From Mickledore to Great End

bootsandbanter
1 day ago
7 min read

Lord's Rake said no, Mickledore, Broad Crag, Ill Crag and Great End said carry on

Date: 24 May 2026

📍Route: Wasdale Head > Hollow Stones path > Mickledore> Scafell Pike > Broad Crag Col > Broad Crag > Ill Crag > Blunt Top > Great End > Esk Hause > Sprinkling Tarn > Sty Head > Wasdale Head

📏Distance: 19 km

⬆️Ascent: 1093 m

⌛Time: 8.5 h

Weather: sunny, clouds, then very sunny and hot again

Mood: Free, wandering, no summits to chase

Day 2 of 3 - Wasdale Head & Bank Holiday Sunday

Gloriuos day but clouds are seen gathering around Scafell massif

Day 2 started with a completely different energy to the day before. Same valley, different plan but Sunday had turned Wasdale Head into a full-on parking battlefield. Bank holiday weekend.

Cars were spilling into passing places (!), National Trust staff basically operating traffic control (as the car park was full), and the Wasdale Head car park looked like it had already given up by mid-morning. I got lucky. Very lucky. One of the last spaces left.

That was the first hint this day was not going to follow the script.

Straight into the tourist motorway

The path towards Mickledore was nearly empty (initially steps)

The plan meant starting on the main tourist Scafell Pike path. No avoiding it unfortunately. It was around 9:45 AM. Blue skies, blazing sun, not a cloud in sight. Really deceptively perfect start where you think you are in for an easy, predictable mountain day.

I ended up in front a loud group who had set off at the same time as me. So, I did what I always do in that situation - slightly faster pace, head down, quiet escape mode engaged.

That main path is efficient, I will give it that. But it is not my favourite. It feels too engineered, too structured. I prefer paths that look like they were negotiated with the mountain rather than built into it.

Still, it got me moving.

Mickledore - noise out, mountains in

View towards Mickledore (after the turn for Lord's Rake). The scree has started.

I had plotted a route - Lord's Rake -> West Wall Traverse -> Deep Ghyll, then a few extra Wainwrights.

The first climb up Scafell Pike felt like joining a very sweaty pilgrimage where nobody knew each other but everyone could hear each other. It had the energy of a festival queue, just with more sweat and fewer porta loos.

At around 550m up I gladly turned off right towards Mickledore and everything changed instantly. The noise dropped away completely. One man and his son came the same way, everyone else stayed on the Scafell Pike conveyor belt. Suddenly it was so quiet.

Rock walls closed in, towering above me like giants, the atmosphere shifted, and the whole feel of the day flipped. One minute I was in a queue, the next I was somewhere that felt remote and slightly intimidating. This was new ground for me. I knew Lord's Rake was somewhere around 700m but had no clear idea exactly where the turn would be.

Then the mountain changed the plan.

Fog roll-in and a very quick decision

Clouds arrived fast. Not gradual, not gentle. Just, there. The whole Scafell face started disappearing. Huge rock walls fading in and out of mist, visibility dropping by the minute.

Lord's Rake cannot be seen from where the turn right for it is, but even the whole rock face in that direction vanished completely into the mist.

I made the decision almost immediately. There was no hesitation or even disappointment - not today! I had already done seven hours of fog the day before and I had no interest in repeating that on terrain like this. I wanted to experience in full the grandeur views of the place while you are in it. I also had Deep Ghyll in the back of my mind, and wet rock in those conditions was not appealing. So I pivoted.

Mickledore it was. I never been here before.

Scree and scramble up to the col

At Mickledore col looking down the scramble section I came up. You can see a person going down it.

Just after the turn for Lords Rake, the terrain changes straight away.

Loose scree, larger than the Dore Head screes from the previous day. This time I was going up a scree. It was much more stable underfoot, and actually enjoyable with the right shoes on. The La Sportiva Mutant grip did its job here and the poles stayed packed away.

The area is known as proper “two steps forward, one step back” territory though. Steep enough to make you work, but not chaotic if you find a rhythm.

Higher up, the scree turns into a steep rocky scramble. The rock shifts to a reddish tone from iron oxide, made even more dramatic by the low cloud and damp surfaces. Again I thought what a good decision to skip Deep Ghyll as it would have been even wetter there.

