Along the Corridor - Scafell Pike
I was down to my last three Wainwright's. Before I could finish them all, I had to tackle the highest point in England - Scafell Pike.
Not doing things by halves, I had decided to do an extended walk from Wasdale & up the valley to join the Corridor Route to the top.
The evening before, I drove up to Wasdale, and had a quick pint of 'Errmmm' at the Screes Inn - just over the road from the Strands (and owned by the same owners - so they serve the same home-brewed beers).
After the quick refreshment stop, I headed a couple of miles to Greendale, a small hamlet lying below the fells of Buckbarrow and Middle Fell, and it was the latter I would be climbing this afternoon & pitching up camp overlooking Wastwater, and the mighty Scafells.
It was a pleasant, if warm, hike up the fell, and it took just a few minutes over an hour to hike the 1¼ mile & 1,641 foot of ascent to the top (with my full camping backpack).
The top of middle fell was layered into rocky terraces with grassy patches on the flat-ish sections in-between. I scouted around the terraces and found one that wasn't to uneven or boggy. I pitched up my tent, and unpacked my new cooking stove, an MSR Pocket Rocket 2, which in itself is tiny, but I got the set which comes with a small pot, large enough to boil some water for a brew.
I also brought with me my Vango frying pan, some diced chicken, chopped peppers & onions that I had prepared at home, some tortilla wraps, and seasoning mix. It was time for fajita Friday!
I tucked into my dinner whilst the sun set behind me, casting beautiful residual light onto the Scafells.
Night descended, and just behind Slight Side, on the ridge leading off Scafell there was a gentle orange glow appearing. The full moon made an appearance, and rose quite quickly in the sky. It was pretty bright too, even casting shadows.
There wasn't a breath of wind all evening - a perfect night for wild camping - and I spent most of the night on some rocks nearby, looking down into the valley, watching the lights of vehicles driving along the lakeside, and every now and then, flashes of head torches from 'Three-Peakers' doing a night-time ascent of Scafell Pike. Eventually I called it a night, and headed back into my tent.
The 'National Three Peaks' is a popular challenge in the UK, with the aim to summit the highest peak in Scotland (Ben Nevis), England (Scafell Pike), and Wales (Snowdon) all within a 24 hour period, inclusive of the driving time between the three mountains. The current record, which he still holds to this day, was set by legendary Wasdale-born fell-runner Joss Naylor in July 1971, completing the challenge in just 11 hours 56 minutes - with his driver, Frank Davies, transporting Naylor between the peaks in a rally-spec Ford Capri.
The next morning I peered out of my tent and saw some gorgeous colours in a slightly cloudy sky as the sun rose. The summit of the Pike was clear - for now at least. I set to preparing my breakfast, and, using my stove & frying pan, prepared a bacon barm, and a coffee.
Breakfast done, I packed up, and headed down the fell back to Greendale & my car, ready to head up the valley & climb up to the roof of England.
On my way to the National Trust car park at Lake Head, I briefly stopped at the T-junction where the Greendale road reaches the lake to take in 'Britain's Favourite View'. Cloud had come in, and was now shrouding the tops of Great Gable and Scafell Pike. I found out later there had been a huge cloud inversion in the central & eastern Lake District, and it was the cloud from that which was pouring over the higher western fells.
Not to mind, it would be a good few hours before I would be anywhere near the summit of Scafell Pike, plenty of time for it to hopefully lift and clear.
I arrived at the Lake Head NT car park at about 09:50am, and dropped lucky, with a warden directing me into one of the last available parking spots. The good weather forecast had meant quite a few people were taking the opportunity to climb England's highest peak, and I wondered how many were expecting the cloud which was now capping the peak.
I set off on my way for 10:10am, but instead of taking the direct Scafell Pike path, I turned left and followed along the banks of Lingmell Beck heading towards Wasdale Head. Thankfully the river wasn't in full flow, and most of the wide rocky river bed was dry. There was a river crossing involved however, and after scouting the best route, took the plunge and waded across. The water wasn't that deep, and wasn't deep enough to come over the top of my boots - but had I been wearing trainers, I would have had wet feet for the rest of the day.
Luckily, on the opposite side of the river, I started to spot a few blackberry bushes with some berries ripe for picking. I grab a few as I passed by, and they were lovely - fresh off the stalk & one of my 5-a-day!
The path came out at the road to Wasdale Head, which was surprisingly busy. The village green was over-run with parked cars, and a field next to the Wasdale Head Inn was set up with a huge marquee and quite a few tents. There must have been some event going on.
