It was a later than planned start this morning following such a late night- its rare we need to wake up Ollie or Hattie in the morning, but a hot shower and the promise of a cooked breakfast helped get them going.
We set off from the National Trust car park in Wasdale Head around 11:30 under high clouds and sun, with only the very top of Scafell sprinkled with a little cloud cover. We took this a good omen and were optimistic that we would be up and back in 5 hours allowing ample time for our drive on to Snowdonia.
The track starts gently through a tree covered path alongside a beautiful waterfall before becoming more rocky and steep, with a familiar flagstone steps to climb. It then crosses a fast moving waterfall meaning we had to carefully pick our path across the water in order to keep our feet as dry as possible (and to stop us falling in!). With about a mile to go to the summit the flag stones switch to loose stones and scree, once again reminding us of clambering over rock pools at a beach. There were once again the tease of a few false summits, but our steady persistence meant we reached the summit in a little over 3 hours.
Having been treated to increasingly impressive views all the way up the summit was amazing with panoramic 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains. This was a total contrast to Ben Nevis where we could barely find the trig point, let alone see a neighbouring mountain. The obligatory summit photos were taken and we hurried back off the summit to find some shelter for lunch.
Fortified we carried on descending but the toll of yesterdays exertions became more obvious and all of the team were finding the steep descents increasingly painful.
We carried on, crossed the waterfall again and had the gate back to the car park in sight when disaster struck- Jen slipped on a rock and fell hitting her right hand on the boulders lining the path and breaking her wrist. Once the initial shock of the fall had subsided a little and pain killers had been found, a sling was fashioned from a necker (almost as if they were designed for that very purpose!). Incredibly, despite the pain, Jen got up and walked slowly back to the car park. A massive thank you to the kind w group of walkers who stopped to help and carried her bag the rest of the way down.
Jen and Phil jumped into the car and headed to the nearest Emergency Department in Whitehaven, which was 20 miles away. An uncomfortable ride ensued. Leaving Jen waiting to be seen, Phil headed back to Wasdale Head to pick up the kids from the Youngs allowing them to speed towards Snowdonia, hoping to be able to finish the 3 peaks for the team. Lets hope they have a successful and uneventful trip!
https://wonderful.org/fundraisers/794Vn
