He said "Do you often come walking with your Dad?"

[goth_angel]

Great report and pictures, though nightmare re the AA. I haven't done any of these yet, not helped by wondering if my elderly car can cope with the Wrynose Pass. (I can't cope with Hardknott so no idea if the car can or not)