The 'one peak challenge'

Up bright and early thanks to a barking dog and someones ridiculous snoring from across the campsite. Also busting for a wee which got me up at 4am. Popped in a pair of earplugs afterwards and eventually got back off again.

Some sneaky bugger had got to the cumberland sausage ring before me this morning and i couldn't manage a whole pack of sausages from the shop. I still managed a hearty breakfast of black pudding and baked bean sandwiches though. Yeah, pull faces if you like. They were mint.

Packed my walking stuff up into a pannier and rode to base camp (aka seathwaite farm if you must) to climb scafell pike. Note that's not the soft option from wasdale head. That's for the sunday tourists and dog walkers. This is the hardcore option. A loop past styhead pass along the corridor route to scafell pike, then back along esk hause, ruddy gill and grains gill. Ok, it's not everest but i was surprised just how tricky some bits were. Guess i was expecting a long steady stroll along a marked path, like ben nevis. This however involves some proper scrabbling across rocks and boulders. The route isn't marked and you gotta keep a close eye on where you are otherwise you'll wander off course. I picked up a map yesterday and it was definitely a tenner well spent. You'll need 2 OS maps because they conveniently don't cover the full route with just one. I picked up a harvey map which nicely covered all of derwent water and scafell pike at the same scale as the OS maps, 1:25,000. Not as nice as the OS ones but it was well up to the job. You'd probably be fine with just the lower of the 2 OS maps. It covers most of what what you need - everything south of stockley bridge.

Passed a young couple at seathwaite farm who were trying to follow a print out from the internet. The were lost already, not even 5 minutes in!

Also got chatting to a chap with a lovely weimeraner called ben. That's the dog, not him. They weren't doing the tops, just out for a gentle stroll. We swapped tales of laughter, frustration and vets bills for a while before going our separate ways.

Met up with a few chaps on the way round. They weren't together but we were all keeping similar pace so pretty much stuck together. They'd both come prepared with compass and gps, which came in handy on more than one occasion.

The corridor route, which we took, eventually meets up with the wasdale head route. It's pretty quiet until that point. And very very scenic. Remember to keep looking around otherwise you'll miss most of it. Sounds daft but it's easy to get into a habit of watching your path and not the scenery. Especially when the path is a really tricky one.

The wasdale head path is referred to by some as the motorway and it's easy to see why. There was even a lass up there who'd walked from wasdale head in an evening dress! It was a great look with her walking boots.

If you want a bit of trivia, wast water is englands deepest lake. Our highest mountain and deepest lake are alongside each other.

After stopping at scafell pike for an hour or so to enjoy the view and eat lunch, it was nice to drop down the other side and leave the crowds behind. I'd taken the usual compliment of food so lunch took a while. Known in biking circles as the tuck shop, i'd stuffed 3l of water in a camelback, 4 bananas, half a box of granola bars and a big packup of ham sandwiches.

Got back to the bike about 5.30 which meant the loop plus lunch took 6 hours. Not a bad time apparently. About 2.5 hours up and the same back down again. That also included a detour up great gable that we'd sneaked in after scafell pike. I'd recommend it for the views.

While at the top of great gable, a plane rolled around the top. It was an amazing sight, much to the frustration of my climbing buddy who'd just packed his camera away again after a few shots from the top. He's from Farnborough and goes to the airshow with his (somewhat impressive) camera kit. It put my point and click to shame.

There's always something quite satisfying about watching aircraft fly below you. There were a few military jets low level flying thorough the valley while we climbed to the top. This chap's plane was propellor powered though so gave a nice gentle roll right in front of us with the sun full on against its wings. It would of actually made a great photo.

Back to base for tea, shower and pint from pub next door. I must of been knackered because surprisingly enough they were done in that order!

That's another box ticked - the highest point in england is now firmly crossed off my list.

Another biker couple turned up tonight and pitched next to me. They're from norfolk and breaking up the journey on the way back from a tour of scotland. They'd had a pub in keswick called the bank recommended so they headed down to try it. The verdict was a thumbs up so i might check it out tomorrow on my search for a good pub lunch.