I was planning to get a close-up shot of the Wasdale Head Inn with Kirk Fell towering behind it, however someone had decided to set up a row of port-a-loos right by the side of the field that would have given the best photo opportunity, so I decided to give that shot a miss for today. Luckily I got a great shot of Wasdale Head later on during my descent, and actually not that far from the car park!
On the way out of Wasdale Head, I passed Middle Row Farm, birthplace & childhood home of Joss Naylor, and took the footpath opposite between some fields to St Olaf's church. The footpath came out at a farm road heading towards Burnthwaite Farm, which is the last farmstead in the valley. From then on I was into the wilds.
Passing the farm, the path headed along the Moses Trod, which if I continued on, would head up to Beck Head, between Great Gable & Kirk Fell, and onward to Honister Slate Mine. (See #200 - Kirk Fell via Moses Trod from when I did the route from Honister). Instead I took the turning & stuck to the valley floor, on the path heading to Sty Head.
I soon reached another junction. The main path headed left, up onto the lower flanks of Great Gable, but I took the lesser trodden path going slightly right - the was the path Wainwright described as the 'Valley Route'.
The advantages to this route it that you stayed on the valley floor for as long as possible, closely following Lingmell Beck, and the various watercourses which ran into it, as well as the waterfalls as the beck flowed down from Sty Head tarn. There were a couple of river crossings involved, and thankfully my feet kept dry.
As I approached the head of the valley, a path turned off to the right - this was the route up to Scafell Pike via Piers Gill, a notorious Mountain Rescue hot-spot - but which also bypassed the corridor route. I would be passing across the head of Piers Gill later in the afternoon, so I instead stuck to my route as the path zigzagged its way to the top of the valley at Sty Head.
In the Cumbrian dialect 'Stee' means stile or ladder, and it's thought the zigzag path of this old pack-house route from Borrowdale is what gave this area its name Stee-Head / Sty Head.
On reaching the top of Sty Head, the wind whipped up to being quite strong. It was approaching 1pm, and I thought it would be a good point to stop and have some lunch, so I found a large boulder to hunker down behind & tucked into my sandwiches, before tackling the Corridor route. From my lunch-spot I could see quite a few people heading across the fell-side, below the crags of Great End following the Corridor route & I was surprised how busy it actually was.
After eating, I set of and joined the start of the Corridor route. It started with a fun little scramble as the path dropped into, then climbed out of Skew Gill below Great End. The path then followed the contour of the fell-side, steadily climbing. It was a fantastic route, with towering crags on my left, and the views dropping down into the Wasdale Head valley I had climbed out of not long ago. Ahead of me, the view was dominated by Lingmell, it's summit in and out of the low cloud, as well as the gaping canyon of Piers Gill.
The path continued on, hugging the crags, and passing the top of a few different gills. There were walkers heading both ways along the route. Some were heading the opposite way to me, whilst I was overtaken by some, and I was overtaking others.
The only tricky part I encountered was a short, steep rock step of around 10-12 foot, which involved a down-scramble. With my camping rucksack on my back, I took it slow and steady, and reached the path at the bottom.
Eventually, the ground levelled as it reached the lower flanks of Broad Crag, towering high above, and there was a lovely spot with a few small tarns just off the main path... a potential camping spot maybe, on a quieter weekday.
Lingmell was still straight ahead, as the path weaved between rocky knolls, continually climbing at a steady rate. Rounding one more knoll, the path narrowed as the rocky crag wall was on one side, and the deep Piers Gill dropped down on the other.
There was a small beck running into the gill over one of its cliffs, the water falling straight down to the bottom with a good 15 foot clear drop.
The gill that flowed into the gill at its head, which only briefly made an appearance near the path, instead flowed under the lose stones and rocks, only re-appearing at the bottom of the gill.
After Piers Gill, the path rounded another rocky knoll where there was a tent pitched right near the path. It was way too soon for a camper to have pitched for the night, so I thought it was probably a weary walker, taking shelter from the elements. Past the tent, the path became a short scramble up some rocks before coming out at Lingmell col.
The col was a large, sweeping grassy plain, and its openness invited strong winds. To my right, Lingmell itself jutted up, with two distinct paths merging into one. To my left was the main 'tourist route' path up to Scafell Pike. The cloud was rolling over fast over the col. The path to Scafell Pike disappeared into the cloud, and Lingmell was intermittently in & out of the cloud.
