Stage 3 - Scafell Pike

The trip to Scafell took a little longer than we expected, although I'm pretty sure I was asleep for at least a small portion of the journey. It's really difficult to sleep with your neck at a 90 degree angle.

When we arrived at 2000 there were a few other people around that we recognised from Ben Nevis so we all set off together in the rain. The first major problem we encountered was a river crossing. The rain had been torrential all week, so this river was pretty fast and swollen. We all crossed without much trouble, but it wouldn't be fun in the dark on the way back.

Climbing the next section I was having real problems with my legs and hips which even the stupid amounts of ibuprofen couldn't hold away. The ground wasn't too rough or particularly steep compared to Ben Nevis, but I was in trouble. The rest of the team had also slowed down somewhat so I was able to keep up and make it to the next rest station. By this time we had climbing 800 meters and the weather was closing in, as was the night. We followed the lights of people coming back down to guide us to the summit, all the while telling really really bad jokes to keep us entertained. For example:

"There are 10 cows in a field, which is closest to Iraq?"
"Coo eight" *works better with a Scottish accent*
OR
"Two cows in a field, which one has foot-and-mouth disease?"
"The one that's on fire"

We got to the top in basically darkness with a visability level of around 3 meters. A couple of quick photos of the GPS and it was time to get off the hill. We had to follow each other off the hill following the really bad track with torches and the GPS to guide us down. I honestly believe that without the GPS it wouldn't have been possible to descend as quickly and safely as we did.

By the end of the climb we had the river corssing left, and I was a mess. Basically I had overexerted myself by not eating much all day, combined with the hassle of getting off the hill and dodgy hips. Consequently I fell in the river and got soaked. Luckily I had a good grip on a rock and didn't fly off downstream.

Arriving back at the car we couldn't help but notice the arrival of mountain rescue and an ambulance, probably for the people who we had passed still making the ascent in the night as we were heading down. If they didn't have GPS they could have easily got in trouble. We packed up and got ready for the trip to Wales. I felt really ill, but couldn't figure out why. The options were numerous! Half a mile in to the trip I was quite sick at the roadside. That over and done with, back off to Wales, and more sleep.

Final bit tomorrow!