Letting the train take the strain

As we clicked over into June, we had 8 Wainwright fells to climb in order to complete the 214 challenge. We had moved our two pub and one hotel stays three times over a 16 month period and they were now fixed for going in mid July all being well, so being still on furlough, Bro and I thought we could squeeze in a few days away and we decided to go to the Lakes for three nights using the train for the first time.

We planned to climb Pike o'Stickle and Loft Crag in Langdale and Baystones from Ambleside. In the early stages of starting climbing the 214, we had a very large, strong dog with us and back when we did the Langdale Pikes and Pavey Ark in 2014, we felt it was a little too much for him and us, to get him up the very last rocky sections of Loft Pike and Pike o’Stickle, so Bro and I were going back to re-climb them fully as we have now sadly lost both our dogs. We booked into the New Dungeon Ghyll for two nights and the newly refurbished Ambleside Inn for one night and planned to get around by bus.​

All the arrangements worked incredibly smoothly. We changed once in Manchester and caught the bus from Windermere within 20 minutes of getting off the train and that bus dropped us right outside the New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel.

The next morning we set off from the Stickle Ghyll path behind the hotel. Reaching the Cumbria Way, we decided not to cross Dungeon Ghyll, but to carry on and follow a path that wound under, round and up to Pike How. This put us on the 'wrong' side of Dungeon Ghyll, but we gained height quickly and it seemed to be marginally less steep. As we walked the ridge with the huge bulk of Harrison Stickle in front us, the cloud came down and there was a light drizzle, although it was still warm. The path climbed steeply beside the huge, deep ravine of Dungeon Ghyll to a small col and at the col, the path became much narrower with big drops into the ravine to our left. The cloud came right down, we could only see about 10 feet ahead and the rock became very wet and slippery. Not really being comfortable with drops at the side of slippery paths, we decided to re-trace our steps back down to the col, then branched across the flank at the top of the ravine and climbed up and onto the ridge below the start of the climb to Loft Crag.

Although it had entailed a bit more climbing, it really only took us about 20 minutes. A very steep path up to the col between Thorn Crag and Loft Crag brought us out onto Harrison Combe where we took a path up to the summit of Loft Crag. The views were amazing. We took some photos, lingered a while then headed off towards Pike o'Stickle. There was no discernible path up its rocky top and it entailed a bit of a hands on scramble, but it was good fun and the views at the top were stunning; down into Mickelden, across to Glaramara with Skiddaw to the north and Windermere to the south. It was warm, sunny and quite busy.

pike o’stickle’s rocky top from loft crag, the figures on the top give a sense of scale

Coming back down again, we had lunch watching people tackling the very steep path up to Harrison Stickle, then made our way back to the col and began picking our way down again. We took the same route on the way back; crossing the trickling Dungeon Ghyll and re-joining our ascent path up from Pike How. As the sun was shining and it was very warm, we made a slight detour to Pike How's summit and sat enjoying the gorgeous valley views for half an hour before going back down to the hotel.

The next day we took the bus into Ambleside, dropped our surplus bag off at the hotel and set off straight away for Wansfell as we were already in our walking kit and boots. The climb began immediately and I'd forgotten just how steep it was. We'd last been up in 2012 and Bro had also been up again on his own in 2018 when our second dog was very poorly and that time, he’d had also gone on along the ridge to Baystones, which is the Wainwright summit and not something I think we’d realised back in 2012 when we were just starting out in earnest, so I hadn’t done it. He wasn't overjoyed at tackling the climb for a third time, but that's brotherly love for you I guess!

It was very humid and the climb seemed to go on and on but it was much cooler once we reached Wansfell’s summit and the views north over Ambleside and south over Windermere were just stunning. After pausing for a drink, some photos and enjoying the views in the cool breeze, we set off along the very undulating ridge towards Baystones, which looked a fair way on, but was very straightforward. No one else followed us even though there were quite a few people about.

It was a fairly uneventful walk with some gentle ups and downs, but nothing strenuous. The cloud came down as we were on the summit, but we did have wonderful views of the Troutbeck valley, the Kirkstone Pass and Red Screes before the mist and light rain saw us donning waterproofs and heading back. It was much quicker on the way back as we found a path that ran more along the ridge tops and even after a sandwich stop, took us no time at all. The weather improved as we began the descent and we emerged back into the sun and humidity of the valley bottom again, where a cool drink at the Ambleside Inn was very welcome.

It had been a very enjoyable and interesting few days and left us with just four more walks to finish the challenge!

Beautiful langdale from pike how

ambleside from the climb to wansfell