They say that size doesn’t matter, but it does when it comes to mountains – and Scafell Pike in the Lake District is the tallest mountain in England. At 978 metres above sea level, it looms over all the surrounding fells and valleys of Lakeland.
‘Here is a mountain without doubt,’ wrote fell-walker and writer Alfred Wainwright of Scafell Pike, ‘and a mountain that is, moreover, every inch a mountain.’ With a rough and rocky summit plateau fringed by crags and pinnacles, this dramatic landscape is actually part of an extinct volcano. Pretty cool, right? So it’s no surprise that over 100,000 people a year climb Scafell Pike, many of them hiking up the steep route from Wasdale, a valley to the west of the Scafell range.
Seen here from the opposite banks of Wastwater in Wasdale, with the high summit of Scafell Pike backed by thick clouds – the perfect gift for anyone who has walked these magnificent hills.
