"to those who travel alone, the solitary wanderers on the fells,
who find contentment in the companionship of the mountains"
A. Wainwright

If I could keep up a rate of 8 Wainwrights per week, this process will not take long! Saturday 14th added four more to the total, those being Carrock Fell, High Pike, Great Sca Fell, and Knott. According to the GPS track, this is 20km and took about 6 hours. Simplified route below; click to open full-size image in Picassa. Main downside to the route is my choice of parking, which meant the walk ended with about 5km along tarmac.

Tarmac was a bit of an anti-climax, although I did pass a convoy of three old style gypsy caravans on the way. I said hello and the guy on the middle caravan asked me if there was anyone at the swimming hole. Couldn't honestly say I'd seen a swimming hole, so I just said no - seemed a fairly safe assumption, so hopefully I wasn't proved wrong when they arrived at wherever it was.

Download GPX File (Right-Click and Save Link As)

My plan was to climb Carrock Fell from the east and follow the ridge to High Pike. Then, dropping down to Great Lingly Hill and working my way around to Knott, via Great Sca Fell. Being a fairly elongated loop, it could have been easily cut short at several points.

My car is visible in the picture above, as a tiny blue dot middle right of the photo. I had a quick glance back to make sure I'd locked the passenger door (yes, the button was pushed down) before making my way across some rocky scree and into Further Gill Sike. It was steep, but fairly easy path, taking care where the path edges were giving way.

It was worth a slight detour to the North which provided some nice views down towards Carrock Beck, then an easy walk to a well constructed summit cairn. It sits on a rocky outcrop, and to the southerly side, someone had laid a couple of flat rocks to form a sheltered seat. A good spot for lunch with views of Bowscale and the clouds that were still hiding the summit of Blencathra.

Squelching along through wet peat was the main order of the day. It was a trifle moist underfoot. Passed a couple of people on the way towards High Pike, and there were six people at the summit, although they seemed to take one look at my hat and promptly departed. View above is from the summit cairn. Skiddaw in the distance, looking across Great (and Little) Lingly Hill, Knott, and I think top of Great Calva is just visible at the left.

From Little Lingley Hill, you have views into the deceptively steep sided gully that is Roughton Gill. It's not very clear in these photos, but there were reasonable view throughout the day down to the Solway Firth, although a bit hazy with the cloud. This could be a nice ascent, and one to add on the to-do list for another time.

From the cairn at the summit of Great Sca Fell, this is the view of Knott. Not the most exciting mountain in the world, but great views of Blencathra and Skiddaw. Along the way I passed someone else who said "I'm on my way to Knott. Is that the summit?" I checked my GPS and said "It's Knott". He looked a bit disappointed and walked off. Was it something I said?

The weather was really starting to improve as I descended from Knott back down towards Mosedale. I followed the course of Grainsgill Beck, stopping for a rest on a large boulder, watching a yellow helicopter flying back and forth. Hopefully they were keeping an eye out for the paragliders that were everywhere as I climbed down. Blended paraglider can't be a pretty sight!

You might just be able to see a new moon above Bowscale Tarn in the picture above. Another one for the to-do list and would make a nice easy stroll if you parked up in Mosedale, or along the valley road.

All in all, another very enjoyable day in the Northern Fells.

Kit was the same as previous walk, except didn't need waterproofs, or even the Lightspeed for that matter. Wore a much lighter cotton t-shirt, which was better than the heavy Weird Fish t-shirt that I wore last time. Better, but could still do with a decent merino base layer. Also, although it was warm at times, it was still fairly windy. The buff was great for keeping my ears warm (tend to get sore ears in cold wind) but could really have done with some lightweight gloves.

"to those who travel alone, the solitary wanderers on the fells,
who find contentment in the companionship of the mountains"
A. Wainwright

Monday 9th August, 2010, marked my return to the Lake District fells after an absence on about 19 years. Half a lifetime ago, my Duke of Edinburgh expedition for the Gold award, marked my last hill walking of any significance. Under the relentless barage of stevenhorner's tales from the mountains, and the revelations that you don't need to carry a 20kg pack any more, I finally succumbed to the lure of the hills.

