Diary

Day 1:  Lichfield - Wasdale Head

We left Lichfield on the the train in the morning, changed at crew and then arrived in Ravenglass in the early afternoon.  The scenery was great as the train chugged along near the coast towards Ravenglass and it looked like we were in for some hot sunny days.  After a quick stop for ice creams we then got a steam train from Raveglass to Dalegarth along the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway.  This was a 7 mile ride taking about 40 minutes and the scenery was fantastic.  The picture on the right shows one of the stations - an upturned boat used as a shelter.
We then had a 7 mile walk to the campsite at Wasdale Head.  This was a pleasant walk which we did at a leisurely pace and arrived at the campsite at about 8:00.  There are two campsites in this area, one that has showers and one that doesn't.  Our plan was to stay at Wasdale Head campsite (showers) but we ended up at the other one by mistake.  By the time we realised we had already pitched the tent and unpacked so we did out best with the one and only sink they had in the toilets.
 

Day 2:  Wasdale Head - Stonethwaite

Our plan was to get up at 7:00am and be walking by 8:00 and we awoke to an already warm day with perfectly clear skies.  The route up to Scafell Pike was very steep and with fully loaded rucksacks, a 30°C heat wave and absolutely on wind we were all dripping with sweat as we climbed towards the

summit.  We took the slightly longer route to the top to avoid the scree slopes and we arrived at the top three hours after setting off.  The picture shows the little flag placed on the summit.  We had lunch on the top and as we ate the cloud came down right below us, which was quite weird because we could still see miles into the distance above the clouds but couldn't see the path that we were going to take down, which was no more than 100 meters away.  However, by the time we had finished our lunch the clouds had cleared and so we set of towards our next campsite in Stonethwaite.
After a very steep downhill section of the peak of Scafell Pike the terrain levelled off slightly and we began to make good time.  The sun had also gone behind about the only cloud in the sky so we got a bit of a break from the blinding heat that we had walked through on the way up.

After we had been walking for about eight hours we encountered Glaramara!  This is a 783m mountain with what looks like (on the map at least) a first slightly lower peak then the main peak behind.  This was not the case at all!  It was up down up down about four times.  This was worse than false peaks where you think you are near the top but then you find out you have to walk even further uphill.   We would get to what we thought was the top then not just have to ascend further but first walk down about half the distance we just climbed and then ascend to a slightly higher point.  Anyway, after about four repetitions of this we were absolutely shattered and were running very low on water (the hot weather had certainly taken its toll).  The last hour or so of the walk to the campsite was easy enough though and we arrived nearly 12 hours after we had set of in the morning.  At this point we were seriously debating as to whether we would be able to complete tomorrows distance, which was even further than today's.  We decided to carry on as planned and if halfway through the day we felt we couldn't go the distance then there was an alternative route which would miss  out Helvellyn (this really would be a last resort though as Helvellyn was one of our major climbs).

Luckily there were showers at this campsite.  Not so lucky was the fact that they only had hot water!  But after 12 hours of walking in 30°C heat a shower is a shower.  After we had eaten (boil in the bag rice - not too appetising but it does the job) we went for a quick drink at the local pub (no alcohol though).

Day 3:  Stonethwaite - Glenridding
We decided to get up at 6:00 today so to avoid the midday heat whilst climbing Helvellyn.  Our route was mainly flat with only a slight climb (500m in height) up to Greenup Edge at the beginning of the day and then Helvellyn right at the end.  We were walking by 7:00 and ate breakfast on the move (kellogs cereal bars).  The first uphill section to Greenup Edge was much harder than we expected and in hindsight I would say that this was because we were still dehydrated from yesterday and we had not eaten enough in the morning.  The scenery up to Greenup Edge was spectacular and slightly unusual.  We made our first navigational error of the trip towards the top of Greenup Edge (having said that the path we were following was practically indistinguishable from the rest of the field we were in) and so we ended up walking an extra three miles.

