After much teasing from Theo after I missed Loft Crag off when I came to the Lakes solo in May this trip I was determined to cross at least that fell top off the list. Just Theo and I on another boys adventure!
After feasting on a hearty breakfast from our hotel of choice (new Dungeon Ghyll - fantastic place) we set off. The normal route to Stickle Tarn takes you up what feels like an interminable staircase (see Blea Rigg) but the route to Loft Crag takes you immediately off to the left having left the car park and gone through the gate.
The path isn't much to look at!
The walk is relatively steady to begin with and meanders alongside a wall after crossing a ghyll. You can see it's fairly obvious where to put your feet.
As you can see from the photo above there was a little bit of mist in the air. More of that later! We continued our ascent chatting away and following both the path, the GPS and the chap in front who was giving us a great indication of the route.
As we got nearer to the top of the climb the mist began to come down again but the boys were on a mission!
On a couple of occasions we stopped and waited whilst it cleared. I dare say you could have continued upwards as the path was obvious but I preferred the security of being able to see a little further.
As we got closer to the summit we could see the mist was dropping even more but the path remains obvious all the way to the top so we just followed it until, finally, at the second time of asking I had reached the top of Loft Crag!
Normally you can see stuff behind me!