25th October 2007: A Celebration

You may have heard me refer to the aged parent in passing, like a character who pops up from time to time in a story book. Well, today it was his turn to be the main character in the tale.

It was a lovely day as we all got up ready to accompany my dad on his last Wainwright: High Rigg (1163 feet). After 20 odd years, he was now going to have completed all 214 Wainwright fells - can we have a whoop, whoop, please? On the walk there was him and my mum, me, the fell runner, my other brother, a client of my dad's, a friend with whom my dad does the Gable Remembrance Day walk and my uncle (one of the earliest completers who has been mentioned before).

We set off in two cars and parked one of them at Smaithwaite Bridge and the other at the church of St John's in the Vale. We all went up from the bridge and followed the delightful path on to the top. There was much banter and cheerfulness and absolutely no whinging from any party member.

At the top we were surprised to encounter a family who had completed the Wainwrights as a group just a couple of days earlier! We had lots of photos taken and out the champagne came which I had so generously carried up the mountain. We then swapped contact details with the family so that they could meet us on my final Wainwright and headed down to the chuch.

There was a feeling of sadness as we headed home; with 3 completers and one coming up, there was a feeling that a chapter of the book was coming to an end. However, the celebrations began again with a meal out, plenty of ale and excellent company.

24th October 2007

As the aged parent had a free day, he offered to accompany me up Rossett Pike (2106). We decided to go up from Wasdale Head. This is the valley that I know the best but had seen little of over the last couple of years due to the fact that completing Wainwrights had taken me to so many other places.

We were in the big car park by 11.oo and set off up the Sty-Head path with a view to following the lower path along the beck. This was definitely the best plan as there were hundreds of others toiling up the higher path. We came across a girl who seemed confused as to where the path was to take her on to the Pike. We suggested that she followed us up and go on to the Pike over Great End; she thanked us for our advice but continued up the incredibly steep and dubious 'path' that she was on.

We got to the col between Great Gable and Great End quickly and admired Sprinkling Tarn. We then left a lot of the people behind as we followed the longish path on to Rossett Pike. We touched the top and headed back down to the tarn as it was freezing on the top. We decided to have lunch over looking Sprinkling Tarn, which was lovely.

It was then a question of retracing our foot steps back to the car with the sun setting nicely as awe went down.

New Fell: Rossett Pike

23rd October 2007

Having been away from the Lakes for a couple of months, I was relishing the thought of spending some time in the North over the October half-term.

I set off early in the morning and arrived at Troutbeck at about 2 . I decided that I shouldn't wate any time in climbing a mountain and so decided to tackle the mighty Troutbeck Tongue (1191 ft).

Being impressively organised, I had packed my running trainers in my rucksack and so decided to run along the farm track in order to save some time. I did it without any real difficulty and, at the bottom of the Tongue, changed back into my walking shoes to tackle the steep climb. It was steep and quite difficult to find the path but I had a fun time pushing up through the bracken and on to the nose of the fell.

It was then a quick step onto the top. The views were beautiful as the autumn sun began to set, casting beautiful orange light onto the surrounding fells. The lights of Troutback could also just about be made out: wonderful!

Feeling fantastic, I made a quick descent, changed into my trainers and jogged back to the car with a clear rememberance of why this area means so much to me.

New Fell: Toutbeck Tongue

24th August 2007

Having taken a couple of days off to rest the blisters, do some cycling and watch the fell runner come 3rd for Keswick AC in the round Latrigg fell race, myself and My Blogwalker decided to go for it and do the Kentmere horseshoe.

We were at the church at Kentmere nice and early and the weather had turned around completely and it was a beautiful day. We took a track to Stile End and then headed up the steep path onto Shipman Knotts (1926 ft) which was a fun and sweaty climb. There was then a clear path up to Kentmere Pike (2397 ft) and the sun was beating down on us as we sped up to the top. Unfortunately, the sun had also brought out the midges and horse flies which meant that we were always on the look out for marauding insects.

