LAKE DISTRICT - MARCH 2014
DAY 1: BOW FELL - 2,960FT
8 HOURS TREKKING/GETTING LOST!
So, we made a last minute decision to go up to the lakes for the weekend since we both had the weekend off from the Thursday. We 'Ummed & arghed' about going due to Mr F running the London marathon in just 2 weeks and didn't want to risk any injuries, but we love the lakes way too much not to go! So we booked our trusty Hawksmoor B&B on the Thursday and went early morning the next day.
It took us a very good time of just 4hrs door to door and was able to check into our room straight away. We usually have room 12 everytime we stay, but we took room 10 next door which is Mr & Mrs S's usual room.....very nice! :-)
So after we had a quick unpack, packed our ruckasacks and Mrs F taped her knees up, we headed straight out for Bow Fell...
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| Mr F Ready To Get Going From Dungeon Ghyll Hotel Car Park |
It started to rain a little from when we first set off, so we put the rain covers over our rucksacks and headed for our target for the day...Bow Fell summit
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| Mrs F Heading For Bow Fell |
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| Langdale Pikes |
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| Mrs F Lovig Being Back On The Fells |
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| The Sun Peaking Through The Clouds |
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| Bow Fell Straight Ahead Through The Cloud |
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| A Quick Stop For Nibbles As We Go |
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| And Our First selfie |
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| The Dodgy Looking Route That we Turned Back From |
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| Mrs F Making Her Way Down |
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| On A Safer Route And Final Push For The Summit |
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| Visibility Was Starting To Drop.... |
We stopped just near the top by a big rock that sheilded us from the cold wind and had lunch which was quite a nice little place to cop-a-squat. Then we headed straight for the top. The weather had started to close in but we were still able to see well enough to carry on and only had a little further to go. We saw a fairly big cairn which Mr F suggested we took a photo there and call it a day, but the very top was literally a few more steps away, so we decided to take those few extra steps and stood on the proper summit....
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| Bow Fell Summit |
After taking our 'we did it' photos, we immediately started to make our way down. We headed for what we thought was the same way and direction that we came up, but couldn't see our footprints along the way inthe snow. After Mr F consulted his SatMap, it was indicating that we had gone off route, so we had to turn around and head back towards the summit to get on the right route. Since the cloud and fog was so thick and close, we could not see a clear way down that was either safe or the right way, so had to depend on the SatMap to guide us. However, the SatMap seemed to be having a complete shocker and kept trying to send us down a near enough vertical gully that was covered in  |
| Mrs F Glad To Be On The Right Track |
...A quick glance back at Bow Fell summit now completely covere in snow
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| Mr F Posey Selfie! |
Finally back at the car park by this time in the pitch black
We wanted to go to The Ship Inn for food which is where we eat every night the last time we were in the lakes, but conscious that they stopped serving food at 8pm and it was 7:30pm by the time we made it back to the car. We knew exactly what we wanted and so Mrs F called them to say we were on our way and could we order our food, but to our delight they stopped serving food at 9pm! Mr F had chilli con carne with both rice and chips and Mrs F had chicken curry with both rice and chops....and we eat like we had never been fed!! We washed it all down with a well earned and needed Guinness and blackcurrant
Our mountain rescue call made it on the Langdale Mountain Rescue Website:
Incident Report #18 2014
18
Fri, 28th March 2014, 17:01
A couple reported themselves as unable to locate a route off Bowfell summit. They had been struggling for 2 hours or more. A small team was dispatched to try and locate them before it went dark. While this group were on route, the couple managed to get a handheld GPS to work sufficient for them to locate a route. No comment
Lat-Long:
POINT(-3.165 54.4489)
OS Grid Reference:
NY245065
Unique Incident ID:
3171 - Incident Type: Fellwalking
- Location: Gt Langdale
- Bowfell
DAY 2: GREEN GABLE - 2,603ft
GREAT GABLE - 2,949ft
6 HOURS TREKKING/SCRAMBLING
We both woke up feeling pretty battered - Mrs F calf muscles were tight she had to tip-toe around for a while until they stretched out a bit, due to all of the walking on snow the day before! Mr F studied the map to be absolutely sure of where we were going and how we were coming back. Although today's weather was much better than the day before and wasn't going quite as high as Bow Fell, so the path and route was nice and clear.
Mrs F was so far impressed at how her knees were holding up - no pain from her previous injury due to Sca Fell & Sca Fell Pike at all! The power of prayer is an amazing thing! :o) So with both knees taped up to the max, deep freeze smothered on and anti-inflammatries in the bloodstream, we headed to Seathwaite Farm, which is where we started off for Sca Fell & Sca Fell Pike. We got there just a little after 10:30 and already the road was packed with cars due to the nice weather, all the trekkers were out making the most of it...
