An Amended Ticklist

As I approached completing my rounds of Wainwrights and Outlying Fells, my thoughts were turning to what my next walking objectives should be.  I had been logging my ascents of Nuttall and TRAIL 100 summits so it was obvious that these two lists were to form the backbone of my future time on the hills.

After my completions I registered with the Long Distance Walkers Association to mark the achievements – the certificates they issued appealed to my vanity!  I noticed that the LDWA also registered completions of the England and Wales 2000-foot summits and completing the Nuttalls is within the criteria that allow an addition to the register.  At the time I looked at the completer's register and although most of those listed had completed the Nuttalls, there was a significant number of people who had completed other lists at the same time.  The most prominent of those lists were those compiled by Bridge and Buxton & Lewis.

These three lists (Nuttall, Bridge, Buxton & Lewis) became the bulk of my post-Wainwright ticklist.  The Simpsons had already been included because they were first published in a Wayfarers’ Club journal and I was a Wayfarer.  But after a couple of years I started to wonder whether the completion of all of the LDWA's qualifying lists was a possibility.  Browsing the register of completers, there was only one person who had completed all of the England & Wales 2000-foot lists and I thought it would be a good idea to do the same.  So after quite a few hours of research and spreadsheet manipulation, I had an expanded my ticklist that included lists compiled by Dawson, Dewey, Moss and Wright.

Dawson's list is a subset of the Nuttalls so it was, by default, already included in my list.  After checking the summits of Dewey's list I discovered that these were also included in my original list.  The lists compiled by Moss, Wright and Simpson resulted in the addition of 181 summits to my list.  So now, with the administrative exercise done, was the time to start ticking.

Looking at the list, it was obvious that the summits classified by Moss, Wright and Simpson that were not also in any of the more popular lists had small prominence values.  But they were on my list so they were targets to be ticked.

Although, on the ground, some of them had some merit it quickly became apparent that many more of them were either insignificant or non-existent.  Probably the first of them was Gragareth North Top but at the time it didn't set any alarm bells ringing.  Manod Mawr Subsidary Top was impossible to find as there was no (even slightly) prominent ground in the area.  Y Lliwedd West Top was similarly elusive!  It is completely possible that their inclusion was due to a review of inaccurate (old!) maps rather than any active fieldwork which resulted in various spot heights being added.

It was my walks on Ingleborough and the Howgills that finally prompted me to change my approach.  I wasn't enjoying chasing these minor tops and they were distracting me from the relaxation that I sought when walking.  Which meant more time on the spreadsheets to remove the Moss, Wright and Simpson summits.  My ticklist decreased by 146.

I did some analysis of the LDWA's completion register and now there were only 2 who had ticked all of the qualifying lists – it's not a popular pastime!  There were 262 named completers who between them had registered the completion of 360 qualifying lists (not including Dawson's as it is a subset of the Nuttall list and not including Dewey's list as it quite doesn't have many summits that aren't included in other lists).  By far the most popular list to complete is the Nuttalls.  Next, with about half the number of Nuttall completions was the Bridge list and then came Buxton & Lewis with about half the amount of Bridge completions.  The number of Moss, Wright and Simpson completions totalled less than the number of Buxton & Lewis completions.

It was clear that the Nuttall, Bridge and Buxton & Lewis lists were those that completers targeted, to a greater or lesser degree.  And it was glaring that the Moss, Wright and Simpson lists didn't really capture the imagination of many.  I felt satisfied that the numbers backed up my feeling that these summits aren't really that worthwhile.

So now I have a ticklist that I'm happy with.  There are few lesser lists that contribute to it and they are there to satisfy my urge to visit different parts of the country but it is the Nuttall and TRAIL 100 summits that are my major goals for the future.

A 2013 Summary

The major achievement of the year was the completion of 4 hill lists.  This sounds more impressive than it actually is because 3 of them started and finished on the same summits.

Those lists were :

• The Wainwrights

214 summits listed in Wainwright’s 7 Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells

• The Fellrangers

227 summits listed in Mark Richards’ 8 Fellranger guidebooks

• The FRCC244

244 summits listed in “The Lakeland Fells” published by the Fell & Rock Climbing Club

• The Outlying Fells

116 summits featured (but not all named) in Wainwright’s guide to the Outlying Fells of Lakeland

Overall I :

            went on             18                                walks

            walked              111.9                            miles

            ascended          36,050                          feet

            walked for         76 hrs 46 mins              (including rest stops !)

            reached            45                                 individual summits that I hadn’t been to before

            reached            12                                 individual summits that I had been to before

            drove                2479                             miles on trips to and from walks

I don’t think that I did a lot in 2013 but the completion of the Wainwrights after 30 years makes up for a relatively quiet year.

