A day walk on Crinkle Crags – Karen (June 2002)  

We arrived at around 9:15 at the Fylde hut, in Little Langdale, on a fine, if misty, Sunday morning, in March; to meet up with the club, for a day walk. Little Langdale was, obviously, a popular destination since the hut was overflowing with club members. Remarkably, almost everyone was up and getting ready for a walk. One or two were nursing hangovers from the previous evening.

I had phoned for an up-to-the-minute weather forecast before setting out from Bentham, just after 8:00. The forecast was for improving weather, with the mist and low cloud clearing to leave a bright, sunny day with the chance of heavy showers later. Crinkle Crags seemed a good choice with the possibility of enjoying some spectacular views.

Nine of us piled into two cars and drove to the three-shires stone, on top of Wrynose Pass. We managed to park by the roadside and set off in bright sunshine. Starting at over 1,000 feet makes this a bit of a granny’s way up, but, anyway, we headed off towards Red Tarn, after deciding that we wouldn’t have enough time to include Cold Pike in our walk. Heavy, dark-looking clouds that didn’t look like they would clear in a hurry obscured our view up to the Crinkles. We disappeared up into the clouds and successfully negotiated all the Crinkles, with visibility on top remaining very poor throughout. At one point, Steve and I became separated from the rest of the group. After a certain amount of searching around and calling out, we managed to reassemble, acquiring another couple of walkers in the process.

We descended, out of the cloud, via the Band, into Great Langdale, with Cath leading the way to the pub. After a swift pint, we walked back to Little Langdale, via Blea Tarn. Steve and Pete were despatched off, up the pass to retrieve the cars, at quick march pace, approximately 600feet of ascent over about one mile. We didn’t make them take their backpacks.