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| The Langdale Pikes from the approach near Elterwater |
Stickle Ghyll from just above the Hotel |
| We soon arrived at the car park after being
rewarded for our early start with a fantastic view of the Langdale Pike's
skyline from the road near Elterwater. After parking up and struggling
to find enough change for the pay and display machine (Must
remember to bring enough change for parking fees, even I realized that
2 Pounds for 4 hours was not enough for this walk!) we set of on
our walk. I was slightly surprised by the number of people heading of in
the same direction as us, but we soon passed them as they stopped to remove
all their waterproof's, jumper's, and other items that were making them
sweat (Fools !, you should know that you soon get
too warm if you wear everything that you have brought to wear at the start) Soon
we had to stop for John to remove his fleece as he was starting to sweat
(Fool, see previous parenthesis!, especially as he
always does this ! ) So after a few false starts we started to ascend Stickle Ghyll. We made
what seemed to be good time, a few short breaks for Sarah to ease her aching
muscles (Thank god for this as I needed to catch my
breath!) and we soon
reached the turn in the Ghyll. At last here was the opportunity for a coffee
and nicotine break. As I have said we seemed to make good time, but this
was compared to the last venture up Stickle Ghyll earlier in the year.
We had been up un till 4 am ish and drunk enough alcohol to sink a battleship,
this was whilst we had stayed at a Camping Barn in Kentmere on one of our
jaunts with work (What a night, must do it again in warmer conditions!) |
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| Panorama of Great Langdale looking
down Stickle Ghyll with Lingmoor Fell in the center |
| Previous experience made us do some scrambling
up the side of Tarn Crag and then contour across to the dam wall of Stickle
Tarn. This beats the hell out of the path by the side of the Ghyll. John,
of course, disappeared of upwards whilst Sarah and myself made a more dignified
climb up the side of Tarn Crag, taking the time to enjoy the view and pick
a nice safe and sedate route up. |
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| The path that on the left of Stickle Gyhll that we avoid from the scramble
up the side of Tarn Crag |
Stickle Gyhll and the contour across from Tarn Crag on the left from
near the dam wall |
At last, Stickle Tarn and the massive face
of Pavey Ark appeared as we crested the dam wall. Pavey Ark always brings
back memories of a school geography trip to me. When I was 14 I was able
to tell you exactly what had formed the face of Pavey Ark and Stickle
Tarn, Glaciation and hanging valleys and the ice age and stuff. Now all
I can remember is that it had something to do with the Ice Age. (Isn't
memory a wonderful thing ) Now all I can tell you is that it is bloody
hard work to get up to Stickle Tarn, but once there the view of Harrison
Stickle and Pavey Ark, with the prospect of climbing Jack's Rake make
it all worthwhile, a view seconded by Sarah who did not enjoy the ascent
to Stickle Tarn. |
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| Harrison Stickle and Pavey Ark from
Stickle Tarn |
| So after walking around the tarn and a shortish scramble
up the scree we found ourselves at the foot of the rake. The views of Harrison
Stickle and Pavey Ark and their reflections in Stickle Tarn were spectacular
as we made our way around the tarn. |
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| Harrison Stickle and it's reflection in Stickle Tarn |
Water-sky. Sky-water. Surreal or what? |
Without a pause, other people where approaching and we
did not want to lose our place on the starting grid!, we started the
climb. |
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| The start of Jack's Rake from half way up the scree's |
A climber on the skyline of the Rake |
How can one adequately describe climbing Jack's
Rake. From across the tarn it looks totally impossible, from the start
it looks easy, when you are on the rake it is both! I really struggle to
find the words to describe it so I will let AW's words suffice.
" Jack's Rake is classified as a ROCK CLIMB. It's grading
is EASY- it is the easiest of the recognized climbs in the Langdale area. Nonetheless
as a WALK it is both difficult and awkward : in fact for much of the way the
body is propelled forwards by a series of convulsions unrelated to normal walking,
the knees and elbows contributing as much to progress as hands and feet. Walkers
who can still put their toes in their mouths and bring their knees up to their
chins may embark upon the ascent confidently, others unable to perform these
tests, will find the route arduous."
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| John and Sarah making progress up Jack's Rake |
Looking back from the same point |
| That sums Jack's Rake up quite well I think.
What it does not tell you is the thoughts that run through your mind as
you get to the difficult parts. " Where do I put this foot now ?, where
will this hand go ?, if I go there will there be another hand / foot hold? " These
are the things that you think of when ascending certain parts of the rake.