Happy New Year and be safe on the hills in 2014!

My Wainwright Round – Facts and Figures

It’s almost two months since I completed my rounds of the Wainwrights and Outlying Fells and my thoughts are turning to what next – but that’s for a future blog entry.

To put a seal on my Wainwright completions, I thought that compiling a few facts and figures wouldn’t go amiss.  This blog entry is mostly for my own enjoyment and while I recognise that there are some of you who love this type of stuff, I appreciate that many will find it too dry and ultimately, boring.  If that’s the case, it’s time to look at my blog index for something more appropriate.

A cautionary note !

All of the figures quoted relate to my first ascent of each of the Wainwrights and Outlying Fells.  Subsequent ascents play on a tiny part in what you are about to read.  Which is a shame because I had some good days out on my 4 extra trips to the summit of Pavey Ark !

How long did I take ?

For the Wainwrights, 10958 days which equates to 30 years.  Exactly !  That means, on average, I bagged a new Wainwright every 51 (-ish) days.

For the Outlying Fells, 8509 days which is 23 years and 108 days.  That means a new OF was bagged about every 74 days.

Direct ascents

For many Wainwright baggers, once they have completed the 214, their aim is to ascend the fells by a “direct ascent”, that is by a route that doesn’t pass over any other Wainwright summit on the way.  I’ve not seen any mention of this philosophy for the OFs but there are probably 1 or 2 odd souls out there who will be doing this.  Completion of 214 DAs is not a goal for me but I decided to look at my log, out of curiosity only you understand, to find out how many of my 214 had been reached by a DA.  It turned out to be 74.  (The actual total of DAs is 87 because of 13 repeated fells.)

Miles walked and height gained

Although reasonably comprehensive in the latter years of the round, my log does not have enough information about my early walks.  So to give these figures I would have to make some fairly big guesses.  And as I’m a fan of accurate data (it’s part of my job), guessing data goes against the grain !

The productivity of years

My round took exactly 30 years, but as I didn’t start it on 1^st January, it was spread over 29 full years and 2 part years.

In 11 of those years I bagged no Wainwrights.  Of those 11 years I had a continuous gap of 7 years that were barren, being distracted by a combination of beer, women, snowboarding and rock-climbing.  In 8 of the active years I bagged 3 or fewer summits – not very active at all really.  I bagged double-figures in 7 of the years with my best year resulting in 41 new summits.

My round of the Outlying Fells had similar gaps.  Spread over 22 full years and 2 part years, there was a gap of 4 years and then another of 7 years with occasional bagging occurring before the list got the better of me and I bagged 81 summits over the last 5 years.  My best year resulted in 25 new summits.

Popular days

Wainwright bagging is a leisure activity and we all need time off work to pursue our hobbies.  So it comes a s no surprise that Saturday was the most popular day for bagging (72 summits) followed by Sunday (49 summits).  Oddly though, the next most popular day was Thursday (30 summits).  The least popular days were Monday and Tuesday (12 summits each).  Tuesday isn’t such a surprise but it’s now obvious that I didn’t take full advantage of bank holiday weekends !

On the Outlying Fells Sunday was the most popular day (38 summits) followed by Friday and Thursday (26 and 25 summits respectively) with no OFs being bagged on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.  Maybe they were just not attractive enough for me to make a midweek trip.

Popular months

The most popular months for Wainwright bagging turned out to be May, August, April and December (37, 32, 30 and 21 summits respectively).  It should come as no surprise that these are the months with the most bank holidays, allowing me to snatch at least one day out on a 3-day weekend.  June was the least popular month, probably because there was no itch to scratch following all of the activity in May !

March was the most popular month for bagging Outlying Fells (26 summits) which can be explained by taking advantage of lengthening hours of daylight but on some less challenging fells when the higher fells might still be under snow.  July (!) and December were the least popular months – if I was out on the hills I was taking advantage of long sunny days or playing out in the snow and ice !

