The Lake District/Cumbria
The year of my micro-adventures
2020 and 2021 were the years of my micro-adventures. Due to the pandemic my big travel plans had to be postponed, but this created at the same time a space for exploring many local areas. I came up with alternative plans, and many interesting challenges. I didn’t want to be stuck in central London, so I spoke with my friends from Northampton to whom I said that I’m very keen on changing the scenery and asked them to let me know whenever they will go outdoors. Without a car it wasn’t always easy for me to escape London but we found ways. I joined @Cieszymir Broda from Northampton on many trips around the Peak District and the Lake District.
Learning Bushcraft
I always liked the outdoors and camping, but my skills needed to be improved. And I was very lucky as Adam taught me many new skills. He had a patience and willingness to share his knowledge with me. He taught me the art of bushcraft, thanks to which my wild camping skills improved, surrivaval, navigation, planning and eventually I gathered confidence to go out there by myself.
My first lone walk was in the Lake District, where I walked from our campsite (Stonethwaite Farm) via Honister Pass to Warnscale Head Bothy, and a following day back to the campsite via Gillercomb Head, Green Gable (801m) back to our campsite. This walk took me almost 6h, and the only living creatures that I saw during that time were sheeps. It was a day full of heavy rain and wind, when I eventually got to Stonethwaite, I made my way straight to the The Langstrath Country Inn pub where I ordered a bowl of hot soup and had a few sips of Shipyard beer – I felt happy, the feeling of achievement and pride filled me up. My brain was buzzing, I was already thinking about my next adventures, and walks. After I came back to London from the Lake District, I sat down in front of the computer, and started researching long distance walks, around the UK, and this way the idea of The Coastal path – My lone trail was born.
Scafell Pike
But this post was supposed to be about Scafell Pike, right?
Three of us, Marta, Adam and I went for a week to the Lake District, we decided to camp at Stonethwaite Campsite, which we treated as our base for different daily adventures. We did hikes every day, including our hike to the highest point of England – the Scafell Pike, overnight Warnscale Head Bothy, and an adrenaline filled experience via Ferrata Xtrema at Honister Slate Mine (which I truly recommend when in the area).
Oh well again I diverted from the topic ..
On the 25th of July 2020, we left our campsite early in the morning, and drove to the WastWater – Wasdale Head Car Park – the starting point of our adventure 🙂 It was rainy month, so the route was wet, and slippery, on our way we had some obstacles and we had to cross the river, which was fun 😛
Scafell Pike Summit 🏔
Unfortunately, closer we were getting to the summit, the weather was getting worse and worse. Visibility was very poor, and when we eventually reached the top, the fog was covering everything, blocking the view. I think I will have to re-do it in good weather conditions, as recently I saw the most beautiful photos of the sunset and surroundings.
🥰 Beer Lover 🥰
It is a very pleasant trek and you have a choice of many different routes. We came back via StyHead.
And guess what, of course after we got back to Wasdale, we stopped at the Wasdale Head Inn pub for a comforting meal and a pint of well deserved IPA. 😛
Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England, it is part of the National Three Peaks challenge, along with Snowdon in Wales and Ben Nevis in Scotland.
I’m missing one more summit to complete the UK Constituent Country High Points – I’ve got left to climb Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland, from which on a clear day you can see the Isle of Man, Wales, Scotland, as well as the Newcastle Beach. Hopefully I will be able to do it soon, as the history of the area is very interesting … settlements dating 5000-4000 BC and the Viking raiders were active in the region (and you should know that I love everything connected with Vikings), as well as Gaelic lords and Anglo-Normans.
From what I’ve read there are two cairns on the summit of Slieve Donard, and on the south-west side named ‘Great Cairn’ there is located a highest passage tomb in Ireland. Seems very interesting …
“The world is full of wonderful things you haven’t seen yet. Don’t ever give up on the chance of seeing them.” – J.K. Rowling
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