The last walk of our Lakeland holiday and with it being a weekday and reasonable weather, we decided to head for Seathwaite and a walk amongst the higher fells. My boys wanted to head to Scafell Pike, as did my brother and his children, but myself and Linda had been there before and we had an eye on other fells. Great End and Esk Pike specifically. We headed off from Seathwaite at a reasonable time of 9am and again, even in the school holidays, we had no issues parking, getting fairly close to the farm at the end of the lane. Our first checkpoint was Stockley Bridge and quickly across that we headed for Grains Gill, this is a great path, gently pitched all the way up and pops you out nicely beneath the crags of Great End and beside Ruddy Gill. Before long we were at Esk Hause, turning right to go up through Calf Cove. We rested here, ate part of our lunch before splitting, with my brother and all the boys heading into the low cloud for Scafell Pike and myself and Linda turning further right for Great End. We visited both summits at Great End in the low cloud and then noticed a wide grassy slope between them, dropping down slightly we went under the cloud and had great views to Great Gable and down to Derwent Water. Happy with our summit we dropped down to Calf Cove again and finished our lunch in the shelter, before heading for Esk Pike. As we dropped we saw all sorts on the route for Scafell Pike, considering it was low cloud and mizzle heading that way, both of us were wearing full waterproofs. One lad had a tshirt (which was soaked) trainers and jeans. His other 4 friends had two small rucksacks and two jackets between them. He looked drowned and freezing. My eldest saw him and his 4 friends near to Scafell Pike, he was worse at that point, my eldest asked if he was ok? He ignored him, he was rescued by the mountain rescue about 2 hours later, near to hypothermia according to the report. We headed up Esk Pike and on the summit we got messages to say the Scafell summit group were back at Calf Cove, so we headed down to join them for the return to Grains Gill, then Seathwaite and the car. A fantastic walk and one that considering the height gain felt fairly easy, given the route up Grains Gill. Another holiday in the Lakes done and I do wonder how many more times I will visit given the number of other places on my wanted list.
Heron by the stream as we started outWe are off, Stockley Bridge on the right and Seathwaite Fell aboveHeading up the Grains Gill path, its my first go up this path as I usually ascend by the Styhead pathFurther up, we stopped for a brew around hereGreat End looms at the head of the Grains Gill pathAnother stop and great view back down the Grains Gill path to dinky Castle Crag in the centre in front of Derwent WaterAllen Crags up to the left, Ruddy Gill next to us as we ascend to Esk HauseThe Langdale Pikes in the distance as I look back from the route up to Calf Cove, Esk Pike is up on the rightLinda on Great End, suitably dressed for the weatherA brief parting of the clouds gives up views towards the route to Scafell Pike, my sons were somewhere in the clouds at this pointWe’d visited both tops and then noticed a grassy shelf between the tops, we went for a look and dropped below the clouds, Great Gable just in view, Windy Gap is the dip and Styhead tarn below themThe views out across the knobbly Seathwaite Fell, Styhead Tarn left and Sprinkiling Tarn below, Borrowdale is in the sun running towards Derwent WaterThe top of Central gully on Great End with The Langdale Pikes in the distanceCentral Gully is a classic climb in winter, not for me.Sat in the cross shelter now eating a sarnie and watching the many individuals on their way to Scafell PikeWe have turned off from Esk Hause and headed up towards Esk Pike here, looking back over Eks Hause to the drifting cloudsIts drizzling again as I look back and the clouds drops againEks Pike summit photoMy brother took list of the summiteers on Scafell Pike. Very wet bunchWe were on Esk Pike summit, looking across to BowfellLangstrathReunited back with the Scafell Pike group, my boys look happy. It must be said that on arrival in the Lakes both announced that they had forgotten to bring a coat, I went to a shop in Grasmere to get them both a cheap one which would at last keep them dry and warm (which they are wearing here). Some on the way up to Scafell Pike had not brought anything, and looked frozen and wet, one individual was rescued from the summit of the Pike with near hypothermia, my eldest has asked if he was ok as he looked awful when up thereHeading down Grains GillOne last look up to Great End, Central Gully is the obvious notch from this angleStockley BridgeA last look back to Seathwaite Fell as a bit of sun breaks through. A superb walk in a classic area.The next day we had decided to head home, but stopped off to see if we could help Linda find some old family graves in the church in Claines, near Worcester. The journey down the M6 and M5 was truly awful to this point so it was good to stop off for an hour or so and concentrate on something else. We failed to find any evidence to help her searches but there are more places in this area we could return to. St John the Baptist church in the sunshineInside the church, it was lovely and cool in here on a blistering dayThe Mug House is a 15th century pub in Claines and one of a few within a church grounds. We had a drink and carried on, the M5 had cleared a little so the journey onwards was better. The healing powers of a pub I say!