Walks per book

Some of the books are bigger than others – in size, area covered and numbers of fells listed.  I’ve always thought that the Central Fells (book 3) was the smallest with either the Southern fells (book 4) or the Western Fells (book 7) being the biggest.  So I wondered how long it took me to complete each volume.

I was a bit surprised that the North-Western Fells (book 6) was completed in just 8 walks, but the many ridges allow a lot of fells to be quickly bagged on many horseshoe walks.  The Central Fells were completed in 9 walks.

Three volumes tied for the most walks – the Eastern Fells (book 1), the Far-Eastern Fells (book 2) and the Western Fells – all taking 13 walks to complete them.  The Southern Fells needed 12 walks.

The Outlying Fells volume is a bit different as the 116 summits aren’t listed individually but as 56 walks – possibly 57 if Newton Fell is split into two !  These were completed in 49 walks as there is opportunity to link neighbouring walks.

Overall, I completed the Wainwrights and Outlying Fells in 127 separate walks.

Days per book

Following on from the number of walks per book, how many days were needed to complete each book ?  As most walks lasted a full day, there was only one difference – the Eastern Fells – the explanation being that 3 walks were needed to tick Gowbarrow and the Mell Fells were tagged onto days containing other walks.

As many of the Outlying Fells are shorter walks, 2 or more can completed on the same day.  I took 33 days to complete these.

Overall, I completed the Wainwrights and Outlying Fells on 105 hill days.

Number of fells per walk

Obviously, with the number of walks taken to complete being less than 214, there must have been walks with more than 1 Wainwright being ticked.  Walks that I did varied from ticking 1 Wainwright (23 walks) up to 7 Wainwrights (1 walk).  A common tally was 5 Wainwrights, this occurring on 11 walks.

The majority of Outlying Fells walks ticked just 1 summit, but such is the nature of these fells.  But the OFs did give me my biggest tally for any walk – 9, on the Bannisdale Horseshoe.

Companions

Wainwright-bagging is ultimately a selfish pastime, with a lot of summits that are not usually popular, so it comes as no surprise that 158 of the 214 Wainwrights and 95 of the 116 Outlying Fells were done on my own.

But I did have some companions.  24 individuals accompanied me up the remaining 56 Wainwrights and 12 on the other 21 OFs.  As 2 people had been to the top of both Wainwrights and OFs, the actual number of people who bagged some summits with me were 32.

It’s interesting to note that of the 32, 23 of them were members of the mountaineering club l joined 13 years ago, showing that there is some value to being in a club when looking for like-minded souls.

Conclusion

I’m not sure there is one really.  There are some obvious outcomes within my round and some less so.  But what I’d like to do is thank every one of the 32 who I stood on the top of a Wainwright or Outlying Fell with, many of whom didn’t realise at the time that they were helping me fulfil my personal 30-year quest.

My Final Wainwrights

30 years after my first Wainwright, the day had arrived to tick the final fell of the famous 214.

With some cunning planning I had engineered my previous walks to ensure that the final Wainwright would also be my final Fellranger and final FRCC 244 summit.  But before the final tick, I wanted to complete the Outlying Fells.

A restless night’s sleep wasn’t the best preparation for an early start.  I felt like a child on Christmas Eve and I think that nerves brought on by the imminent culmination of a life’s ambition got the better of me.  So, before breakfast, I drove to the top of the Eskdale-Wasdale road crossing the southern slopes of Irton Pike and set off for the summit.

I hadn’t expected the dew and after some bushwhacking through bracken my trousers were soaked.  I rethought my route and decided to follow some forest tracks rather than make a beeline for the summit.  I had the top to myself – not surprising before 8’o’clock – and enjoyed the hazy view up to the head of Wasdale and Great Gable.

So the Outlying Fells became the first major hill-list that I had completed.

I drove back to the Bower House Inn for a well-earned breakfast and then set off for Greendale to meet some mountaineering club friends to walk up and help me celebrate my final summit.

An abortive start (but that’s another story !) was followed by a second attempt and we followed the path up to just below Greendale Tarn.  We aimed roughly for the unseen summit and picked our own paths among the crags and bogs that make up Seatallan’s south-east slopes.  This last thousand feet felt hard in the heat of the early afternoon and I was soon left behind, although they waited for me at the start of the summit plateau.

I was given the honour of topping out at the trig point, even though the true summit was 60 yards to the north-east.  So we quickly bagged the true summit at the small cairn before returning to the pillar to set up the bar.

the Bar !