To give it some purpose, I intend to embark on some Wainwright bagging, with a view to clocking up all 214. I'm ignoring the few dozen I'll have done in the past, starting with a clean slate. As of Monday, the total stands at 4. These being Souther Fell, Blencathra, Bannerdale Crags and Bowscale Fell.

Click Here for the Picassa gallery, or go to http://bit.ly/jc-214. The GPX file is available here: Blencathra_1b. (Right-click and Save Link As.)

The mountain forecast was 10 degrees on the tops, a 50% chance of rain, and gusty south-easterly winds. I soon began to think that this was a somewhat optimistic appraisal of the conditions. I parked at Mungrisdale village (£2 in the honesty box) and began walking in a very light drizzle. My route up Souther Fell was a mistake. I chose possibly the least interesting route though boggy ground, waist deep in bracken. If I do this again, I'd try to get higher up and walk more along the ridge of the fell. But in any event, after a bit of a slog, got up to the top and ticked off Wainwright number 1. That's probably why I was looking so cheerful at this point; although wind and holding the camera at arms length didn't help!

The photos don't do much justice to the views, which were very nice, looking over in the direction of Ullswater, seeing the distinctive shape of Great Mell Fell and the jagged edge of Wolf Crags in the direction of Great Dodd. To the west there would have been great views into Bannerdale Crags and later towards Blencathra itself. Sadly these were mostly hidden by low cloud, but at this stage I was seeing some brightness and had a feeling the cloud might lift.

I'd planned to drop down from Souther Fell to Scales Farm and then climb Blencathra via Hall's Fell Ridge. Two things put me off. Mainly because it would have involved a descent of between 200 to 300 metres, only to come straight back up again, and conditions being as they were, Scales Fell seemed like a more sensible option.

Hall's Fell Ridge comes highly recommended by Wainwright, and looks a fantastic route in the photos I've seen, but it's a grade 1 scramble and is probably best saved for when the views can be appreciated in safety, and when you can be planning your route more than half a dozen steps ahead!

What you see above is the view from about half way up Scales Fell. From this point on it got so wet that I didn't dare to take the camera out of my pocket. I get the impression there might have been a bit of a drop either side, but who can tell? These are ideal climbing conditions for Acrophobics! I relied on my GPS to find the summit cairn and sat for 20 minutes hoping for a glimpse of blue sky. Sadly not!

Needless to say, it was at about this time, 800m up a cliff and in zero visibility that my GPS decided to abandon its vocation in life and dropped its pre-planned route. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, I went old school with map and compass, setting a bearing down onto Mungrisdale common, staying well clear of Foule Crag, and descended to meet Roughten Gill at about the 650m mark. From there, I followed the contour around to the col between Atkinson Pike and Bannerdale Crags, via a distictive P shaped sheep fold.

On the verge of calling it a day and following the River Glenderamakin back to the car, finally there was a glimpse of daylight! I reset my GPS (if in doubt, switch it off and back on again) and decided to press on towards Bannerdale Crags.

The cloud never lifted from the summit of Blencathra throughout the entire journey, but there were some great views up towards Sharp Edge. In spite of the cloud cover, it's still a fantastic looking mountain.

Bannerdale Crags was the next Wainwright en route. After the slightly surreal and yet strangely distubing sight of watching a sheep plummet to a presumably certain death, I was imbued with a healthy respect for the edge of the crags and took ample care while taking some photographs down into the valley. The views were fascinating down into a classic glacial valley; wide and flat, the sun picking out the summit of Souther Fell below.

The photo above shows the East ridge of Bannerdale Crags and looks like a nice ascent for another day.

It was an easy walk to Bowscale Fell over wet ground. A mile or so of squelching along saw me to the summit cairn. Even more significantly, my first view of a fellow human being! There were three of them, a couple of miles away, but it was the closest I came to having company on the fells throughout the entire day.

