Day 3 + 4
Saturday 27/06/2015Langdale - Jack's Rake - Angle Tarn - Scafell Pike - wild camp - Angle Tarn - Langdale
14.3 miles
4600 ft ascent/descent
Kudos to Paul. Despite being quite hungover, he started with us around 9am and having come up with the route for the next two days he was supposed to be kind of a leader, haha.
The weather was really nice but it didn't take much to improve compared to the last two days anyway. For once it was dry and even the sun peeked through gaps in the clouds.
Paul asked me to memorize the first bit of the route from the map and then lead us there. That's how people are tested. Caught me a bit off-guard, but I realized I normally do this anyway picking prominent features like lakes, streams, junctions, outcrops etc. to guide me without constantly glancing at the map.
So I led us East and then behind the Sticklebarn pub very steeply up to Stickle Tarn. I find it quite interesting that different areas have different names for the same thing. So little lakes are "tarn" in the Lake District "lochan" in Scotland and "llyn" in Wales. The big ones are "water", "loch" and again "llyn". I think. Then there are "bealachs", "cols" and "bwlchs", "cwms" and "corries". Ahhhhhh.
Anyway, we had a short break on Stickle Tarn eyes fixed on the big rock face behind it where the grade 1 scramble of Jack's Rake could be seen as a diagonal slightly lighter line. Yeah! That looked like fun. We walked around the tarn and started scrambling. I was happily leading the way eager to get my hands on the rock. It was mostly dry and quite grippy, the views stunning and scrambling with our big backpacks required some extra care.
There were a few small plateaus where we had some small breaks enjoying the view. One greeted us with a half rotten dead sheep though. Ewwww.
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| A view, a view!!! |
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| Stickle Tarn and the scramble just behind it |
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| Up, up, up |
Had a quick bite at the top and a look at the map. Took a bearing to a path leading down to a path junction and then freelanced over open ground. We didn't quite hit it, but took another path to the intended junction and walked over a small hill to Angle Tarn which we had passed by yesterday.
Next up on the list was Scafell Pike. The highest mountain of England. We couldn't leave the area without having made it to the top, right? We could see clouds coming in from the West but so far the weather was kind to us.
Had lunch break just after 1pm at a big junction with a shelter. The wind had picked up again as soon as we had reached higher ground. The place was almost swarming with people coming in from all directions. No surprise on such a fine Saturday. We headed further up, passed Great End and made our way over very rocky ground to the top of England.
I had half a mind of quickly bagging Great End whilst we where there, but was glad I didn't suggest it. Five minutes after reaching Scafell Pike, clouds swept in and obscured any kind of view. Awwww, man! We agreed on wild camping between Styhead Tarn and Sprinkling Tarn and took a path called "Corridor Route" down through the dense cloud. Being tired and weary we were just too lazy to poke around in the mist with map and compass and used the GPS instead to get us on track and onto the right one of a few paths leading down from the summit.
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| Top of Scafell Pike ahead |
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| Great Gable... truely great |
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| On Scafell Pike |
Around 5pm we finally reached the wild camp spot. The wind was still an issue blowing annoying gusts here and there. At least we had stayed dry so far. The spot was actually quite lovely. A bit away from the path, stream nearby and nice level ground.
Spray rain set in as we pitched and I soon retired to my tent while the others were cooking in theirs. Read a bit while my tent was shaking violently in the gusts time and again, but could only sink into a deeper slumber around midnight when constant heavy rain somewhat drowned the noise of the wind.
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| wild camping is cool |
Sunday was as wet as forecasted. Boo. We left as early as 6am and hurried through the rain back to Langdale as fast as we could. After an hour I was pretty much soaked again. But at least I was still more or less warm. Just two and a half hours after setting out, we arrived at the campsite. By then soaked to the bone again. I upended my boots to pour the water out. My hands were so stiff from the cold wind and rain, I could hardly undo the laces. Grabbed dry clothes from the car and fled into the shower block for another very long and very hot one.
All of us just wanted to get going so we said our goodbyes and made our ways home.
Even though the weather was shite, I greatly enjoyed my trip! Met two very nice people and gained a lot of valuable experience in navigating when you can't see at all. I learned how cold you can get when you're wet and it's windy and I have my first two proper wild camps on the list. Can't say I wouldn't have liked some sunshine and seeing a bit more, but it was definitely an intense experience.
Still, I saw enough to realize the beauty of the Lake District. And although the landscape is unmistakably British, it has its own character and I will be back to hopefully see much more of it.
