25 /26/27th August

25th . I cannot say I slept well. One of the chaps who was sharing the room must of got up half a dozen times through the night and made no effort to be quiet,  letting the doors bang shut etc. I woke up for good and made myself a cup of tea leaving J to sleep. This will be a major change for him, no sleeping until gone midday, no on his phone 24/7,and not food and snacks on tap. When I did get him up about 7.30 we had breaky then made ip a parcel to get rid of the surplus noodles and things we have no need of. I had to explain about keeping weight down.
We walked into Keswick in the rain and it would not ease until the evening. We had a heavy parcel to post and had to purchase all to get it posted. By the time we had faffed around and the huddled under a tea shop awning trying to stay dry with all other tourists drinking tea.
It was almost 11 when we finally got going saying goodbye to a large chap who said his bike was specially imported from USA to take his weight.
We were still following the Cumbria Way and we trudged carrying the brolley between us.What can I say it rained was miserable. We sort the refuge at the posh Borrowdale Gale Hotel. Dripping as we walked to a plush lounge for tea and coffee.
Walking on Js boots were not waterproof and it was a wet slog. We now had veared off to take in one of the goals of the venture,  to take in the highest peak of England - SCAFELL PIKE. We walked to Seathwaite campsite and got pitched having talked to two twenty year olds smoking roll ups in their Landrover who were overlooking the site.You pay later they said. We would of liked the camping barn but not surprising it was taken by a group of women for the entire weekend.
The rain eased as we pitched then drizzled. Noodles then route planning then bed. 26th. We packed up after a few showers. In the lull the tent had dried a fair bit. Getting going with full packs to walk up Scarfel is no mean feat. We had been talking about tacking just a pack with weather gear and basics but decided on full kit because we wanted to walk off on route further east. We could see the tops were in cloud but the steady climb kept is more than warm and as wet dripped off my nose I missed my cap. Josh climbed well and stopping briefly for chocolate. He still had to adjust to the fitness and routine.I had to tell him to pace himself ad opposed to sudden frustrated bursts. It is amazing the diversity coming up here. From folk who look as if going shopping to fully equipt winter mountaineering. We gain Esk House and made our way around via the well trodden path below Great End.A few showers folk were returning from the top. The terrain was awkward with ankle twisting boulders.At times the damp cloud air with drizzle made it fairly slippy. I made a mistake of an up which I thought was the final climb to Scafell Pike which demoralised J and on the final scramble he stopped for a break and me being annoyed at him being so close. We got there eventually and on top with multitudes brewed noodles a tea i one of the many shelter walls. On setting off for down I discovered our rat hole had been used as a latrine and I covet ip it eith many stones. View were non exsistant. The descent was easier. We made for Langdale coming out of the cloud what soon became a sun and we stopped and for another brew. Feeling content. Walking via road track and footpath to ChapelStiles to camp for the night. 27th .What can I say about it but it rained and rained. Wr packed up in the rain walked in the rain and got wet in the rain and arrived in the rain at Windermere. What misery. I was chilled and all cafes had tourists sheltering. We found a place called Munch which enthusiastically served us baked potatoes and beans and hot drinks. Still raining we got a place in Lakeland Backpackers Hostel. This place offered all we needed ability to dry our gear and a cosy friendly place to regroup. We slept well Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.6