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| Mr F Studying The Map and Route |
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| Mr F Making Ham Rolls For Lunch |
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| Mrs F's Taped Up Knees |
We made our way up via Sour Milk Ghyll, which got it's name from what the waterfall water looks like. It was a short stepping stone route with a little sramble at the top, but then it was such a lovely level walk across the fells....stunning. 
...All the cars parked up along the road...
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| Not One Of Mr F's Best Photos! |
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| Muggles & Buggles With Sour Milk Ghyll |
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| Playing Around With The Camera Again |
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| Our Short Scramble Up |
Once we got to the top of our little scramble, we came across another part of the Sour Milk Ghyll...
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| Great Shot Of Mr F Looking Over Towards Crinkle Crags |
After our short incline trek and scramble, we walked for a fair while across flat fells which was really enjoyable and stunning scenery before coming across a couple of short Zig Zags which lead us to Green Gable summit. The weather was quite warm and so Mrs F had to stop to take off her fleece, but then literally less than 5 mins later put it on again once we got to the top and was on the open top summit with a brisk wind...
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| The Beautiful Walk Across The Fells |
Final Push Up Towards The Summit...
Great End In the distance which we were going to do but decided against it....tackle that monster in June we thinks when there is no snow and a clear route. Don't want to calling in the Mountain Rescue Team again!!
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| Mr F On The Summit Of Green Gable |
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| As Is Mrs F |
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| Views From The Top |
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| The Boys On The Summit |
It was really quite windy on the summit, but knew that we yet had to cross 'Windy Gap' in order to get to the top of Great Gable just next to Green Gable. So We layered up and set off for what was an absolute understatement of Windy Gap! Mr F's hat blew off and a kind man went running after it....good job he was a fell runner! Mr F thought that Mrs F decided to do a bit of fell running herself down the Windy Gap, but it was the wind getting behind her and pushing her down!!
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| Mr F Layered Up & Ready To Face Windy Gap |
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| Our Destination...Great Gable |
We first had to walk upward before heading down into the dip inbetween Green Gable and Great Gable and tackle the strong winds along the way. But once we were actually at the bottom and on Great Gable, we were slightly sheilded and was able to make our way up through the field of scrambles and little little boulders until we finally reached the top....adn what a view! |
| The Summit Of Great Gable |
Every rememberence Sunday, a service is held here for people who make the trek each year..
After taking a few photos of the stunning views, we sat on a rock and had lunch....we did say there are worse places to sit and have lunch! After sitting down on a cold rock and a brisk wind, it started to feel quite cold, so Mrs F put on her new lightweight waterproof jacket just to stop the wind from getting through and we made our way down towards Great End and Sty Head Tarn. Mrs F's knee was till pain free thanks to God, so we were able to get down in a good time and sat just by the tarn whilst Mr F studied different ways and routes to climb Great End and to just enjoy being in the fells and by a stunning tarn...Mrs F loves a good tarn! Whilst we were there a rescue helicopter came over us quite low towards Great Gable, which is where we were just an hour ago. Mr F found out online that it was a rescue for someone who had broken their ankle and had to be air lifted off the mountain :-(
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| Mrs F Eating Lunch |
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| The Boys Love A Stretcher Box photo |
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| Great End |
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| Sty Head Tarn |
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| Mrs F Chilling By The Tarn |
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| Love This Photo |
Playing with the setting again...
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| Mrs F Doing Nothing Other Than Squatting For The Photo! |
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| Mrs F By A Hugh Cairn |
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| Our View Ahead From Stockley Bridge |
When we got back to the farm, we had to walk through it to get back to the car and stopped to chat to the farmer who kindly took us into a barn to show us his new born lambs that were just 1 day old. Then he took us to another barn at the back to show us all of his pregnant sheep that were due between 2 & 4 weeks. He told us that he goes to bed midnight and up again 3am to help with the birthing and again 6am. He even as to bottle feed some of the lambs. Although he bashed the lambs with his hat to get them to stand up for us, he was a really nice farmer and said thanks for chatting to him...the least we could do for traipsing through his farm and by the sounds of things, not many people normally stop to say hello to him.
DAY 3: DOLLYWAGON PIKE - 2,810ft
NETHERMOST PIKE - 2,920ft
HELVELLYN - 3,118ft
7 HOURS TREKKING
We parked up along the main road and had a little walk until we got the start of the trek. According to Mr Wainwright and Mr F, there are two ways to head up....go to the left or go to the right. Wainwright said that the route to the right is a much easier route in terms of how level the ground is and since we always like to and try to come back a different way, we headed right with the intent to come back via the other way. However, we seemed to be making the route up as we went along with no clear indication that we were on any kind of route, let alone the right one! We headed up through the woods, over trees until Mrs F spotted others trekkers further up the bank and guessed that is the track we should be on...so we went up and was eventually on the path and on the way toward our first destination, Dollywagon Pike...
