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I started work on Friday at 5.30am and managed to get finished for 3pm. Home for a quick shower and chuck my gear in the car, then headed off at 4pm up to the Lakes.
Of course I fell foul of the bank holiday weekend traffic. I got twenty miles south Birmingham and hit traffic there. The next two hours were a slow roll Northwards and in the end it took me just short of six hours to get to the Lakes.
I booked into the Ambleside YHA just after 10pm and met AJ in the bar. Three pints of Cumberland ale later and I hit the hay absolutely knackered. I was looking forward to the walk tomorrow and AJ’s completion, but was shattered.
In my hasty packing I had forgotten my ear plugs and we had an incredible snorer in the room. Got no more than three hours sleep that night
In the morning we got up early ish and headed to Seathwaite to meet Chris Murray, one of AJ’s other walking friends and a guy that has completed the Munro’s, but done few Wainwrights. This would be his first trip up Scafell Pike.
We headed off at around 9.30am and wandered up to Stockley bridge and then up Grains gill to Ruddy Gill. At the top, with a good view of Great End ahead, we turned left and headed up to Esk Hause
A brief stop for water and a quick bite to eat, then we headed up Calf Cove and to the path to Broad Crag. We took a detour and went to the summit of Ill Crag and did the same with Broad Crag about ten minutes later. Both of these are Munro furths, so it seemed right that Chris would bag these two as well.
We headed over the little col and up the climb to the Pike itself. Chris Murray led the way, with AJ behind and me a good distance behind that. Both of these lads are much more hill fit than me and I slowly followed in their footsteps to the top.
I was met with a nice surprise, as there were two young lads up there selling hot drinks to raise money for a trip to the Swis Alps. Chris had already paid for a tea for me, so I had one with two sugars, for the extra energy.
I stood on top the summit cairn for my sixth time and then quickly called the wife, who was on her way to a hen party. I drank my tea and took my only photo of the day, as I never had time to get the camera out, due to trying to catch up with Chris and AJ all day. This was the first time I had clear weather on Scafell Pike, so I took a photo of Scafell and Broad Stand, looking resplendent in the sun. Lords Rake clearly visible on the right.
(photo of Scafell)
We dropped down to the Lingmel Col and then shot up to the large and distinct summit cairn. This was AJ’s penultimate Wainwright. We almost immediately dropped back to the col and then took up the corridor path back towards Styhead tarn. After a while we decided to climb up the back of Great End, to the south of round how. The slog up a ghyll was really hard work. Of course Chris and AJ climbed it with no trouble at all, but I struggled up it like a geriatric. My calf muscles protesting the whole way.
I eventually struggled to the top of the ghyll, with Chris and AJ waiting for me near long pike. We then moved on to the top of the fell and aimed for the largest cairn. The excellent weather was finally closing in a little and clag was forming.
We stood at the summit of Great End, which was AJ’s final Wainwright. Chris and myself shook his hand and then Chris pulled out a mini bottle of champagne and 3 glasses, with screw on bottoms. We toasted AJ’s success and started discussing what he could ‘bag’ next.
AJ then pulled out 6 miniature bottles of whiskey and Chris and he tucked in. I don’t normally drink whiskey and though I was tempted this time, I declined. By this time the clag had really settled in and we had to navigate off of Great End, back to the top of calf cove and back to Esk hause. We turned to head back towards the path and things got a little confused.
We ended up at another large cairn and AJ checked his GPS. This was actually the summit! Whoops. So we had celebrated prematurely. If the clag had not come in, we may have missed the summit. There was another walker, who was coincidentally finishing his Wainwrights round, on Great End that very moment as well. He was lost as well, so we stuck together and navigated around a bit. In the end, we ended up back at the top of the gully we had climbed up, to get to Great End. This was ninty degrees at least, off of the bearing to calf. We made it back to calf cove and descended back down out of the clag, to Esk hause. We said goodbye to the other completer and headed back down past sprinkling tarn and styhead tarn and back down to Seathwaite farm. We descended at a steady rate, as I kept jarring my right ankle.
We got back to the car after around six hours of walking, in mostly good weather. We had picked up three Wainwrights, including the highest and two more Munro furths. All in all a great day in the hills, especially as AJ had completed his round (despite being 30 into round two).
We headed back to the Langdale YHA for a shower and wandered down to the Britania pub, after a wrong turning and a two mile extra walk through Chapel Stile. A fair few beers later and a wander back up the road in the dark, and back to the hostel for a well earned sleep.
What a day!
