I arrived the evening before and pitched my tent at Baysbrown Farm in Langdale, attended the leaders' briefing, picked up my walkie-talkie, then helped set up the marquees and other paraphernalia of a charity event, then went to bed early for a good night's kip.
When I woke up at quarter to five in the morning, there was a very strong temperature inversion in the valley, with multiple stacked laminae of mist, the whole thing softly illuminated by the waning Moon and the pre-dawn blue sky. This promised great weather for walking.
Once the participants had gathered, my group, which had two leaders, set off four our first summit, via the Cumbria Way and Rossett Ghyll. On the climb up before the first zig-zags my tummy started going very wobbly, so I pulled out to recover, leaving my group with the other leader assigned to them. When I felt better, which was about five minutes later, I was assigned to newly-formed group of six, and stayed with them for the remainder of the day.
The first peak was Rossett Pike (651m), which was alternately bathed in mist and bathed in sunshine. From there we made our way past beautiful Angle Tarn to Allen Crags (784m), then to the Charity Challenge checkpoint at Esk Hause.
After a short break we went to Scafell Pike (977m) in one move – it was the only time I had ever been there in good visibility, and it was really good this time, with gorgeous, inspiring views all around, and brilliant sunshine.
Then we made our way back to Esk Hause more-or-less the way we had come, but deviating to Broad Crag (934m), Ill Crag (935m), and Great End (907m).
Broad Crag wasn’t on the official list of peaks for the day, but by then it had become clear that the speed of the group would not permit us to go to the three remaining peaks east of Scafell Pike, so I made the most the minor peaks nearby to make an unofficial eight.
In that spirit, we climbed the lower prominence at Ill Crag (ca. 930m, about 100m east of the main peak) and the lower prominence at Great End (ca. 905m, approximately 200m south east of main peak). We then descended on the established footpaths to the checkpoint at Esk Hause, then back the way we had come via Angle Tarn.
By any standards, it was a full day’s hiking, and all the participants did it with enthusiasm and good grace. For the record, here again is the list of peaks we reached, in order; those listed in bold were on the official list, and the others were slipped in to make eight, instead of the three we did not have time to reach.
1.
Rossett Pike (651m)
2.
Allen Crags (784m)
3.
Scafell Pike (977m) – the highest mountain in
England
4.
Broad
Crag (934m)
5.
Ill Crag (935m)
6.
peak
ca. 100m east of Ill Crag (ca. 930m)
7.
peak
ca. 200m south east of Great End (ca. 905m)
8.
Great End (907m)
