Great Langdale, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, Cold Pike and Pike of Blisco

While out on a walk with my Red Rose friends Neil and John, I had been talking about my first Crinkle Crags and Bowfell walk. I was telling them of the fun I had climbing over all the Crinkles, of my scramble over the Bad Step, and of my joy standing on top of the Great Slab. "You will have to do it again, only this time by the Climber's Traverse," said Neil, adding that while not a ridge, the path is narrow, high, and exposed as it weaves along the edge of Bowfell's northern crags. With his thoughts in mind, this walk was born! I even added Cold Pike and Pike of Blisco to the itinerary.

It was the last of an epic four days in the Lake District, following ascents of Great Gable, the Scafells, and the highest Coniston mountains. Arriving in Great Langdale in mid-morning, I set off walking just before 10:00 AM past the Dungeon Ghyll pub toward Stool End Farm and the long climb up the Band.

Powering up the Band past White Stones and Earing Crag, I reached the col below Bowfell and took a rocky path to the right leading directly onto the Climbers Traverse.

The Climbers Traverse did not disappoint! It's a narrow, weaving path clinging to the mountain face where the ground drops steeply away. At times you edge around protruding cliffs; at others you shuffle across scree slopes. It offers incredible excitement without requiring full roped climbing gear.

Reaching the bottom of the Great Slab—a massive, tilted sheet of rock embedded in Bowfell's north-east face—I scrambled on hands and feet up the natural gully formed between the slab and Cambridge Crag toward the summit.

Standing alone on Bowfell's shattered pyramidal peak, the views west and north-west to Scafell, Scafell Pike, and Ill Crag were among the most spectacular in the Lake District.

Descending to Three Tarns in the col, the line of Crinkle Crags beckoned. As Wainwright wrote: "For the mountaineer who prefers his mountains rough... this is a climb deserving of high priority." Crossing the rocky cathedrals of the Crinkles required constant micro-route-finding, trial and error, and lots of fun scrambling.

At the second (and highest) crag, I searched for the notorious Bad Step. Finding it after watching another walker, I decided descending it blind was too high a risk of injury, so I scrambled around it instead!

Leaving the crags behind, the landscape transformed into a prairie of light brown grasses interspersed with hidden bogs, leading to Cold Pike and finally the hot, sunny summit of Pike of Blisco.

Descending from Pike of Blisco down past Red Tarn and alongside Browney Gill into Oxendale, I met a weary walker who had twisted his knee, relaying a message to his waiting mates for beer. Reaching Stool End Farm at the head of the valley, I concluded an absolute masterpiece of a walk!