Quite a few bottles of Thwaites Wainwright had been brought up and the contents were soon shared amongst us.  Wainwright is a superb beer but drinking it on a summit on a hot summer’s day makes it taste even better !

the Beer !

As we were packing up, another walker approached saying “2 down, 3 to go” on his day’s walk but I told him I could do better than that – “214 down, none to go”.  He congratulated me and took a group summit photo before he continued on his big day out.

just to prove I was there

We descended a lot quicker than we ascended and reached the cars in about an hour, with my wife waiting for me with open arms.  Boots were taken off and we all drove to the Bower House Inn for a final celebratory pint.

It was a great day !

A Lake District Road Trip

The eighth and final volume of Mark Richards’ Fellranger guidebooks has just been published by Cicerone with the majority of his 227 “Fellrangers” being either a Wainwright or an Outlying Fell.  But one of the few exceptions is the lowly Wallowbarrow Crag in the Duddon Valley.  I’ve climbed here on a few occasions but never stood on the summit despite a couple of top-outs being very close.  A simple hour’s walk gave me the “tick” and served as an easy warm-up for the day.

Harter Fell, BowFell & Crinkle Crags from Wallowbarrow Crag

On the hottest day of the year so far, I drove north over the Dunnerdale fells, through Coniston and Ambleside and via the western Thirlmere road to arrive at the Old Sawmill Tearoom at the bottom of Dodd.  I took advantage of the steadily rising forest road to quickly gain height, soon reaching the tree-line.  I had last been on Dodd in 1994 but that was in the days of complete conifer coverage.  More recent times have seen the top of the fell being cleared of trees leaving a clear view from the top – something previously not available for a person of average height !

Although I had ticked Dodd before, I just wanted to walk up it again in its new guise before completing my round of Wainwrights and it made a welcome distraction from my recent campaign of ticking previously unvisited summits.  I took the green track as recommended in the Fellranger guidebook which leads to a super viewpoint overlooking the Lake District’s only lake.  I heard a branch cracking in amongst the trees and edged my way to the track’s edge to spot a Roe deer, which decided to avoid my gaze by bounding off into the woods.

From the viewpoint, a clearly worn but narrow path winds its way amongst the stumps and felled tree trunks up the northwest ridge.  Although it was hazy, the summit afforded a magnificent southern view of many of Lakeland’s major peaks.  I took the more orthodox way down on a good path and then the forest roads to make a very quick descent.

Driving to Patterdale from the A66 is one of the great routes of the district, leading eventually to the Kirkstone Pass.  A busy car park (and pub !) greeted me at the start of the route up to Caudale Moor.  Almost 25 years had passed since I walked up here in less than ideal December conditions with my polytechnic room-mate Andy and although I have claimed the tick, a thought in the back of my mind had long been nagging me that we may not have visited the actual summit, despite there being no nearby ground above us.

Atkinson Memorial, John Bell's Banner

I soon passed the scramble up to St Raven’s Edge, chatting to a Geordie about the stifling heat and then a Scouser who was waiting for his friends to catch him up.  The wall led unerringly uphill and I cut across to the monument on John Bell’s Banner before reaching the minor summit of the moor.  A simple stroll past the tarn led to Stony Cove Pike and the summit cairn, stated as the summit by both wainwright and the Database of British and Irish Hills.

Froswick, Ill Bell & Yoke

Stony Cove Pike summit

At last, on this glorious summer’s day when Andy Murray became the first Briton to win the Wimbledon men’s singles championship for 77 years, I could lay my Caudale Moor doubts to rest !

Wainwrights and other lists

I’ve been bagging Wainwrights for almost 30 years and for most of that time I’ve been aware of the existence of “book 8” – the Outlying Fells.  Most Wainwright baggers are satisfied to complete all of the 214 fells listed in the classic seven books, but I’ve always felt that by including the Outlying Fells, the round is “more” complete.

So for the last few years I’ve been working my way through book 8 and am now at a point where I only have one “regular” Wainwright and one Outlying Fell to tick.  I’ll be completing both lists on the same day later in the year; the Outlying Fells in the morning and the Wainwrights in the afternoon.

There are also a couple of lesser known lists that have a lot of summits in common with the Wainwrights.

The FRCC 244 are the fells contained in the Fell & Rock Climbing Club’s “The Lakeland Fells”, published in 1996.  It’s not a surprise that there are 244 of them !

