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Scafell Pike Hollow Stones Route: Hiking in the Lake District

A landscape photograph taken at Wasdale Head in the Lake District, showing Wast Water and a signpost to Scafell Pike.
A landscape photograph taken at Wasdale Head in the Lake District, showing Wast Water and a signpost to Scafell Pike.

Wasdale Head

A landscape photograph of a family walking up the path to Scafell Pike in the Lake District.

Ascending Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head

A landscape photograph of hikers ascending Scafell Pike with Wasdale Valley in the background in the Lake District.

Hikers ascend Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head

A panoramic photograph of the path up Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head, showing Wast Water in the background in the Lake District.

The path to Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head

A landscape photograph showing a lone hiker resting on a rock on the Scafell Pike Hollow Stones route, with Wast Water in the background in the Lake District.

A hiker rests overlooking Wasdale Valley

A panoramic photograph from the Scafell Pike Hollow Stones route showing the Wasdale Valley in the Lake District.

Scafell Pike Hollow Stones Route

A panoramic photograph showing low cloud and the view from the summit of Scafell Pike in the Lake District.

The summit of Scafell Pike

A landscape photograph taken at Wasdale Head in the Lake District, showing Wast Water and a signpost to Scafell Pike.A landscape photograph of a family walking up the path to Scafell Pike in the Lake District.A landscape photograph of hikers ascending Scafell Pike with Wasdale Valley in the background in the Lake District.A panoramic photograph of the path up Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head, showing Wast Water in the background in the Lake District.A landscape photograph showing a lone hiker resting on a rock on the Scafell Pike Hollow Stones route, with Wast Water in the background in the Lake District.A panoramic photograph from the Scafell Pike Hollow Stones route showing the Wasdale Valley in the Lake District.A panoramic photograph showing low cloud and the view from the summit of Scafell Pike in the Lake District.

Last week I headed to Wasdale Head in the Lake District for a week of camping, hiking and photography. On the Wednesday the clear weather made for the perfect ascent of Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England.

It was my first time climbing Scafell Pike, so I went for the most straightforward route: straight up from Wasdale Head via the Hollow Stones route. It’s a well-made path and the shortest route to the top. It’s also pretty steep, with a total ascent of around 900m in 5km!

You’re unlikely to have the summit to yourself, but it’s a stunning walk with amazing vistas on all sides. Despite the weather being good, predictably the cloud descended for the hour or so I was at the summit. But I still got a couple of decent photos of the ascent.

The route

The route I walked (shown below) is the Scafell Pike Hollow Stones route from Wasdale Head. It’s 10km long (that is 5km up and 5km back down), with 897m of total ascent. I spent about five hours on the mountain, but a lot of that time was taking photographs. While it’s not a long walk, it’s an unrelenting climb so a decent level of fitness is required.

While the path is generally easy to see (and there are often plenty of people on Scafell Pike to follow), if the weather turns it’s very easy to get disorientated. So make sure you have a map and compass and know how to use them. Particular care needs to be taken when leaving the summit that you follow the right path down and end up in the right valley – or you might have a very long walk home!

There’s a National Trust car park at the start of the route (location: NY 18238 07463; 54.4560, -3.2678). Better still, the National Trust Wasdale campsite is there too (location: NY 18251 07584; 54.4569, -3.2624). It’s a remarkably well-run, well-equipped and peaceful site set in the shadow of Great Gable, Scafell Pike and the surrounding peaks. I’d thoroughly recommend it as a place to stay.

Want to walk this route? Download the GPX file here! (But read this warning first.)

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