Pavey Ark

We soon arrived at Stickle Tarn at the top of the gill. No matter how many times you come here, the view across the tarn is always breath-taking. The huge crags of Harrison Stickle and Pavey Ark were reflected in the water. Jack's Rake is a scramble going diagonally up to the top of Pavey Ark. It looks a fearsome, exposed route from below. We could see a couple of people making progress up it.  Calse pleaded that we should take the easier path that goes up between Harrison Stickle and Pavey Ark, and so Jack's Rake will have to wait for another day. There were plenty of wild-campers around the tarn. Not surprising really; it is an idyllic spot.

The ascent path was marked with little red flags on sticks. Halfway up the path we met our first fell runner. He ran down the path with such speed and accuracy we gawped in amazement. Five minutes later a couple of other runners flew by. One of them grunted, almost as if in pain, every time his feet landed. After that a steady stream of runners started coming down the path. We had gained quite a lot of height and so we branched off the path and headed off towards the summit of Pavey Ark. We were surprised to find some more of the red flags going across Pavey Ark's top. As I tried to workout what route the fell runners were doing, I was amazed to see our friend, the foot-landing grunter, scoot by. The runners were obviously running down to Stickle Tarn, sprinting around it, and climbing up the other side of Pavey Ark to the summit. Unbelievable. 

Thunacar Knott

We followed the runners over towards Thunacar Knott. They bypassed the summit and headed off towards High Raise. I still couldn't work out what route they would be doing.

I'd not been to the top of Thunacar Knott before. It is probably only ever visited by people doing the Wainwrights. There didn't even appear to be a path near the summit (a good indication of a peak's unpopularity). Wainwright says of it, 'From north and south and east and west, Thunacar Knott is unphotogenic...and is quite deficient of interest'. I could just see the top of the Pike O'Stickle poking up at the edge of the plateau. That was probably the best view from Thunacar Knott's top. We settled down for a break at its summit, during which time nobody else arrived to pay homage. I began to feel a little sorry for it.

Harrison Stickle And Loft Crag

Most people visit the more exciting summits in the area, of course. We headed off towards one of them, Harrison Stickle. Red flags led us to its top; the fell runners had obviously been up here before going down to Stickle Tarn. It was busy on top but we elbowed our way to the edge to get dramatic views down to Pavey Ark and Stickle Tarn. The summit felt a bit manic after Thunacar Knott and so we didn't linger and headed down into the little valley that separates Harrison Stickle from Loft Crag and Pike O'Stickle. The crags around the entrance to Dungeon Ghyll looked immense. 

It was a short climb up out of the little valley to the summit of Loft Crag. The views down into the Langdale Valley were superb, but really our attention was on our next Wainwright, Pike O'Stickle. Calse's knees had been shaking about the prospect of the scramble up Pike O'Stickle since Thunacar Knott, but the knee knocking was audible now.

Pike O'Stickle

We'd tried blinkers on Calse, but even then had suffered two refusals on the ascent to Pike O'Stickle. In the end we had to blindfold her and I gave her a piggyback up. Even after this privileged treatment her knees still sounded like a Cozy Powell drum solo after we reached the summit. Although the summit is fairly flat, the drops at the edge are sheer; the valley looks a very long way down below. Looking back to Loft Crag I could see some climbers on the near vertical rock face below the summit. They looked tiny. Calse had refused to take her blindfold off and missed all this summit excitement. I gave her a piggyback back down to the bottom of the scramble. At least she had ticked the Wainwright.

I decided we should have a break and take lunch in order that she might recuperate. During the break, Mo mentioned that he could here interference coming from a rock. 'Aye, aye', I thought, 'Here we go'. I tried to ignore him, hoping the moment would pass. 'Can't you hear it?', he said. 'It's coming from that rock or underneath it. It sounds like radio interference'. He was so persistent that I had to get up and check it out, just to placate him. I couldn't hear anything. 'Honestly, it's just like electricity crackling', he said. After some investigation, it turned out that it was the wind blowing across his tin mug. I patted him on the shoulder and said, 'Anybody could make that mistake, Mo'.

Running Events

We followed the path alongside Stake Gill to where it meets Mickleden Beck in the bottom of the valley. We came across more red flags; some heading along the valley towards Dungeon Ghyll and the rest heading towards Rossett Gill. There was an event marshall near the bridge that crosses the stream from Stake Gill. I talked to her and found out that there were actually two events taking place. One was the Full X Ironman. It has been voted the worlds toughest Iron Man by the 'Iron Man' magazine. It includes a 2.4 mile swim in Lake Windemere; a 112 mile cycle ride, and finally a marathon from Ambleside to the top of Scafell Pike and back. A couple of the athletes flew by us  as we walked down the valley. They were on the outward journey to Scafell Pike and looked like they were just out for a Sunday run. The other race was the 'Scafell Sky Race'. The runners we saw this morning were running in this event. They were obviously wimps in that they were only doing a 40km circuit and a mere 2,800 metres of ascent. 

I measured our walking route for the day to be just over 7.5 miles and 680 metres of ascent. It wasn't in the same league as the fell runners and iron men/women. Maybe we did get more time to appreciate the amazing scenery though.