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Having started long distance walking in 1991, it has now turned into an annual event, so each winter I spend my time browsing the bookshops in search of inspiration for a new walk. To satisfy my requirements a walk must take a predominantly high level route through the hills and mountains. It should also avoid roads as much as possible and avoid towns and other busy places except where they are necessary for accommodation. Only a few of the 'official' walks fulfil these requirements so it becomes more difficult to find a suitable walk each year.
There are more and more books appearing on the shelves catering for the ever increasing interest in walking and many of the books are beautifully illustrated with photographs, giving a good insight into the nature of the scenery. One such book which caught my eye was "Walking the Lakeland Round" by Tom Lawton, which detailed a circular walk round the Lake District taking in most of the main mountain areas on the way. The word "circular" is rather a misnomer, as the route is far from being a circle except in the sense that it ends at the starting point. Although the book was very good, it was not the sort of book that could be taken on a walk as a guidebook, as it did not have detailed route maps. I left it in the shop but noted the route for use in conjunction with the four Outdoor Leisure Ordnance Survey maps of the Lake District, which went on my birthday present list.
The route in the book starts and ends in Grasmere and is shown in ten stages, some of them being quite strenuous. This is not so much from the daily distances, which are seldom more than 15 miles, but in the amount of ascent involved when the high level routes are taken. The stages in the book are based on staying mainly in B&B accommodation in towns and villages on the way. However, the Lake District is extremely well served with Youth Hostels, which I find more sociable for the lone walker, as well as costing less than B&Bs. I decided to adapt the walk to fit in with overnight stops at Youth Hostels and also to add in a couple of extra days to make it a little less strenuous, particularly where there was a heavy schedule of climbing. In some cases, the Youth Hostel stops added to the daily mileage, but adding in the extra two days to the walk offset some of this. In any case, the additional walking to some of the hostels was mainly on the flat so would not present much of a problem. This still left several days with rather a lot of climbing (between 4000 and 5000 feet of ascent), but this would be offset by the fact that on most days the mileage was fairly modest. This is important in mountainous terrain, as it is difficult to average speeds of more than 1.5 to 2 miles per hour in these conditions.
I noticed a recent book of a pre-war walk by Wainwright describing a similar route that he had undertaken himself with, if anything, even more climbing than this walk involved. He did it in six days with each day involving several thousand feet of climbing with the maximum being just short of 8000 feet! He was a young man at the time but even so, it was quite an achievement.
Planning and Booking
Because this is not an 'official' walk there was no need to stay strictly to any particular route, so I based my walk on the general concept of that in the book and, in fact, follow the same route for much of the way. The main changes come from adding some detours on the days that I decided to split into two, as otherwise some of these sections would have been rather short for a day's walking. Most of the high level sections of the walk can be bypassed using lower level alternatives should it prove necessary due to bad weather or fatigue, although I do try to stick to my planned route unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Having decided on the walk the next thing to do was to decide on a suitable time to do it. I normally find that the best time of year is from late May to June when the weather tends to be drier and fresher and the evenings are light. There were a few constraints as to dates when I could not go for one reason or another, so it came down to either early May or late May as being the only suitable times. The problem with late May was that it would mean being away for my wife Jean's fiftieth birthday. Early May was likely to suffer from poorer weather, although with the variations that can occur from one day to the next there is no telling when the weather is going to be best. However, Jean insisted that it would not matter if I were away on her birthday as we would not be able to have a proper family celebration until later because our eldest daughter Amanda would be in the middle of her finals at Newcastle University. I still did not feel happy with the idea and preferred to opt for the earlier time, but eventually after much debate and deliberation it was decided that I should start on Saturday 20th May.
The next thing to be decided was how to get to and from the start. With a circular walk, it is very convenient to go there by car, if there is somewhere convenient for the car to be left without someone thinking that it has been abandoned. The Lake District was close enough to reach in a few hours drive, so it would be possible to drive there early on the morning of the first day of the walk and drive back on the evening of the last day. This would avoid having to use up extra days of leave. In the Lake District, long term parking is not very easy to find, but I thought that it may be possible to leave the car at one of the Youth Hostels. The first few that I phoned had only very limited parking facilities so would not let me park for that length of time, especially as it would span the Bank Holiday weekend. However, it was suggested that I try Ambleside Youth Hostel as that was once a large hotel with more parking space than most others. I phoned there and they were willing to let me park providing I was actually going to stay there. I considered that this was a fair enough condition and so booked in there for the evening of Friday 19th May.
Ambleside was not exactly on the route I had planned but was close enough to require only a small detour, possibly with a change of route down from High Street on the last day if I were short of time. The rest of the route appeared to fit in with opening times of hostels, some of which have one or more closing day at this time of year, so I started phoning to make my bookings. Of the hostels that I managed to get through to (several having only limited opening in the middle March), there were three who were already full on the nights I wanted. I could accept that hostels might be full over the Bank Holiday, but Wastwater was full on the Tuesday beforehand - another case of a large party booking up the whole hostel. With such a poor success rate to start off with I was somewhat disappointed and also worried that the some of the hostels that I had not managed to contact might also be full. However, the Lake District has lots of hostels and I was able to find alternatives for two of them without having to make any significant change to the route. As for Wastwater, the best alternative to that was Eskdale which, if anything, is a slightly shorter walk from Elterwater but the following day would involve an extra three mile walk to get back over to Wasdale. This was no problem as that day's walk, being one of the ones I had split into two, was only 10 miles even with a few detours I had already added, so an extra three miles would not make it excessive.
Fortunately all the remaining bookings went without a hitch so I finally managed to book the whole route in hostels without having to use any B&B accommodation and also managed to arrange parking for my car into the bargain.
By now, I have a well-established list of equipment that I take, with only minor amendments for each walk. Normally I walk in shorts and do not take any walking trousers, only light trousers to wear in the evenings. Having had a lot of unseasonably cold weather recently, however, and with there being a lot of high level walking involved, I thought it wise to take a pair of corduroy trousers, a hat and gloves just in case. As it happens, I carried them all the way without using them once. That is just one of those things one cannot anticipate in advance. Another change to my kit was a lightweight sports towel that I was given as a present. This is small but very absorbent and most of the water can be wrung out of it after use, avoiding the normal problem of drying a towel and saving weight at the same time. Although this was not as comfortable to use as a normal towel, it did work quite well; the only drawback being that the towel and its case had to be washed out regularly as they tended to smell because they always remained damp. Other additions were a heavy-duty plastic rucksack liner as a further defence against prolonged rain, and a small sheet of foam plastic to sit on when resting on wet or rough ground.
Before the start of the walk I had to work in Newcastle, so I made my way directly from there to Ambleside on the Friday evening, travelling via Alston and the northern Pennines on the way, and that invoked memories of previous walks on the Pennine Way. It is rather strange visiting such places by car as the approach is so different. On the Pennine Way one is hardly aware of the presence of roads apart from the occasional need to cross one, so it is often difficult to envisage where the paths are relative to the roads. There were still some patches of snow remaining on Cross Fell following the recent spell of cold weather. However, the weather had already started to improve and promised to be quite good for the next few days. I stopped off in Penrith for fish and chips and to do some shopping for lunchtime food in the same places I had been to on the Westmorland Heritage Walk in 1993, invoking still more memories. Taking the picturesque route to Ambleside via Ullswater, I was able to see my route on the Westmorland Heritage Walk at the other side of the lake leading up to Place Fell and then on to Patterdale. The scenery around Ullswater looked beautiful and gave a taste of things to come, although there were a few rather ominous dark clouds lingering around the high fells.
Day 1 - Saturday 20th May 1995 - Ambleside to Grasmere via Fairfield Horseshoe
Distance: 12 miles, Ascent: 3350 ft
Accommodation: Butterlip How YHA - £14.70 Dinner B&B
I had quite a reasonable night's sleep although I tend to wake up around dawn at this time of year. The weather didn't look as good as promised: there had been rain overnight and there was still a lot of thick cloud about, particularly on the fells. I didn't want to rush to get away as I did not have such a long walk and I hoped that the weather might improve later. I had breakfast and spent some time sorting out my things and deciding what to take and what to leave in the car - I decided to take my walking trousers, cap and gloves, and leave behind my second pair of shorts.
Just as I was about to set off I found that my wallet was missing. I knew it had been in my back pocket at breakfast but I had since changed into shorts, so I searched through all the things I had packed, looked in the dining room, asked at reception and checked in and around the car, but it was nowhere to be found. I started wondering what I could do, as I still had a chequebook but no credit cards, a few pounds in change and my YHA membership card. I could possibly cash a cheque either at the hostel or a bank but would still need to report the missing credit cards. I went back to the dormitory, had one further look and, to my great relief, found the wallet under my bed.
I set off at 9.30am leaving my own details and those of my car with reception, in case there were any problems. I was a little surprised that they were happy to let me park the car there for 12 days when the car park had been quite full the previous night and the following weekend was Spring Bank Holiday. The reason was that there were a number of school parties booked in over the holiday weekend so there would not be so much pressure on parking space.
Sykeside and High Street from Hart Crag (Fairfield)
Rydal Valley and Lake Windermere from Fairfield
Helvellyn and Striding Edge from Fairfield
Central Lakeland Fells from Fairfield
Wetherlam, Swirl How and Crinkle Crags from Fairfield Easedale Tarn is on the far right
Dollywagon Pike, Helvellyn and Grisedale Tarn from Great Rigg
The start of the walk meant following the same route as last night into Ambleside before finding my way up the road which turned into a lane and then a path to Fairfield. It was spotting with rain but not bad enough to need waterproofs and it was a lot milder than of late. On the climb up the ridge, there were a few brighter spells but then it started to rain enough to require my waterproofs. I never like having to put them on when climbing upwards as the perspiration makes everything damp underneath. However, it brightened up again nearer the summit so I was able to take them off again for the rest of the day. The view out to High Street and the east was marvellously clear but the west still had a lot of heavy cloud as I stopped for lunch. At the summit, the cloud had cleared from nearly everywhere giving some breathtakingly clear views in all directions. As Fairfield is rather flat topped, it is best to wander around the edge to get the best view in each direction. From the various viewpoints it was possible to see as far as Cross Fell, Ingleborough, Morecambe Bay, the Solway Firth and the Southern Uplands of Scotland, as well as a whole panorama of Lakeland Fells in the nearer distance. Eventually, the only fells still to have some cloud were the Scafell Pikes and Great Gable. I spent a good while wandering around admiring the views and taking photographs as I had plenty of time to spare.
