Well, Project Peaks didn’t quite get off the the start originally hoped for. I spoke with Chris on Thursday and he confirmed my thoughts; that he would not be able to make the Lakes on Friday as his cold had failed to clear. Therefore Team 1 would be Nick and myself – the dynamic duo and time was right for the attempt.
We met at mine after work on Friday. We made quick progress up the M6 and got to Coniston YHA Hostel about 20:30. We quickly got unpacked and made a beeline to the village centre for some food. A quick walk down the first bit of the town led to a wine bar where we made light work of Tagliatelli, wine and a Boddingtons or two. Back to the hostel about 10 gave us a chance to review the route and get an early night.
We awoke early and got breakfast down quickly so we could get some sarnies from Coniston for lunch and start walking early. The search for food was fruitless though and my optimism for finding lunch down Hardknott / Wrynose pass was demolishing quickly as we drove toward walk start. We therefore took a detour to Great Langdale and just as we were about to retire to Grasmere, we found a little cafe. Chicken and stuffing sandwiches, BLTs and coffees were brought but this highlighted the future need to securely source lunch before starting out. The delay meant that we didn’t start walking until 11ish – 2 hours late.
We started by walking up the higher end of Eskdale towards Scar Lathing. This seemed relatively easy both physically and technically until we found ourselves a little too close the Esk near a waterfall. It was beautiful and I certainly wanted to return on our descent to play with the camera. However the drops to the right coupled with scrambling were not so good and we instead detoured around this on our descent. We continued right up-to Scar Lathing and after ascending its left flank were greeting with our first view of Great Moss – a large peat valley floor. We carried on along the Esk over this plateau for a mile or so and it wasn’t as boggy as it could have been (thank global warming for that I suppose as the Esk was low for this time of year). It still took a lot of energy to walk up the slight gradient and avoid the wet bits.
We started another ascent where the Esk separates at Little Narrowcove. We walked up the scar up to Chambers Crags and at this point we stopped. Nick had mentioned a couple of times that he was nervous of what appeared to be a ridge walk at the top of the scar – the walk between Broad Crag and Scafell Pike. This combined with our weary legs led us to the unanimous decision to turn back and descend. We were both disappointed to get so far – only another 200 metres or so were left but the sensible choice was to ensure we got back to the car in one piece.
This proved to be the correct decision as about 1 mile into our return leg, Nick’s knee started to whinge about the rocky paths encountered today. Another 1/2 mile further and it was starting to hurt more and I did a good selling job for Leki by offering him a pole. He gave it a try and it helped greatly. I was pleased that neither my knee nor ankles nor blisters has offered any pain to this point. Maybe I could complete a walk without something nearly falling off.
As we made the finally descent onto the Eskdale valley floor Nick noticed a sheep with a tiny lamb struggling on the floor. Nick then noticed the umbilical cord still attached to mom and that the lamb was newly born. It was very cool to watch almost the lambs first steps but I was too slow to deploy the camera for photos. We continued for another hundred yards or so to approach the first farmyard of Eskdale when my blister returned to life with a sharp pain. I applied a plaster to the inflated lump and painfully reinserted my foot in the boot.
As we continued a bit further we saw what appeared to be the sad sight of a new mother sheep with a stillborn lamb. It was motionless and the mother initially showed little interest. We turned around to walk to the farmyard to see whether any farmers were available to assist but at that moment, mother head-butted the lamb which seemed to jump start in into action. This time the camera was ready and several photos were taken included the first steps. Its amazing how such sights can act as pain relievers as I felt nothing of my blisters for a short while.
Another couple of hundred yards (uphill again) led us back to the car. We packed up and drove to Kendal, where, after circumnavigating the town 4 times trying to find our hostel, we enjoyed a meal at an Italian restaurant with entertainment laid on in the form of a rowing couple – I think the man was a ‘Love Rat’. I spent the rest of the night ensuring eye contact was not made with him after his missus left him at the table, after all, I value my non broken nose:)
Gutted to have missed the weekend, turned out to be a good choice though as my cold returned on saturday. Shame to miss out on what looked like a great walk though, seeing as you didn’t reach the summit, perhaps a return journey is in order at some point this year
Maybe I won’t be ill then!