The spring of 2020 will go down in history as time of lockdowns, disease and social distance. However, in the UK, it’s not only number of deaths that has been unusually high for this time of the year. The amount of sunshine has already surpassed any other recorded since 1929; and that’s the state at the end of May, with good part of June (spring ends on the 20th) still left to make that number even bigger.

In Lake District though, which by the way is the wettest place in England, sunshine should never be taken for granted. Indeed, even though it was warm and sunny when we were entering and leaving The Lakes, in between there was rain, thick clouds, fog and gusts of wind exceeding 50mph. More about that later; let’s review some basic facts about the location of our adventures first.

Lake District is a region in North West England; it can pretty much be identified with The Lake District National Park, established in 1951 as only the second national park in UK, less than a month after Peak District. Although narrowly beaten to the title of the oldest, Lake District boasts the most visitors out of all national parks in England and Wales (16 million annually) and was designated UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. By the way, don’t be mislead by the name - there’s only one lake in Lake District. Ok, let us rephrase it. There’s only one lake in Lake District that has the word lake in its name (Bassenthwaite Lake). Keep that in mind for your next pub quiz. So what are all the other lakes bodies of water called? Well, meres, tarns and waters. So, for example, Windmere is the largest natural lake in England and Wast Water is the deepest one.

Having said that, you’d be very wrong to think Lake District is all about lakes. The second, and for many foremost, natural feature that it boasts are the mountains (or, fells, as they go by here). A realistic mischievious person could say those are the only mountains in England, and they would not be far from the truth. The fact is that the highest peak in England, Scafell Pike (978 m), lies in Lake District; as does the second, third, fourth… up until the ninth (10th highest is Cross Fell at 893m, lying just east of Lake District in the Pennine Hills. There you go, hills, not mountains). In a way, Lake District could be considered a little taster of Scotland - mountains are not quite as high, lakes not quite as immense and plains not as desolate, but there’s plenty of beauty to it. Even wild camping has a big tradition in the Lakes, and though not officially legalised, it’s very much tolerated here.

Anyway, the upshot is that if you live in or around London and want to do something resembling mountaineering, you have three options: Snowdonia (in Wales), The Lakes or Scotland. In our case, the easing of lockdown in England, but not in Wales or Scotland, meant that staying within the English borders was safest. And we did plan to do something resembling mountaineering - scrambling, in particular.

There are a few areas of interest in the Lake District, most located in the central part of the region. We headed to Wasdale Head, a hamlet that ‘‘claims to be home of the highest mountain (Scafell Pike), deepest lake (Wastwater), smallest church and biggest liar in England", citing Wikipedia (It goes on to explain that “the last of these claims refers to Will Ritson, who paradoxically proclaimed himself as such”). What mattered for us was that there seemed to be enough mountains around to keep us busy for five days.

Logistics

There’s only one road leading up to Wasdale Head - you want to park at the end of it (you won’t miss it). Parking is free and it’s fine to leave your car overnight, but it’s advised that you don’t sleep inside it (especially if it’s a camper/van). Once there, it’s hard to miss Wasdale Head Inn - the most prominent accommodation option, but there are a few B&B type places nearby too. But if you’re like us, you will want to wild camp. There are several options here; to make directions easier, let’s define a few reference points.

Kirk Fell in the middle; path to Mosdale on the left; path to Sty Head is further to the right, not visible here

On the picture above is part of the view from the parking. The mountain in the middle is called Kirk Fell. The valley on its left (or south-west, if you prefer) is called Mosdale (dale = valley in northern England) - there’s a path along it, which leads towards Pillar and Ennerdale. The valley on its right (south) doesn’t have a name as far as we’re aware (but the river that flows through is called Lingmell Beck) but it leads to Sty Head, which could be considered the focal point of the area; majority of hill walkers will head there. Now, to get to Mosdale, you take the asphalt road towards the Inn, then turn left towards Ritson’s Bar, and then right along the river. To head towards Sty Head, you wanna take the dirt road that starts from the parking near a grey building, then turn left before a farm (there are signs) and follow the path slightly uphill; you will cross a river on a wooden bridge, then stick left when paths fork for the most straightforward route to Sty Head.

