Challenge Day!

My Peak Challenge 2016 successfully completed! And we couldn't have hoped for better weather. Like Scotland, the Lake District is either glorious in the sun or miserable in the rain, and it landed just right for us.

We drove up after work on Thursday, arriving in the Lake District in the early evening. After a hearty pub dinner (meat and potato pie), we parked at Glenridding Youth Hostel and began our walk to base camp. I did feel under a little pressure to get there before darkness fell, and wished I had packed lighter and my overnight pack weighed me down a bit.  I also wished we had had more time for my dinner to settle before setting off!  It was a steady uphill slog for about 1.5 hours before we reached Red Tarn.

We walked around for a few minutes trying to find a flat, dry area to set camp, and finally found a nice sheltered spot.  After pitching our small tent, it suddenly started to get quite cold.  My clothes were damp from the sweaty walk up, so I got changed into my thermals and down jacket. We lit a small campfire on the rocky shore of the tarn, and enjoyed a well earned beer under the moonlight. I tried to dry out my clothes near the fire, whilst avoiding flying embers! Nevertheless, it was nice to relax over a cold beer, chilled in the water of the tarn, and contemplate the task ahead of us.

It was a clear sky, which meant it was very cold, but the night sky was adorned with stars - a real treat as we just don't see this where I live with urban light pollution. We went to bed relatively early, snuggled up in winter weight sleeping bags, but I can't say I got much sleep.
 
We were up early, literally with the larks, at 04:00am to commence our final climb to the summit. I thought we had blown it at first, as it already seemed really light!  We didn't need torches, which was good as it was quite a scramble up Swirral Edge. I was pleased I'd put the effort in to the squats and deadlifts as my previously weak knees handled the climb well even on the steep sections. I felt a little under pressure to reach the summit in time for sunrise, but did still stop to take several breathers.

We reached the summit of Helvellyn just after 05:00am and had amazing views in the clear, early morning light. It was rather windy on top but I did manage a brief photo-shoot to prove I was there, even taking off my coat to reveal the MPC t-shirt!  We walked from the trig point to the memorial and had a look at Striding Edge, then sat behind the shelter to enjoy a protein bar snack/breakfast.  Would you believe we then heard voices!  Two other mad Yorkshire folk had had the same idea, but came up via Striding Edge walking from Glenridding, setting off at 03:00am!  

Once we had watched the sunrise and enjoyed our achievement, we started the descent down. This was the worse part for me and I found it more scary - it was more difficult to see the foot holes when climbing down the steep sections, and easier to see the steep slope just inches away from the path ...

My husband pointed out the neighbouring peak, and as I still had some energy left we detoured up Catsy Cam, bagging my second 'Wainright' of the morning before 06:00am! This gave us good views of the route we had taken up Helvellyn and I got some lovely photos of the views as the light became stronger.  We then walked back down to Red Tarn to strike camp. After a quick wash in the freezing cold waters of the tarn, we tidied up and began the walk out.
 
It took us just over an hour to get back to the car, by which time my hip was complaining a little.  We drove to the nearest town to treat ourselves to a well deserved full English before beginning the long drive home.  As we were leaving the Lake District, the rain clouds were rolling in so it looks like we had timed the trip just right. 

Thank you to all involved in this inspirational prep programme for giving me my mojo back to be able to get out and enjoy this sort of thing again. More photos here if you are interested: https://flic.kr/s/aHskAcT72D