Yvan Seth's Hole in the Internet

Great Langdale from The Band

We awoke quite early on our final day of real trekking, getting packed up and out of the campsite before our interesting neighbours from the day before even left their tent. It was an overcast morning, and it had rained a little overnight but our 4 inches of rain never showed up. It didn't seem imminent either, good news for the upcoming crossing! We were on our way by 0900.

This day's route took us back to Eskdale, aiming for one of the campsites around Boot. The path unavoidably required a high climb, and I opted for a little extra height rather than a slightly easier gradient route that would have been 5km longer. The ascent was up The Band, a ridge running down into the valley, seeming to bisect it if viewed from the east. In fact the Great Langdale valley turns to the right here and the tributary valley to the left is Oxendale.

Our ascent up The Band to a high pass I call Three Tarns (since that is what is marked at its top) was to be our largest single climb of the trip. Our campsite being at about 100m and the top of the pass just over 700m. Recall that out Scafell climb had started from a wild camp around the 450m mark, though the peak was higher the ascent was lesser.

Pass! The Band to the centre

The path up is mostly well paved with stone, with the occasional near-scramble and short grassy stretches. The first thing of note, once we were above about 300m was the wind. The ridge being quite exposed we got the full force of a very strong crosswind. Strong enough that I could lean my weight into it at about 20 degrees and not fall forward! There was a little rain too, which was somewhat unpleasant. By the top of the pass I was carrying Kat's bedroll as with it on I was afraid she'd blow away! I also almost lost my pack cover, but managed to run after it and nab it before it went beyond recovery. As an indication of the windiness we passed a small waterfall near the top that was blowing upwards and generally into the air, very little water was actually continuing down the watercourse. Despite all this the view back down Great Langdale was superb and made up for the difficulty in my opinion.

Then there is that satisfying point of reaching the top, a feeling of success. The top of the pass is a bit rocky and desolate, except where it is soggy and desolate. There really are three tarns up there, very little ones! We didn't hang around for long as the wind was clearly there to stay, we soon began the trek downhill. Oh, I had began to dread the downhill stretches by now. Very painful on my poor abused feet! I tried to make good time initially, hoping we'd quickly get below the wind. This idea wasn't a success, the wind didn't just hit the other side of the pass and stop, it followed us down the slope!

Toward Eskdale from Three Tarns

It was a very rocky and uneven trek down, the path not so well trodden and totally indistinct at times. It was also very wet, an actual stream at some points, though clearly still the right track. Three Tarns is between Bowfell and Crinkle Crags and it would appear that The Band was a common approach to these from Great Langdale but not well trodden to or from Eskdale via the Lingcove Beck valley.

Where Lingcove Beck meets the Esk there is a narrow fairytale-style stone arch bridge. This is a good point to turn around and admire the cascades of the Esk and the beck. An attractive spot.

Up to Three Tarns from Lingcove Beck

From this point the track back to Boot is quite flat and uneventful, following the Esk most of the way until you divert via a farm and onto the road. The road takes us into "town", well, the Camping Club campsite at Boot at any rate. They're very busy, remember this is the first Friday of the School Holidays for a large part of England. Luckily, because we're on foot and have very small tents, they can squeeze us in on the grass near the reception and shop. Quite convenient in fact! This is on-paper the most expensive campsite we visited, but since they only charged us for one pitch it wasn't bad in the end. The facilities were second to none as well. Untimed showers with good pressure at no extra cost, a huge heated drying room, and a well stocked shop (though we had no use for that.) We stunk the drying room up with our very smelly boots, but that's what it is for really!

We were fairly early getting to the camp, but didn't do much other than generally relax. My feet were in absolute agony that day, so I wasn't keen on moving very far in a hurry. In the morning I'd forgotten to put the insoles in my shoes. Initially this seemed a great thing, more room for my feet! But as the day drew on the lack of arch support became a hindrance, I felt like knives were being stabbed into my feet on every footfall. But I didn't dare stop and put my insoles in, I just wanted to keep on going.

We did a quick circuit through Boot, visiting the couple of pubs there and booking for dinner at one of them. That night we ate a feast, a full 3 course meal of decent hearty English food. Nothing exciting, but entirely satisfying!

Our ride to Ravenglass

That meal pretty much marks the end of our hike. Yes, we had one more night in the tents, but that was no fuss really. The next day we only had to wander around Boot a little then down to the Dalegarth R&ER station. A 40 minute quaint train journey into Ravenglass followed. We trundled around Ravenglass a bit and had some chips and beer at the Ratty Arms. Finally, several hours of train journey took us home, back to Hitchin at about midnight. The landlord at our local waved us into the pub as we passed (a back-door job at that time of night), but we just waved back and kept going – drawn on by the thought of a proper bed. I can't really remember, but I expect we slept well that night.

A short 16km trek, but a high one! A good finish to our Lake District hike I think.

Now I have to find the time to write about our early August Snowdon climb!