A reminder of the context - I have found that walking can wear me out quite quickly, but that has tended to be at the end of busy days, but not necessarily every day.
My boys (now aged 6 and 9) were also quite keen on the idea of getting to the top of the highest point in England, so they were up for the challenge as well (although I didnt give them all the details of the length of the walk).
My nervousness was principally in two areas - myself - if my legs give up and I'm a long way from the finish then it would be a long and slow journey back to the car, and secondly - the boys - if they get a little way into the walk and decide that its not for them then it would be a tedious journey back down.
Having walked up Scafell Pike a few times in the past I decided to use my favourite route - up from Seathwaite via Styhead Tarn, and then back down passing near Sprinkling Tarns. The weather was looking good, so the mission was go!
We started off a little later than ideal, but the sun was shining and everyone was in good spirits. The pace was set by the boys and their interest in various things that we saw as we went up. It was a fairly slow couple of km per hour, which suited me fine. Readers may note that back in the day I was walking these routes at around 5km/hr. We had lunch by Styhead Tarn, and from here it was time to decide if we should carry on or head back down. The boys were keen, so on we went. From here we were up the corridor route - although the sun was shining it was a bit windy, and we needed all our coats on for the second section. Given it was windy we went for the Corridor Route up, with a final ascent of the scree between Scafell Pike and Broad Crag. We got to the top and had clear views all round.
For the way down we went over Broad Crag adn Ill Crag (without actually going on the summits) and then dropped to Esk Hause, and dropping back down to Seathwaite between Seathwaite Fell and Allen Crags.
My legs were starting to feel it by the time we got back to Stockley Bridge (about 1.5km from the end) so there were quite a few more stops for a short rest on the final section - but we were back in the shelter of the valley by this point so that wasnt a problem.
In terms of kit, I wore my AFO and my walking boots, which worked very well. My eldest had picked up a stick on the way up, and this was passed to me near the top (when we were going up the scree). I was then using this like a walking stick for the rest of the journey, which was good. My overall distance was 16.1km, which took us 9 hours to do. My GPS gave up its battery after 14.3km, buy my fitbit recorded some 36,000 steps on the walk.
The overall conclusion is that I really enjoyed the walk. It was a great family day out and we all had a good time. I'm pleased that I can still get up a hill. The next hill, perhaps, will be something with a slightly shorter route!
Lessons for next time - take hats and gloves, and squeeze an extra layer in the bag. I also had forgotten about the wind, so it will be important to take wind direction into account when planning future hikes with the boys.
Its also been good jotting down the details of my route, and naturally using the names of the fells as they are, without having to look them up on a map, and I enjoyed re-reading the Wainwright books which covered this walk and give the details of the surrounding fells and other interesting things to look out for on the route.
Needless to say, I could feel it in my legs the next day!
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