Nice bridge made of strategically placed stones

Wild camping

With that said, here are (some of) your wild camping options:

• The closest place to pitch your tent would be Mosdale - the valley is quite broad and grassy and there are plenty of spots to pitch a tent along the river; proximity to the parking is a plus, but you’re quite exposed and close to a path
• Styhead Tarn (a lake near Sty Head) is a popular camping spot and for a good reason - there’s a patch of grass on the southern bank of the lake, along with a couple of fireplaces and a circle of stones that could surround your tent if you pitch it in the middle; two warnings though:
  • to get to the grass patch, you must cross a stream - there are stones which provide a dry passage, unless it has recently rained heavily - in which case either you get wet, or approach the spot from the other side (a steep descent required), and
  • the lake is surrounded by mountains from two sides which creates a sort of corridor for the wind - the upshot is that it might get very windy - in which case pitching further from the lake, closer to the slopes might ensure more calmness; nonetheless, it is an excellent spot for wild camping, with a lake and a river nearby, great views, and an excellent starting point for exploring Western Fells
• Another nice spot is by Sprinkling Tarn (a lake close to Styhead Tarn, with maybe even better views)
• Yet another could be Esk Hause, which can be found on OS maps; it’s quite deep in the mountains, but we recall a flat area where tent could be pitched

Obviously, the above list cannot be complete and we encourage exploration - it’s always satisfying to find a nice wild camping spot yourself.

Heading into Mosdale

Styhead Tarn viewed from the south

Adventures

Our original plan included plenty of scrambling and a bit of hiking. For those unfamiliar with the term, scrambling is something in between hiking and climbing. Essentially, hiking becomes scrambling when you have to use your hands for support in order to scale a mountain, whereas scrambling gives way to climbing when the terrain becomes vertical and ascending it less straightforward. Having said that, the boundary between scrambling and climbing is not a very well-defined one and an easy climb can often pass as a hard scramble. While a competent climber should be able to free solo any scramble, use of rope is very much recommended on many scrambles, some of which can be very exposed.

Day 1: Scrambling + Finding our wild camping spot in the dark

Anyway, back to our trip: long story short, it didn’t go as planned. On the positive side, we gained some invaluable experience. We also managed to do a very decent scramble on the first, sunny, day: for those interested, full report is here: Wistow Crags. Otherwise, here are some photos.

Post-glacial features of Mosedale valley clearly visible

Wistow Crags are the black rocks towards the top of the mountain

Visible excitement for the scrambling ahead

Finding scrambles ain’t easy!

Happy at the midpoint

The scramble was well-timed in the sense that we finished it before it got dark. The scramble was badly timed, however, in the sense that we finished it just before it got dark. As a consequence, we had to hike the 4.5 km (with 400m elevation gain and elements of scrambling) that separated us from the place where we planned to camp in the dark. It takes around an hour if you know the way and pack lightly. It took us over two hours, including picking a wrong way and scrambling over a steep slope with loose rock to get back to the right path. Oh, and we only had one head torch to share and 15 kg backpacks. It was certainly a good relationship building exercise; we recommend all couples try it before getting married.

Thankfully, a little after midnight, we arrived at a glorious spot depicted above. Except we didn’t see much and it wasn’t that windy (yet). After two weeks in Scotland, we can pitch our tent in less 5 minutes, so shortly after arriving we were tucked in our sleeping bags ready to doze off after a long day (we set off from Windsor at 5am). It actually also started raining just after we got inside the tent, which made us feel better about ourselves. What it also made though is it made it harder to fall asleep. And soon afterward, it started getting really cold. First lesson learned - don’t bring a summer sleeping bag to the Lakes - even if it’s May and the forecast says temperature won’t drop below 10°C (yeah, at sea level…). We were gonna learn many more lessons very shortly.

When camping wild, there are many different things that may wake you up in the morning:

• it could be the cold;
• it could be the heat, when you sleep in and sun’s rays start ruthlessly pounding on your tent’s walls;
• it could be bleating of sheep, especially when you’re in a mountainous region of Wales (or the rest of UK for that matter);
• it could be people talking or their dogs barking if you choose your location recklessly (or a big bunch of boy scouts, which happened to us in Lake District);
• it could also be the alarm clock you set the night before (if you’re not a romantic type).

Let’s be honest - there are many great things about camping in the wild but good quality sleep is not always easy to come by. Especially on the first night.

Day 2: Moving our camping spot in the morning due to strong winds

Well, on that first night, we got woken up by rain drops smashing our tent, driven by gusts of wind we have not experienced before. Remember storms Ciara and Dennis (our UK-based readers)? No more than a puff compared to what was going on that day in Lake District. The poles of our tent were being bent into an S shape by the wind, its interior halving in size at times. A quick inspection revealed that all the pegs were out. We wish we had recorded a video, but, as you can imagine, we had other things on our mind at the time. Such as figuring out a way out of this impasse. Staying inside the tent wasn’t really an option - sooner or later one of the poles could crack - not a kind of thing you want happening on a first day of a trip. Therefore, as much as we didn’t wanna leave the relative tranquility of tent’s interior, we had no choice but to proceed.