From there we followed the same path up to Harter Fell (2539 ft) from where there were fantastic views. An exciting stride along Nan Bield Pass took us up to Mardale Ill Bell (2496 ft) but we did stop on the pass itself to take in the views which were amazing. We decided to avoid the crowds by avoiding High Street and Thornthwaite Crag and instead take a more direct route up onto Froswick (2359 ft). The climb was very exciting and the whole walk over Ill Bell (2476 ft) and Yoke (2309 ft) was very impressive. It was quite steep but brilliant all the same.

From Yoke we then took a long walk back down to Garburn Pass and back to the car. Even though it was a tough walk, it was a brilliant one. The views were incredible and it was pretty exciting from Harter Fell onwards. We were also incredibly lucky with the weather. Most exciting, however, was the fact that this left me with just 6 Wainwrights left to do.

New Fells: Shipman Knott, Kentmere Pike, Harter Fell, Mardale Ill Bell, Froswick, Ill Bell, Yoke.

21st August 2007

As the aged parent had another free day today, we decided to head all the way to the far east again and do the four most eastern Wainwrights. Therefore, we set off early and parked at the most Southern point of Haweswater with lots of other people. It is always a sad place to be since the village of Mardale was flooded by the Manchester Water Authority in order to create the reservoir.

We them took a tough path up to Gatescarth Pass and headed left on to the top of Branstree (2333 ft). It wasn't long before we were in the clouds but it was a clear path on to Selside Pike (2142 ft). On the way we stopped at the marvellous Artlecrag Pike cairn which was very exciting.

Unfortunately we then had to retrace our steps over Branstree and it was a long descent and then ascent on to Tarn Crag (2176 ft) where there was another fantastic cairn. We navigated back to the wall and then headed up to Grey Crag (2093 ft) which was a quick climb but our legs were already beginning to ache.

We had to go back over Tarn Crag and down a path back to Gatescarth Pass. It was quite a long walk but quite pretty, if a little wet. Imagine our surprise when we realised that we had come down the wrong side of the pass and so had to walk back up it and down the other side to get on to the right path. It was a hard climb and it took us high enough to get back into the clouds but we set our minds to it and it was soon done.

It seemed like a long descent down to the car but we felt as though we had done very well and were pleased with the walk.

New Fells: Branstree, Selside Pike, Tarn Crag, Grey Crag.

20th August 2007

I was joined by the aged parent today and we decided to do some tidying up of some smaller fells in the far east. We chose to begin with Sour Howes (1568 ft) which we tackled from Kentmere where we were lucky enough to find a parking space by the beautiful church.

We headed up along the Garburn Pass (where we saw some nutters carrying bikes up just to cycle back down again) and took a stile which led us along a ridge and onto the summit. It was clear but blustery and we didn't hang around but headed quickly across to Sallows (1691 ft) from where there were some cracking views. Again it was very cold but we had a quick lunch and then headed back to the car.

We then drove over to Troutbeck and took a stomach crunching walk up Nanny Lane and along a wall for a while until we found the wall which took us up onto Wansfell (1597 ft). We found a much better path, which was more direct, on the way down and so we were back at the car in no time at all.

There was then lengthy discussions about going on to do Troutbeck Tongue but we decided that we just didn't have the time and so we headed back home.

New Fells: Sour Hows, Sallows, Wansfell.

19th August 2007

Having been a bit over-keen with the running the week before, I was suffering badly with enormous blisters. Having administered extensive first aid to them I felt ready to give the feet a trial walk; therefore, the fellrunner and I decided to do a quick walk up Hart Side (2481 ft) which would also mean that the Eastern Fells book would be completed.

We parked near Aira Force and headed up a very muddy path which made for some fun squelching and sliding: the path had clearly suffered after the days of heavy rain. After some excellent map reading we found the higher path which took us through a copse and onto the open fell. Unfortunately, the cloud came down and the fell runner did some outstanding navigating to get us onto the right summit.

Having reached the top, we decided that it was too cold to hang around so we made a quick descent and were back down in no time at all. The blisters had survived very well despite the fact that we both had wet feet.

New Fell: Hart Side