Scafell Pike with Mum

Datum:

29.08.2009

Bank holiday weekend was spent taking Mum on our annual trip to the Lakes together; this weekend was unfortunately not blessed with the most fantastic weather ever, and on the Saturday we drove to Seathwaite from Borrowdale youth hostel to join several other parties of walkers who were making the trudge up to the top of England's highest despite the miserable and dreary wet weather. Surprisingly my Mum, even though not a hiker - didn't complain once. Even I didn't find the walk up Grains Gill particularly inspiring with the lack of views, but we carried on anyway. By the time we'd passed Sprinkling Tarn and gotten up to Esk Hause the wind was blowing really rather strongly and I was cold enough to need to put on extra layers. Probably wearing more on the summer bank holiday weekend than I sometimes >>>

Langdale Pikes to Grasmere

Datum:

25.05.2009

A very steady and pleasant ascent of High Raise, apparently the most scenic viewpoint in the whole of Lakeland. The route took me up in warm sunshine from Landale youth hostel over the undulating plateau of Dow Bank-Lang How-Castle How up towards Sergeant Man, a nice little top shortly before the rather more dull shoulder that leads onto High Raise. Its not an interesting mountain itself to climb, but you do indeed get very good views all around; west towards Great Gable and Scafell and more closeby the drop down into the Langstrath valley, then north to Keswick, Skiddaw and Blencathra and the Drewent fells ot to the northwest. And east gets you the views of the Helvellyn ridge stretched out from Clough Head all the way down towards Fairfield and Rydal Fell near Ambleside. Great stuff. From >>>

Wastwater to Langdale

Datum:

24.05.2009

I love this route to bits! Despite having had a rather miserable hike the previous day, this one was amazing. Great weather, and great views and greater company - which was more of an unintentional thing. Started off from the Wastwater YHA, made my way back up the tedious tarmac road to the northern end of Wastwater, and from there began the steady but popular route of ascent up Scafell Pike which runs along Lingmell Gill. Its pretty OK, nothing amazing though and it starts to flatten out after Hollow Stones. From there though its a somewhat loose climb up a gully to reach the col bewteen Scafell and Scafell Pike, but you're virtually at the top by the tim you get here. A nice gently slope up to the summit and here I was joined, as I expected by a lot of other hikers. All of us were happy faced >>>

Ennerdale to Wasdale

Datum:

23.05.2009

There's not a lot to say about the weather on this day except that it started off in heavy rain with an unpleasant hike up rain-soaked grass to Steeple, where I got a bit lost so I have no idea how I got to Pillar. Somehow I had some luck in passing some other hikers who pointed me in the direction of Pillar so I followed their vague directions and found myself reassuringly up on its summit in yet more rain and with absolutely no views to speak of whatsoever. Nevertheless I carried on in the direction of the descent I thought I should be taking. Turns out it took me down the wrong side of the fell and back on to the Ennerdale side of Pillar, but at least when I got to this point it had stopped raining, the cloud had lifted and I could actually figure out where I was and where I needed to get >>>

Buttermere to Ennerdale

Datum:

22.05.2009

The weather on this day was a bit overcast, so it wasn't the most amazing day ever. Nevertheless, I did the usual hike up through the forest to get above Buttermere and onto the ridge to the top of Red Pike. Continued along the obvious line passing over the rock-strewn tops of High Crag and High Stile, then descended the somewhat steep and stony path to Scarth Gap before getting up onto Haystacks. Went as far as Blackbeck tarn and then descended in a southwest direction along a stream into Ennerdale, coming out quite close to Black Sail youth hostel. Very long and boring walk along Ennerdle in the rain to get t the youth hostel. The only consolation was that I had a whole 6-bed dormitory to myself :-) And had a good nights sleep.

Langdale to Scafell round

Datum:

16.02.2008

Tourcharakter:

Bergtour

A classic all-time favourite of mine, done in perfect spring-like weather with crystal clear blue skies and warm enough to wear a t shirt without a jacket on top. I started the hike at 11am from Great Langdale, hoping to be 'late enough' on top of Scafell Pike to see a sunset without having to wait around on the top for too long. Bow Fell was busy with many people having lunch when I got there, enjoying the gorgeous views over Great Moss and the hazy layer of sunshine below the summits. It was nice to be in the company of other enthusiastic hikers and even though some people might prefer to have a mountain to themselves, I think a dozen other hillwalkers in good spirits is better than no one at all. From Bow Fell I took the usual descent northwards and across to Esk Pike, enjoying the views >>>

Grasmere circuit

Datum:

09.02.2008

It was a misty start to the day, but we took a nice little route from the Grasmere youth hostel, up onto the low ridge above the Langdale valley, following Silver How all the way up to Sergeant Man. It was actually a rather pleasant day after we walked above the cloud line. Then we had uninterrupted sunshine and a beautiful blanket of cloud all below us while enjoying some late morning snacks at the top. From here we walked across High Raise and over Greenup Edge but descending down the Wythburn route by mistake. We eventually had to do a big job in locating something looking like a path, but not very successfully finding one! So it was very wet underfoot as a result and somewhat an adventure too, leaving us with only a very short time to spare before catching the bus to the train station for >>>

Coledale round

Datum:

08.12.2001