Day 5 - Scafell Pike

Memories are strange things. They can become distorted with time. For example, I remember trips to the lake district as great adventures under cloud-free blue skies and amazing views. Im sure there were horrible rainy days on that trip, but I cannot recall them. Today, however, is one horrible rainy day in the Lake District I will always remember.

The rain eases and we head towards Great Langdale

We checked the weather forecast the night before and found that a cloudy but dry day would await us in the morning. This optimism didnt last long though as we woke up at 7 to persistent drizzle. No matter, we thought, we only have a couple of hours of cycling to the next campsite and it's beginning to stop. It didnt. The next hour was spent climbing hill after hill in heavy rain. We were soaked again, but this time there seemed to be no end to the shower in sight.


Pulling in to a pub for a hot drink and some sneaky breakfast we checked the new forecast: Today: rain. Tomorrow: rain. Tuesday: rain. Sitting there, dejected, we seriously considered throwing in the towel. We could not cycle another mile in that downpour let alone another 450km. Had we really expected anything different from the UK?

But, as we planned for the worst the weather improved. Maybe, just maybe we would make it to our campsite and climb Englands highest mountain today as planned. Despite more drizzle the route to our campsite was a beautiful one and our spirits began to lift. And by the time we had arrived, put the tent up and had some lunch we had decided to go for it.

Setting off for Scafell Pike

The highest peaks of the Lake District were shrouded in cloud as we set off and we knew not to expect good weather on top. The 9km hike to the summit was split into two. The first section steeply climbed out of the Langdale valley up to a more gentle plateau. In the latter section we rose up inside the cloud over a labyrinth of razor-sharp rocks and false-summits. Up there all we saw beyond 10m away was a white wall of cloud. Other hikers occasionally emerged from the mist, but it really felt.like.we we were alone. Even with a detailed OS map and compass we were lucky to find the summit.

Unlike on Snowdon, there was no nice view from the top and the strong winds and frequent rain meant taking pictures was dangerous. It was also already 5pm by the time we reached the summit, and we needed to be down by 7.45 to watch the football.

The whited-out view from the top

Fuelled by chocoloate digestives and Sainsbury's midget gems we headed back down the scree slopes. After 6 hours of hiking we reached our bikes and, with shaking legs and tired heads, found the Dungeon Ghyll pub. After such a long day we definitely felt we deserved a hot meal, cold pint and proper sit down!

The forecast for tomorrow and our aching legs mean we will probably be taking an unscheduled rest day tomorrow and will attempt to reach the Scottish border by Tuesday evening. Weather permitting we will make Fort William (and Ben Nevis) by Saturday.

Stats:
Distance: 35km cycled, 21km walked.
Total distance: 353km
Average Speed: 16kph