Wasdale

We didn't get off to the best start. Only a couple of hundred metres from the NT Wasdale carpark, the Cabin Boy informed me that she'd failed to put my walking boots in the car. I had to turnaround and return to our digs at the southern end of the Lake to retrieve them. On our return we found a massive coach parked just outside of the carpark. The driver sat contemplatively in her seat no doubt wondering how she was going to manoeuvre the beast back along those narrow roads. The second crisis of the day was when the Kapitan failed to remind me to put my National Trust card in my wallet. As punishment, I sent him to the parking machine to get a ticket. He came back saying that a National Trust person had told him we could get a free ticket if I showed some identification. I must be well know to the charity organisation since they took one look at my face and gave me a free ticket. What a result! After this tardy start, we set off on the walk.

Scafell Pike Tourist Route

It was a wonderful sunny Saturday. As you might expect, there were legions of people marching their way up and down the tourist path to and from Scafell Pike. A few groups were wearing 'Three Peaks' shirts. I wondered if Snowdon or Ben Nevis was next on their agenda. I've done the 'Three Peaks' challenge a couple of times. To be honest, it hasn't been one of my favourite Ventures. The challenge is actually greater for the drivers who you have to blackmail/bride to transport you between the peaks. I find the Yorkshire Three Peaks a much more enjoyable challenge. 

I thought we might be in the shade for the ascent, but the sun was just able to peek his head over the ragged Scafell Pike-Scafell skyline. There wasn't much breeze either and so it was a rather sweaty start. As we gained height I took an occasional look back to that magnificent view along Wast Water. Due to the stop and starts, we kept overtaking and then passing a family group. The young daughter looked worn out already. I didn't fancy their chances on reaching the top.

Mickledore

‘Is this the way to the summit?’ asked the man with two dogs. He’d followed us more or less from the carpark. ‘It depends which summit you are going to’ I replied. ‘Scafell Pike’ he responded. Five minutes earlier we’d branched away from the Scafell Pike tourist path onto the deserted track up to the col between Scafell Pike and Scafell, known as Mickledore. It seems that the fellow had just assumed we’d be following the tourist path and so had latched on to us. I pointed out the column of plodding souls on the track to the North. ‘That’s where you want to be, if you want the tourist path’ I told him. ‘We’re going up to Mickledore and then going across to Scafell Pike, so you could choose the same route’ I informed him. He hadn’t got a map and so wasn’t confident about using the Mickledore route and so he started heading off to get back on to the tourist route. 

We stopped to talk to two other walkers. One of them told us that they were going up Lord’s Rake, a steep scree strewn gully to the top of Scafell. He’d climbed it around a month ago, but it had been in thick mist and he wanted to do it again to get a view. I was surprised when they walked past the start of the scree track to Lord’s Rake. I presumed they’d changed their mind. They stopped and consulted the map on their phone and then started making what looked like a difficult traverse to the bottom of the gully. We continued upwards to Mickledore. The track became steeper with lots of scree. Just before reaching the col we had to complete a short but easy scramble to the top. When I reached the col, I was greeted by a confused young lady. She’d just walked down to the col from Scafell Pike and was wondering where to go next. I looked at the map on the phone and told her she needed to go down the gully we’d just come up. From the col, the path down the gully didn’t look that obvious and so I could understand her confusion. 

Scafell Pike

A walker was making slow progress up Broad Stand, a rocky scramble from the col to the summit of Scafell. It looked quite dangerous from our view. There were also some climbers on the vertical Scafell crags to the south. There was an amazing panorama beyond them over Eskdale. Down below us, we could see the route up to Foxes Tarn, an ascent that still holds fond memories for the Cabin Boy (see Scafell Slight Delight). 

After a short break, we started the rocky plod to Scafell Pike’s summit. It didn’t take us long to reach England’s highest point. The stone plinth was crowded with walkers as was the surrounding area. It all felt a bit disorientating after our quiet ascent to Mickledore. I was surprised to find the family at the top, whom we’d earlier kept passing on the start of the tourist path. The young daughter, who had been struggling on the initial climb, sounded quite chipper now. It was too noisy for us to stick around for long and so we started our descent along the tourist route. We were walking against the flow of most walkers and so we weaved in and out of them.  The views from the path were spectacular across Lingmell towards Great Gable, although a little hazy today. Before we knew it we reached the Corridor Route, a track that runs along the north side of the Scafell Pike massif towards the end of the Wasdale valley. 

The Secret Tarn

The Corridor Route is a useful track to use if you want to summit Scafell Pike from Seathwaite. It is a wonderful route that has some of the best views in the Lake District. It passed the top of Piers Gill, a fearsome gulley that descends into the Wasdale Valley. Andrew Beaver’s ascent route to his ‘Secret Mountain Tarn’ used the track that runs along the east side of the gully. Under no circumstances should the gully itself be used as an ascent/descent route, since those who try will inevitably become crag bound, which will potentially result in a fatal conclusion to your day. 

I’m going to become intentionally vague now in describing our ascent to Andrew Beavers’ ‘Secret Mountain Tarn’ in order to maintain the mystery of the place. Suffice to say, that if you follow the GPX route of the Plotaroute map on this page, you will definitely go past the tarn. It is indeed a pretty tarn with an obvious wildcamping pitch besides it. It has the advantage of having an incredible view of Great Gable from the door of your tent. On the downside, I did find the trackless route to the tarn quite steep and it would have been a bit of a slog with a pack laden with camping equipment. It was also a bit midgy and had its fair share of dragon flies. My preference would probably be to find an easier pitch. 

Descent To Wasdale

We continued along the Corridor Route to Sty Head at the top of the Wasdale valley. A large group of young men caught us up. We’d previously seen them drinking beer at the summit of Scafell Pike. They’d split into smaller parties along the path and felt it necessary to communicate with each other by shouting. And there’s me thinking that the Gen Z cohort only conveyed their messages by phones nowadays. Thankfully we left them to their shouting at the top of Sty Head and started making our descent into the Wasdale valley. 

The afternoon sun had burned away some of the morning's haze, and the views across to the Scafell Pike massif were stunning. The path gradually descended down the flank of Great Gable. There were quite a few stones on the track which made it quite slippery.  At one point the track traversed a series of small waterfalls and I was surprised at how much water was tumbling down. I reckoned this would be an interesting stretch under icy conditions. At least the track was reasonably gradual and we made our way to the valley floor. It was a relief to leave the stony track and walk on flat grass. We followed the well trodden path back to Wasdale Head. The common land was crammed full of cars and vans. Some people had parked their vehicles half on the verge and half on the road, and were now proud owners of parking penalty notices. 

The Cabin Boy had compressed her trekking poles at this point and she looked rather disappointed when I told her that we still had another mile and a half's walk to get back to the NT Wasdale carpark. She was even more disappointed at having to cross the small becks on the footpath back. It wasn’t too difficult though and we arrived back at the carpark with reasonably dry feet. A stream of walkers made their way down the Scafell Pike tourist path to the carpark. It must be the most popular route in the Lake District. 

It had been an excellent day’s outing that had encompassed the highest point in England and a visit to a secret tarn. You couldn’t ask for more really.