A week of Wainwright adventures in the English Lake District

For those that don’t know, Wainwrights are a group of 214 peaks in the Lake District that are features in the iconic series of mountain guides written by Alfred Wainwright- A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

I was lucky enough to be gifted the complete set of books by my work colleagues for my 50th birthday, and in true Richard fashion from that point on I started collecting and meticulously logging the Wainwright peaks- it’s a bit like physical stamp collecting, but way more tiring and windy. Obviously with my OCD traits, I treat the whole thing like a military operation - ticking off and journaling my thoughts on each Wainwright- we are currently about 120 peaks into the collection.

I never thought that I would have been attracted to these little books that are written and organised in a rather eclectic way. Pencil drawings and a handwritten notes make these historic books quite a unique reading experience, not to mention Alfred’s rather rambling and disconnected style of writing.

What is contained within these volumes is absolute adventure gold dust. Detailed information on each peak, numerous suggested routes, summit routes to link with other peaks, hand drawn illustrations of geographical features and horizons…you just have to dig a little into the super small print of these volumes for this tomb of information.

Part of the fun of this whole process is in the planning of each walk, from choosing the Lakeland region, to checking the guide book, to cross referencing with OS maps, finalising the route and finding wild camping spots in the region that are good bases for our adventures.

This week we have decided to devote some time to Wainwright bagging as we wait for our house sale to progress- we were both adamant that we were not going to sit at home and just wait for things to develop- we needed to get out and about and live our best life.

For Monday we had our much anticipated meeting with the architect at the house, so we were in the Dales. The weather was set to be good for at least 2 days, so we planned to hit a Dales peak on Monday after our meeting and then head up to the Lakes for a big mountain day on Tuesday and then see how the weather develops. We are by no means fine weather walkers, but we do object to starting out a walk in heavy rain and knowing that it is set for the rest of the day- that is no fun and we have better things to do with our time if that is the case.

Just being able to base ourselves in the Lakes for a few days during a work week was so exciting- we could hardly wait.

After arriving late (ish) to one of our favourite wild camping spots overlooking Ambleside and Lake Windermere, we were in the perfect location to get going early on Tuesday morning. Clearly this never happens in our early retirement lives- we were up and out at about 11.30!

We were working from the Eastern Fells book (vol 1), and aiming to bag about 5 peaks above Thirlspot. We had recollections of Scotland as we set out, with the first assent being wet and boggy- but unlike Scotland we were now in our more appropriate winter boots. There was no clear path up to White Side, so we had to resort to finding our own way up the steep and soggy moorland to the summit. We were gratified to observe that we weren’t the only ones who couldn’t find a trail, with all other groups following their own lines around us to get to the top. Once we were at the first summit, we were treated to the most amazing visibility across the Lakeland fells.

The remainder of our route, from White Side, to Raise, Stybarrow Dodd, Watson’s Dodd and Great Dodd were all very straight forward across the various ridges and plateaus up top. After 1100m+ of vertical is was time to come down, which is always a painful experience- way worse than climbing up. We used the route down from Sticks Pass, a gently descent to start with, but with a real sting in the tail as the path plummeted into the valley right at the end of 15km and a 5 hour day!

It is fair to say, we both absolutely loved the day, but we were well and truly cooked at the end of it. Going back into walking boots after a long summer in trail shoes is never easy and can take some time for the feet to get used to. We wild camped in a beautiful spot on the western shores of Derwent Water, sheltered in a quarry type park up. It was so lovely, but we had to do the usual clear up of rubbish that other people had left before we settled in for the night- some people are just really scruffy b*****ds! A quick tea of precooked chilli curtesy of Jackie’s mum (thanks Iris!), the usual washing up and we were both in bed for an early night with tired legs and a book.

The following day was a bit of a wash out, but we weren’t too bothered as our legs needed a well earned rest, particularly our feet that were finding it hard getting used to the changing conditions. We had a gentle day mooching around Keswick, taking our time to decide on our destination for the following day. We knew that after 3 nights of wild camping we could do with the luxury of a campsite, so plumped for the National Trust site in Eskdale. What a find this was- a quiet site, with amazing facilities with the feel of being absolutely in the middle of no where. It is a strong statement, but I do feel that this site had possibly the best showers of any campsite we have ever visited- a strong claim I know, but entirely justified.

The following day had a brilliant forecast so we planned and prepared for an early start to complete a hefty day on the fells. As predicted, the weather didn’t let us down and we were off, heading for the isolated and rather awkward peak of Green Crag to access. The Eskdale valley is stunningly beautiful in a very different way to other areas of the Lake District. There are few towering peaks in this area, only isolated, generally lower peaks that offer fantastic views of the surrounding monsters such as Great Gable and the Scafells. The skyline soon opened up and the effort of the climb and the long approach across marshy moorland was more than compensated for with the stunning views. We quickly headed for Harter Fell, across a pathless plateau that soon transpired to be pathless for a reason, the deep bog that covered the entire area. After a good half hour of bog snorkelling and cursing, we made it to solid ground and were treated to a very pleasing assent on solid ground. The final summit involved a lovely little scramble up to a challenging crux, which made for a fun finish.

We always agreed that we would evaluate how we felt before tackling the final peak of the day- Hard Knott. By the time we got to the Hard Knott pass, the sun was still shinning and we had loads of daylight left in the day so we decided to push onwards. It was only a small detour and we would have been foolish to pass up such an opportunity. Hard Knott did not disappoint- offering an amazing view of the Scafell range with the backdrop of blue bird skies. What we then faced was a long, and rather uninspiring walk down the Hard Knott pass back to the campsite- all 6km of it on very tired legs. We are however getting much fitter as we managed to maintain a good pace on the way home without flagging- despite the tiredness in our legs.

We took the opportunity to catch up with friends who live in the area- what started as a meet up for coffee resulted in us staying for 48 hours!

The impromptu nature of this could not have happened unless we were all retired- the opportunity was priceless. We both have a love of the lakeland fells, and we have a lot to learn. The weather looked like it was going to stop any further bagging, but a brief spell of bright blue sky got us very optimistic. Following the advice of our friends that know the area like the back of their hands, we headed to Middle Fell at the entrance to the Wasdale valley.

The summit had fantastic views of Wasdale and the monstrous peaks that surround it including the iconic Scafells and Great Gable. A quick up and down in stunning visibility saw us safely back at the van after only 2 hours. Even better, we headed back to our friends house for a lovely dinner finished off with a hearty course of cheese and port. Could life get any better?

If you want to see more of our Wainwright adventures, you can see what we got up to here on YouTube.