Then after you have overcome these little obstacles and you get a chance
to stand upright you realize how far up the face of Pavey Ark you have
climbed. The views become spectacular, you soon begin to see where you
started the walk from, and how small the tarn looks from above. |
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| A level place along the Rake, time for a quick stop |
Looking back from the same point |
| As this was Sarah's first ascent of the rake
I tried to let her lead as I think the best way up the rake is from the
front and not following someone else's way. John meanwhile felt it better
to show Sarah the way, I followed them both. it was quite amusing to see
Sarah struggle to follow John, sometimes taking a few minutes to try and
figure out the best way onwards and upwards. |
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| John cheating by using three legs, so that's his secret! |
Looking back from the same point |
| At these points I kept remembering my first
time up the rake. it was raining, water was coming down off the top, down
the rake and blown in from the side! When you had to stop and think about
where to go next you were standing in a waterfall! We did not have that
problem today thankfully, but it did bring back fond memories. All the
time we climbed the rake, a smile was on Sarah's face, sometimes small
but mainly a huge grin! I took this to be a good sign, one that meant she
was having fun. This was emphasized by occasional references to being "cool".
As it was not cold, I again thought that this was a good sign! |
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| The end of the Rake and time to choose your route up |
Stickle Tarn from the same point |
| Eventually, after being overtaken only once,
we reached the end of the rake and made our way out onto the summit. |
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| Nearing the end of the Rake |
The wall at the end of the Rake |
| It was that crowded on the summit that we had
to have lunch a good 20 yards away, there was just not enough room on the
summit for everyone. When the crowds eventually disappeared we quickly
made our way over for a quick photo opportunity. |
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| Summit cairn on Pavey Ark ? |
Stickle Tarn and the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel |
| We spent a few minutes enjoying the view, we
were able to see over the tarn and down Stickle Ghyll to where we started
the walk from, Morecombe Bay was about the limit of visibility southwards
with Heysham power station just visible, to the east Helvelyn dominated
the skyline. |
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| Panoramic view to the East from
Pavey Ark summit |
| We returned to our lunch spot and then set
off for our tour of the other pikes. |
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| The summit of Pavey Ark |
The terrible trio on Pavey Ark summit |
| Making a beeline for Harrison Stickle, we made our way across
and soon picked up the path that comes up from Stickle Tarn. Once on the
path we made good time and the last pull up to the summit was quite fun. |
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| Harrison Stickle taken from the path from Pavey Ark |
Pavey Ark and Jack's Rake from Harrison Stickle |
| Something that I had forgotten about the Langdale
Pikes is that when you are on the top, all the other summits look very
near and very easily attained, quite a compact little area. When you actually
start to walk towards them two things happen, the distance seems to increase,
and the summits appear to grow in height ! Weird. Anyway, as I said the
final pull up to the summit of Harrison Stickle was quite fun, a lot steeper
and harder than it looks, John taking a more direct route, straight up,
whilst Sarah and myself took the more gentle path! |
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| Harrison Stickle summit |
The terrible trio on Harrison Stickle summit |
| The weather was still good but it was starting to become
overcast. After a quick tea break and a good look around at the view, we
set of for Loft Crag. This is where we made the first mistake of the day.
We made a beeline straight towards Loft Crag and soon came to the crags
above the top of Dungeon Ghyll, no way down there! So after making our
way around we picked up the correct path and began the descent. This was
at first far steeper and longer than I remembered, soon my knees began
to play up, and I found this one of the hardest parts of the day. Soon
we came to the head of Dungeon Ghyll or Harrison Combe according to the
map. |
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| Harrison Stickle from Harrison Combe |
The head of Dungeon Ghyll |
| Following the path to the west of Thorn Crag
we made our way along the ridge above Mickledon and followed the path up
to Loft Crag. A quick photo opportunity and along the ridge again towards
Pike O'Stickle. |
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| The summit of Loft Crag |
Pike O'Stickle from Loft Crag |
| Perhaps ridge is the wrong word to use here,
the path follows the edge of the steep drop down to Mickledon below on
the left but on the right the moorland of Harrison Combe and no steep drops,
not really a ridge but very interesting none the less. As we came to the
start of the scree run below Pike O'Stickle I pointed out to John that
an old stone age axe factory was located below, he wanted to investigate,
but time was against us. |
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| The start of the scree's below Pike O'Stickle |
Loft Crag from Pike O'Stickle |
| The scree run reminded me of my time on the
final expedition of the outward bound course I did in 1981. After camping
overnight at Stickle Tarn we were making our way towards Scafell Pike when
we came across the scree run, we couldn't resist and literally within 5
minutes were down on the valley floor! This was with 40 lb rucksacks and
the equipment and food for 3 days on our backs. It was an unbelievable
experience, unfortunately at the time I had never heard of Rosset Gill!
