The Lakes 2003, part 1 – The Langdale Pikes

Monday 14th July 2003

Once again at this time of the year I don’t have a new walk to blog about, so as is customary for me I’m going to write about an old walk. Last year I described my first ever visit to the Lake District, back in 2002, and now I am going to advance a year and talk about my second ever visit to the Lake District. I had returned to the Lake District for a second visit because there were many fells that I hadn’t gone up the year before, and also because I had enjoyed it so much. I took a train up to Windermere and got into the first bus I saw that was going to Ambleside, until it broke down, and it had never even left the station! Just as it was beginning to look as though my luck on this occasion was going to be as bad as the previous year, the driver managed to get the bus started and I was able to catch my connection to Dungeon Ghyll. I had decided to walk up to the Langdale Pikes starting at the new hotel walking up the ‘usual route’, taking the path to the left of the Dungeon Ghyll stream climbing all the way up to the gap between Loft Crag and Thorn Crag.

At that time Britain was in the middle of a heatwave with temperatures in excess of 30° Celsius. The heat was overwhelming as I slowly made my way up the steep path and with the sweat pouring off me I found it very hard going. I have never taken this route since, but I’m sure a return visit would be worthwhile as the path seems to be well-engineered and would be a delight to walk upon again. Once up to the Pikes I was finally able to relax and cool off before heading towards Pike O’Stickle where I had my lunch. I remember the area around the top of the path being rather boggy, but littered with helicopter bags full of paving stones in preparation for the laying of the paths that now cross the area. From the great viewpoint of Pike O’Stickle I headed up to Harrison Stickle, the highest of the Langdale Pikes, and since this was the first time I’d been to the Langdale Pikes I was keen to bag as many tops as possible so once the Pikes had been bagged I headed north over Thunacar Knott but bypassed Pavey Ark little realising that this insignificant crag was also a Wainwright.

It wasn’t until a few years after I started going to the Lake District that I started reading Wainwright’s Pictorial Guides and only then did start to eagerly bag every fell that he mentions. I wasn’t interested in the books until I later found one in Ennerdale Youth Hostel and discovered how meticulously well drawn they were and useful for devising walks over the fells. Beyond Thunacar Knott I climbed broad grassy slopes up to the highest point on the walk, High Raise, which I had just missed out on the year before. On that occasion the weather had been poor, so rather than hunt around for the summit on the broad top I decided to come straight back down, but now I had no such problem finding the summit: it’s much easier when you can see where you’re going! From High Raise I headed southeast across the grassy plain to the prominent top of Sergeant Man and from there I made my own route down grassy slopes to Blea Rigg. There is a great freedom in making your own way across a hillside and not follow a path but just keeping your destination in sight and using the lie of the land to devise your own route.

From Blea Rigg a fabulous undulating landscape proceeds for mile and after mile over Castle How, Lang How and Silver How as I slowly descended making my own way along the ridge. In good weather, such as I was enjoying, there are few better ways off the fells than to follow this undulating ridge that leads all the way to the Langdale Youth Hostel at High Close. The ridge is riddled with faint footpaths, but there are so many you’ll probably never take exactly the same route twice. Instead I was free to make up my own route from top to top without any problems as the steep slopes on the edge of the ridge ensured that I stayed on course. Good weather is vital to ensure you know where you are, and if you want to come off the ridge at a particular point that you come off at the right point. It took me all afternoon to come down off the fells, but I enjoyed every moment of the descent with fantastic views throughout.

I remember at one point on the descent, probably near Silver Howe, I tried to get into the pouch at the top of my rucksack without taking the rucksack off my back. This foolhardy endeavour resulted in me breaking the zip and ensured that when I next returned to the Lake District I would have a new rucksack. The Langdale Pikes are very popular, iconic fells that stand out from far away, notably from the northern end of Windermere near Ambleside and the great weather ensured that once I was at the top of the fells I had a fabulous walk. I have been back to the Langdale Pikes on several occasions subsequently and despite their popularity they always produce great walks.