The good news was that initial reconnaissance a peak out of the tent revealed a promising location to move to, seemingly covered from the wind by a steep slope. Roughly 50 meters (150 feet) separated us from that promised land. Under normal circumstances, we could probably just carry the tent without packing it up. Not this time. It went quite smooth, though, and soon afterwards we were set up again, this time further from the lake, but less exposed to the wind. And we could make use of some big stones laying nearby to fix our guy lines in a rigid manner.

Finally safe from the wind

The day was mostly spent hibernating inside the tent, interrupted by a quick resupply trip to the car (turned out one hoodie doesn’t do the job) and a warm dinner - pasta con pesto. (Hands down best wild camping recipe!)

Cross this bridge and wilderness awaits

Day 3: Hiking Great Gable & Scafell Pike in complete emptiness

The weather has not improved much by half-way point of the trip and temptation was there to stay in tent all day or go back home. But then, it was forecast to clear up the day after and be sunny on Monday so we didn’t give up just yet. In fact, we did two short hikes.

Great Gable

With its pyramid-like shape, Great Gable is one of the more iconic mountain tops of the region. It is also the closest peak to Styhead Tarn, so we felt we had to climb it sooner or later during the trip.

Initial ascent was actually quite pleasurable, despite the conditions; helped by fine views, big boulders on both sides of the path (scrambling practice) and lack of other human beings within 2 mile radius.

Soon afterwards, we could barely see a thing. It was just rocks and more rocks. One thing that all the mountains we topped that weekend have in common is that the peaks are no more than a pile of rubble. That loose rock, in turn, seems to attract fog, and as soon as you enter that zone, the fun stops. Navigation may also be tricky, so it’s good to have an offline map on your phone.

Upon reaching what looked like the top of Great Gable, cold and tired, we promptly made our way back to camp via Aaron Slack.

You get to appreciate a warm meal in circumstances like this. Even when that meal is porridge.

Scafell Pike

With Great Gable ticked off the list, it was time to take care of England’s highest mountain - Scafell Pike. Luckily, wind had calmed down somewhat and sky began clearing up a little.

Part of a route to/from Scafell Pike goes along this impressive gorge

Overall, it was a short but intense hike and we enjoyed it very much. But then, our perception might have been a little skewed due to our prior struggles. We were so relieved that the wind settled down that we were probably seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. We are likely going to write a separate post about climbing Scafell Pike so look out for that (we pretty much walked all various paths leading to the peak). For those interested in the route, below is a preview.

Note that near the top, we diverged a little to make the route a little more exciting. If you were to follow our path but didn’t feel like scrambling, you should keep to the left and proceed along the obvious way. It still involves some rocks and steep terrain, but nothing that a ten year old kid couldn’t climb.

Styhead Tarn visible in the distance

At this point of our descent we turned left following the depicted gorge

Day 4: Climbing Scafell Pike a second time cos we are cool

Little did we know that we’d ascend Scafell Pike again the next day. This time the route was much longer and our progress much slower.

A recurring theme throughout the trip was that the peaks were bathing in clouds. Add to it lack of people and what results is a pretty apocalyptic atmosphere.

Day 5: Scrambling Kirk Fell (well, more like river barefoot scrambling)

Last day of our expedition started with an alarm… that didn’t go off. Well, it did, but with no sound. Thanks for that Apple. That meant we didn’t have time to do a scramble that we had planned for the day. Instead, we did a bit of barefoot scrambling up a stream, culminating in a cold water immersion.

Conclusion: not enough scrambling but plenty of lessons learned

Was it a successful trip then? We didn’t manage to complete our main goal, which was to do plenty of scrambling. That’s frustrating. But then, we climbed the highest mountain in England (twice), we enjoyed the Wistow Crags scramble, we bathed in a stream, we didn’t get sick. We’ve also learned many things we should’ve probably learned a long time ago.

• Bring enough warm clothes.
• Pay attention to wind speed when checking weather forecast.
• Place your tent strategically.

Overall, it was one of those trips where, at times, you wish you had stayed at home, but once it’s over, you feel proud of what you’ve accomplished and learned. Plus, you get to appreciate the things one normally takes for granted - a warm meal, a comfortable bed, a hot shower, a roof over one’s head…