Lake District 2011: Day Two - The Screes

Day Two it was lovely and bright in the morning. I was awake early and walked down to the lake for a quick sketch. The hostel was quite, we had a good fry-up for breakfast. Then the sandwich making team got into action. We were ready to leave at about 9.45. It was raining. Our route today starts and ends at the hostel.

Its Raining, Uploaded by M+MD.

We were walking from the hostel up to the ridge above the Wastwater screes and then walking back along the bottom of the screes. First we had to walk through the woods. It was raining pretty hard. It eased off a little as we started to climb, but as we got up to the ridge it stopped.

Through the Woods
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Rain is Clearing
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When we got to the top of Whin Rigg it was clear. We could see right down to the hostel. You could see Sellafield and the Irish Sea appearing from under the raincloud.

Sellafield from Whin Rigg
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Hostel from Whin Rigg
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We then had an easy ridge walk to the next top. We were at 2,000 feet. There was a centre path through the open moor. But over to the side there was a path along the edge with fantastic views down to the lake and the screes – you could call it vertigo ridge. The views down the scree cliffs were fantastic.

Open Moor
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Vertigo Ridge
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Vertigo Ridge
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Vertigo Ridge
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We had lunch on the next top (Illgill Crag). Then we took the long walk down to get to the start of the screes.

Lunch Time
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Down to Wasdale Head
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The screes path is about 3 and a half miles long. It starts off nice and easy through ferns and bracken above the lake.

Through the Ferns
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Yewbarrow from the Scree path
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After about a mile we came to the first scree. The scree was small and these was a nice easy level path along the screes. After than we had more bracken, then some more easy screes. Then we came to some small but slippery boulders. Then we came to what could only be called a boulder field. It was about 500 yards across and the scree was large rocks. Some were unstable and some moved under your feet. I suddenly remembered why I had only done this once before! It was a very challenging and slow scramble across.

Boulder Field from Above, Uploaded by M+MD.

We were running well behind schedule. Barney and I had planned to meet Katy and Mark at Windermere railway station at 6pm. It was clear we were never going to make that. Barney speeded up, as he wanted to have a shower before we went to collect them. I found the big boulder field very difficult. The path was hard to follow. I went too high above the path. and although I was a long way ahead of the others when we started across the boulder field, they were within talking distance by the time I was finished. I speeded up after that but I was nearly an hour behind Barney. We managed to contact Mark and Katy and told them we would be about an hour late. We still had an hour drive to Windermere.

The others were a long way behinds us. They made it safely off the screes. Sheila took a tumble on the easy path. When they got to the hostel Sheila and Nicky went swimming. We met them later at the pub for dinner. It had been a very pleasant morning and a very difficult afternoon.

Ill Gill Head
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Whin Rigg
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Note to Self. Twice is more than enough times to walk the bottom of the screes. It is very pretty - but the boulder field is very difficult. Once you are half way across it feels like you are trapped. The only way to escape is to continue.

The forecast for to-morrow is good. Scafell Pike is the plan - we will see!