Rydal Water and Lake Windermere from Nab Scar
Butterlip How Youth Hostel, Grasmere and Stone Arthur
Eventually I started the long, steady descent at 3.10pm and was still treated to splendid views all of the way down. By Rydal Hall the path followed the hillside overlooking Rydal Water, before eventually coming out by Dove Cottage of Wordsworth fame.
As I went through Grasmere village, I looked for a shop to buy a few things for next day's lunch, but all the shops that were open were tourist shops, the little bakery being closed. I wasn't too worried as I had enough things left to manage with. I telephoned home and then made my way to Butterlip How hostel which is far closer to the village than Thorny How where I had stayed twice before. Butterlip How is a lovely big country house in extensive grounds that were well kept by YHA standards. Too often, the grounds of such hostels are left to become overgrown which is a great shame. Being close to the village, it is also much handier for popping to the pub in the evening.
I booked in and had dinner of tomato soup, chicken and vegetable pie and apple crumble. There were only seven having dinner - three of them were going to do a challenge walk the next day for charity. The walk is a figure of eight loop starting at Patterdale, going onto Helvellyn, Fairfield, round the Fairfield Horseshoe in the opposite direction, from Fairfield onto St. Sunday Crag and then down to Patterdale. There were supposed to be 700 people doing the walk, so I was heartily glad that I would not be on Fairfield at the same time. Because of the numbers doing the walk, the hostels nearer to the start were fully booked so the three of them would have to be off early to drive around to the registration point.
Two young women at dinner were doing the Lakeland Round like me, but had started from Coniston and were coming up to their last day. They were quite surprised to find someone who had not only heard of the walk, but who was actually doing it as well. They were doing the walk in the 10 stages laid out in the book but had actually missed out some of the high level sections because of bad weather and had missed out the Fairfield Horseshoe because they had done it before. Instead they had taken a taxi from Ambleside Youth Hostel to Troutbeck to walk over Wansfell Pike and had taken a taxi the previous day from Troutbeck to Ambleside. What they didn't realise was that they could have stayed at the hostel in Troutbeck but, because it is called Windermere Youth Hostel, they didn't know it was actually in Troutbeck. With some of the northern sections, they had stayed for three nights in Keswick Youth Hostel. The husband of one of them had visited by car enabling them to have lifts to and from the various start and finish points as well as enabling them to walk carrying only day packs for a couple of days.
The other person at dinner was a girl with a French accent who was complaining that wherever she had walked she kept coming across roads. She had expected to find large areas of wilderness which, if she had taken the trouble to consult a map, she could have done, but there again, without a map, it was perhaps better that she didn't find them or she may have got herself lost.
After dinner I went for a stroll round Grasmere Lake. Half of the way it is necessary to walk along the road but the western side is National Trust land with a public footpath. It was a beautiful evening with the sun still lighting up the hillsides until it eventually set behind the fells. This was a very good time of year for colour; many of the large houses around have beautiful rhododendrons and other shrubs and bushes with blazes of different colours. Woods and fields are carpeted in bluebells and there is wild garlic growing by the wayside.
Later I called back into the village again for a couple of pints in a pub that I had visited on previous occasions and is favoured by many of the walkers. The place got quite lively at one stage as a hen party moved in with the bride-to-be in fancy dress with balloons etc. tied onto her.
I returned to the hostel and slept quite well until the 'challenge walk' chaps got up at 6am with some grumbles about the kitchen being locked when the warden had promised to leave it open. I don't know how they managed - whether they woke up the warden or managed without.
Day 2 - Sunday 21st May 1995 : Grasmere to Coniston
Distance: 12.1 miles, Ascent: 2750 ft (+ 4 miles and 1200 ft to Coppermines)
There were a few more there for breakfast than had been at dinner. There was a party of five from France, two chaps who had been in my dormitory and three girls including the one who had been at dinner. There were also a couple of elderly women and the two 'Lakeland Round' girls.
Rydal Water and Wetherlam from Loughrigg Fell
Loughrigg Tarn from Loughrigg Fell
The weather was quite pleasant with an overall covering of light cloud and a bit of haze as I set out at 9am heading up the hillside to Silver Howe, which gives a splendid view over Grasmere Lake and Rydal Water. Unfortunately, the hazy conditions were not so good for photographs, but the view was still quite good. There was still some cloud on the higher fells but it did appear to be lifting gradually. I met the two girls from the hostel at Silver Howe and then a group of middle aged women who were doing the Westmorland Way. After a while I made my way over to Loughrigg Fell, which was the latter of the two moderately high hills of this day's walk. Despite the fact that this part of the route does not go very high, there are still a few steep ascents and descents over these lower fells so this is not entirely an easy day. At times, the sun attempted to break out and it was then quite pleasantly warm, but for the most part, it was overcast with a cool breeze.
There were quite a lot of people about, particularly on Loughrigg Fell and by Loughrigg Tarn, but then it was a Sunday. One chap I met said that Wordsworth wouldn't have "wandered lonely as a cloud" now! I just saw the two girls leaving Loughrigg Fell as I reached there - they had been in more of a hurry to make progress than I was and had gone on ahead of me.
At Skelwith Bridge I went along the path by the river to Skelwith Force and had lunch on the rocks there. Considerable numbers of people visited there from the other side of the river but none from my side. This section of the walk follows the Cumbria Way, making its way along to Tarn Hows, one of the many areas owned by the National Trust. The route, although not very high, gave good panoramic views of many of the fells, the visibility having improved considerably and the cloud having cleared from the tops. Coniston Old Man, Crinkle Crags, Bow Fell, the Langdale Pikes and Fairfield were all clearly in sight. I kept trying to see the Scafell Pikes but then realised that they are hidden by Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell unless you are high enough up to see over them.
On the way to Tarn Hows I again met the two girls who had stopped off in Skelwith Bridge to indulge in some sticky buns. Tarn Hows itself I didn't find particularly inspiring - if it were in some other area where the general scenery were not so good then I could appreciate it more. It is a pleasant place for a gentle stroll, which many people were doing, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see the place when there is so much more to see nearby. However, others may find the combination of tarns and woods more to their liking, whereas I tend to dislike woodland in areas like this because it blocks off the views of the mountains.
Skelwith Force
Coniston Coppermines and Swirl How
Despite having had quite a leisurely walk, I arrived in Coniston at 4pm and bought a few lunch things before dropping off my pack at the youth hostel. As it was still quite early, I decided to take a stroll up to the copper mines, as I would not have time to go that way the next day. Like many of these places, the area is being preserved as part of our industrial heritage. There is another youth hostel in one of the copper mine buildings and lots of old workings can be seen all around the hillsides, some of them in very steep and high places where tramways had to be built to get the ore down the hillside. As it was still early, I decided to go further up to Levers Water past a rather spectacular series of waterfalls. I remember coming up via this route over 30 years ago with a friend on our motorbikes. We were able to ride up the old mining road to, if my memory serves me correctly, just below the waterfalls, where there was an old lorry and other machinery rusting away in some ruined buildings. None of this was in evidence now, as there has been a certain amount of tidying up in recent times. The ascent was so much easier without a pack and I didn't realise that I had actually climbed to over half the height of Coniston Old Man and, by the time I had returned to the hostel, I had walked four miles. I got back to Coniston at 6pm, telephoned home from a public call box which tends to give better value than the payphones in hostels, and then returned to the hostel to book in, have a shower and get changed.
There were not many people staying that night, most having returned home at the end of the weekend. There were two couples at dinner; one elderly couple from Sheffield who were walking around hostels in one area then moving their car to another base and doing the same thing again. The other couple were from Newcastle and were touring by car, which would not have been permitted in the old youth hostelling days. The chap from Sheffield bore a remarkable similarity to Prince Charles, although he was about 20 years older and it was quite unnerving at first, wondering whether I should be addressing him as "Your Highness". Dinner was leek soup, pork with vegetables, and treacle sponge.
After dinner I washed out a few things, had a rest and then went into town for a pint and to post a card home. I spent ages searching the streets for a post box only to find that I had passed the Post Office on the opposite side of the road without noticing it. When I eventually got to the pub there was only time for one pint as I had forgotten that it was half past ten closing on Sunday.
Day 3 - Monday 22nd May 1995: Coniston to Elterwater via Coniston Old Man
Distance: 12 miles, Ascent: 3970 ft
Accommodation: Elterwater YHA - £13.90 Dinner B&B
It was a bright, sunny start to the day as I got up and went down to breakfast. The only others at breakfast were the couple from Sheffield. They have done a lot of walking in their time including the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast walk. Today they were having to move their things up to Coniston Coppermines Youth Hostel as this hostel is closed to normal members during the week at this time of year for use by groups and school parties.
The drying room was very good and most of my washing had dried out apart from my thick walking socks, which were still a bit damp. The best way to dry out damp things, if they are not too wet, is to wear them as the heat from the body soon dries them out, whereas the other technique of dangling things from straps on the rucksack only works well in warm, dry weather.
I had to go through town on the way, so I stocked up with a few more things for lunches as I didn't think that there would be any shop on my route through Eskdale. The first part of the walk was up a fairly easy, well defined track to Walna Scar with only a few steep sections, so I was able to make good progress, passing a group of youths on the way and leaving them way behind. Before the final ascent to Walna Scar, I saw the couple from Sheffield turning off for Coniston Old Man by the more direct route via Goat Water, whereas my route took the ridge to Dow Crag and then looped round to the Old Man. There were quite a few signs of mining and quarrying on all sides of the fells around this area, not just in the main area around Coniston coppermines.
The weather turned rather dull and overcast with the odd shower of rain as I made my way up the ridge from Walna Scar to Brown Pike and on to Dow Crag. This somewhat marred the view, but at least the cloud was high enough to be off the top of the fells and there were a few brighter patches in the sky. From the ridge to Dow Crag, the massive bulk of Coniston Old Man dominates the view to the east with the southern part of Coniston Water visible beyond it and to the south. To the west is Harter Fell and Eskdale, not to be confused with the other Harter Fell which is in the far eastern fells. There is a fine bird's eye view of Goat's Water far beneath and a number of very steep gullies fall away below.
