Just got back from a few days in the lakes.
Awesome clear sunny weather and mindblowing scenery.
this was the route we did
https://www.strava.com/activities/2280357853?share_sig=EC3A23B51555059192&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ios_share [nofollow]National Trust car park up over "White Stones" to "Bowfell" to "Esk Pike", past "Great End", over "Blunt Top/Ill Crag" then "Broad Crag". We started the decent from Broad Crag to the col with Scafell Pike ready for the final ascent, but the time was 4pm. I was concerned about the final 70-80 meter climb up and descent taking any more than an hour, which would have meant we could have ended up having to do the final descent via Angle Tarn/Rossett Pike in deteriorating light, so we turned back and aborted the final climb to Scafell Pike.
As it turned out, it was 3 hours back to the NT carpark, and was still reasonably light at 7pm so there was probably the chance we could have summit-ed SP and got down in good light, but as i didn't know how long the decent would take i didn't want to take the risk. The descent down the steps from Rossett Pike was in shadow though and perhaps an hour later would have been okay - but i edged on the side of caution.
it was an epic route - a bit more than i was expecting as the steepness of the climb isn't caught on the 3D OS online map i'd used so the wife (and i) were fairly knackered and it took a bit longer throughout. but it was thoroughly enjoyable and i hope to return over the next year for another go with eldest son.
ps - i used a Garmin GPS handheld device to download the GPX file of the route i wanted from OS maps - this was extremely valuable - especially when descending the NE route of Bow fell as there was no one else coming up or descending to follow or guide us. We were initially about 40 meters south of the correct path which looked a tricky descent, but thankfully the GPS directed us to the correct path (supposedly accurate within 5m) so we went down the correct route.
Thank you for all the comments and recommendations on this site.