Kirk Fell

10 August 2013

Kirk means church in old Scottish. And like a church steeple, Kirk Fell is a steep one! It doesn't look it in this first photo, but once get started you know it is.

The weather promised no rain (they got that wrong) so I went up past Wastwater to Wasdale Head at the foot of both Scafell Pike and Kirk Fell. There are three paths up, the one up the middle is the hard path--my guidebook says only do that if one is up for a real challenge. To the left is a difficult path, doable but steep and long. To the right is the easy route to the top...

So up I go to the right (betcha thought I was going up the middle, huh?) as my time and distance calculator says that would be about 4 hours and a good bit of exercise. I was a bit off in a couple of ways.

It started raining, lightly as I got out if the car, but I decided to trudge on because the rain was light and the sky appeared to be clearing from the west. By the time I got on the trail, about a mile later, it quit and other than an overcast remained dry until I got to the top.

So I stopped and turned around. This is the view to the west, towards the Irish Sea. That fell to the right is Yew Barrow, behind it out of site is Buck Barrow. The lake is Wastwater and the dale this side of it is called Wasdale Head. To the left is Illgill Head and behind it is Whin Rigg. The closest slope to my far left is the base of Scafell, via Lingmell.

Initially the climb was very easy, another half mile up and it was just a steady go of it. But then it got steep, and rocky. Unlike the other fells where I typically go up about 25-30 meters then take a short break, I was only able to go 10 meters before breaking, sometimes less. For some time the rocks were positioned like stairs, but very steep stairs.

My legs were a burning!

Eventually the trail got flat-ish (okay, not so much as flat as just less steep) but the path had turned to scree (loose rocks) so was actually tougher to walk on. Lots of slipping and stumbling as I worked my way up.

The view was pretty good...over towards Ling Mell, to the south, I could just make out 2 walkers...here's a close up, and then another to show the entire route.

When I got to the "top" it turned out to be flat, and I had no idea which of the rises was the tallest point, so I just wandered around looking for nice picture opportunities. After about an hour I could tell the weather was getting ready to turn. It was sprinkling a bit, off and on, and getting very windy and cold. So I decided to be safe and head down.

The walk down was just as tough as the walk up!  At about 2/3 rds the way down my leg muscles began to fail. If you've ever experienced muscle failure (weight lifting, exercising too hard for too long, you know who you are!) you know it can be a bear to do ANYTHING that requires those muscles.

With each following step, if my knee bent my leg would collapse. I'd take 2-3 steps, then break for a rest and hope I could take those steep steps down (where I HAD to bend my knees!). Obviously I made it, but it was a tough one.

I was good on Sunday, getting some rest and doing my usual chores...but on Monday my legs hurt so much every little movement was like knives stabbing into my thighs. Motrin was my friend but was only mildly helpful. By Thursday the pain was just soreness and by the weekend I was ready to go again!

Kirk Fell, 802 meters, 5.4 miles, 5.5 hours.

Until next time...