I decided that I could just comfortably make the descent to Goat Hawse and climb the 500 ft onto Coniston Old Man in time for lunch at the summit. The weather brightened up when I reached there and there was even a bit of weak sunshine breaking through. There were some spectacular views down to the tarns below and the coppermines, but the distant views over to the Scafell Pikes were still rather hazy. I met up with the couple from Sheffield again and there were several other people about, but far less than had been around at the weekend. I could see the group of youths I had passed on the way up - they had only just reached Dow Crag.
Low Water, Levers Water & Wetherlam from Coniston Old Man
After spending some time at the summit I made my way along the ridge to Swirl How which gave a good view overlooking Little Langdale Tarn as well as a better view of the next day's walk over Crinkle Crags, Bow Fell and Scafell Pikes. The Langdale Pikes were quite prominent and Helvellyn and Fairfield were just visible in the distant haze.
A steep scramble then took me down Prison Band to Swirl Hawse with a good view of Lever's Water, and a further 500 ft climb brought me to the summit of Wetherlam, which does not give as good views as some of the other peaks. My map showed a clearly marked right of way down the north side of Wetherlam. It started with a small path, which then disappeared, and I was faced with scrambling down a very steep grassy hillside with craggy outcrops. The going was very difficult and I was heartily glad when I met up with a proper path again near the bottom. The problem with the latest Ordnance Survey maps is that they show public rights of way very prominently, luring the unwary into believing that this implies that a path exists. In fact the real paths, which are shown far less distinctly, often either do not exist, or take a different route from the right of way. I have been caught out by this on many occasions and continue to make the same mistake. Looking at Tom Lawton's book later, I should have taken a route down to the east rather than the north.
Pack Horse Bridge, Little Langdale
Down in Little Langdale valley the temperature was much higher and there was very little wind. There is a complete change in scenery here, changing from the dramatic scenery of the high fells to the essence of peaceful, rural tranquillity of Little Langdale. After climbing a few gentle hills, I reached Elterwater Youth Hostel. The signs outside said it was full although it didn't look like it when I reached my eight-bedded dormitory, which was empty.
There were only four having dinner, which was soup, sausage casserole and Eve's pudding with ice cream. The others were an assistant warden from Patterdale Hostel, a girl student from Canada and a chap from Gloucester. The assistant warden was a young chap who was on a busman's holiday on his days off, carrying his guitar in a black bin liner as he walked from hostel to hostel. He had only been learning the guitar for four months but was already playing it quite well.
At about 9pm three Scottish men and a woman arrived from Ulverston after their first day of the Cumbria Way. Two of them had walked the full 23 or more miles, whereas the other two had decided that it would be too much and had made a diversion via Lake Windermere to take the boat up to Ambleside and thus reduce the walking distance to about 16 miles.
Later in the evening, I went into the village to post a card and to call for a drink in the pub. Having found the Post Office I hunted all over for a post box but without success - it turned out that the post box is inside the Post Office and, therefore, only accessible when it is open! I went across to the pub and had a pint of Boddington's bitter, which is normally one of the cheaper bitters, for £1.60. A while later a couple of locals came in and were charged £2.75 for a pint of Boddington's and a pint of something else, so it is obviously a case of ripping off the tourists. The landlord had an almost shaved head, a beard and an enormous beer belly and eyed up everyone with a miserable scowl on his face, grumbling that trade was not very good tonight. I could understand why and didn't bother to stay for another pint.
Back at the hostel, the chap with the guitar was playing and two others were sitting with him. They were both British Telecom men in their early fifties who had been lured into early retirement by a very generous package of cash and enhanced pension benefits. One of them was having a go on the guitar, as he used to play some time ago.
Day 4 - Tuesday 23rd May 1995: Elterwater to Eskdale via Scafell Pikes
Distance: 16.6 miles, Ascent: 5200 ft
Accommodation: Elterwater YHA - £14.70 Dinner B&B
It was quite a pleasant start to the morning as I went down to breakfast. There were quite a few more at breakfast than were at dinner - obviously, they must have had dinner elsewhere. This was the first hostel so far without a dishwasher, so I helped to wash up both at dinner and breakfast.
I set off at 9.15am along Great Langdale valley, following the route of the Cumbria Way for the first few miles. It was pleasantly warm so I took off my T-shirt for the first time so far. My feet and legs were standing up to the walk very well with little problem from either; the only slight problem being that after the first day of the walk my left big toenail had suffered from pushing into the front of my boot on the descent. Since then it had caused a bit of discomfort as it had swollen slightly thereby lifting the nail a bit more and causing it to be aggravated on steep descents. The only other problem, which has just started, was a touch of 'jogger's nipple' where my shirt had been rubbing. Over the past year, I have had a few problems with this when wearing certain shirts so a change to a different T-shirt may prove necessary, but a spell without one on would also help.
Along the valley the mountains stand majestically all around but, pleasant as it is in the valley, my heart lies at the top of the fells and I was glad to reach the place where I parted company with the Cumbria Way to head upwards onto Crinkle Crags. It was 11.15am when I started the ascent, having done about a third of the day's mileage but far less than a third of the time and effort. It was a beautiful day apart from the distant haze as I started the 2000 ft climb up to the start of the ridge after first having a rest and a snack. After the initial steep path the route got easier and I was able to make good progress with very few rests up to the first 'Crinkle' of Crinkle Crags, where I stopped for lunch at 12.45 pm.
Unfortunately, the haze restricted the view to about five miles or so, but apart from that, the weather was very pleasant and not too cool even at nearly 3000 ft. The passage along Crinkle Crags involves several steep scrambles up and down which severely restricts the speed of progress. At one point, I had to scramble up a gully that had a large horizontal slab of rock sticking out, apparently blocking the way. The rocks at either side of the gully were devoid of good footholds and several people were turning back to take a different way round. I remembered two years ago, when I was coming from the other direction and had to lower myself down, wondering how difficult it would be to climb up. A chap coming the other way revealed the secret: by crawling on a ledge underneath the slab of rock, it is possible to come up through an opening behind it. The manoeuvre required my rucksack to be removed and pushed up ahead of me but I managed it without too much difficulty.
Sca Fell and Scafell Pike from Bow Fell
Great Gable and Styhead Tarn from Great End
Lingmell and Pillar from Broad Crag
I reached Bow Fell by 2.15pm with a fine view of the Scafell Pikes looming ahead. Although I had made good progress, I still had a long way to go so, after stopping for a short while to chat to a chap on the summit, I made my way over Esk Pike at the head of Eskdale and on towards Scafell Pikes. After Esk Pike, there was the possibility of a short optional detour of about half a mile and 150 ft ascent over to Great End. Great End looks quite insignificant from this side, but just past the summit it drops away very steeply to Sty Head Tarn revealing magnificent views of Great Gable, the head of Wasdale and the valley down into Borrowdale, so it was well worth the detour. I took off my T-shirt again, as it was quite warm in the shelter from the wind (I had put it back on again when I stopped for lunch on Crinkle Crags).
I couldn't stay for long as time was pressing and there was still about two miles of not very fast scrambling over rocks to Scafell Pikes. The fell tops all along this ridge are devoid of much soil covering and consist mainly of mounds of rocks and stones which are not very easy for walking on. Looking at my watch I realised that I would not have time to do the optional climb up Lord's Rake onto Sca Fell. This would involve descending and ascending about 900 ft, although the descent to Eskdale from the summit of Sca Fell would be easier and more direct than that from Scafell Pikes. I pressed on over Broad Crag to the summit of Scafell Pikes which I reached at 4.15pm. The view from the summit is not particularly good, as it is a rather flat topped mountain. There is a still a lofty feeling of being at the highest point in England, even though the summit of Sca Fell, about 50 ft lower, can give the mistaken impression that it is higher. The wind was quite strong and distinctly cold so as soon as I had stopped climbing I quickly put my shirt back on.
Great Gable from Scafell Pike
Scafell Pikes and Broad Crag from River Esk
Sca Fell and Scafell Pike from Eskdale<
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After quarter of an hour around the summit I headed down to Mickledore, which is the ridge separating the two pikes. The route straight ahead involves some genuine rock climbing, which is why walkers have to drop considerably further down before finding a suitable scramble up to Sca Fell. However, as I went past, I saw a group of three without any equipment attempting the climb by giving each other a leg up or a haul up. It was something that could easily lead to an accident, but they seemed to have managed to get past the most difficult part by the time I lost sight of them.
The descent down into Eskdale is very steep and tiring on the legs until the hanging valley of the River Esk is reached. At the start of the descent the huge craggy cliffs of Sca Fell tower above and are awe-inspiring. At the bottom is the Esk valley that is a delightful place, a beautifully flat, green valley hidden away from civilisation and surrounded by high mountains. There was one solitary tent in the valley and a couple of walkers over the other side of the river but otherwise it was deserted. I still had over four miles to walk to the hostel so I pressed on at a very rapid walking pace despite the fact that I was tired from the day's exertions. Fortunately the going was now much flatter and easier and I eventually managed to reach the hostel by 6.45pm, just in time to have a quick shower before dinner but too late to have first choice on the menu. On the way through farmland, I passed by a ewe looking very forlorn as she stood a few yards from her dead lamb, not knowing what to do. Nearly all the lambs around here are black although the ewes are a normal greyish white colour. I can only assume that they are not 'colour fast' and that they fade when washed in the Lakeland rain or go prematurely grey at an early age. Shortly after I passed the dead lamb, I saw the farmer coming along the lane on his motorised quad bike, so he would no doubt dispose of it.
The hostel was quite busy, occupied mainly by a party of thirty or forty sixth form girls and their teachers as well as several other walkers and cyclists. For dinner I had lentil soup with seconds, then Hobson's choice of cheese flan as the sausages were all spoken for. The cheese flan was very tasty and there were second helpings of that as well, which I availed myself of, before finishing off with pudding.
