We arrived at the National Trust campsite in Wasdale at about 17:15 to be greeted by a National Trust jobsworth. We were stopping for two minutes whilst I got the boots on and then Dad and Sal were heading to the pub for something to eat. On seeing us drive through the car park and round to the exit the NT chap chased after us, advising us once we’d stopped that we couldn’t stop here and should park in next doors car park to get ready. I was non too impressed when I thought feck it, and started getting changed and started to walk through 30ft of National Trust Campsite property. Had my Dad not been talking to him and trying to calm him down I’m pretty certain he would have chased after me and made me walk around! Jobsworth.
So, back to Scafell Pike. In short, the whole experience was miserable. Horrible is probably a better word to use. In order to complete the challenge within 24 hours I knew I’d have to be up and down Scafell Pike in at least 3.5 hours. My knees were aching, I felt shagged and it was chucking it down with rain. 15 minutes into the walk I started to feel a bit better. 20 minutes into the walk my waterproofs turned out not to be waterproof and I felt like shite again.
People on the way down bought the news that visibility was awful on top, it was freezing cold and was raining harder up there than down here! Gutting. On a previous trip to Wasdale I’d walked the Mickledore route and the other route (don’t recall what it’s called but it’s less of a climb but takes a bit longer). Due to the time limits I’d decided to walk the Mickledore route. It wasn’t until half way up this route I realised I’d maybe taken a bit too much of a risk. It also occurred to me I hadn’t mentioned the name of the route I was walking to my Dad and sister. Dickhead.
The route up was awful. The path had turned into a stream as the water gushed down from the top. Unfortunately the gulley I had to climb up had water tumbling down. Climbing up a scree slope in the rain by yourself is definitely not recommended! Every time I put a foot on the slope to take a step up the water rushing down was washing the scree away so for every 3 steps up I’d slip 2 steps back. The gulley was worse. Although where I was standing was not so slippery I had to hold on to pull myself up in some areas. My hands were freezing, soaking and the rocks were getting difficult to grasp. I finally made it o the top of the gulley and although soaked and freezing cold I was just thankful to be on solid ground.
From here on up visibility was very poor and the wind was blowing a gale. Luckily I could see each cairn in front fairly easily so I left the map where it was and followed the cairns to the summit. I spent as much time as it took to take the camera out of the bag and take a photo on the summit. Heading down I decided to take the longer route to Wasdale rather than risk my life trying to get down the scree. Again I just followed the cairns again and hoped I was on the right path. I met up with a couple of of guys who seemed to be pretty concerned about me. I imagine I must have looked a bit of a state at this point. Reassuring them that I was fine I made my way down and go back to the car in about 3 hours 10 minutes. I’ve never before been so grateful to be off a hill and back in the warm.
I managed a cup of sweet tea, a pot noodle and some munchies before passing out for a couple of hours.
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