Footpaths are for Wimps - Wansfell Pike - Sunday 26th January 2020
I set off from Clitheroe at just after 7 am and made my way to Ambleside, passing by McDonald's for a quick McMuffin and cup of tea on the route.
I arrived at Miller's Bridge car park where we all planned to meet. I couldn't remember if we agreed at 9 am or 9 30 am? I was inevitably early. I hate being late. I was there 45 minutes before everyone else!
Jen stayed locally the night before and arrived next closely followed by Dave and Iain; literally minutes.
The heavens had opened and it was very wet. Oh the joys! We all got waterproofed-up and set off from the the car park for our walk up to the top of Wansfell Pike.
A wet start to the day
We walked up through the town centre, up to Stock Ghyll Waterfall where we made a slight error and had to turn round, only two minutes, so wasn't at all a problem.
We then walked up Stock Ghyll Lane where we walked passed an interesting car, which turned out to a FIAT Panda. Iain being his inquisitive self wanted to know more about it. He used a great app called Vehicle Smart and checked it's service history and MOT lol.
We saw a sign for Wansfell Pike which stated 1/2 mile. We followed the stoney footpaths and ascended the fell and into the clouds.
Over a small bridge, we followed the path all the way up through the hole-in-the-wall where Jen, who had already drink two litres of water, partly refilled her bladder (water bladder that is) with stream water which was flowing down the hillside.
Iain had a Nivia Lipbalm in his trousers pocket which he couldn't access as he had on his waterproof trousers. The Lipbalm was melting in his pocket and caused a bit of amusement with the group as he fumbled around trying to adjust his pocket. I'll not say what it looked like 🤣
A man appeared from out of the clouds behind us with his walking poles and after saying "Hello" He sped off up the fell into the clouds. As soon as he'd appeared behind us, he had disappeared in front of us. The clouds were thick around us.
As we made our way to the final part of our ascent and the guy we'd seen earlier was making his way back down. Warning us that the weather at the top was extremely bad and not safe continue our planned route down the other side. He also said "not far to go now". Now we didn't know if he was joking or not as we could barely see two or three feet in front of us. My hands at this point were like blocks of ice.
Visibility was pretty terrible
Getting to the top, we made our way to the rocky outcrop. The wind was horrendous and we couldn't see anything. Another selfie was posed for with the amazing "view" behind us.
Wansfell Pike, conquered
As the wind as practically blowing us off our feet so we made our way down to a sheltered place away from the wind where we had our summit shots - this time it was Rainbow Ice Sourz - which made Iain a bit delusional thinking the cloud was clearing lol; Dave was fruity; Jen had a false sense of confidence and I slipped on my backside.
It certainly has an aftertaste
We made our way down the same path that we took up to the pike for safety reasons and to make the walk last that little bit longer we went back to the Stock Ghyll Waterfall and did the circular walk around the waterfall.
Taken from the bridge
After that we made our way back to the cars were we ended the walk very wet and cold.
Actual route
We then did the obligatory pub visit - this time to The Unicorn Inn. We decided that the sandwiches we packed for lunch could be eaten later and we had a pub lunch and a drink.
Well deserved
As we'd finished early we spent the rest of the afternoon browsing and spending money in Outdoorsy-type shops. Someone always has to buy something 🤣 again it's something of a tradition - Jen bought waterproof tousers; Iain bought a gilet, and I bought a pair of gloves. (if only I'd had had them earlier?)