In my dormitory I was surprised to find the two ex BT chaps Bill and Alex who, having driven round from Elterwater, had spent the day by the coast and on the Eskdale railway. Alex is a great narrow gauge railway fan and spends some of his time as engine driver on the narrow gauge railway at Cleethorpes. He managed to negotiate a vast discount on the ticket prices because of his connections. They both live in Lincolnshire and, when I mentioned that I lived in Kirk Smeaton, I was quite surprised to find that Alex knew of it because of the Harrisons who used to live in the village. They had a traction engine and fairground organ, as well as an interest in narrow gauge railways. I spent most of the evening chatting with the two of them and then we went to the Woolpack just down the road. It was very pleasant in there and I noticed that, on his price list, Boddington's bitter was £1.25 a pint, which was 35 pence cheaper than in Elterwater. I mentioned this and a local at the bar, who had done a lot of drinking at Elterwater, said that it was normal practice to charge the locals about 20 pence less for their drinks. We drank Theakston's XB which, being a stronger ale, was £1.55 a pint.
Day 5 - Wednesday 24th May 1995: Eskdale to Black Sail (Ennerdale) via Pillar
Distance: 12.5 miles, Ascent: 4100 ft
Accommodation: Black Sail YHA - £14.85 Dinner, B&B, packed lunch
I had a reasonable night's sleep despite the fact that I had a top bunk because our dormitory was full and it was rather hot. It is always a nuisance having a top bunk, especially after visiting the pub, which makes it necessary to get up in the night. The bed also creaked whenever I moved in the night, which disturbed Alex's sleep below. Bill wore earplugs to block out the noise of Alex's snoring but I didn't hear it, or perhaps the creaking of my bunk stopped him from going into a deep enough sleep to start snoring.
It was a warm day so at breakfast most of the girls were wearing shorts, which was quite a sight to start the day. The weather, though fine, was still rather hazy and the forecast was for showers later.
I set off at 9.15am heading up the path behind the pub towards Burnmoor Tarn. There was nobody else about, which is one of the beauties of Eskdale - apart from driving over the Hardknott Pass and riding on the Eskdale railway, not too many people visit here. There is a lot of beautiful scenery around Eskdale, albeit gentler than in other parts, but with the highest fells not far away. This part of my walk is not in the book, but was put in to obtain YHA accommodation. The book assumes accommodation at Wasdale Head and goes up the Black Sail Pass, over Pillar into Ennerdale, then over Red Pike to Buttermere. I split this into two days allowing the detour to Eskdale hostel and more ridge walking at either side of Ennerdale.
I was feeling rather weary after the strenuous walk of the previous day, especially the great rush back to the hostel, so I was glad that, in the morning at least, I had a fairly easy walk. Burnmoor Tarn is nestled behind the Wastwater Screes, which are much more rounded and grassy from that side. Much of the walking was on green grassy roads and I eventually met up with the old Corpse Road, which was used to take the dead from Wasdale Head over to Boot for burial. To the right stood Sca Fell and what appeared to be an easy path to the summit. From this aspect Sca Fell looks a smooth and rounded fell that is just the opposite of the very steep and craggy aspect from the other side. Across the tarn, I could see Yewbarrow, which was the first steep climb of the day. Looking at the steep ascent and feeling very weary, I wondered whether I had make the right decision to include it or whether I should just go up onto Pillar via the Black Sail Pass. However, I determined to stick to my plan and made my way down to the head of Wast Water past the campsite where I had often stayed in my youth, and started the ascent of Yewbarrow. I cut a corner off by heading at an angle up a field but that didn't make the ascent any easier as the path was rather awkward. When I reached the main path, it really was quite an effort making my way up because it was so steep. By taking frequent rests I eventually struggled to the summit ridge where there was a good view of Wast Water and all the high fells around, spoiled somewhat today by the haze.
Steeple from Great Scoat Fell
I stopped for lunch and then made my way easily along the ridge before tackling the equally steep, though not as long descent to Dore Head. From there the ascent to Red Pike (not to be confused with the other Red Pike overlooking Buttermere) was much more gentle and I had also started to regain some energy, enabling me to keep up a steady plod without too many rests. I was now on part of the Mosedale Horseshoe with fine, though hazy views down into the valley and across to the surrounding fells. From then on, the ridge walk was easy and I detoured slightly onto Great Scoat Fell and part of the way over to Steeple to get a view down Ennerdale. I came back over Little Scoat Fell to commence the moderately steep ascent of Pillar, which was the last ascent of the day.
At this point, some very dark clouds started approaching and it was spotting with rain. I put on my waterproofs and, before long, there were rumbles of thunder. It was then just as if someone had switched out the light. I was plunged into the mist with horizontal rain stinging the side of my face through my hood. I had had a good view of the path down from Pillar from the other side of the valley, so at least I knew it was, for the most part, a steady descent down to the top of Black Sail Pass. I was, thus, able to find my way without any difficulty. As I descended, the ferocity of the wind and rain reduced, and by the time I reached the pass I had just come out of the cloud. It was still raining heavily all the way to the hostel but at least I could see where I was going and could make out the welcoming sight of the Black Sail Hut which I reached at 5.15pm.
I opened the door into the living area to be greeted with a glowing stove round which several others were seated. It was very pleasant to sit there warming myself and drying out. There was a large wooden roof beam, which acted as a boot rack, and wet clothes could be hung from an old-fashioned clothes rack, which lowered down from the ceiling on ropes and pulleys. When the warden eventually appeared from the back, he was not expecting me and I had to show him my booking receipt to prove that I had booked. He was very apologetic for the mistake that must have been made by the previous warden, and there was no further problem. Surprisingly, this was the first time in all of my walks that a booking had gone wrong.
The hostel consists of a series of separate rooms with no interconnection, so it is necessary to go outside to get to either of the dormitories or the toilet, which can be a nuisance when it is pouring with rain as it was that evening. The kitchen sinks provide washing facilities, with hot and cold water but no shower. This is a small price to pay for the marvellously isolated location of this hostel in the heart of the high mountains and it is quite surprising that the hostel offers a full meals service rather than being just a self catering hostel like Skiddaw House. Supplies to the hostel can be brought up to the end of the forest road by car from Gillerthwaite hostel four miles further down the valley, but have to be carried the last quarter of a mile up the track to the hostel. The warden on his bicycle transports some of the lighter items but for heavier items, the Gillerthwaite warden's car has to be used.
Dinner was vegetable soup, ham and mushroom pie followed by jam sponge. The meal was good with soup that was almost as thick as stew - quite spicy and served with home made bread. The rain was still pouring down outside, but it was quite interesting to watch the clouds rolling over the mountains, some of them clinging to the sides of the fells.
The stove in the main living area was very welcoming when coming in from the cold and wet outside but before very long it turned the place into a sauna, even with the door left fully open. As it was too wet to stand outside, people were taking it in turns to stand in the doorway to cool down. After a bit of chat most people read from the shelf of books in there and then retired early to bed. As the warden came to make up the stove for the night, he discovered that the cast iron grate had disintegrated. There was no spare, so it would mean a trip to Egremont the next day in the hope of getting a replacement. If not, the hostel would not be quite so welcoming to the next day's group of walkers.
Day 6 - Thursday 25th May 1995: Black Sail to Buttermere via High Stile
I had a reasonable night's sleep - there was heavy rain overnight but I didn't hear it. The cloud was still covering the high mountains and there were a few rather black ones hanging around the fells. I set off from the hostel at 9.15am and headed in the direction of Great Gable, as the weather was starting to look a bit brighter, even though there was cloud over the summit. I found the initial ascent quite easy as I had recovered from the fatigue of the previous day. Much of this day's walk was of my own making, as the route in the book goes straight over Red Pike after the descent into Ennerdale from Pillar. Having split this section into two days, I had decided to walk the ridge from Haystacks over High Stile to Red Pike and, optionally, climb Great Gable for old time's sake, as that was where I had proposed to Jean 23 years ago.
My route from the hostel took me towards Windy Gap between Green Gable and Great Gable. Instead of taking that route to the summit, I decided to take the path which traverses the flank of Great Gable to Beck Head between Great Gable and Kirk Fell, and from there to go over the summit and back to Windy Gap. From Beck Head, where I stopped for a snack, there was quite a good view down Wasdale, although it was rather cloudy and hazy. As I started the steep ascent to the summit, I soon entered the cloud and rain and lost the view until I got back down to Windy Gap. The summit was rather inhospitable so, pausing only to finish off writing a postcard to Jean, I made my way down.
At Windy Gap a man, who was heavily wrapped up in waterproofs, spoke to me. When he removed his hood, I realised it was a chap who had been staying at the hostel. He was just wondering whether to climb to the summit of Great Gable as it was still covered in cloud. He decided to do so and, as I found when I bumped into him later in the walk, was rewarded at the summit with a parting of the clouds and a view down Wasdale.
Ennerdale, Buttermere and Crummock Water from Brandreth
Borrowdale from Grey Knotts
Ennerdale from Brandreth
Over Green Gable the cloud kept dropping and lifting and swirling about giving some quite dramatic effects as views would be obscured one minute and then suddenly unveiled again the next. On the whole the weather seemed to be improving, although it seemed better in the east, where I could see the Langdale Pikes, quite a few of the eastern fells and Borrowdale. To the west, I was suddenly rewarded with a view of Buttermere and Ennerdale highlighted with a few bright patches of sunlight, and the cloud was almost clear of the fell tops. I took the gentle walk over Brandreth to Grey Knotts overlooking Honister, before making my way back across to Haystacks. I was feeling in very good form and hardly noticed the weight of the pack on my back, so I was able to stride out well without feeling tired. Patches of sunlight started to appear and the long distance visibility was excellent.
Buttermere from Seat (near Haystacks)
Red Pike from High Stile
Bleaberry Tarn and Lake Buttermere from Red Pike
As I made my way over Haystacks, I spared a thought for Wainwright, whose ashes were scattered there according to his wishes; there was a heavy shower. At High Stile there was another one, but in between the weather was getting brighter and clearer giving some outstanding views down to Buttermere and Crummock Water, Ennerdale, Newlands, Honister and back to the high fells around Great Gable. From Red Pike, with its marvellous bird's eye views over Buttermere, I took the longer and more gradual descent via Scale Force, rather than the direct one down the steep mountainside.
