Scafell Pike
I was worried that I ate too much during the dinner the night before. The battling day ahead of me proved that I need not to be. I started the day with some light drizzles which undoubtedly give the scenery some character.
The sights delighted my mood, but it wasn’t going to last that long. The light drizzle turned into heavy rain with 30 to 40km wind and heavy fog all at the same time. The heavy rain, in turn, flooded all the trails; making rivers and streams out of the paths. I started to have doubts in my mind. Would I have to turn around on a hiking peak at sea level? My soaked clothing will certainly do me no favor with a single digit temperature up top. I know better than to let my pride get ahead of me, however, the prospect of potential turnaround saddened me.
As I encountered some trekkers, all of them warning me about the horrendous weather ahead. All but one lone runner made it up top of another peak. Luckily, the runner said the weather up top would be better. I pushed on, promising myself that if the weather is truly horrendous, I would turn back. It didn’t take long before I have to make my last decision. 15 minutes after I encountered the trekkers and the runner, I was entering the most difficult and worst weather section of the hike, the Corridor.
The corridor section on the corridor route is this second to last section of the hike up to Scafell Pike that is famed for its beauty and relative difficulty in terms of navigation and scrambling on slippery wet rocks. Th weather was certainly testing me further. The wind pressed into the valley of the corridor, making it hard to even stay standing. Directed by the wind, the rain drops were hitting like bullets horizontally right against me. Perhaps the only salvation, was that my wet clothing was somehow keeping me warm while I walked. With this bit a warmth, I decided to push on.
Sprinting between boulders and hiding behind them, I acquired the fighting style to that of the WWI soldiers to shield myself from the strong wind and rain. The rain made wayfinding almost impossible. With no one around and no a lot of visibility, I struggled on wayfinding. If not for the offline map of Google on my phone, I’d never make it through this section. The section got steeper and steeper, a sudden backbreaking gust of wind had me crawling towards a boulder higher up. I looked up and down for some stable handhold to pull myself up towards the boulder. That’s when I saw myself crawling into a pile of sheep poop! “Jeez, I think I have just hit a low point on this hike,” I thought to myself. EF bike racer Lachlan Morten said in a video about a race that spans the entire vertical length of the UK, said that one usually gets to some sort of low point during these adventures or races. When he biked into a pile of cow poop, that was his low point. I guess crawling into sheep poop was mine then. Thinking of this seemed to have to help me a lot. My mood stayed high despite the increasing gradient and wet scrambling in the rocks.
Finally reaching a completely rock field section, the wind suddenly stopped. I took a quick drink and marched on hastily for another 15 minutes. Then, I saw my goal.
But, there would be no celebration. After a chilling and shivering snack break, the wind pick up, hurrying me to get going. I rushed to get down the mountain as fast as I could. Afterall, with the slippery paths the way down would be just as difficult as the way up.
After some series scrambling and ankle breaking(almost) through three rock fields on top of the hills, I finally reached a point that I could rapidly descend down to the valley.
After a few hours of rain, the streams have all turned into small rapids. I carefully managed all the river crossings and scrambling but to no avail. Luckily nothing was broken as I sped down the valley paths. Finally, a mile run brought me back just in time to catch the bus.
For the last day, I though relaxation should be the order. I visited one of the last slate mines in the UK, hit up the lake Windemere, and enjoyed some delicious pub food before heading back to London.
From the entrance of the mine, you can also see the Hornister pass through the higher parts of the Lake district. Must be prettier on a sunny day!
