A saunter up Scafell & Slightside

Hurrah, finally a good weather walking day (or so they forecast) and the alarm was set for 5am as we'd planned quite a walk for today.  Parking under Harter Fell we would make our way up the valley and up onto Scafell and then over to Slightside before heading back down to the base of Harter Fell.  A day which promised a nice walk in, a couple of waterfalls, a decent bit of scrambling, 2 Wainwrights, nice fluffy photogenic clouds and a nice gentle, but long, descent.  Sounds like a perfect day......and it was!


We started after parking the car walking into the valley along a well trodden path.  A little bit of upwardness followed by a nice flattish path then more upwardness meant we gained some initial height quite quickly.

The weather was perfect.  Blue skies, fluffy clouds, a light breeze when needed and quite warm.  Not what we'd expect for August but nice enough and I wasn't complaining.

On the initial walk into the valley before the main part of the climb was filled with beautiful view on all sides coupled with some ominous black clouds which suggested there was a bit of rain on the way but thankfully that never materialised and we arrived at the foot of Cam Spout where we stopped for a bite to eat.

A lovely place to stop with the falls on one side and Crinkle Crags, Bowfell and more on the other with the flat valley floor catching sun rays and shadows as the clouds moved over the sky.

After our snack it was time to make our way up the side of the waterfall and soon the well marked path had disappeared and we were left to find our own route through the rock, perfect!  My fav terrain.

At the top we walked through another valley with Mickledor straight in front and a tasty gully to our left which was our route up the next part of the hill took us up to Foxes Tarn which I must admit wasn't more than a puddle at this time of year.

The next stage was simply making our way up a steep rock and shale path which sapped the energy out of you but literally was a hop skip and a jump after that up onto Scafell.

The summit of Scafell had a couple of picnickers on it but nothing compared to Scafell Pike which seemed to have hundreds of ants pouring over its summit.  Popular on such a fair weather day.

After the obligatory picture taking at the summit it was off down the hillside through the rocks and over to Slightside, our next target.  Here we met a nice chap who was a fell runner normally but skipped a race today because he didn't feel quite up to it but still managed an impressive round of hills starting with Pike o Blisco in Langdale over the Crinkles, Bowfell, Esk Pike, Scafell Pike, Scafell and Slightside.   Then all the way back again where he was hoping to take in the Langdales.  Just hearing that made me feel a bit faint and silently vowed that I really need to get a bit fitter!!!!!

Slightside was a nice top and a little bit rocky which, of course, I adore.  We didn't hang around long and soon enough we were starting our descent which surprisingly wasn't that bad and apart from some significant boggy bits it was a long but gentle walk off the mountain with only a few steep rocky bits.

What a wonderful day, one of the best walks I've had in a long time.  It had everything I could want from a walk and I arrived back at the car with a smile on my face.  My legs were dirty, my boots were bogged but I was happy.  Loved every min of it!!!