Another list is the “Fellrangers”.  I’ve attributed this name to the fells listed in Mark Richards’ 8 volumes of Lakeland Fellranger guidebooks published by Cicerone.  There are 227 of these, 228 if The Nab is included as a separate fell.

Because of the overlap across the lists, anybody who is close to the end of their Wainwright round will be close to the end of the FRCC 244 and the Fellrangers – particularly if the Outlying Fells have been getting ticked along the way.  My final Wainwright is also a FRCC 244 and a Fellranger, so, with a bit of judicious planning I can complete three lists on one fell.  Which is exactly what I will do.

There are a couple of non-Wainwright summits that I need to tick this summer to enable this and I’m looking forward to walking over some new terrain and some areas I haven’t been to in a long time.

Focussed bagging doesn’t really allow for time to revisit old favourites !  I’m looking forward to completing so that I can try some new routes on some old favourites like the Scafell, Great Gable and the Dodds.

A Greendale Variation and Eskdale Fell

When ticking a hill list, it’s probable that as you near completion, the remaining summits are likely to be clustered in less accessible areas.  As I’ve been getting ever nearer to completing the Wainwrights and Outlying Fells, the summits that I’ve been ticking have been predominantly in the west of the Lake District.  Today was no different.

Greendale is an ideal starting point for Wainwrights of west Wasdale with paths leading uphill alongside Greendale Gill.  Middle Fell was the day’s first summit and is an excellent viewpoint for the Scafell massif which dominates the view.

Scafell Massif

I walked north to the Seatallan col, just above Greendale Tarn, with the summit of what is to be my final Wainwright looming tantalisingly close.  But that one is for another day.  An easy traverse in the sun led to the elegant cairn built by Wasdale's fellrunning legend - Joss Naylor.  It’s not an obvious viewpoint, although the views are quite good, but the slender cairn is deceptively solid.  Buckbarrow’s summit was only a short stroll away.

The recognised summit of Buckbarrow is set back from the cliffs that drop down towards Greendale.  But a walk to the top of Bull Crag reveals a superb view of the Wastwater screes that tumble into the lake from Illgill Head and Whin Rigg.  Also in stark view is the gully that descends between Bull Crag and Pike Crag.

Wastwater Screes

For a bit of adventure I decided to descend the gully.  It is steep and loose and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it as a way up.

Buckbarrow descent gully

A quick drive into neighbouring Eskdale led me to the Dalegarth railway station car park.  I couldn’t remember how long it had been since I last walked in this valley (possibly 25 years !) but the sunshine accentuated its grandeur and it deserves some future visits.

I walked past the Boot Inn and up the track towards Gill Bank, passing an impressively solitary scots pine.  There was no clearly defined path on to Whinscales or even further towards Great How.  The flank of Scafell and the white summit of Slight Side dominated the walk ahead and the vista towards Harter Fell, over Stony Tarn and Eel Tarn, lent an air of wilderness.  For isolation that is easily accessed, there aren’t many better places in the district.

I descended to and crossed Lambford Bridge over Whillan Beck leading to my final summit of the day, Boat How.  The walk from the bridge was easy with the top being an unusual viewpoint for Kirk Fell and Great Gable to the north.

Kirk Fell and Great Gable

The early evening walk back to Boot was as pleasant as any I’ve done in the last few years.  Probably enhanced by the knowledge that this day had brought me to within one easy day of completing the Wainwrights and the Outlying Fells with only one of each left

Roll on August Bank Holiday Monday !

Ticklist planning

For 25 years my hillwalking ambition has been to complete the Wainwrights and Outlying Fells and as I near the end of two ticklists my thoughts are turning towards the next collections of mountains.  The Nuttalls will become the priority, but there will be an occasional foray in to the realm of the TRAIL 100.

But as the Wainwrights come to a close and the final planning has slotted into place, taking any chance to include Nuttalls in a Wainwright bagging walk has been too good to ignore.

A general guideline for me is to avoid going over old ground when bagging summits.  It’s only a guideline as there are too many factors that come into play to make it an absolute rule – bad weather and fatigue cutting planned routes short are the most obvious.  So if I have a chance to include a Nuttall that is not a Wainwright, it gets included.