Does this seriously look like the right way?!
The funny thing was Mr F suggested that the tree had fallen down over path!!
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| On The Right Track |
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| Mr F Likes A Waterfall |
After crossing the river, we came across some stepping stones that was a bit of a slog going up, but once we got to the top, what we saw that all of a sudden came into view was worth it. Grisedale Tarn sat at the bottom of Dollywagon Pike and was stunning. Once we got to the tarn, we stopped for a short while for Mrs F - aka, David Bailey to take some photos and have a little break before tackling to dreaded zig zags up to the summit of Dollywagon Pike.
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| The stepping stones up to the tarn |
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| Mr F Having A stare Off With A Sheep |
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| Grisedale Tarn |
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| Mr F Consulting The Map As Per Usual |
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| Mr F Making His Way Up The Zig Zags |
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| The View Of The Tarn Looking Back |
As with all zig zags, they were monotonous and every time we thought we had reached near the top, we turned the corner and had yet more zig zags. But we eventually made it to the top of Dollywagon Pike.
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| The Sheer Drop Off The Summit |
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| The Ridge Walk To Nethermost Pike & Helvellyn |
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| Striding Edge In The Distance |
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| Helvellyn Summit In The Distance |
After we walked along the ridge to our next mountain summit, Nethermost Pike, we decided we may aswell go over to Helvellyn since it was only 3/4 of a mile away, even though we had already ticked this one off our list, it was good to go up via a different route. The annoying thing was that we had no choice but to go back to the car the exact same route as we had just gone, as any other route would have lead us away from the car in an opposite direction. But we decided to cut out the majority of the zig zags by going straight down the side of the mountain with a bit of a momentum, we ended up shaving off around 30mins...and Mrs F gave lots of praise and thanks to God with a song she had made up on the way as she was still pain free even after coming down which was always really tough on her poorly knees :-) "Look at me, no bad knee, for my God has healed my knee, thank you God for loving me and healing my bad poorly knee. I'm all and well upon the fell, made I down no aches or pain, thank you God, I love you so, I praise you and your holy name"
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| On The Way To Nethermost Pike |
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| Mrs F On The Summit Of Nethermost Pike |
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| Another Mr F Selfie Special |
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| Mr F On he Summit Of Nethermost |
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| The Stone Marked The First Mountain Summit In Great Britain Where A Plane Had Landed |
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| Looking At Striding Edge From The Summit Of Helvellyn |
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| Red Tarn Below |
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| A Quick Stop For Lunch Before Heading Back Down |
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| The Boys Found A Snowman To Have A Picture With |
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| Great Shot By Mrs F |
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| Our 'Down The Side Of The Mountain' Route |
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| The Zig Zags We Avoided |
The route that showed our way down avoiding the zig zags...
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| A Quick Pit Stop By The Tarn |
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| Back On The Route Home |
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| Yet Another One Of Mr F's Crazy Selfies! |
The walk back was a bit daunting with all the stepping stones going back down and then the slight un-level paths along the river. But once we got back near the reservoir near where we went slightly off track, we crossed the bridge that we should have crossed at the beginning of the trek so we were on the other side of the river going back, which was a nice level stroll. By now, Mrs F's feet were hurting and Mr F had twisted his ankle ontop of Bow Fell when we were trying to find our way off, so that was tiggling him and we still had a fair walk to the car once we made it to the main road. But, we made it back in once piece and happy thanks to our Lord for looking after us the whole time we were there, even when we were lost on Bow Fell. As always, we said a prayer before we set off each day, our peak prayers and once we made it back down safely too. All in all, we had such a great weekend in our favourite place to be, ticking off more Wainwrights and already looking forward to our next trip to conquer more...214 Wainwrights and so far we have done 24, so still a fair more to go!
Once we made it back to the car, Mrs F put the camera on the ledge of the open boot and went to sit in the car to take her boots off...in the meantime, Mr F shut the boot....with the camera still there! Mrs F blamed Mr F for not seeing the camera there and Mr F blamed Mrs F for putting it there in the first place...we'll let you decide that one!
A long 5 hour drive back to London, we made it home safe and sound at 11pm and Mrs F had work the next day, whilst Mr F had the rest of the week off.
VERDICT OF THE LAKE DISTRICT IN MARCH 2014
Mr F: Just love this place. A tough first day but the next two were just great. People travel the world for great views but its only 4 hours North of London. Ticking off the Wainwrights is our plan for the coming year and cannot wait to return in June and revisit Bow Fell on hopefully a clearer day.
Mrs F: Despite our mishap of being stuck on Bow Fell on our first day, I had the greatest time. I loved our day on Green Gable & Great gable and especially our little pit stop by Sty Head Tarn. The best place to be for me is on the fells in the lake district with my husband and my God....simply awesome and can't wait to return in June for more summits on clearer days.
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