I had a rude introduction to it though, toiling up the path soon made us
forget the thrill of the scree run! (Must introduce
the other two to Rosset Gill sometime soon!) At the time I never thought of the erosion that running
down the scree could cause, that was until many years later I came to Dore
Head in Wasdale, enough said, and I won't be doing any more scree running.
Making our way up and around Pike O'Stickle we had an interesting little
scramble up to the summit from the north west side. |
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| Pike O'Stickle summit |
The terrible trio on Pike O'Stickle summit |
| Once on top the views were great, looking down
into Mickledon, across to Bowfell and Crinkle Crags, with Scafell Pike
just visible over the top of Rosset Gill. Great Gable was quite prominent
and the northern and north western fells visible. Rosset Gill looked very
intimidating from all the way up here! |
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| 360 degree panorama from Pike O'Stickle
Click on the image for a larger picture |
| Now it was decision time. Did we have enough
daylight left to complete the route I had planned, on to Thunnacar Knott,
High Raise and back via Sergeant Man and Blea Rigg. Probably not but we
decided to get to Thunnacar Knott and decide then. We slowly made our way
of Pike O'Stickle and along to Harrison Combe, were we picked up a faint
path that headed for Thunnacar Knott. This path was totally different from
any encountered before, it was basically a moorland trudge up to the summit
cairn. |
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| The summit cairn on Thunnacar Knott |
The terrible trio on Thunnacar Knott summit |
| Once there the path up to High Raise was clearly visible,
but we decided out of reach for today. the decision made we retraced our
route back to the head of Dungeon Ghyll. After a quick look around the
end of the Ghyll we again retraced our way over to the start of the descent
path between Loft Crag and Thorn Crag and began the descent back to the
Hotel. |
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| The start of the descent between Thorn Crag and Loft Crag |
Looking towards Blea Tarn and Wetherlam on the descent |
| This for me was the worst part of the day.
My knees were giving me some serious grief, I even resorted to the walking
poles that I have had for years but never used. I think they made a bit
of a difference, but I was still in pain and got left behind frequently
as John and Sarah raced ahead. |
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| Looking down into Great Langdale |
Latest equipment for the discerning fell walker modeled today by Sarah.
Jacket - Spray Way, Trousers - Reggata, Rucksack - Karimoor, Walking Poles
- MINE and I need them!!!!!! |
| E ventually we came to a more level part and some good views
of Harrison Stickle and Pike How were seen. It was so nice for me to walk
on some form of level ground again! |
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| Harrison Stickle and Thorn Crag |
Pike How from the path |
| Again another steep descent and soon we joined the bottom of Dungeon
Ghyll, after crossing the stream our way was blocked by some wayward sheep.
Sarah has a way with sheep and soon we were on our way again. After the
sheep had been talked down, we soon arrived back at the car. |
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| Wayward sheep blocking our path |
See, we did make the right decision ! Dusk falls over the Langdale Pikes |
| Our luck with the weather had held out again
as it now started to rain slightly, as well as dusk beginning, we had made
the right decision not to carry on and bag a few more peaks. So feeling
a bit miffed that we had missed these other summits and having to plan
another route to get them, I was quite relieved that we didn't with the
rain and dusk setting in. The fact that we were all pretty much worn out
by now also helped console me! So that was the Langdale Pikes and Jack's
Rake. The grin on Sarah's face all the up the Rake will be the highlight
of the day for me, after all I am sure she did have fun! |
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Above is a map of the area that those nice people at the
Ordnance Survey have put together for me. All I have to do in return
is to display the following.
Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service.
Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance
Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern
Ireland .
Now, how kind of them is that ?
BUT, if you want to see something REALLY good, click
on this link. Those very clever people at Multimap.com have done
something even better than the kind people at the Ordnance Survey!
Not only do you get a map, but at no extra cost to you, a no nonsense
arial photograph, just click on the link and you get the photo, wait
a while and then you get the map in an overlay when you move your mouse.
I kid you not this is the dogs dangley bits, or as Charlotte and Sarah
would say "How cool is that then?" Enjoy ! |
