11/08/2026
Took myself for a little walk.
I set off from Wasdale Head and made the long climb up towards Mickledore, the high saddle squeezed between Scafell Pike and Scafell.
Most people here are heading for Scafell Pike. They’re on holiday in the lakes and simply must climb to England’s highest point.
I wasn’t.
Just before Mickledore I cut away beneath the intimidating crags of Scafell and headed for Lord’s Rake.
Lord’s Rake is basically a huge, steep gash running diagonally through Scafell Crag. Loose scree underfoot, enormous walls of rock either side and plenty of hands on scrambling. Proper mountain terrain.
Scafell was one of the birthplaces of British rock climbing. Lord’s Rake itself is still very much a living, changing bit of mountain, major rockfalls have altered it even in recent decades.
Eventually I hauled myself out of the top with Wasdale below me. Wastwater, the western fells beyond and, out to the Irish Sea.
Spectacular.
From there I climbed onto Symonds Knott. A rocky high point just below the summit of Scafell, at around 959 metres. It sits above the Scafell Crags and has epic views across to Scafell Pike and the other big western fells.
I sat on Symonds Knott eating my lunch, looking across at Scafell Pike.
It was absolutely swarmed with people.
Hundreds of them.
All while, I had Scafell entirely to myself.
Scafell Pike is 978m. Scafell is 964m.
A lot of people confuse the names but there’s actually a reason they’re so similar. Historically Scafell was regarded as the main mountain, while the peaks next door were known as the “Pikes of Scafell”. It was only when they were properly surveyed that they discovered one of those pikes was actually higher than Scafell.
And so the slightly confusing Scafell and Scafell Pike remained.
Then came the descent.
Down from Scafell to tiny Foxes Tarn and into Foxes Tarn Gully, steep, loose, horrible scree and slippery boulders where every step required a bit of thought.
Down and down and down.
From the bottom of the gully I had worked my way back beneath the crags before beginning a ridiculously steep climb up to Mickledore, eventually arriving at almost exactly the same place I’d left a few hours earlier to head for Lord’s Rake.
Then there was nothing left but the long descent through Hollow Stones and back to Wasdale Head.
A big, tiring, spectacular loop around Scafell Crag.
An epic mountain day.
It took all the will in the world to leave the house yesterday. I was mentally preparing every excuse not to go out.
Utterly exhausted overthinking how to complete the coastline ride. The constant torment that I can’t really afford to stop any longer, but I can’t afford to restart either.
9.4 km | ⛰️ 1,100 m ascent | 117m per km | ⏱️ 3h 50m moving time
