Scafell Pike and Scafell
28-29 Sepember 2002
Weekend Trip to Scafell – The Inside Story
Steve Morley
After several day and weekend trips within Scotland the Club's first outing over the border took place over the weekend of 27 to 29th September 2002.
At 5pm on Friday evening six members (Kevin, Stephen, Steve M, Irene, Keith and Euan) left Irvine arriving at Wastwater Youth Hostel just after 10pm. On the way we experienced the culinary delights of Whitehaven (kebab stop) before coming across the village of Gosforth http://www.gosforthvillage.co.uk/index.html around five miles from the hostel. The wonderful site of three pubs around one roundabout led to a unanimous decision to stop for a quick pint just in case Irene was incorrect in her assertion that the hostel had a drinks license. Amazingly, this turned out to be (partly) true! The only problem being that it was a table licence. However, through Kevin's excellent negotiation skills the warden was persuaded that a Mars Bar constituted a meal and could be accompanied by two bottles of wine and a couple of bottles of beer!
And so on Saturday morning all six of us managed to make it to an excellent breakfast, although not before Keith apparently had some problems finding his room in the middle of the night. Not once, but twice he found himself in the female dorm! Fortunately Irene was able to redirect him back to the male dorm and we all promised not to mention it to Anita! Sorry Keith!
Just after 9am Johannes, Chrissie, Jacqui, Brian and Kenny arrived having set off at 5am. It was going to be a long, long day! Brian had brought his bike and set off on a 100-mile tour of the lakes. The rest took the minibus to the car park close to Wasdale Head Inn. Interesting to note that while Irvine town centre still has free car parking the National Trust are charging £3 to park in the middle of nowhere!
And so we set off to climb England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike http://www.fellwalk.co.uk/page26.htm Initially we followed the "tourist" route until the adventurous spirit of Stephen Browning persuaded some of us to take a more direct route to the top. Eight of us therefore scrambled up the wast crags of Scafell Pike including Kenny "Mountain Goat" MacLeod despite his reservations at the outset!Irene and Jacqui continued along the path and coincidentally arrived at the final plateau just as Kenny appeared over the horizon. Together we all followed the crowds (including participants in a fell race) to the summit.
To descend the group split with Johannes, Irene, Jacqui and Euan taking the path back down while the rest headed for Scafell. The latter dropped down to the Mountain Rescue Post and then on to the base of the Lords Rake http://www.fellwalk.co.uk/page47.htm At this point Kevin, Steve M and Keith decided to continue down the steep Scafell screes whereas Stephen, Chrissie and Kenny ascended Lords Rake and subsequently went on to Scafell.
Radio contact was maintained with Johannes and co and apparently caused some concern with passing walkers overhearing conversations such as "Taliban One to Craggy One, are you receiving!" The radios did have some useful purpose however in allowing Jacqui and Euan to realise that Stephen and co were making excellent progress descending Scafell enabling them to sprint the final stretch thus avoiding the embarrassment of coming down behind them. Who said there was no competitive edge to this Club!
Meanwhile Kevin, Keith and Steve M eventually descended and were relieved to find the minibus had been left in the car park for the final drive to the Wasdale Head Inn http://www.wasdale.com/home.html After a couple of well earned pints we made our way back to the hostel for a quick shower before heading to the pub in Gosforth for a bar supper. An excellent meal accompanied by some excellent Theakstons (for the Sassenachs!), strong lager for the Scots and Irish coffee (with straw) for Irene! And so we made our way back to the hostel (many thanks to Brian for driving) for a good night's sleep, not-withstanding the infamous Johannes snore!
On the way back on Sunday we stopped in at the ‘Rheged Exhibition’ (http://www.rheged.com) in Penrith arriving back in Ayrshire at around 3pm.
All in all an excellent weekend and thanks go to Kevin for organising the accommodation and transport. Already it has been suggest that a repeat should take place next year, possibly based around Helvellyn. Anybody interested?
Steve M.
Affiliated to:
Mountaineering Council of Scotland
Mountain Bothies Association
Scottish Youth Hostel Association
