In early June Ned and I planned a trip to the Lake District to climb Scafell Pike; we loaded up the new, official Hit The Trail adventure vehicle for a weekend of fun in the Lake District.
On route to Wasdale we stopped off at Lake Windermere and took the opportunity to enjoy some paddle boarding. Parking is easy at Fell Foot nationaltrust.org.uk/fell-foot, and if you're a National Trust member it is free of charge.
We highly recommend paddle boarding, kayaking or canoeing on Lake Windermere. It is a fantastic spot and we even got to see the steam train come by twice whilst out on the water. We then headed off to Wasdale Campsite, our base for the next 48hrs.
Wasdale Campsite is set in a beautiful, peaceful location, and with brilliant site facilities it is the perfect location for walkers exploring the area. Car parking is set around the edges of the camping area with no cars are allowed within the camp area itself. Keeping it car free, and ensuring you pitch your tent at least 6 meters away from the next tent ensures a feeling of natural light and space. The toilets and showers are really clean and the water is really hot. There is also a drying room and a washing up room. We would definitely stay at the campsite again.
We took the Robens Klondike tent on this trip which is one of our favourites; along with 2 Robens Outpost Tall Granite Grey camp beds and Robens Air Impact 25 self inflating mats we were guaranteed a great nights sleep.
We had the Front Runner Pro stainless steel table loaded on the roof rack, and because you can store it on the underside on the roof rack it does not take up any additional space. The table is a really good size to cook on and eat off of. As you already know we have our trusted Primus Tupike stove and pots and we use Front Runner Wolf Packs to carry all our gear in, keeping everything dry, clean and safe.
After a camp breakfast we packed our rucksacks, checked our route and headed off for Scafell Pike.
If you are planning on walking or hiking in wild country you must make sure you are well prepared. We have a standard kit that we always carry with us, but for this expedition we added emergency food, survival bags and a tent just incase the weather turned, or there was an unexpected emergency. When walking in this area, you must know how to read a map as well as set and walk on a route bearing; the weather can change very quickly and it can be easy to lose your way or become disorientated.
We had plotted our route which took us from the campsite, following Lingmell Gill and then up Brown Tongue, which is a steep ascent but only for about half a kilometre. After Brown Tongue, the route relents, but the path begins threading a little and the route ahead may not be immediately apparent. You need to ensure that you veer left towards a large cairn at the top of Brown Tongue across Hollow Stones and that you don’t veer right as this takes you to Mickledore.
The next section of path is steady to Lingmel Col, and easier on the legs than the earlier parts.
After around 1.5km, you should reach Lingmel Col where the path turns right. It is joined here by the Corridor Route - just make sure you don’t join the Corridor Route! The final ascent has a largely clear path, if a bit loose in places, that zig zags its way up the final 200m of ascent.
The summit plateau is finally reached, with the summit itself being a slight climb.
It's a fabulous feeling once you're there and you can say you have baged England’s highest point! Rest, relax and enjoy the extensive view of the Lakeland Fells.
Lunch at the highest restaurant in England.
We took in some of the views and spent a little time having a wonder around; we were so lucky with the weather!
Breathtaking views from the summit of Scafell Pike.
The first section of the descent route we took was between Broad Craig and Green Craig which was a little challenging to start with, but soon evened out and was fairly simple after that.
We stopped at Sprinkling Tarn for a rest and started to study the map a little more. As it was still early in the day, and we had good energy levels, we thought it would be fun to make the most of our time and the lovely weather, and decided to tackle a second peak; Great Gable.
The climb was really steep up to Great Gable, and at times a bit of a scramble, but once we reached the top the views were outstanding.
Breathtaking 360 degree views stretching all the way to Scotland from the summit of Great Gable.
After spending some time on the summit, we set off to find the path down. This proved harder than expected! The path that was shown on the map was none existent as far as we could see - we searched hard but only to find sheer drops.
We decided to set a map bearing and walk as close to the bearing as possible, picking our way down. Speaking with other walkers, the general consensus was that the marked path could not be found but there were other routes down, although they did require a little scrambling in places!
Taking care, we made it down and after a short walk we were back at the campsite and more than ready for some dinner.
At the end of the day we did feel a great sense of achievement; it was tricky at times but proved to be good fun, with time spent together in a truly beautiful place.
The Lake District is an exceptional place and if you have not visited yet we really would recommend it. We still have lots of places to discover so please keep following and maybe we will see you down the trail one day!
Some of the equipment we used on the trip is available in our gear store and below are links to some of the items.
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We'll see you down the trail