Wild Camping mountain expedition - Lake District

Mountain Expedition

Upper Eskdale & Scafell, Lake District

11th & 12th August 2012


A warm, bright and sunny weekend, except for thick mist and 40mph winds on the top of Scafell! We met at the Woolpack Inn at Boot in Eskdale, from where we walked up into Upper Eskdale via Brotherilkeld to Lingcove Bridge from where we headed up into Green Hole below Bow Fell. We then crossed over High Gait Crags and, due to dry streams, dropped down to Upper Eskdale above Great Moss. We then decided to tackle Scafell via Cam Spout and Foxes Tarn, only to have almost zero visibility on the summit, although we soon dropped down below the cloud en route to Slight Side where we had lunch. We then followed the Terrace Path back to Boot.

Wild Camping mountain expedition - Lake District

Mountain Expedition


Eskdale & Scafell, Lake District
4th & 5th August 2012

Wild Camping website

We met Saturday morning for a pre-expedition coffee at the brilliant Woolpack Inn at Boot in Eskdale, from where we walked up into Upper Eskdale and the summit of Scafell. The weather was warm and sunny for most of Saturday, but Sunday was different with low cloud and a dramatic thunderstorm.

Our route....


Boot, Whahouse Bridge, Taw House, Great Moss, Cam Spout, Foxes Gully, Foxes Tarn and Scafell. As we began our descent towards Slight Side it then went dark, and hail stones soon began to fall. We descended quickly to Slight Side where we sheltered in a gully whilst lightning flashed across the massif, with thunder booming - an unexpected and unforecast thunderstorm! It was exciting but quite daunting to be in the midst of a storm like this, but very memorable. The storm soon cleared and we had some brief sunny spells on the long descent towards Quagrigg Moss before more rain came in. We then followed a narrow, meandering and very wet path to Stony Tarn and Eel Tarn before descending back to the Woolpack for food and beer.