Start point: Brotherilkeld, car park at the bottom of Hardknott Pass (NY 214 011)
Brotherilkeld Farm – Lingcove Bridge – Great Moss – Little Narrowcove – Pen (448) – Scafell Pike – Mickledore – Lord’s Rake – West Wall Traverse – Scafell – Slight Side (449) – Catcove Beck – Brotherilkeld Farm
Distance: 12.2 miles Total Ascent: 1327 metres Time Taken: 5 hours 45 minutes
Weather: Very cold at valley level -4°C. Once into the sunshine it was just like a summer’s day – shirt sleeves all the way!
The weather turned out even better than I was expecting today – I thought it would be clear, but it was unbelievably so and very warm with a temperature inversion to boot! I have been ‘saving’ this walk for a while which includes a steep scramble up to Pen, a subsidiary summit of Scafell Pike, and the scrambles of Lord’s Rake and the West Wall Traverse. It is for this reason that the walk had to be Angus-less; he would never have managed it today. As it turned out, it was one of the most memorable days I have ever had in the fells – one to remember. I make no apologies for the number of photos included in today’s walk – there could have been lots more, it was so hard to weed them out. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Scafell at the head of Upper Eskdale from Brotherilkeld. The cold, dark valley contrasts with the sunlit higher slopes.

Esk Buttress with the rocky peak of Pen, the first target of the day. How the heck are you supposed to get up there?

Looking north to an inverted Ennerdale with Mellbreak and the Loweswater fells showing through the cloud. Great Gable is in the foreground on the right.

The valleys to the east are inverted as far away as Ingleborough and Whernside in the Yorkshire Dales.

Whitfell with the cairn visible and Black Combe beyond. North Wales is on the horizon over the sea of cloud.