Scafell Pike, Lake District

Scafell Pike, Lake District: Rain, hail - but no shine. A weekend hiking with our friends wouldn't be the same without a bunch of us getting lost, taking the trail less travelled and Dave pissing off ahead of us. We started at Wasdale Head and whilst cold and cloudy, we soon warmed up as we headed uphill. The higher we went, the foggier it became until we realized that the hikers we had been following were no longer in view – we had come up the wrong track. Spotting a lone hiker heading towards us we asked for direction and decided to tag along behind him. I'm sure he wasn't too pleased with the 12 of us crashing his solitude. Eventually we lost him as well. Making the decision to go the only way we knew how (up - we figured the Pike was up there somewhere) we scrambled uphill on the rocks along Lord Rake's Pass and eventually found our way in the fog, mist, wind and rain. Unfortunately our plans for a lovely, leisurely picnic with views across the Lake District was not to be as we could barely see 3 metres ahead of us, the wind was blowing a gale and the rain had picked up. This all made for our journey down the steep, and now slippery, mountain all the more challenging. Eventually our water resistant trousers lost their resistance to the constant downpour but as most of us had pretty good gear, we were nice and toasty on top and on our feet. Until the hail came. Yes - HAIL. Can you believe it? I have never encountered such bad weather on a hike. It was icy and felt like pin pricks on my face and hands but worst of all, for some reason unbeknown to us (although there are a few theories)- EVERYONE'S shoes flooded right after the hail hit. Eventually we all made it back to our cars at the bottom, drenched, tired, hungry and dying for a hot shower. And as difiicult as I know you will find it to believe that the weekend could have been anymore exciting, on the way back to London Andy found a tick in his arm. Later that evening Greg found two on his leg. Yet another memorable hiking weekend.