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| Much too good to be missed . . . this is a climb deserving of high priority wrote Alfred Wainwright in his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. I'd been wanting to walk the Crinkles for ages, and this was finally my chance — my Great Langdale campsite lay on their very doorstep. But would they remain free from cloud? At 10 am last Saturday the weather was clear, but by 11 am the mist had rolled in. This was the view from Pike of Blisco (705 m) towards the Langdale Pikes . . . |
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| From the delightfully rocky summit of Pike of Blisco I descended a stone staircase to Red Tarn, then climbed up again to Great Knott (696 m). (Ah, 'twas ever thus in the Lake District — up and down, up and down . . . ) I enjoyed this wild panorama from my lunchtime picnic spot by the cairn on Great Knott . . . |
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| Mist still swirled in the gullies . . . |
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| . . . but by the time I reached the Crinkles' serrated and complicated ridge, it had all but lifted. |
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| The Crinkles' traverse is a highlight of Lake District fell walking. There are five distinct peaks and depressions (the 'crinkles'), which are much more obvious from the valley below. While you're walking them — or should I say stumbling over them in intense bursts of bouldery ups and downs — they seem to go on for ever. But the experience is unforgettable, and the views are immense. |
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| How about this elevated prospect over Langdale? |
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| Or this green gully between two towering cliff gates? |
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| Here you can see about half the whole stupendous ridge in one shot . . . |
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| And here are the first three crinkles with a mountain backdrop behind . . . |
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| Looking west there's the magnificent skyline of Sca Fell (964 m) and Scafell Pike (977 m) — England's two highest mountains — separated by the notched ridge of Mickledore (the big depression centre left). |
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| One of the Three Tarns on the col between Crinkle Crags and Bowfell. Here I took the long path of descent over the Band and back down to Great Langdale, where I relished a pint of real ale in the Hikers' Bar at the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel . . . The whole circular mountain trip had taken me six hours. |