This type of planning is indicative of what may be seen by some as an all-consuming obsession.  Some see this as the dark side of hillwalking.  Rest assured that when I’m in the hills I don’t aim to bag as many summits in a day as I possibly can – I’m not as fit as I was 20 years ago and I’m more than prepared to cut a route short if the weather makes chasing the next summit an unenjoyable slog.

The planning, and solving the problems it presents, is about keeping the mind active.  The hillwalking keeps the body active.

A balance between the two can be struck – I just hope that I’m somewhere near it.

A Kentmere View

The most south-easterly fells in the Lake District are little over an hour’s drive from home, so a period of good weather combined with longer daylight hours tempted me to make an after work dash to Kentmere to tick a couple of Outlying Fells.

Green Quarter sits a little above Kentmere and has easy access to Hollow Moor.  The track leads to open fellside which had a number of recently dug channels, presumably to drain some of the boggy ground.  Wainwright’s unnamed lower summit of Green Quarter Fell is reached easily, if you have long enough legs to negotiate the barbed wire fence !

It is from the felltop that the view of upper Kentmere and its horseshoe draw the eye, making you wish you were amongst the tops of the higher fells.  Quite often the best views of the high fells are from the lesser heights, of which this vista is a superb example.  The view south towards Morecambe Bay, with Heysham power station sat in an island of sunlight this evening, adds to the enjoyment of the deserted summit.

Heyhsam nuclear power station

The linking ridge to the higher Hollow Moor summit made for an excellent evening promenade.  The views to upper Kentmere remained and continued to draw the eye, as did the old triangular stone gatepost which ostensibly marked the summit.  This was beyond the 426 metre spot height and just beyond a mound that I felt was very slightly higher.  With my untrained eye, I was unsure where the summit lies exactly, but I visited all three points so I’m confident that I stood on the actual summit.

Upper Kentmere from Hollow Moor

Touching Distance

Not words that describe the proximity of this trip’s fells to home, but something rather less tangible – the fact my remaining Wainwrights and Outlying Fells could be completed in 2 days, if I chose to do so.

Today’s objectives were those fells furthest away from home, in the far west of Cumbria – one of them so far west it lies outside the national park !  The end of Nannycatch Lane was the starting point for Flat Fell and Dent; dent being the fell lying outside the national park.  Cool and overcast conditions didn’t detract from the relaxed walking.  The true summit of Dent is rather uninspiring but the lower Wainwright summit is adorned by an impressive cairn.

Dent - the Wainwright summit

Wellington was the start of my walk up Blengdale to the Outlying Fell Ponsonby Fell – which “is very nearly in this category” of “fells not worth climbing” – according to Wainwright.  It’s not the best fell I’ve been to the top of, but its views and isolation lend it some value.  The stroll to Swainson Knott afforded views towards some of the most western of Wainwright’s 214 fells and the walk back to car on the forestry tracks rounded off a pleasant excursion.

Muncaster Fell was the final top of the day, which although climbed previously, I couldn’t be wholly sure that I had reached the actual summit which is listed as a rocky knoll near to the trig point.  From the summit I could see my final Wainwright – Seatallan – looming above a smaller fell which, after checking the map, I found to be my final Outlying Fell – Irton Pike.  This took me by surprise but seemed appropriate that the end of my Wainwright ticking odyssey was in sight, both figuratively and visually.

Muncaster Fell trig pillar

So, my final 4 Outlying Fells are Green Quarter Fell, Hollow Moor, Boat How and Irton Pike – my final 3 Wainwrights are Buckbarrow, Middle Fell and Seatallan.  I’ll be ticking these off, as well as the remainder of the FRCC 244 and Fellrangers, over the next few months with the finish on Seatallan to complete 4 lists on the same day.

I hope the sun will be shining !

Viewpoints

Each time I drive over Shap summit on the M6 I glance to the side to look for the small pyramidal summit of Kidsty Pike.  It’s a striking view amongst the rounded summits of the far-eastern fells and one that’s not overly familiar to those bagging the Wainwrights.

My goal for the day was to tick the Outlying Fells of the Seat Robert and Howes chapters in Wainwright’s book 8, and possibly the Nuttall of Branstree NE top.  It was yet another excursion into the Shap fells but probably my last for quite some time.

Seat Robert summit

The walk was one of solitude although the summits thereabouts are easily won and are pleasant places to be, despite the boggy nature of the terrain.  Seat Robert is a place to linger, with superb views of Cross Fell to the east and the High Street fells to the west.  Fewling Stones is an equally relaxing spot.  And both have a good view of the outstanding Kidsty Pike.