I'd conquered my first four Wainwrights, and will be happy to return to Blencathra again in better conditions. It was harder than I remembered. I hate to say it, but age may be a factor, so my fitness will need to improve. But also, fell-walking it seems, is not using exactly the same muscles as mountain biking. The descent down Bowscale's east ridge is very steep in places and you can certainly feel it in your knees.

The final drop back to Mungrisdale is particularly steep, down a crumbling gravel path. Trekking pole is essential!

And so to gear. This was my first walk in a long time and I'd bought new waterproofs; a Rab Latok Alpine jacket and Berghaus Paclite overtrousers. Both were excellent, no trace of condensation, apart from the camera and GPS in the inside mesh pockets. GPS is waterproof but the camera issue is going to need a better solution. The Paclite pants were light and allowed for plenty of movement. I ended up wearing them most of the day, with no real need to remove them.

With all other kit I improvised. Three-quarter length cotton shorts, t-shirt and a Berghaus micro-fleece top. (Note to self, need a better base layer; cotton t-shirt is no good!) Had great service from my Montane Lightspeed 'windproof' which I wore most of the way up Scales fell, and was fine until the rain got really heavy. A lightweight buff, rolled as a headband and combined with a bush hat was perfect for keeping the wind out of my ears - would highly recommend these.

No boots, so wore my Merrell Moab Mid walking shoes, which are a mid-height shoe, Gore-Tex lined. They were fine, and my feet were dry(ish) but this is going to be another item to look at. The grip just didn't feel quite sure enough in these wet conditions.

All in all, very happy, but also very tempted by the Pacerpoles that @stevenhorner recommends.

And, this final image above is the view from Bowscale's East Ridge towards Souther Fell. I think this is definitely it's better side.

I can't say exactly where my next excursion will take me, but am probably going to stick with "The Northern Fells" for the time being, especially as that's the only Wainwright book I currently have! May as well be systematic. So far, four down, two-hundred and ten to go...

The year was 1991, it was summer, A Levels were over, and six Duke of Edinburgh candidates were out in the Lake District. We called ourselves the Lost Boys (Lost Boys DoE Gold.pdf : 2.9mb) but we obviously had sufficient sense of direction to find our way to the nearest pub. If nothing else, at least we had learned something! I went on to have friends at university who had taken their expeditions way too seriously and were horrified by the idea of pubs, National Trust campsites with shower facilities, and ice-cream vans. Generally speaking, I think we had the right idea. I'm sure HRH Phil would have approved.

I've also clearly been spending too much time with @stevenhorner (stevenhorner.com) and am slowly realising how much I have missed fell walking. So, having come to the conclusion that (amongst other things) I'd like to walk all the Wainwrights, all 214 of them, it seemed like a good idea to dig out these expedition notes. I have the original maps with route pencilled in, and will get it into a GPX file, eventually.

In the meantime, here is the expedition summary, from myself and AJ! I scanned some additional photos and tagged them onto the back of the report. Quality is not great, but I zapped a couple through Photoshop to give them a bit more oomph - which helps a bit. CLICK HERE for a link to my Flickr photostream.

Click cover to view as PDF.

Was just listening to Radcliffe and Maconie in the kitchen, in another desperate bid to avoid the mind numbing, IQ draining banality of ITV's Britain Loves Losers, and heard some amusing white lies on their phone in. These are all along the lines of Great Lies to Tell Small Kids, which includes such gems as "When I was your age Weetabix came in eight different shapes!"

1. The man who told his children that his hair was "blown off" by a sneezing cow.
2. The father who had always refused to buy sweets at the garage because he claimed they tasted of petrol.
3. The suggestion that snooker referees only wear white gloves because the TV lights make the balls too hot to handle.
4. And the extraordinary (and possibly true) claim that Bruce Forsyth invented the potato wedge.

It's a really good show, Radcliffe and Maconie - don't really listen to it as much as I should. Good variety of quality music and always amusing banter between the two presenters.