I made it. I finally made it! I reached the top.

My first try of this mountain was part of the 3 peak challenge I did back in 2015 and if you know me, didn’t go so well. Due to the fact that I was such a heavy smoker I was unable to even be in a fit state to start the climb up after attempting Ben Nevis back in Scotland.

2021 was the year this was to change. I had already quit smoking and my lungs were in a much better state so I was at least in for a fighting chance of getting somewhere close.

I invited my sister along as this is something she had talked about doing for a while too. Not specifically this mountain, but one in general.

We arrived at the base of the mountain at around 2 pm. Not the best of times to start a climb. We parked up and got our things ready and headed towards the mountain. Probably around 45 minutes later we realise we are on the wrong path, and we are climbing the wrong mountain. We headed back to the car and decided to go to the local shop to see if they had a map. Thankfully they did, we then headed to the right car park and continued our journey onwards and upwards.

Take two of our journey up Scafell Pike. We are now on the right trail and heading in the right direction. Things are seeming familiar I remember being here a couple years back with the kids.

We take our breaks, we have lunch, we drink our drinks and we continue on.

As we approach the top I am no longer worried about my breathing. I am now worried about my legs, With each step comes the worry that they will give way. They start trembling and cramping. Not what I need or expected. I persevere trough the pain and we eventually make it to the top.

The realisation now comes that we must get back down. By the time we have finished taking in the view, taking photo and resting, it is now almost 8.30pm.

At this point I am struggling. My legs keep giving way, my feet are hurting and I am physically tired and there’s nothing I can do about it. We get about half way down and I am shattered. I need to sit down. I need to rest my feet, they are hurting so much. We sit for so long a group pass us going up and again back down. At this point I’m thinking to myself “leave me here, i’ll carry on in the morning”.

The group that passed us a while ago decided to come back. They were leading a group of others up and down the mountain. They do this for a living. They were worried for us. They understood we were in a lot of pain, and decided to give us a lot of moral encouragement to get our butts down this mountain. They gave us energy bars and walked the rest of the way down the mountain with us. I am so thankful we met those people, or I genuinely think I would still be up there the following day.

We eventually got down the base of the mountain and back to the car for around 2am. Due to being that tired and exhausted we decided it best to sleep in the car rather than continue the journey back to the hotel. We found a lay-by and pulled in and slept there for the rest of the night thus concluding the journey up Scafell Pike.