I crossed the pathless Lingmell col to the base of Lingmell, and started the walk up. As I headed higher, the wind became quite fierce as the cloud dropped and visibility was next to zero. I had found one of the paths on the way up, and the cloud lifted just in time to reveal the summit. #212 - Lingmell -2,649 ft.
The summit was marked by what looked like a large cairn with two metal poles sticking out of it. But as I got closer, I realised it was a wind shelter, and the two large poles with radio antenna. A chap was tucked into the shelter with his dog, monitoring the radio.
I had a little explore of the summit whilst the cloud base was just hovering above, and found a small grassy patch which looked out over the Corridor Route back to Styhead tarn & beyond, so I took a short break and had a chocolate bar & can of pop.
Whilst I was having my break, and for the first time all afternoon, the cloud lifted just enough to reveal the summit of Great Gable, its full monolithic pyramid on full display. I wondered if there was anyone on its summit looking back over to us. But in a fleeting moment, the cloud descended over its summit, shrouding it from view once again.
Leaving Lingmell by the same way I ascended, I saw ahead of me the route up to Scafell Pike. The top was still hidden by cloud, but patches of sunlight began to shine through. The path still looked quite intimidating. From my vantage point, and considering the drop I had to descend before even reaching the path up, it seemed a steep climb back up.
I started having second thoughts on whether to make the ascent. Would it be worth the climb for zero views?
It was just turning 3pm when I returned to Lingmell Col and joined the path to the Pike. I decided to go for it.
It was a slog! The stony path initially headed straight up, only slightly zig-zagging. It was also incredibly busy, and I joined the ongoing line of 'marching ants', which wasn't really my idea of fun (although I expect it's even busier on clear days).
Further ahead, the path turned a number of times as it crossed along the top of a couple of crags before the gradient eased.
It was around this point where the cloud base was sat. Every so often the plinth on the summit would appear, then just as quickly, vanish.
The path seemed to disappear as the summit plateau just became a boulder field. The path was faint, only discernible by the slightly different colour of rocks that had been disturbed & muddied by walking boots.
The trig point then appeared out of the cloud, and the summit plinth behind it. It had taken me around 40 minutes from Lingmell Col. There was a large gathering of people at the summit - various groups & individuals who had made it to the top. A number of them were sheltering around the base of the plinth, and a few were stood on top of it.
I hung around for a while, waiting for an opportune moment when the top of the plinth quietened down, and I could be the highest person in the country. #213 - Scafell Pike - 3,210 ft.
The people on top eventually moved on, and that was my queue to make a move onto the plinth. The wind was still incredibly strong, meaning it was a struggle to take a selfie, and the views were pretty rubbish - grey clag in all directions. I'll definitely need to revisit to see the views from the roof of England.
A dog then appeared, followed by its owner, who commented on the lack of views. I agreed with them, and made my way down the steps off the plinth.
From the summit, I headed north east down off the Pike, passing a number of stone wind shelters, towards the col with Broad Crag. As the path dropped towards the col, the steep path up the other side appeared. Instead of heading up to Broad Crag, I turned left at the col, taking the path which weaved its way down a scree slope below dropping crag. After the scree-path, the route flattened out to follow a little beck, which it turned out, was the main beck which flowed into Piers Gill, as I soon reached the top of the Gill, and rejoined the path I was on earlier, not too far from where I saw the pitched tent.
The tent was still there, with a few people in hi-vis jackets stood around it. Was someone in trouble? Was there anything I could help with? But on getting nearer to the tent, I spotted the back of the hi-vis jackets all had 'Event Crew' written on them, and they were laughing and joking.
I followed the same route as earlier and returned to Lingmell Col. This time, I continued straight on the path, making the long descent down the stone pitched path back into Wasdale.
It took around 2 hours for me to make the descent from Lingmell Col. But I was motivated by the glistening waters of Wastwater in the distance. The cloud was still low, and the wind still strong, up until the point I had dropped down enough that the mountains provided the shelter from it.
Surprisingly, the weather began to brighten up as I descended, and the sun came out for a short while as I headed down the rock steps on Brown Tongue. Finally, after following the path alongside Lingmell Gill through some woodland, I reached a couple of open fields, the first of which had a very welcome signpost, pointing to the Lake Head National Trust Car Park, and I was back at my car for 18:17pm, just over 8 hours after setting off & shattered after a long day's walk covering 14.2 miles.
Thats 213 down. One to go...
Mark
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