Haskew Tarn

Haskew Tarn was a worthwhile distraction from the summits, although as it was a day following a recent cold spell, the ground was easier to walk on than I suspect it would be once it had thawed.

Brunt Tongue

I descended to Mosedale Beck bridge where I rested for a while and enjoyed the view of the Brunt Tongue ridge, before taking in the ascent to the Howes ridge.  The walk had taken longer than expected so I was in two minds about ticking the Branstree top, but as it was the only Nuttall in the far-eastern fells that I hadn’t ticked, I decided to go for it as I didn’t want to return just for that summit.  There was quite a bit more snow at this height, but a fellrunner had left some convenient footprints for me to follow, making the walk just a bit easier.

High Street

There was an excellent view of the east face of High Street from the small summit cairn, but there wasn’t much else to recommend staying here for any longer.  I retraced my steps and easily reached the top of Howes before descending some well-consolidated neve on the way to Nabs Moor.  This afforded a nice view of Swindale before heading for home via the Mosedale Beck bridge and the boggy track back towards Tailbert.

This 10-hour day allowed me to tick 7 Outlying Fells, leaving only 7 to do.  Unfortunately, they’re spread out over the national park from far west to south-east but I’m sure that one or two will surprise me with some unusual views.

Deer Country

A sabbatical of 4 months had seriously impacted my plan to complete the Wainwrights and Outlying Fells this year.  So, to feel as if I was making some progress, I chose a route with a significant number of previously unticked summits that could be completed within the slowly growing hours of daylight.  Also, due to the recent cold spell, usually boggy terrain would most likely be frozen so this opportunity should not be ignored.  Shap was the obvious choice.

Parking in a large layby at the summit of the A6 at Shap, I headed downhill towards Hause Foot Farm at the bottom of, as Wainwright described, the loneliest valley within the national park.  It was quite easy to reach the ridge of the Crookdale Horseshoe and the first summit of High House Bank.  The broad ridge led easily to Robin Hood and then to Lord’s Seat, at which point I thought that I was not going to see any other walkers during the day. But a chap had walked up from Crookdale and after a brief conversation, he headed east along the ridge I had just walked, as I set off over varied ground towards the Nuttall of Harrop Pike.  I took advantage of a quick photo stop and headed towards more isolated country and Ulthwaite Rigg.

Despite a couple of days of above zero temperatures, the ground underfoot was quite firm.  Although the top inch or two had thawed, there was a permafrost-like layer underneath, strong enough to prevent my boots sinking into the peat.  Cold spells are definitely the best conditions to journey on to the fells west of Shap.

Descending towards Ulthwaite Rigg I spotted what I first thought were a number of fell ponies.  Once I’d looked through my monocular I clearly saw that they were a herd of 16 or 17 deer.  I got to within about 400 metres before they turned tail and headed down towards Sleddale Beck.  I saw them again as I traversed towards Great Saddle Crag but my viewpoint soon changed to leave them out of sight.  I saw another three as I climbed up the final slopes and two of them headed towards the previous herd and the third ran off towards the east.  This summit was the most defined of today’s Outlying Fells and offered welcome rocks upon which to rest.

Deer on Ulthwaite Rigg

On the next traverse to Sleddale Pike  I saw another, larger, herd of deer; this time about 50 in number which the previously seen third deer had joined.  Like the previous herd, they made their way down towards Sleddale once they realised I was heading in their direction.  The isolation of the Shap moors suits deer far more than humans, as proved by the numbers seen.

From the tiny cairn on the summit of Sleddale Pike the large granite erratic of Gray Bull is easily seen.  When I reached it I was tempted to climb it but didn’t want to risk a less than straightforward downclimb in winter boots.

Grey Bull - a Shap erratic

I crossed the slopes of Wasdale Pike, disturbing another herd of 20 or so deer, before dropping down in to Wasdale to cross Wasdale Beck and then head up to the top of the plantation.  From there, the walk to the car was the final easy stage of the walk, one which had seen the ticking of one Nuttall and six Outlying Fells.

Loweswater Fells

“The lesser heights and foothills of Lakeland, especially those on the fringe, are too much neglected in favour of the greater mountains, yet many of these unsought and unfashionable little hills are completely charming.”