Crummock Water from Red Pike
Scale Force is a waterfall that tumbles down a steep crevice into a deep pool below. The crevice sides are very steep and the entrance to it from the bottom quite narrow with a rock ledge acting as a dam to the pool. I remembered back over 25 years ago when I visited here with my brother and his wife on a very hot day. The crystal clear pool looked very inviting and my brother could not resist the temptation to strip off and dive into it. It was somewhat colder than he had bargained for, so he soon decided to get out. At that point, he discovered that the only place of exit was obstructed by the rotting carcass of a dead sheep, which must have lost its footing on the rocks above. He has always been very squeamish about such things and, to make matters worse for him, some other people could be seen approaching the bottom of the falls. He had no option but to clamber over the sheep and hurriedly put some clothes on before the other people arrived. He was not amused by the fact that we found the whole thing very funny and failed to see his predicament in a serious light.
I noticed that the time was getting on a bit so I had only time for a cursory glance at the falls before making my way to the hostel at a brisk pace, arriving at 6.15 pm. In my dormitory, I found a group of four who had been staying the previous night at Black Sail. They were a grandfather, a father and two grown up sons - I had not realised that they were coming to Buttermere as their talk had been of walking to Honister to pick up their car. The hostel was very nice; another large country house in a fine position and well cared for. It was pleasant to return to the comfort of a hot shower, which is always refreshing after a day's walk.
I sat at a table with a couple of chaps from London and a girl who worked in Ambleside Youth Hostel for my dinner of soup, smoked mackerel and rhubarb crumble. The girl was complaining that she didn't like Ambleside hostel and the type of people who stayed there, who generally treated the staff as servants. She also didn't like the fact that they had so many school parties; they were currently slightly overbooked with 230 people from four school parties, all of whom were having meals there. She had to stand there in the cafeteria dishing out 230 portions of whatever was on offer, which was somewhat monotonous.
As there was a very good drying room in the hostel, I took the opportunity to wash out everything that needed washing before going down to the Fish Inn in Buttermere village. After a couple of pints of Jennings' bitter I returned and went to bed at 10 pm for an early night as I was feeling rather weary. The problem with my sleep pattern was that I tended to get a few hours of reasonably sound sleep, then lie awake for ages before dropping back into an intermittent, light sleep. By nearly 8am, I was still half-asleep and it was quite a struggle to rouse myself and get ready for breakfast.
Day 7 - Friday 26th May 1995: Buttermere to Keswick via Grasmoor
Distance: 13.2 miles, Ascent: 4280 ft
Accommodation: Buttermere YHA - £15.50 Dinner B&B
Whereas it had been very quiet at dinner with only eight takers, the dining room was packed full for breakfast with the influx of a school/college party who had been there all week but who had eaten elsewhere on their last night away. I sat with the two chaps from London who were driving home after breakfast and giving the girl from Ambleside Youth Hostel a lift back there on the way. The two wardens serving breakfast were complete opposites - one never smiled at all and the other had a permanent beam on his face. One of the Londoners put this down to the fact that one was married and the other was not!
My washing was completely dry - even the thick walking socks had dried, so I was well prepared for a few days without having to do any more washing. I decided to look at the big toe on my left foot as the nail was still rather raised due to a blister underneath. I burst the blister with a pin from my sewing kit (it sometimes does come in useful) and released quite a lot of liquid. I should have done this at the start as it relieved the pressure in there and stopped the nail from being constantly pressed by my boot, especially on steep descents. In the fullness of time I expect the nail will come off, but for the moment it was fine.
I got off to a rather leisurely start at 9.45am, as I was taking a little bit of time to come to. I had ordered a packed lunch from the hostel as there didn't seem to be anywhere much to buy such things in the village. It was actually quite a good one, as had been the one from Black Sail, unlike some I have had in the past from some hostels, which is the reason that I try to cater for my own lunches wherever possible.
Buttermere from Whiteless Pike
Crummock Water and Lowes Water from Whiteless Pike
Coledale from Crag Hill with Skiddaw to left Blencathra is just right of centre
The climb up to Whiteless Pike is quite steep, which is never good first thing in the day, but by the time I was halfway up I was beginning to get back into my stride and not finding it such an effort. The weather was quite reasonable - there were a lot of thick clouds about but there were some breaks in them and a few bright patches particularly to the west. In the low land near the coast, it was quite sunny, whereas over the higher fells the clouds were forming and gathering.
Grisedale Pike and Coledale from Coledale Hawse
Keswick and Derwent Water from Grisedale Pike
From Whiteless Pike, the walking was a lot easier with mostly gradual ascents to the other peaks. There were some good views of the coast from Grasmoor and Hopegill Head, and good views of Skiddaw and Keswick from Crag Hill. At times, the wind was bitter and, when I stopped for lunch on Grasmoor, I put on my waterproofs as protection from the icy blasts. The visibility was very good again, with the Solway Firth and the Southern Uplands of Scotland very clearly visible stretching far off to the west, whilst the Isle of Man was very faintly visible amidst some cloud further south. The Cumbrian coast could be plainly seen down to the start of the Coast to Coast walk at St. Bees Head. The route could be traced past the chemical works at Whitehaven and up to Dent Hill.
The last climb of the day was Grisedale Pike giving good views of Skiddaw, Keswick and Derwent Water. The wind was quite strong and, as I got up to take a photograph, I looked round to see my foam plastic mat disappearing across the hillside at high speed. I walked across for a way to see if it had come to rest anywhere but it was nowhere to be seen. It only cost me £1, so it was not a great loss, although I had found it quite useful at times.
The path down from Grisedale was quite steep until the lower ridge was reached, at the end of which another steep climb brought me down to Braithwaite. Rather than walking along the side of the busy main road into Keswick, I studied the map to find footpaths which, although they involved somewhat more walking, were far more pleasant and took me most of the way with only a little road walking. I arrived at the hostel, which is situated right on the riverside close to the town centre, at 6 pm and there I bumped into the chap I had met in Black Sail Hut and at Windy Gap - I didn't realise that he was going to be there.
After booking into the hostel, I telephoned Jean to wish her a happy fiftieth birthday. Her plans for going for a pub meal with our younger daughter Jen were thwarted by Jen having been off school because she wasn't feeling very well, so she was going to order a take-away to be delivered.
The evening meal was soup, roast chicken and fruit flan with ice cream, and seconds of both the soup and the sweet. Although this is quite a big hostel, it retains a friendly atmosphere. I shared a table with the chap I had met at Black Sail, a couple from Worcester who were spending a couple of nights away from their kids, a chap doing the Cumbrian Way and a Canadian woman who was spending a year seeing the world. Where she comes from she has done some walking in very remote places - one walk was seven days out and seven days back with no habitation on the way. She had to carry all the food and camping equipment for the fortnight, and said she could hardly lift her rucksack.
Day 8 - Saturday 27th May 1995: Keswick to Borrowdale via Dale Head
I had one of the best night's sleep so far on a bunk which neither creaked nor sagged. The weather was quite bad with steady rain and low cloud, but the forecast was for drier weather later. I was rather slow getting started, as I wanted to see if the rain would stop. This section of the walk was another one that I had split into two days to help with the extra distance to and from Keswick Youth Hostel. The first day of the two was quite strenuous, going over Cat Bells, High Spy, Dale Head, Hindscarth and Robinson, returning via Dale Head to Borrowdale. The second day was a much shorter and easier walk via Watendlath Tarn and Walla Crag, back to Keswick. If necessary, I could reverse the two walks to do the low-level walk in the bad weather and hope for better weather the next day.
I went down to the local Co-op to shop for lunches, calling at the Post Office on the way to buy some more stamps. There was rather a slow queue in the Post Office, so I decided to do my other shopping first and return on my way back. When I called in again, the service was still very slow. Whilst I was waiting, an irate man at the other counter was complaining that when he obtained some French francs from them, he had been given some 1000-franc notes. The problem was that they were 1948 notes from before the time when they changed the currency to make one new franc equal 1000 old francs. The man was not very happy, especially when the counter clerk didn't seem to treat the matter very seriously. I got fed up with waiting again and went into a newsagent's shop, where I was served straight away.
Back at the hostel, I sorted out a number of things that I could manage without for the next couple of days and left them with the warden, as there seemed no point in carrying any more than necessary. Eventually I set off at just after 10am and decided to stick to my original route as, even though it was still raining a bit, there did seem to be a few breaks in the clouds. The first few miles of the walk were more or less flat until the ascent of Cat Bells, which has a steep ascent made easier by a well made zigzag path. There were some excellent views of Derwent Water from there despite the rather poor weather. On the way I met a couple who recognised me from the pub on the previous night and they joked about the couple who had been arguing. The walk further along the ridge was quite easy, as the ascent was reasonably gradual. A slight detour over to the left gave a very dramatic view of Borrowdale with a wild atmosphere created by the heavy clouds and patches of sunshine breaking through.
Skiddaw and Blencathra from Hindscarth Edge
After the descent to Dalehead Tarn my plan was to leave my rucksack there whilst I climbed over Dale Head to Hindscarth and Robinson and back again - a walk of about six miles, with quite a lot of ascent. Before leaving it, however, I took the precaution of leaving a note on it saying "Gone to Summit - Returning Shortly". This was just in case anyone wondered what it was doing there, as had happened three years ago on the Coast to Coast walk, when someone ended up taking my rucksack to Keswick Police Station.
Without a pack the walking, and particularly the climbing, was so much easier and I was able to make good progress. There were some more dramatic views from time to time with the weather and lighting conditions changing by the minute as the clouds raced by overhead and patches of sunlight suddenly highlighted parts of the scene. At times, it was difficult to stand up in the strong wind as it whistled round the fells. Each of the three fells had its own particularly good view over different parts of the area. The showers of rain were not particularly troublesome as they were interspersed with brighter spells which, combined with the strong wind, soon dried things out again. I started out from Dalehead Tarn at 2.10 pm and got back at 4.50 pm, having had one or two short stops at some of the good viewpoints. After a short rest, I made my way down to Longthwaite Youth Hostel in Borrowdale. The descent was rather steep at first past the old quarries but was then followed by a walk through woods in the valley to the hostel where I arrived at 6 pm.
When I was booking in, the girl at reception said that there was another Mr. Tod booked in for two nights with the same, unusual spelling of surname. There are not all that many Tods in the country so I was curious as to whether he was a relative. However, I never met up with him so I will never know. When I went into the dining room I met the chap from Gloucester who had been in Elterwater hostel - it certainly is a small world when you are hostelling around the Lake District. There was also a school party in there so there was quite a lot of noise during dinner, which consisted of soup, sausage apple and onion bake and treacle sponge. The school party was actually quite well behaved; it is just that the volume level of chatter gets higher and higher as everyone tries to talk above everyone else.
