Climbing mountains in more ways than one

So this weekend Scarfell Pike was scaled. The forecast was originally looking pretty miserable but thankfully, apart from one or two showers, it was pretty dry when we decided to tackle the highest mountain in England. 

Friday

Part of Friday has been mentioned in the earlier post about hot chocolate and castles. Once the castle tour was over it was a case of nipping to sainsburys to buy the weekends groceries and indulge in their cafe whilst waiting for the last member of our posse to join us. Once the trio was complete (and James had drank a double espresso) we set on our merry way to our campsite in Wasdale. I say merry, we did take the slightly unnerving route of the Hardknott pass which I doubt we would have managed to complete had we not been in a 4x4. The car did a sterling job and we managed to arrive in one piece, to put our tent up in the rain. The evening dinner had originally been planned to be veg chilli but seeing as we were all knackered we opted for cous cous as that only involved boiling a kettle on a stove.

Saturday

We meant to get up and be on the mountain about 9, we weren't far off that but then timing was never my strong point. We packed our bags and after a lovely egg sandwich from the campsite cafe we headed onwards and upward. Scarfell is a tad steep straight away although I did comment it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (all those hill running sessions paid off), it did get steeper and it was hard work. One big obstacle was a stream which had been a raging river with waterfalls which we needed to cross. We eventually managed to get across although I did get bored of trying to keep my socks dry and just sloshed through. This resulted in wet feet and I'm still paying the price - no blisters but they are sore and itchy. I do love my walking poles and were very thankful for them many times. There is a lot of scree on the mountain so my feet did slip sometimes and one time caused my knee to twist and my muscle pulled half way up the mountain. Decided not to tell anyone till we were near the top when a gasp of pain gave the game away. I soldiered on though and we made it to the top. The views were spectacular. And well worth the effort. We munched our lunch and then started back down. My knee was really hurting at this point but I refused to be beaten. Some other walkers gave me painkillers and I substituted swear words for the word kittens, so spent a lot of time just saying kittens. I think next time I might take something to strap my knee up. Although I do think it was a once off. 

Returning to the campsite we sat and toasted our success with cider or beer and veg chilli.

Sunday

We slept a lot. Before the afternoon nap we all indulged in, we did go to the lake so sian could have a swim. Sian and I had done a reccy earlier that day, and then we returned. I didn't swim although I regretted it after as I reckon it could have been loads of fun but I managed to come up with some excuses as why I didn't and stuck to them. 

The afternoon was spent sleeping in the tent and dozing in the sunshine. I'm reading about Chrissie Wellington and she is an inspiration. I already have loads of ideas about how much more cycling I want to do although I doubt I'll be doing an ironman. 

The evening we finished with a BBQ and packed up as much as we could.

The weekend was fantastic and I have come away buzzing with the other adventures I want either in the weekends or in the evenings after work. I'm hoping my brain calms down so I can sleep!