Pillar

Pillar

Western Lake District

Route: Pillar, Steeple and Scoat Fell

Area: Western Lake District

Date of walk: 19th November 2014

Walkers: Andrew

Distance: 12.8 miles

Weather: overcast with a few sunny breaks. Windy on tops

As this was to be a full day’s outing I set off at dawn, but two miles from the planned start at Bowness Knott my carefully laid plans hit a snag – there was a road closure. I apologise to the good folk of Croasdale if they had a rude awakening – literally – as my profanities echoed around the valley

Alternative routes would have added too much time so I decided to approach one of the work force and see if I could wheedle my way through. I exaggerated the distance I’d travelled by a factor of 20, which I suppose amounts to a downright lie, and was kindly given the green light on the understanding that I’d not return along the road until sunset – which was my intention anyway

So, greatly relieved, I parked at Bowness Knott and after that all went according to plan. It’s a long walk in of over 3 miles before the climbing starts. At first it was quite tedious, through serried ranks of conifers and then up a dull slope. But as I neared Steeple the scenery changed dramatically and for the next 3 or 4 hours I was in the midst of some thrilling mountain scenery – as good as it gets

From Steeple I did a quick out and back to Scoat Fell, then it was on to the main objective – Pillar. This involved some boulder clambering and a few very steep sections but eventually I reached the top. Thanks to the road closure there was only one other person about, a fellow walker who’d come via Wasdale. This was the only walker I saw during the whole 7 hour expedition

The weather improved a little at the summit of Pillar and after savouring the wonderful views I headed down the fell via White Pike, steep at first but gradually getting easier. The return to the start seemed to take an eternity but I eventually made it back just as the sun was setting. What a great day out it had been

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