The payphone in the hostel was broken with a sign indicating that there were public telephones in Rosthwaite, Stonethwaite and Seatoller. The nearest was Rosthwaite at just over half a mile and, as that also boasted a pub, I decided to make my way there. When I arrived at the telephone box there was already a queue of three or four, and more rolled up quickly behind - it then started to rain. The telephone was just by the entrance to the ladies' toilets so some of us took shelter in the doorway (any comments about it being the Ladies' being rejected as sexist). The first chap on the telephone took ages as he had got someone to ring him back. There was grumbling and murmuring from everyone and some talk of forming a lynch mob, but he eventually came out saying, "Don't ever have a mother!" so he was quickly forgiven. A girl behind me in the queue was getting very impatient as she had got a drink in the pub and had ordered a meal, so she was trying to ration everyone to short calls. What didn't help was the BT bargain weekend call rates, which meant that even 10 pence lasted for quite a while, and some people were putting in 50 pence. When it was my turn I did the decent thing; made a very quick call and then went to the pub.
Despite the fact that the bar was very extensive, it was a squeeze to get in there, although I did manage to get served quite quickly. I was sure that the barman had said £1.74 and then rung up £1.54, so I called him back to complain, thinking that I was being ripped off, only to find that I had been given the correct change for £1.54, so I had to walk away rather sheepishly. I managed to find a tiny bit of standing room next to a couple of chaps from the hostel who had been in the telephone queue. After drinking my pint, I headed off back to the hostel and the other two did the same shortly afterwards, as there was no pleasure in drinking in those overcrowded conditions - I suppose it is only to be expected on a Bank Holiday weekend. There were still a few people queuing for the telephone as I went past, although none of the earlier ones were still there. I had taken my waterproof jacket but not my over-trousers and I had trainers on my feet. On the way back the heavens opened and my trousers and feet got soaked. I suppose that one has to expect this in a place that boasts of having the highest rainfall in Great Britain. At the head of Borrowdale, Styhead Tarn has an average of 173 inches of rain a year, and in the year of 1954, Sprinkling Tarn had 257 inches.
Day 9 - Sunday 28th May 1995: Borrowdale to Keswick via Watendlath Tarn
Distance: 10.6 miles, Ascent: 1630 ft
Accommodation: Keswick YHA - £15.50 Dinner B&B
Despite a good night's sleep I still felt as if I could have stayed in bed all day. The weather seemed a little bit more settled, although there had already been some rain. At breakfast, the kids were a lot quieter, so it was a bit more relaxing. There was no rush to get started as I had an easy day ahead, which I could do with after a lot of rather strenuous ones.
The weather didn't stay fine for long and I had to put on my waterproofs after only half a mile because of a heavy shower, and had to keep them on until mid afternoon. There were a few bright spells from time to time but, in general, it was rather wet and dreary. I made a point of not pushing myself during the day, taking any ascents in easy stages with plenty of rests. This was partly because I knew I had plenty of time on my hands but also because I felt that I had been pushing myself on some sections and wanted to make this like a rest day to regain my strength for the rest of the walk. Much of the route was along a popular tourist trail, not far from road access but the bad weather made it far less busy than it might have been on a Bank Holiday Sunday. There were some reasonable views at times but they were mostly marred by the dreary weather.
Eagle Crag, Sergeant's Crag and Stonethwaite Beck from Lingy End
Derwent Water from Falcon Crag
Castlerigg Stone Circle
By the middle of the afternoon the rain actually eased off and it started to brighten up a little. By this time I was dropping down from Walla Crag towards Keswick, so I decided to take in Castlerigg Stone Circle on the way, although this meant that the only practical route back down into Keswick was by the road. I reached the hostel at 5.45 pm and retrieved the things I had left with the warden. I was in a dormitory with three chaps from near Leeds who were doing the Cumbria Way in the three days of the Bank Holiday weekend, whereas others I had met were taking five or six days. This involved them in walking well over twenty miles each day, although it is mostly along low-level routes.
Dinner was soup, minced beef flan with roast and two vegetables, followed by sponge pudding with ice cream. I sat with the three chaps from Leeds and a couple of Lancastrians, one of whom, who had a large beer belly and was not exactly the 'Brain of Britain', started into a round of anti Yorkshire jokes and quips, such as "What is the difference between a Yorkshireman and a coconut?" - "You can get a drink out of a coconut." etc. When I was talking about the Wainwright book of his 6-day walk round Lakeland in the 1930s, he insisted that it was called "A Pennine Journey" - it didn't seem to register with him when I pointed out the Lake District was some distance from the Pennines. Eventually we ignored him and he resumed conversation with his companion. The other three invited me to join them for a drink later.
Looking at the drying room it was obvious that the only way to get anything dry was to use the tumble dryer as there was no heating on in there. It was in use by one of chaps from Leeds who kindly put my things in there when he had finished and put in 20 pence, refusing my offer to pay it back. We then set off to the pub whilst my things were drying but, as I didn't like to leave them in there if others wanted to use the tumble dryer, I nipped back after the first pint to remove them and then rejoined them in the pub. They only stayed for one more drink - they had order half-pints for themselves as they were feeling full from the meal and wanted to get back for an early night so they could be off early in the morning.
Day 10 - Monday 29th May 1995: Keswick to Skiddaw House via Skiddaw
Distance: 9 miles, Ascent: 3350 ft
Accommodation: Skiddaw House YHA - £5.35 bed only
I had a good night's sleep only slightly disturbed by the other three leaving at 6am. The weather forecast pinned up in the hostel said scattered showers and broken cloud but when I woke up it was tipping down with rain from a heavy, grey sky. However, by the time breakfast was over it was looking more reasonable. The drying room hadn't done much for my clothes overnight which was hardly surprising as there was no heat on in there, only a dehumidifier which was dripping water all over one rack of clothes. I gave my things another 20 pence worth of tumble drying which had far more impact on them and made them reasonably dry.
Skiddaw House Youth Hostel has only limited supplies of food on sale and is purely a self catering hostel, so I went down to the Co-op again to stock up with food for dinner, breakfast and two lunches. It is never easy to know what sort of things to get for just one person. Tins tend to be rather heavy to carry, so dried food is preferable for at least some of the meal. I settled on a packet of soup, a packet of dried beef curry and rice for two (to give a filling portion) and a packet of bacon for the morning. I also stocked up with a fruit malt loaf, various biscuits, apples and country slices etc. It is surprising how the weight of these things adds up, but at least I didn't have very far to carry them, albeit there was a 3000-ft mountain to climb on the way.
I eventually set off at 10am, having packed everything carefully against the weather, as it still looked rather bad. Generally I had managed to keep things reasonably dry - the rucksack liner working very well and hardly needing the extra protection of the plastic roasting bags holding things inside. The only place where rain penetration was a problem was in the compartment of the rucksack at the bottom, where all the water drained and could not easily escape. I sometimes think that they would be better putting holes in the bottom of rucksacks on the basis that there is no way you can stop water getting in, so you may as well have a means for it to escape again! I learned not to put anything important in there in wet weather as, even when things were inside a roasting bag with a clip on the opening, there was still a tendency for wet to find its way in. The only thing suitable for the bottom compartment in times of prolonged heavy rain was my waterproofs between downpours.
The first few miles were over flat farmland which was very soggy with all the rain and the long wet grass in places helped to soak my boots on the outside, leading to a gradual influx of damp. Overhanging bushes and trees gave me an extra shower as I brushed past them, so it was not a particularly pleasant part of the walk although it was, at least, below the cloud level. The route up Skiddaw is not the popular one over Little Man, but one further to the west, through the forestry plantation and over Carl Side which would, in better weather, give more of a view of Bassenthwaite Lake.
Apart from a few steep parts, the main ascent is a steady climb and I entered the cloud at about 2000-ft. This, combined with the altitude, made it a lot colder and caused much more condensation on the inside of my waterproofs which had to be kept on because it never stopped raining for long enough to take them off. After a few brief flashes of visibility, I saw no more of the view until I was well down the other side of the mountain. The final climb to the summit got somewhat steeper and I eventually reached the summit ridge at 1 pm and stopped for lunch in the shelter of a semicircular cairn not far from the summit. I couldn't stay long as I started to get cold, so I made my way a little further along to the actual summit, where it seemed even colder in the strong wind. At times, it looked as if there might be a break in the clouds, but it never materialised and the only thing to do was to press on downhill where it would be a bit warmer.
The north side of the mountain opens out to a very broad, gently sloping plateau. I picked up a path that tended to go more to the west than I thought I should be. This part of the walk was off the top of my map, so I was not too sure of the route, but I wasn't worried as I could easily make my way across when I could get a view of where I was going. Eventually I came out of the cloud and saw a fine view of the north of Bassenthwaite Lake, which even had a few patches of sunlight despite the fact that I was still in the rain. After waiting for a little time to see if it would clear - which it didn't, I made my way further east to meet the path that I should have been on over by the fence. I could then see Skiddaw House by a little copse of trees - the only trees anywhere around. There was a broad, well made path leading up to it from the Bassenthwaite direction, which is the route by which it can be accessed with a four wheel drive vehicle.
I met this main track at the top of Whitewater Dash, a rather spectacular series of waterfalls tumbling a few hundred feet down the steep valley. This route seemed to be very popular with cyclists, making me wonder if it were part of some cycle route. I spent some time exploring the waterfalls, climbing down to the bottom and back up again as it was still rather early for the hostel, so it was a good way of passing some time away, especially as it was somewhat warmer and drier around there.
Binsey from top of Whitewater Dash
Carrock Fell from Skiddaw House
Knowing that this was a short day's walk, I had lined up one or two optional detours such as climbing Great Calva. However, as my feet were feeling rather wet and I was conscious of the demanding walks of the next two days, I decided to make for the hostel instead. My boots had stood up remarkably well to the wet weather but, having started the day with them not having dried out from the previous day, the continual soaking they got earlier in the day took its toll. Even so, they kept out the water better than any other boots I have ever had, showing that the Gore-Tex lining really does work. On the way to the hostel the weather brightened considerably and there were even a few patches of sunshine about by the time I arrived there, half an hour before the 'official' opening time of 5pm. However, the relief warden didn't mind and several others arrived to book in as well. The first thing I discovered when I came to register was that I had lost my YHA membership card. I assumed that I must have left it at Longthwaite, as I had not needed to show it on my return visit to Keswick. The warden was not worried that I hadn't got it and, as Skiddaw House has no telephone, there was nothing that could be done about it. I had only one more night after this when I would have needed to show it and, as it was due to expire immediately after that, it was not of any great concern to get it back. A few days after I got back home it was returned to me with a friendly note from the warden at Longthwaite saying that she hoped I had not got too wet.
