Walk 26 85. Pike O'Blisco LDW-086 2313 ft86. Crinkle Crags LDW-017 2818 ft87. Cold Pike LDW-088 2300ft

Phil Judy and Treacle walked 6.5 miles and climbed 2460 ft



Route from parking area near The Three Shires Stone



Phil & Treacle on Pike o'Blisco



The Three Shires Stone lies on the Wrynose Pass at grid reference 277027. We drove up to it from the cottage at Hall Dunnerdale in the Duddon Valley and were walking from the free parking area (which takes at least ten cars on the roadside) at 0850z.



Our target was Pike o'Blisco (LDW-086/LD-024) and we would follow that with Crinkle Crags (LDW-017) returning via Cold Pike LDW-088. We decided to leave Bow Fell for another day to link in with other summits, as we knew the day after this one would be much harder than today and we would need to conserve some energy.

The weather was good, albeit windy, and the three of us  Judy, Treacle and I had all enjoyed the walk up to Red Tarn, leaving the main path early at 26947 03680 to start the steeper climb up to Pike o'Blisco. As usual the footpaths marked on the OS maps were a figment of someones imagination when they were last surveyed some years ago....


As we approached the first Crinkle we remembered the Bad Step from the Julia Bradbury series on BBC TVs Wainwright Walks. We viewed it from around 50m away and discetion being the better part of valour skirted the obstacle by turning south west where an easy path led us around it and onto the top of Crinkle No.1.


Pike o'Blisco LDW-086  from Cold Pike LDW-088

This was a first time visit for both of us to this part of Lakeland and the take off was superb. We worked 11 stations including Stephanie G1LAT/P who was on Gummers Howe LD-050. After returning to Red Tarn we crossed Great Knott. We arrived at 0948z. 

Judy (XYL) makes her way up Crinkle Crags LDW-017 from Pike o'Blisco LDW-024

We arrived at Crinkle No.5 (LDW-017) which seems to be the highest of the set, at 1200z. It had taken us 100 minutes to get from Pike o'Blisco to this point. After eating our packed lunches I called CQ. 12 QSOs were completed, including a summit to summit with Peter G1FOA/P on Coniston Old Man. Another Peter, GW0ETN was the best DX. Colin 2E0XSD just scraped into the log with a weak scratchy signal - presumably caused by screening due to the signals having to pass over the higher Scafell Pike and its surrounding fells. Copy was marginal which explains why I could not hear Colin on either Blisco or Cold Pike later.

Crinkle Crags LDW-017 from Cold Pike LDW-088

Leaving Crinkle 5 at 1239z we made for Cold Pike LDW-088 over rough ground. There were a few sheep tracks and no clearly defined path. The very straight public path shown on the 1:25000 map roughly followed the line we took but our way was far from straight. We reached the rocky top in sunshine, our last one for the day, at 1334z. Seven QSOs were made with the best DX being GD8BUE in Ramsey, Isle of Man who was 5-9. The walk back to the Three Shires Stone took us 42 minutes. This included an easy scramble down the crag and a short steep descent, which was no problem. We rejoined the main path at 275029.

G4OBK/P Operating for Wainwrights On The Air from Cold Pike LDW-088

Tomorrow's walk was to be across the Coniston Fells to Weatherlam (LDW-058) and back, so we returned to the cottage to study the mapping and work out the approximate timings on what was to be a long day.