Drove out shortly after 5:30am, without my boots (left them under the van)! I only remembered 20 minutes later at a rest area for a bathroom break. Thus wasted almost an hour.
Driving in the west Lake District is scenic.
Open blue sky, green slopes. Lots of sheep and salt bins.
Found a couple of very nice campsites along the way.
Approaching Wasdale Head via Lake Wast Water is quite beautiful.
Good camping area. A very large lake. Saw a few campers at one lake shore.
We stopped briefly for photo.
Parking at Scafell Pike: £9/day, cash only. There's a campground right at the TH. Large enough parking, in the shade, a lot of cars already. The lady at the National Trust (England only? Definitely doesn't include Scotland) was trying to sell me the annual pass, because it was advertised as £7/month, and I inquired about it. There's water refill here, and clean bathroom.
Scafell Pike is 2.5 miles one-way and ~2800' gain.
All rock steps and roads. Not pleasant to walk on. A lot of people.
We started at 9am after filling up water.
Half an hour in, I felt faint, had to lie down.
Ate 2 slices of bread and 4 energy chews.
Then, I was able to continue as normal.
At the silly and flat summit, there's a platform with stairs, that marked the summit.
I sat in the shade to eat my lunch.
P.S. arrived. We dried our feet.
He went down the same way, I went via Broad Stand.
Saw 2 hikers coming up, so I inquired about the scree the park warden warned me about.
One guy was so nice, and told me 3 routes to climb the Central Buttress.
I tried 2. Gave up quickly.
When I was close to the actual climb, I could no longer see the feature he told me.
There's one steep loose scree, but short.
Coming down from there afterwards is easy.
This is a much nicer approach.
A lot less people, more scenic.
Back at the parking lot, washed, filled water. The old warden asked how I did and where next. He told me that there are many false summits to Ben Nevis.
Drove out ~3pm. Drove around north, through Keswick (very lively, a lot of people).
I wanted to check out Wordsworth' home: Dove Cottage in Grasmere.
A 20 mile RT detour, which goes along the main road through the Lake District.
Quite a lot of cars and people. Cute villages.
Pretty, but not as pretty as I hoped.
It was such a feat for P.S. to turn around our van in these tiny roads.
And I lost my photos (read on) :(
Visited Castlerigg Stone Circle. A must see while you are here.
Beautiful setting. A bit too many people though.
Discussed where to return the van tomorrow. Decided to drive to Glasgow (due to train strike).
Visited a short section of Hadrian's Wall: Banks East Turret and Pike Hill Signal Tower.
They are next to each other.
The Turret still has a bit of wall left (see the photo on left).
Very little remains of the latter, but it dated to 30 years before the construction of Hadrian Wall.
Not sure how National Trust can determine its original function and shape.
Nicely drawn diagrams and clear descriptions on the signs.
There's a trail right here: Hadrian's Wall Path, another long distance trail in UK.
Back towards M6, in Lanercost, visited the 12th century Priory. It's beautiful.
Closed at 4 (already ~6pm when we arrived). Very peaceful.
Lots of tombstones tightly packed: many fairly recent.
We found a river side pullout, and slept there. Better than yesterday. It was only 8pm, and P.S. passed out quickly. Driving is tiring. I tried to retitle my photos, but felt drowsy soon. Driving to Scotland tomorrow.