After descending Greenup Edge the route was very flat and we made extremely good time towards the bottom of Helvellyn, where we stopped for  lunch before making our way up towards the top.  The reasoning for getting up early today was so that by the time we got to Helvellyn the midday heat would have passed.  However, due to the great time we had made up to this point it meant that it was only 11:30.  We would be climbing in the scorching heat again!  It was a tough walk up Helvellyn with full loaded packs but it was worth it because the view from about half way up and beyond was probably the best I had ever seen in the Lakes before.  It was hard to capture it in a photo but the one on the right does a decent job.

On top of Helvellyn we had a second lunch and then began our walk down via Striding Edge.  For those who are not familiar with Striding Edge it is a long thin rocky out-crop that practically comes to a point along the top with about a 100m drop either side.  I have walked down from Helvellyn this way before with just a day sack on and it was not too difficult at all.  However, with fully loaded rucksacks the going was very slow indeed.  Better to be safe than sorry though.  The rest of the route towards the campsite was easy enough and although this was a longer day in terms of mileage we covered the distance about one hour quicker than yesterday.  This was the best campsite we stayed at (although the showers only had cold water this time) but beware of the midges around here.  Our tent was full of them when we went to go to sleep and we used up a whole bottle of repellent trying to get rid of them - to no avail.  So by the morning we were all bitten to death!

We decided to pass on the pasta tonight and went to a local pub and had a pint (make that 2) and a meal there.  Very nice and well deserved I think!

Day 4:  Glenridding - Lichfield
Seen as we had a pub meal instead of our planned pasta last night we had the pasta for breakfast (I think we'll pass on the beef jerky sauce next time - uugh!).  Today was always going to be a hectic day starting with us only just making it to the bus stop on time.  The bus was supposed to take us just outside a town called Threknald but because we had no idea which stop we were supposed to get off at we asked the driver to give us a shout when we were there.  "Yeah no problem" he told us.  So he tells us we were where we wanted to be so off we get and off drives the bus.  Quick look at the map to make sure we walk in the right direction........and couldn't find out where the hell we were!  We later found out we had been dropped off about 3 miles before we were supposed to have been and weren't even on the map yet.   If only I knew who the driver was...  Anyway, it was belting it down with rain now and so we started walking along the main road towards where we should have been dropped off.  On arriving at the point where we should have started to climb Skiddaw we decided that it was best just to get to Keswick (we had to make sure we caught a bus from there so we would get to Penrith station in time for our train) as the weather was horrendous and it would have been unsafe to go up into the mountains.  It just goes to show that you  should always be prepared when walking in the mountains given that over the past two days rain was the last thing that we expected today.  But rain we got and we arrived in Keswick after walking down the A66 for about three hours, soaked.  Our feet were soaked in our waterproof boots and our map was soaked in its waterproof case.  It was heavy rain!  We now had six hours before our train so we had a quick look around Keswick and had some soup at a cafe then got the bus to Penrith.  Apologies in advance to anybody who lives in Penrith, but it is the most boring town I have ever been to.  We had five hours to wait there and there was not a single thing to do.  In the end we messed about in the ruined castle for a bit then spent the rest of our time in McDonalds before out train arrived.

So today was not so good but the first three were fantastic and we arrived home having felt we had had a great trek and were already thinking about where we could go next year.

What I learnt:
Due to the hot weather we should have probably drank twice what we did.  I had three 750ml flasks but I found myself rationing myself, especially on the second day.  It wouldn't have really been practical to take more bottles (due to the weight) but we could have made use of water purification tablets and used the streams as a water source.

Our planned diet was pasta, pasta and more pasta.  This was great for energy but for three days we were getting no protein in our diet so our muscles could not recover properly.  It is hard to take a source of protein on a multi day trek where meat or dairy products would go off.  I think that the best way would be to take a couple of protein bars for each day or a protein powder, which can be mixed with water at the end of the day.  I use these products after training sessions to aid recovery and they work very well so they will defiantly be on the list of things to take next time.