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Sunday, September 18, 2005
Camping next to water
After work on Friday, Spooky and I drove out to Wasdale Head by Wastwater in the western Lakes. It's a lovely drive, through some beautiful countryside. It's only about 35 miles from Windermere, but it took 2 hours along little winding lanes and over two very steep passes, Wrynose and Hardknott.
So we arrived at 19:30 and set off on our walk up Great Gable. The plan was to climb up to Sty Head Pass and camp for the night, then continue on in the morning, getting to the summit and back down in time for lunch. The path was very steep but clear, which was lucky because the sun had set and we were now walking in the dark. There was nowhere to pitch a tent along this part of the walk so we had to push on to the pass, even though we could barely see where we were going. After 1 1/2 hours we made it, found an almost flat bit of dry grass and set up camp, had some dinner and watched the moon rise over the mountain. It was bitterly cold so we quickly retreated into the tent.
The next morning we woke up at about 7:30, had breakfast, packed the stuff away and watched the sunrise: it was a lovely bright morning. We set off on part 2 at 8:30, walking along the South Traverse path below the main ridge up to the summit. This path is awesome: it passes below some wonderful cliffs, home to some of the best rock climbing in the area. We scrambled along over boulders and scree slopes, passing the famous Napes Needle and Sphinx, before reaching Little Hell Gate. There are two 'gates' (old Cumbrian for 'way') along this path: Great Hell Gate and Little Hell Gate. They're both huge scree slopes that run from the summit ridge down to the valley, and are rather impressive. Anyway, our route took us up this second one. Scrambling up scree is tough going, and it took us 45 minutes to get to the top, where we stopped for a breather. We were in the cloud by now so couldn't see much, although there was the occassional break during which we could see the mountain top ahead.
From here it was a simple climb up to the top, a huge rocky summit with incredible views (through the clouds) all around. We spent a little time taking it all in before setting off down the western side, from where we finally made it back to the start at 13:00 - it had taken a bit longer than I'd expected! I was absolutely knackered, even Spooky - who'd been a wonderful partner the whole way round - was looking a bit tired. 7 miles in 6 hours - not exactly quick!
I've always wanted to do this walk, and always meant to wild camp after work, but it's taken me a long time to get round to it. It was absolutely brilliant: camping out away from everything is so nice, waking up surrounded by mountains is invigorating, and early morning walking so peaceful - it's something I'll definitely do again, soon.
See the pictures
.....posted at 8:28 am permalink
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