Date: Saturday 17th September 2022
Company: Myself and Ann-Marie
Distance: 15km, Ascent: 940m
Time: 5Hrs 50Mins
When the weather forecast is exceptional, it is worth undertaking exceptional hills. Having read in the Lakeland Fells guidebook that the Langdale Pikes "are perhaps the most popular fells in the entire Lake District, and deservedly so", I had been saving an ascent of the Langdale Pikes for an exceptional day. Today was that day
.For our ascent of the Langdale Pikes, we parked in the car park opposite the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. After paying a somewhat costly £8 parking fee for 9 hours of parking, we set off walking.
Route:
Start of walk:
As we had set off walking nice and early, the car park and fells were not yet busy. We passed the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel before following possibly the best constructed path I have ever walked on. What an incredible path!
New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel:
As we ascended alongside the Stickle Ghyll, we passed a number of small waterfalls and pools which would be very inviting for a skinny dip if it were not for the masses of people that walk past on the track
. Most of
Scotland's nice pools are somewhat quieter
.Ascending alongside the Stickle Ghyll:
The incredible path made for fast progress.
Following the well-constructed path up towards Stickle Tarn:
On looking back we could see Lingmoor Fell, a wonderful small fell that we ascended in March this year on our previous visit to the Lakes.
Looking back towards Lingmoor Fell:
We crossed the Stickle Ghyll using very large stepping stones a short distance below Stickle Tarn.
Ascending below Tarn Crag:
On reaching Stickle Tarn we got great views across to Pavey Ark.
Pavey Ark from Stickle Tarn:
Harrison Stickle and Pavey Ark:
Until now, we had not decided whether to ascend Pavey Ark via Jack's Rake or via the walker's route of ascent to the east of the hill.
After having a good look at Jack's Rake, I decided that it didn't look appealing compared with other Lakes scrambles that I have undertaken including Striding Edge, Swirral Edge and Sharp Edge. I enjoy scrambling on good rock but Jack's Rake, as its name suggests, is just a rake with scree, grass and rock. We therefore opted for the walker's ascent route.
Jack's Rake:
The ascent round the east flank of Pavey Ark was very enjoyable.
Ascending Pavey Ark:
I posted-up my first pic of the day during the ascent, as I thought the view looking back towards Stickle Tarn was really nice.
Looking back to Stickle Tarn:
It didn't take long to reach the summit of Pavey Ark which is a great viewpoint.
View from the summit of Pavey Ark:
View from the summit of Pavey Ark:
From Pavey Ark, we made our way across to Thunacar Knott and were somewhat surprised how little time and effort were required to ascend this very easy Wainwright from Pavey Ark.
At the summit of Thunacar Knott:
From Thunacar Knott, instead of simply ascending the Langdale Pikes, we opted to extend the walk to also take in Sergeant Man and High Raise. The walk out to Sergeant Man and High Raise is via grassy tracks.
Approaching Sergeant Man:
The summit of Sergeant Man provided good views back to Pavey Ark.
View from the summit of Sergeant Man:
Not sure if we missed a track between Sergeant Man and High Raise but our going was pathless. We passed a number of Herdwick Sheep during our ascent of High Raise.
A Herdwick Sheep:
High Raise summit shelter:
High Raise was the highest fell of our walk and the only summit to hold Marilyn status as well as being a Wainwright and a Hewitt.
View from the summit of High Raise:
View from the summit of High Raise:
After a brief stop to rehydrate and apply more sunscreen, we made our way back to Thunacar Knott and then beyond towards Harrison Stickle. However instead of ascending Harrison Stickle next, we opted for an ascent of Pike of Stickle.
Heading for Pike of Stickle:
Pike of Stickle was my favourite of the seven Wainwrights ascended. It makes the Trail100 list of what Trail Magazine alleges to be the 100 best hills in the UK. While the list does contain many great hills, it misses out a number of classic Scottish hills.
Pike of Stickle:
The ascent of Pike of Stickle is much easier than it looks from a distance. Most of the ascent is a walk with only short sections of easy scrambling to reach the summit.
Easy scrambling up Pike of Stickle:
The summit is a GREAT viewpoint!
Fantastic view from the summit of Pike of Stickle:
View from the summit of Pike of Stickle:
From the summit of Pike of Stickle we made our way back down the same way that we had ascended before next heading for Loft Crag.
Ascending Loft Crag:
At the summit of Loft Crag we stopped long enough to take a couple of photographs before continuing on our way.
At the summit of Loft Crag:
Looking back to Pike of Stickle from the summit of Loft Crag:
Our seventh and final Wainwright of today's walk was Harrison Stickle.
View from Harrison Stickle:
At the summit of Harrison Stickle:
View from the summit of Harrison Stickle:
As our ascent route earlier in the day was so good, we opted to descend via the same route. We therefore made our way back towards Pavey Ark but this time skirting round its summit before descending back to Stickle Tarn.
Descent back to Stickle Tarn:
From Stickle Tarn we made our way back down to the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel and car park via the route we had undertaken earlier in the day.
Looking back during descent:
A fantastic group of fells, albeit by the time we were descending, very busy fantastic fells. I do enjoy peace and tranquility while walking the hills. Meeting people every few minutes is much busier than I generally like
.