The scenery around these parts, known sometimes as 'Back of Skiddaw' is a complete contrast from that in the rest of Lakeland with gentle rolling hills rather than steep craggy ones. It reminded me more of areas such as the Howgill Fells and added a pleasant bit of variety to the walk. It is an area that most people miss out when visiting the Lake District, as it lacks the dramatic scenery found elsewhere, but it has a great deal of charm of its own, especially for those who like to avoid the crowds.
Altogether there were about a dozen people staying at the hostel, some having been there for one or two nights already. Amongst them was a chap from Lancaster and his 14-year old daughter who had been out fell running with the intention of doing about 20 miles. They had gone over Skiddaw and Great Calva but then the girl started having problems with her ankles so they returned to the hostel. I commented that there is no way that my daughter would undertake anything like that unless it was on horseback. They were still planning to do a long run the next day, taking the same route as me to Helvellyn, then on to Fairfield to be picked up by mum at Dunmail Raise. However, by next morning the girl had decided to go on strike so they were just going to walk as far as the nearest road in Threlkeld and get picked up from there instead.
Amongst the others staying there, was a couple with a girl of about eight. They were attached to a school party who were camping nearby and who were rehearsing for a Duke of Edinburgh Award under supervision, before going off to do the real thing later in the week on their own. Later on in the evening some of the adult campers came up to the hostel for a cup of tea and a chat by the warmth of the stove which, by that time, was giving off a cosy glow. At one point the little girl queried why they had built the hostel up there, so far away from anywhere, suggesting that it would have been more sensible to build it down at the bottom to save everyone a lot of walking! After being told that the YHA didn't build it, but merely converted it from a shooting lodge, she then suggested that it would be best, in that case, to dismantle it, take all the stone down to the bottom of the track, and rebuild it there.
The time had come for me to prepare my gastronomic speciality. I decided not to bother with the soup and just prepared my Vesta beef curry with rice for two, following it with some flapjack and a cup of tea. It didn't taste bad, was easy to prepare and light to carry, so it fulfilled its purpose. Dried things were noticeable amongst the others as they all had the same problem of carrying food, especially those who were staying for a few days. The only food I saw on sale was some 'Pasta Choice', which a few people were cooking.
The accommodation in Skiddaw House was more extensive than that of Black Sail, with a number of small dormitories upstairs, and a large living and cooking area, a lounge with 1950s furniture and the warden's quarters downstairs. Even the toilet and washing facilities were inside the main building, although there were again no showers. The building started off as some shepherds' cottages, was later knocked through and made into a shooting lodge, then became derelict and was eventually restored several years ago by the YHA after a struggle to get planning permission. Heating was provided by a wood-burning stove, which was fuelled by the coppice of trees, although there were also gas heaters running from bottled gas. The hostel also boasts a 24-volt electric lighting system driven by a bank of batteries and recharged by a petrol engine generator, so it was quite well equipped. Recently the warden had even installed an automatic washing machine to cope with all the sheet sleeping bags, but that could only be run directly from the generator. I would imagine that the biggest problem with the washing must have been getting it dry in the shadow of Skiddaw and 1550 ft above sea level. This hostel is well worth visiting by those who would like its beautifully isolated location and fine views of this remote area.
After dinner, I toyed with the idea of walking up Great Calva. It stood straight in front of the hostel with an easy ascent of only about 700-ft from this elevated starting point. However, the little used path up there would still have been very wet and, as I was hoping to get my boots as dry as possible overnight, I decided against it and stayed in chatting to the others instead. One group had decided to help out by sawing and chopping a pile of wood to fuel the stove whilst I spent some time trying to get some more life into the fire in the stove, as it was starting to get cold. Eventually the stove was burning brightly and we were able to hang things by it to dry, as it was putting out more heat than the gas heater in the drying room.
After stoking up the stove with wood and turning the regulator down to minimum, I went off to bed and into a sound sleep. Suddenly, at about 1am, I was rudely awakened by the sound of the smoke alarm on the ceiling screaming away. Some of the others checked everywhere for signs of fire but eventually decided that fumes from the stove must have caused it. It was not so easy to find the reason as there were several alarms all interconnected so that any one going off would also cause the others to do the same. After a while, the alarms stopped and we went back to bed, only to have the same thing happen a couple of hours later. Again, a check of the alarms failed to reveal which one had caused the problem, so again we went back to bed to be awakened again at 7.20am. At least this time it acted as an alarm clock to stop us oversleeping after our disturbed night's sleep.
Day 11 - Tuesday 30th May: Skiddaw House to Glenridding via Helvellyn
Distance: 16.9 miles, Ascent: 4400 ft
Accommodation: Keswick YHA - £15.50 Dinner B&B
The previous evening I bought a bowl of muesli from the warden for 40p when I saw some of the others getting some. On this walk I have often eaten muesli at breakfast time instead of a fruit juice in order to stoke up with more calories for the day, so it was quite handy having it on sale here. My breakfast consisted of the muesli and a packet of bacon with some fruit malt loaf. After washing up my things I set out at 9.15am and headed down the track to Threlkeld, passing the group of campers on the way. When I first got up the hostel was in the cloud but by the time I set off it had lifted considerably and there were even a few bright patches. Now that the Bank Holiday was over, it was officially allowed to stop raining - or so I hoped!
Farther along the track, which became a lane, there were a couple of farmers, one in a 4WD vehicle and the other on foot, rounding up the sheep from the fells with the aid of dogs. The walk was easy and pleasant and was virtually all downhill for the first 4 miles. I had forgotten to buy a postcard in the hostel, so I was hoping to find one in Threlkeld but when I reached the Post Office and general store, it had been closed down. There seemed nowhere else in the village, unless there was something further up that I didn't go past - it was just as well that I had not been relying on buying food for the day.
From Threlkeld, it was not very clear from the map, which was the best route up to Clough Head, which is at the northern end of the ridge leading to Helvellyn. I opted for the Old Coach Road, but soon found that it was no longer much in evidence on the ground and I ended up walking across open moorland which was not difficult but did go across some fairly waterlogged ground. Having managed to get my boots fairly dry overnight, I was trying to keep them that way for as long as possible. The dry weather couldn't hold out for long and I had to put on my waterproofs at the start of the ascent when a sudden heavy shower of rain came my way. A little way further on I came across a much better track which came from near the quarry and followed that for a way until I had to turn off up to Clough Head. There was no proper path up to the summit, but it was quite easy to walk up the grassy slope, taking a zigzag route to make the ascent easier. A few hundred feet from the summit I entered the cloud, which had dropped considerably lower with the rain, but was now starting to lift again.
At the summit I stopped for something to eat using the triangulation column as shelter, whilst I hoped for the cloud to lift. After a while, with no sign of the cloud lifting, I decided to move on to the next peak. For the first time in the walk, I got out my compass to make sure I was going off in the right direction, as there was not much evidence of a footpath. The ridge walking was quite easy with very few steep climbs - these are mainly rolling, round-topped fells with a grassy covering and gentle slopes between them, albeit somewhat boggy in places after all the rain.
The next peak was Calfhow Pike and I was rewarded with a parting of the clouds and a view of the northern end of Thirlmere. As I made by way along from peak to peak, generally gaining height as I went along, the cloud tended to lift with me so that I was able to do quite a lot of the walk below cloud level. Apart from the occasional heavy shower, the weather was quite reasonable. Even on the ascent to Helvellyn, which had been covered in cloud all the way, I had some views as the cloud lifted for a while from Lower Man. At the summit itself I sat for a while hoping for the cloud to lift but getting rather cold in the wind. Just as I was about to set off down, there was a brief, clear view down to Ullswater. Some of these views that appear through the clouds are made much more spectacular by the suddenness with which they unveil themselves.
An icy blast of wind soon convinced me that it was time to depart and make my way along Swirral Edge to Catstye Cam, that very distinctive conical peak. Swirral Edge is similar to the more famous Striding Edge but with not such steep slopes on either side. There is a similar, rather steep scramble down the craggy slope to the edge itself and I got caught up with a school party on my way down. At a convenient point I managed to pass them and made my way along the reasonably easy ridge path and then up a short ascent to the summit itself. The path down was quite steep but with good footholds most of the way, except for a section near the bottom where there were loose stones which had to be negotiated with a little more care.
At the bottom was a disused dam with a hole in it, which was presumably used to supply the mines further down the valley. A walk along the top of the dam avoided dropping right to the bottom of the valley and led to a good track, which descended gradually to the youth hostel. The hostel was very pleasant and there were no problems when I explained about my missing membership card. The warden offered to telephone Longthwaite for me but I said that it was just about to expire so it didn't really matter about getting it back. As Patterdale hostel was full up with school parties, there were quite a number of Coast to Coast walkers who had had to divert to this hostel, adding a couple of miles each way. Again, I bumped into some people I had met before - an Australian couple who had been in the Black Sail Hut.
The hostel had a good drying room with a mangle to help get things dry. I didn't have many things to wash, but it was still useful to rinse out my walking T-shirt and walking socks, which dried out nicely overnight.
Dinner was soup, beef cobbler and jam doughnut with custard, which was all quite good. Afterwards I walked down the lane to the pub on the way into Glenridding where I had a couple of pints of Castle Eden at £1.70 a pint - the most expensive of the whole trip, and not very good into the bargain. There were a couple of Coast to Coast chaps I had met in the hostel, so I sat outside with them for a while. Most of the conversation around and about was of the Coast to Coast walk as the majority of the walkers reach here on a Tuesday after starting on a Saturday. I returned the mile or so up to the hostel with 400 ft of ascent while it was still light, and went to bed.
