Carole's retirement adventures

County: Cumbria (Lake District)

Name of high point: Scafell Pike 978m (3209ft)

Date completed: June 9th 2024

I did this county high top, the highest one in England as part of an organised walk with a company called Large Outdoors as I didn’t fancy trying this one on my own. I can be reckless, but I’m not that reckless!! I had originally decided to just do a day walk to the top but couldn’t resist when I spotted a Sunrise Challenge, thinking this would be a brilliant bucket list adventure. I roped my youngest son Mike into doing it with me which he probably isn’t thanking me for now!

Making sure we had all the compulsory equipment from the list including the mandatory head torches, we decided to drive up to the Lake District on Saturday evening, leaving around 7pm to reach the Lake Head National Trust Car Park at Wasdale Head, Seascale around 10pm and grab an hours kip before setting off just after midnight. The car park is free to NT members but costs £9 otherwise. There are toilets and a flask filling station there too.

The scenery was pretty spectacular the closer we got to the start point with a stunning sunset and a pretty drive past the lake to the car park on a single track road.

It was breezy enough at the bottom, so we layered up complete with hats, gloves, neck warmers and waterproofs ready to take on the challenge.

This route from Wasdale Head is the shortest and most direct route to the summit but there are no easy walks to the top. This route also meant that we were climbing from the start. It was pitch black but our head torches gave us the light we needed to be able to follow the path easily enough. It seemed a bit strange to not have a clue where we were going or to be able to see what was around us. We followed the path in a south east direction across the valley floor and over a footbridge over Lingmell Beck. We could hear the nearby waterfalls and met plenty of people coming down from the summit, their head torches glimmering like glow worms snaking down the mountain. The path then went in a southerly direction diagonally climbing uphill to join the main path at Lingmell Gill. We had plenty of rest stops and as we got warmer, we shed some layers as we knew it would be even colder the higher up we went. We couldn’t see anything around us so we were at the mercy of our guide. This footpath went on for just over a kilometre where it split at an area called Hollow Stones.

The next part was very steep up towards Lingmell Col before heading up to the summit of Scafell Pike. The path finally reaches a plateau covered in boulders at the summit where there is a large cairn and a trig point.

We reached the summit around 3am but unfortunately the weather conditions had deteriorated and although we managed to find some shelter from the wind at one side of the cairn, the wind was howling and the rain became more persistent. It was obvious that we were not going to see a sunrise so after the obligatory photos it was time to head back down the way we had come up.

I found the route down much harder than the way up, it was definitely tough on the knees and yours truly took a couple of falls due to the slippery conditions, one quite spectacular that Mike didn’t even see!! Dawn broke on the way down and it was good to see where we had actually walked, although it did look quite intimidating from the bottom. The summit of Scafell Pike was hidden under the clouds so not even a sunrise to be seen on the way down.

It was a relief to finally get back to the car park and rest some very tired legs and get out of our soaking wet clothes. The toilets were a godsend for this.

It was a great sense of achievement to say we had been at the top of England but disappointing not to have seen the views from the top or a sunrise. I’m sure with better weather conditions, the view would have been stunning. I don’t want to take away from the massive achievement of reaching England’s highest point but we certainly knew we’d had an adventure. Thanks to Mike for keeping me company but I’m not sure he will be volunteering his services any time soon!!