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As Monday was looking the best day of the week, we set off at 6.30 (a bit late as I'd been on nights!!) for Seathwaite. My son, Darren, who had been with me to Ben Nevis in the past, joined us for a walk to Englands highest. Easy walking quickly brought us to Stockley Bridge, where Taylorgill Force could be seen in full spate.
- Seathwaite Fell & Taylorgill Force.
We crossed the bridge and headed up the flanks of Seathwaite Fell and passed the 1000ft boulder, which, according to my GPS is a little higher
. Following a Styhead Gill up, Scafell Pike & Lingmell came looming into view.
- Scafell Pike & Lingmell.
We passed Styhead Tarn and decided to use the Corridor Route as our ascent.
- Broad Crag, Scafell Pike & Lingmell from Styhead Tarn.
- Hope we don't need this today!!!
The Corridor Route is a fairly straightforward path, leading beneath Great End and Broad Crag and ending, I guess, at Lingmell Col. The views were starting to improve as we made our way along.
- Red Pike & Kirk Fell.
- Great Gable, Green Gable & Base Brown.
These are among the finest fells in Lakeland, and they didn't disappoint today, with the cloud slowly dispersing, views would improve as the day wore on. We soon reached the head of Piers Gill, a great cut in the landscape beneath Lingmell.
- Lingmell, Kirk Fell & Great Gable from Piers Gill.
Instead of carrying on to Lingmell Col, we opted for the more direct route under Broad Crag to the Col between Scafell Pike and Broad Crag. The snow was soft here and being on top of scree, was a bit harder going than we'd thought.
- Route up to the Col.
From here, it's a 100m or so to the top of England.
- Darren on Scafell Pike.
The views were impressive from here, though the wind chill had picked up and it was quite cold
.
- Scafell, with Lords Rake in good view.
- Great Gable with Northwestern Fells beyond.
- Red Pike, Scoat Fell, Pillar, High Stile ridge & Kirk Fell.
After a short lunch stop, we headed over to Broad and Ill Crag. It never ceases to amaze me the number of walkers who ignore these tops, presumably because they aren't Wainwrights. On a summers day, Ill Crag affords some wonderful views.
- Bowfell and Crinkle Crags from Ill Crag.
- Scafell & Scafell Pike from Ill Crag.
- Clough Head to Fairfield from Ill Crag.
We left Ill Crag and headed across the lunar-like landscape to make for Great End. The gullys still have quite a bit of snow in, so we wouldn't be descending via one of them today
Unusually, Skiddaw wasn't capped in cloud today.
- The Skiddaw range.
- Sprinkling and Styhead Tarns, looking north from Great End.
- The top of Central Gully looking across to Glaramara.
From here, we headed down Calf Cove and skirted Esk Hause to make our way to Seathwaite Fell.
- Langdale Pikes from Calf Cove.
We decided to visit the actual summit of the fell, before making our way across to the Wainwright point at the "front" of the fell.
- Sprinkling Tarn with Esk Pike in the distance.
- Blencathra and Borrowdale from Seathwaite Fell.
We made our way off the front of the fell and re-joined the path near the 1000ft boulder where we re-traced our steps from this morning back to the car.
