Off to climb Scafell Pike

The hiking group I belong to (London New Girl Hiking) organised a trip to hike Scafell Pike, England’s highest mountain over a three-day weekend in early August. Scafell Pike is located in the Lake District, possibly my favourite part of England so far. It’s a pity that the Lake District is so far from London, otherwise, I'd be there a lot more often! The area is full of breath-taking scenery from mountains to lakes in the valleys - and it also borders the north-west coast of England.

Aside from being the tallest mountain in England, Scafell Pike is also one of ‘The Three Peaks’ - the three tallest peaks in the UK. Our hiking group tends to specialise in leisurely country walks within day-trip distance of London with a pub-stop for lunch so Scafell Pike was definitely a lot more challenging.

We set off very early on Saturday morning (6 am to be exact) from Old Street, London in a Zipcar and made our way up the motorway. As much as I absolutely despise getting up that early, it did mean that we made good time and arrived after about 6.5 hours. We stayed in Ravenglass, a small, seaside town, in a large home we booked through AirBnB. This was a great place for the seven on us to stay - there were 4 beds (a mix of double and king) and two bathrooms, so it was quite cost-effective but also spacious.

We spent the first afternoon relaxing by the beach after a very country lunch of either ham and cheese sandwiches or baked potatoes. After checking in to the Airbnb, we then made our way to the beach for a walk with our books. The beach was a bit questionable (it was covered in some kind of sea lice) but we managed to find a spot free of invasive insects to sit and read by the dunes. It’s easy to forget how quiet life is in the country when you live in London but it was incredibly relaxing.

I was in charge of the dinner bookings and managed to find two pubs with reasonably good ratings in Ravenglass. On Saturday night, we had dinner at the Pennington Hotel, possibly the nicest hotel in Ravenglass. We were surprised by how good the food was at this hotel. I had a delicious fresh piece of fish with caper butter, vegetables and chips.

Sunday was hike day. We got up at around 6.30am to prepare breakfast and our lunches for the hikes. Ravenglass was a bit under a thirty-minute drive to the car park for Scafell Pike. There is the option to take the direct route to the top but we opted for the scenic option that took us up around surrounding hills with beautiful views as we went along. I hadn’t expected all of the scrambling that we had to do but it was a lot of fun and made for an extra challenge. We were very lucky with the weather in the morning - it was sunny when we started the hike, which gradually became cloudier as we approached the top. When we arrived at the peak, the weather changed very suddenly with a thick fog coming in. We walked down for about ten minutes to find somewhere to have lunch and as we ate, the temperature dropped rapidly to the point that I had no circulation in my hands by the time I had finished eating!

Once the cold had gotten the better of us, we started moving again to make our way down the mountain - and then it began to pour with rain! While it was a bit off-putting at first, it did make it kind of fun - and rain is always better when you've dressed appropriately. Some of the scrambling on the way down was a bit scary as the rain poured down but we made it with no injury more severe than the odd very black bruise. The rain also had an unexpected benefit - water started to stream down the hills like mini waterfalls as we made our way down. The hike took us about seven hours in total, including short breaks and a stop for lunch. My legs ached for two days afterwards but it was nothing that a good bit of yoga couldn’t fix!

We had our final dinner at the Ratty Arms, a small local pub. While unassuming in its appearance, the food was hearty and delicious. I had a lasagne with chips and garlic bread - could there be a better time for a triple carb dinner than after a seven-hour hike?

On Monday, we made our way back to London. We had a nice cream tea stop in a small town on the outskirts of the Lake District before getting onto the motorway. The cute little mallard duck-themed cafe had all of the cutesy kitsch that you expect to find in a quaint English village. It did take an incredibly long time in the car with a lot of traffic in places I wouldn't have expected - not in London’s surrounds but instead, in the Midlands. After many hours of driving, we made it back to Old Street at around 7.30 pm.