Having left Scotland a little behind schedule the race was really on when we reached Seathwaite, in the Lake District, our starting point for climbing Scafell Pike. It was just after 6.30pm, which meant we had about 2 hours of day light left and we hoped to get a fair way to the summit by then.
This was Carrie’s favourite mountain as the route we walked took us over a variety of terrains – valleys, meadows, rivers, rocks, ledges, scree, steps…. Claire described it as “less nasty than Ben Nevis, but dark” and Craig purely feared for his life for a majority of this peak – being drained from his stomach bug, and his first night mountain experience couldn’t have helped though!
We did a lot of rock scrambling, path finding and scree sliding before finally reaching the summit of Scafell Pike in darkness about 9pm. On the summit we were greeted with a fantastic full moon, and clear sky allowing us views over the whole area. Shame our cameras weren’t quite up to capturing the moment.
2nd peak under our belts but before we could attempt the 3rd we had the mission of getting down of Scafell Pike, safely, in the dark – unfortunately the route we were walking, up from Seathwaite and along the corridor route, was on the opposite side of the mountain to the full moon!!
The night time navigation skills of our guide were tested at this point, as we strained our eyes to find the path back down, that not long earlier had seemed quite obvious coming up!
On the whole Scafell Pike was a long tiring walk tiring walk for all, though on a whole spirits were still high. The mini bus waiting for us at the end was a welcome sight though, as by now it was the early hours of the morning and sleep was beckoning…
The theme of this mountain was: Thighs and Eyes…
This was Carrie’s favourite mountain as the route we walked took us over a variety of terrains – valleys, meadows, rivers, rocks, ledges, scree, steps…. Claire described it as “less nasty than Ben Nevis, but dark” and Craig purely feared for his life for a majority of this peak – being drained from his stomach bug, and his first night mountain experience couldn’t have helped though!
We did a lot of rock scrambling, path finding and scree sliding before finally reaching the summit of Scafell Pike in darkness about 9pm. On the summit we were greeted with a fantastic full moon, and clear sky allowing us views over the whole area. Shame our cameras weren’t quite up to capturing the moment.
2nd peak under our belts but before we could attempt the 3rd we had the mission of getting down of Scafell Pike, safely, in the dark – unfortunately the route we were walking, up from Seathwaite and along the corridor route, was on the opposite side of the mountain to the full moon!!
The night time navigation skills of our guide were tested at this point, as we strained our eyes to find the path back down, that not long earlier had seemed quite obvious coming up!On the whole Scafell Pike was a long tiring walk tiring walk for all, though on a whole spirits were still high. The mini bus waiting for us at the end was a welcome sight though, as by now it was the early hours of the morning and sleep was beckoning…
The theme of this mountain was: Thighs and Eyes…
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