Day 12 - Wednesday 31st May 1995: Glenridding to Ambleside via High Street
Distance: 18.5 miles, Ascent: 4740 ft
Accommodation: Home
I certainly had a much better night's sleep than last night with no rude awakenings. As I went down to breakfast I kept wondering why the meals always seemed to be rather late until I discovered that my watch had gained ten minutes. I managed a reasonably early start at just before 9am The weather looked a bit more settled but was still overcast.
The first few miles of the walk were easy, consisting of a gentle stroll down to Patterdale followed by a walk along the hillside overlooking the valley until the moderate ascent to Hayes Water where I stopped at 11.20am for a snack. Another moderate ascent brought me up to join the Coast to Coast path for a short way up to The Knott and then I parted company with it to head for High Street. It is very easy walking along this ridge as it is very broad and relatively flat, but offers very good views from the edge down into Riggindale. Looking back, I could see a large number of Coast to Coast walkers around the summit of Kidsty Pike. I kept looking across there and in the skies around but there was no sign of the golden eagles, which are reputed to be there. At Thornthwaite Crag with its large stone beacon, I stopped to finish off all my remaining food for lunch. There was a very clear view down to the coast at Morecambe Bay where I could again clearly see Heysham Power Station. I overheard someone nearby say that they could see Blackpool Tower through their binoculars, so I got out mine and was just able to discern it.
I now had to make a decision as to which route to take. I could stick to the route in the book and take the ridge via Ill Bell into Troutbeck, which should be the end of the day's walk. However, as I had started at Ambleside I would then have another 1000 ft of ascent and 4 miles of walking over Wansfell Pike to get back to my car. The alternative was to take a short cut by going across to Stony Cove Pike and then dropping down from there onto Wansfell Pike without losing as much height. As I had made good time, I decided I may as well go the whole hog so that I would not have to say "I did the Lakeland Round - except for..." instead I could say "I did the Lakeland Round plus...". The full route was only about a mile further but would involve nearly a thousand feet of extra ascent, but then it was the last day of the walk and I would not have to worry about being tired the next day.
Froswick and Thornthwaite Crag from Ill Bell
Troutbeck with Coniston Old Man Wetherlam and Wansfell Pike
As I walked along the ridge over Froswick, Ill Bell and Yoke, there were a few spots of rain but not enough to need waterproofs. The view of Kentmere Reservoir was not enhanced by the fact that it had been drained bone dry, presumably for some maintenance work. I stopped for a little rest at 3.30 pm, overlooking Troutbeck and Wansfell Pike. I was not looking forward to that last 1000 ft climb as I was already quite tired, but when I actually started off up the lane and then up the well made path which went to the summit I found it quite easy as there was no steep climbing involved. I reached the summit at 4.45 pm with a fine view of Lake Windermere before me, and Ambleside nestled down below. The descent was much steeper and the path was temporarily diverted part of the way due to repairs. This is one of the many areas owned by the National Trust who are currently doing a tremendous amount of work in building and repairing pathways on the more eroded routes across their land. Already some of the nasty scars on the more popular steep scrambles, such as that on the path up Red Pike from Buttermere, have become less visible following the construction of proper path.
I finally reached Ambleside Youth Hostel and my car at 5.35 pm with an element of relief. On most of the walks I have done so far, the end of the walk is approached with a tinge of disappointment that the walk has come to an end, but in this case I was actually quite glad that it had finished. I put this down to the rather demanding schedule of daily climbing and the rather poor weather towards the end of the walk. In general, I had coped well with the exertions of the walk and there were only a few times when I felt rather run down and lacking in energy. Even when this occurred, I had generally felt better as I got into my stride, but I think there was a cumulative effect that made it a relief to come to the end. In every other way, I had managed very well. In particular, my new 'Line 7' boots proved very comfortable, giving me no problems with blisters or soreness on the balls of my feet - I could just put them on in the morning and forget about my feet until I took them off in the evening. Even when I walked at a very brisk pace, my feet were still comfortable with none of my previous problems of painful rubbing on my ankles. I do not think I will ever buy any conventional leather boots again as I have not found one way in which they are better than these synthetic ones with a Gore-Tex lining.
After a Quick change of clothing in the car, I made my way home, calling for fish and chips in Kendal on the way and arriving back home to a nice welcome, a drink and a long relaxing soak in the bath.
After Thoughts
The first reaction from Jean, on reading the draft of this write-up, was that it was rather negative. This may well be a fair comment, but it was taken largely from the notes I made at the time and, therefore, reflects my true feelings at the time rather than having a rosier gloss added later. My feelings on walking have always been that the biggest factors affecting my enjoyment or otherwise, are the weather and the visibility. A bright sunny day with clear views rapidly smoothes away any aches and pains or tiredness and the walk becomes enjoyable, whereas rain, mist, cold and poor visibility all combine to dampen the spirits, even if one is otherwise feeling quite fit and well. On this walk, particularly towards the end, I had rather poor weather and this obviously influenced my feelings at the time. One of the things being that, on some days it was too cold to stop walking for any length of time. I could, therefore, only pause for long enough to have a quick bite to eat and a drink before having to press on in order to generate a bit of warmth. All this tends to reduce the enjoyment of the walk, but is one of the things that has to be expected on the high fells. It is true that there were one or two days when I felt rather weary, but then I have felt the same way, or even more so, at times on most of my other long walks. In fact, on this walk, I felt very fit for most of the time and didn't suffer much discomfort from my feet into the bargain.
The total distance of the walk, including all the diversions and detours that I took, was about 166 miles as opposed to the 125 miles in the book, an average of just under 14 miles a day. The total ascent was over 48,000 ft, an average of 4000 ft a day, which was quite wearing, especially when carrying a full pack most of the time. I was quite fit when I started the walk, so I was able to cope without too much difficulty but it was still sometimes rather daunting to face all that climbing every day.
Although I had a fair amount of poor weather, it could have been far worse. Much of the walk was over fells of 2500 to 3000 ft high and more, yet there were very few from which I didn't get at least a moderate view. Some of the disappointment was, knowing what spectacular views could be seen on a good day from much of the walk, seeing these views in less than ideal conditions. I am not particularly worried about a few showers of rain, even heavy ones, as often these are followed by good clear weather, but prolonged rain with poor visibility, or even fine weather which is dull and hazy lead to disappointment. This disappointment stems particularly from the fact that I like to take colour slides of the scenery along the route of the walk and these are always so much better in bright, clear weather. On this walk, I did manage to get quite a number of good photographs, but there were a number of days when the resulting photographs were rather lacklustre. This was not helped by the fact that my second film, which had a lot of shots taken in rather hazy conditions, suffered a fault in the processing by Kodak, which resulted in further loss of contrast. They sent two free films as compensation, but this doesn't really compensate for all the time and effort which went into taking the photographs in the first place. However, there is no use crying over spilt milk and at least they were not completely ruined, which would have been far worse.
I have mixed feelings on the Lakeland Round as a walk. As its name suggests, it is aimed at walking round a large part of the Lake District and, in doing so, it encompasses many of the classic Lakeland walks and a large number of spectacular viewpoints. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lake District has some of the finest scenery in England and this walk left me with the impression that I had thoroughly explored the majority of it. I had seen nearly every mountain, fell, lake and tarn from almost every angle, as well as having climbed most of the fells into the bargain. In this respect, it was very comprehensive and rewarding. There are, however, one or two drawbacks in such an intensive walk in one particular region. No matter how beautiful the scenery on a walk lasting more than a few days, it is always pleasant to have some change and variety. Most of this walk is in and around the rugged, high fells and there are several loops along parallel ridges of fells from which the same groups of mountains are visible, leading sometimes to a slight feeling of deja vu. In actual fact the Lake District covers a relatively small area, particularly when one only considers the area covered by high fells, which this walk encompasses, so there tends to be a feeling that there is a little too much concentration in a small area. The other thing about a walk, which does a lot of zigzagging and looping, is that there is little impression of making progress along the route. Sometimes three days of walking brings you back to within a few miles of where you started from, and this tends to make the whole walk seem like a collection of interconnected shorter walks, some of which could be done in a day and some in two or three days. Having done a number of long distance walks before, I do not particularly worry about the amount of progress along the route, and just take each day as it comes, but to someone embarking on this as his or her first long walk, it could be a little demoralising. In fact, many people may find it convenient to split this up into a series of day and weekend walks. It would not present too many problems as far as transport is concerned on the sections that loop back on themselves. However, a few sections would have to be done as end-to-end walks. My overall impression, apart from the feeling that I had well and truly 'done' the Lake District, is that the best long distance walks include as wide a variety of scenery as possible. They should follow a route that covers a fair number of linear miles, even if the route does eventually loop back to the starting point. In this respect there is little to compare with the Pennine Way. Although it does not pass through such spectacular scenery as that of the Lake District, it does have a great deal of variety and there is a feeling of having covered a long distance, both as the crow flies as well as in actual walking distance.
One thing that was good on this walk was the fact that I managed to spend every night in a youth hostel. For the lone walker, hostels provide a very hospitable and sociable atmosphere and there are some very good ones to be found in the Lake District. I stayed in a variety of hostels from the very large cosmopolitan hostel at Ambleside to the remote retreats of Black Sail Hut and Skiddaw House, and met a lot of friendly people, a number of whom I bumped into at other hostels along the way. The hostel food was generally wholesome and good and in some cases was of a standard over and above that which one would normally expect for the very modest prices.
As far as after effects of the walk were concerned, I had very few. On the evening that I arrived back home, I was rather tired, but this was more from that day's efforts than from the cumulative effect of the whole walk. I lost three of four pounds during the walk, which is what I have grown to expect, although I will no doubt put that back on again over the winter months. The day after I had finished the walk I felt quite fit and well, although not so full of energy as I might have been and this continued for the next two or three weeks until all effects of the walk had worn off. It seems that each long walk I do leaves me with less after effects than the previous one, presumably because of an increased level of fitness. I certainly have not, at the age of fifty, started to feel any reduction in my walking ability due to age. Judging by some of the very fit people I have meet in their sixties and more, I hope to be able to enjoy a lot more walking in the years ahead.
Photography and Technology
Over the years that I have been doing long distance walks, camera technology, Internet technology and display technology have developed by giant leaps from 35mm colour slides that had to be scanned to produce low quality digital images for the website up to the present day with high quality digital photography, almost unlimited memory and super fast broadband,
The article in the 'Other Items' section chronacles all of this throughout my walks.