The whole approach looks quite impenetrable, intimidating and stunning at the same time. Everything felt close, enclosed, slightly wild.

Then suddenly I was at Mickledore col.

Broad Stand, stretcher box views, and watching climbers

After sitting for a bit just above stretcher box I finally got clear views of Lord's Rake (2 climbers on the left grassy patch for scale)

Broad Stand loomed to the right like a vertical wall that had no interest in negotiating.

I found a spot above the stretcher box and sat down.

Climbers were moving on Broad Stand. Fog drifting. Occasional glimpses of Lord's Rake in the cloud gaps. The whole place felt alive but half hidden. I stayed there far longer than planned. No rushing. No ticking off. Just watching. Ate my sandwich.

Eventually the cloud lifted enough to reveal Lord's Rake properly. I could see small figures on it and mentally trace parts of West Wall Traverse as well. Enough to know what it is, enough to know I want to come back for it properly.

But not today.

Scafell Pike summit - mayhem switch

I eventually pulled myself away from the stunning scenery and went up the rocky boulder field towards Scafell Pike. The quieter approach towards Scafell Pike feels almost peaceful compared to the main path. That illusion disappears instantly near the top.

Suddenly it was busy. Really busy. Hundreds of people, noise, movement, queues to the trig point. Last time I saw that level of summit traffic was Snowdon. I touched the trig and moved on quickly. No hanging around.

Broad Crag and Ill Crag - the ignored peaks

I dropped towards Broad Crag col. Broad Crag peak (Birkett) had been sitting in my head for years from map-planning alone. One of those “I know you exist and I am coming for you” kind of peaks. So I went. Almost nobody else did.

Hundreds of walkers passing, and nobody diverting into the boulder field. Fair enough really. If your goal is Scafell Pike, Broad Crag probably does not look like part of the plan. But it is and it is worth it. At the summit I met another walker, Rachel, who appeared from the opposite side. Quick 10 min chat, mutual surprise, then off we went in different directions.

I then headed to Ill Crag (Birkett). Again, completely quiet. Two cairns, huge views, and a proper sense of space. It is so lovely still do not understand why it is not a Wainwright.

Rachel again, and Great End in a different world

At Great End with Lingmell in front of me and Scafell Pike to the left

As I re-joined the main path, Rachel appeared again. She had already done Scafell Pike and was heading back (like I said I was taking my time exploring off the path). We started talking again and ended up walking together for the next hour.

She was originally from New Zealand, had been living in Scotland for two years, and was heading back home soon. Listening to her stories about Scottish mountains while standing in the Lakes felt like two mountain worlds colliding in the best way.

We climbed Great End together. Last time I was there it was thick fog, wet rock, and zero visibility for 10 hours. I had basically guessed my way across boulders for the actual summit. This time it was completely different. Clear views, defined landscape, proper sense of place. It felt like a completely new mountain. That contrast was unreal and it had the best views towards my last Wainwright - Lingmell and my most favourite one Great Gable.

Final descent and Wasdale finish

We got on so well with Rachel there wasn’t a single minute of silence, just an effortless flow of conversation from start to finish. Eventually we split ways and I headed down towards Sty Head Tarn and back into Wasdale. Hot, sunny and surprisingly quiet on this side of the valley.

Back at Wasdale Head Inn I grabbed food and a drink, fully in that post-hike calm where everything feels slightly slower. Then the drive back to Gosforth. That road used to intimidate me. Not anymore. Four journeys in two days tends to change that.

PERHAPS.

🔍 Final Thoughts

What I planned was a technical day on Scafell’s wild side. Lord's Rake, West Wall Traverse, Deep Ghyll. Lord's Rake was not to be. It vanished into cloud before I ever properly met it, and I chose not to push on. No regret, just a quick adjustment to what the mountain was offering. Once that decision was made, the day opened up.

Mickledore gave space. Broad Crag and Ill Crag gave quiet summits. Scafell Pike gave noise at the top and silence everywhere else. Great End gave me a completely different version of a mountain I thought I already knew. And Rachel appeared in the middle of it all, turning a chance encounter into an hour of easy conversation and shared ground.

It was not the day I planned. But it was the one I got. And it was better for it.