I have walked over and stood on many of these “lesser heights and foothills” in the past few years and Alfred Wainwright’s introduction to Low Fell describes them perfectly.  The terrain is generally quite benign but the views, stood apart from the clustered higher fells, are often superb.

Easy lanes led to the slopes of Darling Fell followed by the crossing of Crabtree Beck to the Wainwright summit of Low Fell.  The cairned viewpoint a short way to the south leads the eye past water and mere to the heart of the high western fells.

Buttermere valley from Low Fell

Low Fell is one of those fells of which Wainwright’s summit differs from the true highpoint.  He obviously picks a point that he thinks has more merit due to view or terrain, and I wonder how many walkers miss their tick because of an alternate summit.  Mellbreak and Whiteside are two more examples.

This ridge’s second Wainwright of Fellbarrow is easily reached by strolling over the Birkett tops of Sourfoot Fell and Smithy Fell.  The descent off Mosser Fell needs care to avoid a mauling by the gorse and lower down has some boggier ground to negotiate.

Knock Murton is another fell, neither a Wainwright nor an Outlying Fell, which offers an easy walk with superb views as a reward.  Such was the clarity of the air, details could be picked out on Criffel over the Solway and individual tops on the Isle of Man’s North Barrule ridge could be picked out.

Isle of Man from Knock Murton

Some Western Wainwrights

Despite poor weather leading up to, and forecast for, the last weekend in June, 13 members of my mountaineering club converged on Beckstones, in the Duddon Valley, for a weekend of hillwalking, cycling, bouldering, rock-climbing, road-running and fell-running.  Although the range of activities was diverse, my sole aim was to bag a few more Wainwrights and inch nearer to next year’s planned completion.

Friday afternoon saw me on the far west of the national park, starting from Coldfell Gate and walking up to the summit of Cold Fell.  It’s a rather unremarkable lump, wet underfoot for a significant amount of the walk and having a rather nondescript summit.  It’s a hill to bag just because it’s on a ticklist with little else to give it any hillwalking merit.  But at least the rain held off!

A drive over to the Birker Fell road led to a more enjoyable walk.  At first glance Great Worm Crag doesn’t appear to offer much to inspire, but the walk was surprisingly pleasant and the summit offered good views of the bigger fells to the north, despite the cloud covering the high tops.  This is one to visit again in better weather.

Green Crag from Great Worm Crag

Saturday’s objective was the Mosedale horseshoe and thankfully Wasdale wasn’t too full with 3 Peaks challengers, allowing us to find a parking space quite quickly.  The path was good up to Gatherstone Head but we decided against following it to the Black Sail pass and made a bee-line for Looking Stead, finding a reasonable path slightly higher up the fellside.  With Looking Stead bagged and lunch eaten, it was time to ascend into the gloom which hid the summit of Pillar.

Rougher ground took us up the ridge to the summit shelter and trig point with a strong breeze blowing and no views to see.  One unusual thing I noticed was that the trig point didn’t have an Ordnance Survey benchmark plate and there wasn’t any sign of it ever having had one!

As conditions weren’t ideal we decided to cut short the route and after reaching Wind Gap, we descended the screes.  As this lesser route had sacrificed 3 Wainwrights I had a close look at our descent route to see how suitable it would be for an ascent for a future walk.  A word of warning – DON’T!  The screes are long and unstable and although possible, it would be a nightmare to gain the ridge by this route.  I’ll be finding another way to bag the rest of the horseshoe.

Mosedale from the screes

Once we had dropped out of the cloud, a bonus was being able to see all of the route still to do – including the pub.  Walking seems so much easier when you know there’s a pint waiting for you at the end.  Ritson’s Bar didn’t disappoint and neither did the Yewbarrow dark mild – I’d thoroughly recommended it!

Although Sunday had the best forecast, it didn’t really turn out to be any better than the previous two days – it was still breezy and the clouds were even lower.  Muncaster Castle was the start of our circular walk on Muncaster Fell, following Wainwright’s Outlying Fells route.  The walk was leisurely and the bogs and mud didn’t exactly add to the enjoyment but I’m sure that it would be a super walk after a dry spell and on a sunny day.  Having said that, the view to the west was superb with the Isle of Man standing out very clearly on the horizon.

A word of warning though – on the main road is a house that had a handsome Airedale terrier who obviously regards the garden as its territory.  Don’t try and make friends with it – it bites!