Today I was planning to go to Scafell Pike in the Lake district from my attempt on Ben Nevis in Scotland. We set off early this morning and headed south. As soon as we hit the road, we knew it was a bad day.
It took us two and half hours to get to Glasgow having stopped briefly in Glencoe to sort out the car due to the weather being so crazy and the snow on the road making it a bit slidey, and then a further tthree hours to the Lake district. All the way down the motorway we were being buffeted by crazy winds pushing the car off course a lot so that dad had to drive really slowly.
We eventually got into the heart of the lake district and stopped at Wasdale Head, the start of the route up Scafell Pike and the weather was atrocious. I was actually keen to climb this mountain today so we got out of the car to have a look and I was virtually blown off my feet – it was definitely a scary time! Visibility was really poor and it was dangerous. We walked a little way to see what it was all like, but dad stopped us and we headed back.
Dad checked the weather forecast and it showed that there was going to be no letup today with the winds reaching in excess of 50mph, severe rain and snow with plummeting temperatures, according to dad due to the wind chill. The forecast said it was going to get worse tomorrow.
As such, Dad decided that it was unsafe to attempt to climb Scafell Pike today and he said we can come and do it at another time which would be a safer option. To be fair, I did want to climb it, but the cold and the rain didn’t appeal to me so I was glad when we got back in the car and drove away. This means that, although I wanted to and I did try, I was unable to climb Scafell Pike due to safety reasons.
We decided to go and do some shopping in the outlet centre, before stopping off at our Travelodge for the night. After a lovely warming bath, I watched a Netflix Movie as the wind buffeted the lodge.
I guess if you put it into perspective, this week, at least four mountain climbers have died in the Scottish mountains due to the weather, as well as two of those being on Ben Nevis just before my attempt. As an eight year old, I think I probably did okay, and my safety team looks after me well.
Hopefully the pictures will paint a 1000 words showing you how bad it was.
Joshua Lewis 