With 3 tops down in January we didn’t have a walk in February so it was good to get out again. My turn to drive so I picked Peter and Steve up at Steve’s house at 6.00 am. It was wet at the moment but the forecast for the west in particular was good so we set off for the Langdales.
I had read about Pike O Blisco in my Wainwright book last night and he described it as one of the few tops you could actually make out the summit from the valley floor with its clearly visible cairn. When we arrived at Old Dungeon Ghyll just after 8.00 am we could not make out the summit this morning. Whilst it had stopped raining by now, there was very low cloud over the tops. We had our Angus steak pies which Peter had picked up yesterday and began walking just after 8.30 am.
Start of the walk
We set off along the steep road and began to climb quite quickly. After a couple hundred metres we turned off the road and followed the path up towards the top.
First Bait stop
When we turned around we could see Pavey Ark appearing through the mist. Steve and Peter explained what a difficult walk that one is, taking in Jack’s Rake. We stopped for a sit down and a cuppa. The cloud was still low but we were hopeful it would clear later.
I had in my mind that Wainwright had said you could see the top all the way up the walk which was clearly not true. In fact he had said it was visible from the valley floor (which it was, had it been clear) but not all the way up. The higher we got the thicker the cloud got and it felt that the top was more and more elusive.
Pike O Blisco summit
The last 200 or 300 feet were a scramble up short rock steps which added another dimension to the walk.
Scramble
Summit just ahead
When we reached the top it was very cloudy and sadly we could not see what would have been a fantastic view. It was just after 11.30 now so we dropped just off the top and had lunch, facing
Crinkle Crags had they been visible.
The descent
After lunch Steve checked the map and we set off in a southerly direction looking for the path, switching to south westerly and we eventually picked up the path. As we descended it started to clear up again and the Crinkles were visible now. We had to decide whether to take on the Crinkles or head back to the car. Time was beginning to go against us and we knew that if we did the Crinkles it would be another late one.
We had 4 tops under our belts and it was only early March. We had also descended quite a bit to get to this point so it made sense to go back to the car.
I had done the Crinkles back in the 90’s but I did not have it marked off my list so we will have to return soon. I hope it is a clear day next time however as the views will be spectacular.
It was a steady descent to the valley and looking back we could see Paragliders hovering over Crinkle Crags and Bowfell. We got back to the car about 2.30 and had a couple of pints in the Hikers Bar. On the way home Peter suggested a bag of chips in Kirkby Stephen, a great end to another good walk.
Next one planned for the end of March.
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