New Life

In a lower field a ewe had just given birth on to our footpath. The mother snuffled around the new arrival whilst the lamb struggled to get off its side on to shaky legs. Amazing to think that a few moments before the mother had been its life support system. I guess she would still be too, over the next few weeks.

We followed a track along the base of a fell to Scale Bridge. This provided access to Scale Gill and a very pretty waterfall. A Grey Wagtail darted from rock to rock foraging for its breakfast. A sign on the bridge said that nearby Heron Crag was out of bounds to climbers during the nesting season. I thought it was an odd name for a crag. I've only seen Herons nesting in trees and I didn't think they'd like cliffs much. We followed the gill upwards on to the higher fells, the elevation giving us great views back over the valley towards Harter Fell and Green Crag. This was the first time I'd used this path and I was a bit surprised at how well used it look. Surprisingly, it then just seemed to disappear and we headed up to the Rowantree crags on our left to get a better view of our Wainwright objectives, Slight Side and Scafell. It was indeed an epic scene with steep cliffs dominating their eastern edge. We headed over the crags, back towards where the map said the path should be, and met up with it again. It would be a feature of the day; we would follow well defined paths that would then mysteriously disappear and later reappear again.

Putting It Into Perspective

We reached the River Esk and followed it upstream to Sampson's Stones, an area of large builders. They provided some shelter from the wind as we settled down for a break. It was hard to grasp the scale of the environment around us. Some walkers came towards us on the path below Dow Crag and they looked tiny. It certainly gave us some perspective on the scale of the surrounding hills.

The Cabin Boy wasn't happy. 'Climb up that vertical rock face?' she asked in disbelief.  The path to Mickledore initially climbs up the rocks next to a waterfall. It does involve a bit of hands-on scrambling but its nothing serious. I told her that it is far worse coming down this path than going up, but that didn't seem to placate her much. It was only a short stretch and then the going became easier. We continued following the stream upwards towards Mickledore. Occasionally we could see tiny figures on the col between Scafell and Scafell Pike. Given the Cabin Boy's adverse reaction to the rock climb next to the waterfall, I was a little concerned how she might react to the scramble up the gulley to Foxes Tarn. It had been a couple of decades since I'd climbed it and my memories were rather vague. Since I couldn't remember much about it, I figured it couldn't have been that difficult.

Foxes Tarn

The Cabin Boy sounded like she was hyperventilating. I wondered whether it was caused by the steepness of the gulley climb or the the early stages of a panic attack. We were halfway up the boulder strewn gulley to Foxes Tarn. Although the gulley was steep I didn't find it particularly dangerous. I told the Cabin Boy to wait with Kapitan Mo and I'd climb up to the top to see if there was anything that might make the Cabin Boy faint. 'I'll give you the thumbs up if it is okay to proceed' I informed them. I'd later hear from Kapitan Mo that the Cabin's Boy response to this was to snarl 'I'll give him bloody thumbs up! Not only that, she completely ignored my command and proceeded up the gulley before I'd checked everything out and signalled the go-ahead. Fifteen minutes we later we were all sat around Foxes Tarn having lunch. 'Foxes Tarn. Harumph. I thought it'd be bigger.' The Cabin Boy wasn't impressed with Foxes Tarn either. I must admit, due to the recent dry conditions, it was more of a puddle than a tarn. The team's mood didn't improve much on the next stretch up a scree slope to the Scafell ridge. It consisted of very loose stones and was a case of two steps up and one step back. When we were halfway up a couple of Hercules flew over Scafell Pike and then Scafell. I struggled to stay upright on the scree to take a picture of them.

We eventually reached the Scafell ridge. Scafell Pike's top was clearly visible over to the northeast and crowds of people scuttled over and around its summit plinth. Apart from us, I could only see two other people on Scafell's summit. Scafell is definitely Scafell Pike's lonelier brother.

Scafell To Slight Side

The all round views from Scafell are amazing. I pointed out the half a dozen peaks around Wasdale that the Cabin Boy and Kapitan Mo still had to do on their Wainwright's list. I can't remember ever being up Scafell in good weather and so I appreciated today's dramatic panorama. The edge walk over to Slight Side was quite rocky. There were occasional cairns to indicate a track, but it would be easy to lose the track in bad weather. Today wasn't a problem; we could see the craggy top of Slight Side further down the edge. Looking eastwards over the edge, we had a bird's eye view of the route that we'd taken this morning. A total of five people past us on their way up to Scafell. I reckon that the number on Scafell Pike would be in the hundreds today.

Slight Side

The summit of Slight Side consists of craggy slabs. It's easy enough to walk to its top, but the Cabin Boy wasn't happy with it. As I stood below the summit slab studying the map for our descent I suddenly found a boot on each shoulder. The Cabin Boy was shuffling down the summit slab on her backside and I was in her way. I warned her that there was no way I was giving her a shoulder ride down from the summit and that she should pull herself together. 

A few cairns helped indicate the track down the craggy south face of Slight Side. We lost height quite quickly to the fell below. I got ahead of the Cabin Boy and Kapitan Mo and I stopped to chat to a couple who were making their way up to Slight Side. They were staying in their motorhome at the National Trust site in Eskdale. Once I'd told them how far it was to the summit of Scafell they decided that they'd settle for Slight Side as their main objective and then take a walk over to Burnmoor Tarn. I wished them a good walk and continued the plod across the flat fell towards Eskdale.

Back To Eskdale

The terrain got more confusing the closer we got to Eskdale. It became more craggy and the path kept disappearing and then reappearing again. We were heading to Wha House Farm on the Hardknott road, but dropped down too soon. After realising our mistake we headed back up to the crags and found the track again. The path eventually led us down to the small carpark at Wha House Farm. This would probably have been a better place to park, but you'd probably have to get there early to bag a spot. We started walking along the road back to the car. The fields were full of new born lambs. At least the lambs had warm weather to help them through their first day.

We made way for a car driving from Hardknott Pass. There was a burning smell from its brakes as it went by. 'We are not going back over Hardknott Pass' announced the Cabin Boy. It looked like I'd been given my instructions. It took us an hour and twenty minutes to get back to Ambleside using the alternative route. It had been a hassle to get to and from Eskdale, but the walk had been exceptional and so was well worth it.