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A Walk Up Slieve Donard

What they undertook to do they brought to pass;
All things hang like a drop of dew Upon a blade of grass
William Butler Yeats

Ambitions and goals are important things in life. They give you purpose and hope. They keep you focused, moving forward and concentrating on the future instead of dwelling on the past or being indolent in the present. I have a fair number of goals, targets and projects or more poetically, dreams, hopes and aspirations. There are things I want to see and experience, walks I want to complete and places I want to visit before I go off to rest with my ancestors. And one long standing project is to stand on top of the highest points in the five nations that make up the British Isles, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland.

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An Outer Langdale Round

‘If I should bow my head let it be to a high mountain’ Maori Proverb

I’m back in Great Langdale just a couple of weeks after my previous visit when I was fortunate to walk the Langdale Pikes in glorious weather. The weather isn’t so good today but it’s dry and the tops are clear which is what matters. I’m heading for a group of hills that form an outer circle around the rather compact Pikes, Blea Rigg, Sergeant Man, High Raise and Thunacar Knott. And in visiting these, I’ll also bring to a conclusion my journey through Wainwright’s Book Three, The Central Fells.

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The Langdale Pikes

Just as autumn seemed to have arrived, summer sunshine and warmth has returned for one last hurrah and I’m fortunate to be in Great Langdale to enjoy it. The Langdale Pikes are an iconic group of hills whose relative accessibility, moderate height and interesting routes have made them emblematic of all that is attractive about the English Lake District. From the moment their shapely and unique outline is glimpsed across Windermere on the road to Ambleside you know you have entered into the heart of Lakeland with its mountains, lakes and rivers. It’s time to relax, breathe out, and for a while leave your workaday stresses behind and allow your heart to be stirred in anticipation of adventures that lie ahead. And today, in the sunshine, I’m walking the Langdale Pikes.

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A walk up Ullscarf from Thirlmere

My last visit to Ullscarf was thwarted when the clouds which had been hovering above it all day decided to lower onto the summit plateau just as I reached it. As I have a rule that I will be able to see the view from each top on my journey through the Wainwright’s this unfortunately meant a return visit. At least going up again gives me a chance to try a different route and today I’ll be ascending via Harrop Tarn and returning down the Wythburn valley which means I don’t have to walk back on myself.

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A walk to Glenashdale Falls, Isle of Arran

The Isle of Arran is often referred to as ‘Scotland in Miniature’ because the north of the island is mountainous whereas the south is more pastoral. We’ve brought the van over from Ardrossan and are enjoying a mini road trip around the island, mini because Arran is only twenty miles long and nine miles wide. But what it lacks in acreage it more than makes up for in natural scenery and human history with an abundance of beaches, waterfalls and wildlife, castles, distillery’s and ancient monuments.

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Walking in The Arches National Park, Utah

The Arches National Park is like no place I have ever walked in before. Set high on the desert plateau of Utah, there is little vegetation and the sparse trees are stunted and gnarled by the harsh environment. It’s a raw and exposed place, baking in the day and freezing at night. It is literally the Wild West. What draws visitors to the park are the natural sandstone arches, thousands of them. Fifteen million years of erosion created them and we’re here today to walk among them. It’s as different a landscape to the UK as chalk is to cheese.

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A walk along the Bisse du Torrent Neuf, Switzerland

The ‘Bisses’ of the Valais region of Switzerland are long irrigation channels, many of them hundreds of years old, built to channel water from high mountain streams down to pasture land in the valleys below. Carved out from rock along the valley sides many of them follow a precipitous route with dizzying drops below and vertical cliffs above. The Bisse du Torrent Neuf in the central Valais dates back to the 15th century. Thankfully it’s been restored since and today it offers a spectacular out and back walk along the cliff edges, past sheer rock faces and over wobbly suspension bridges.

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A walk up Eagle Crag and Sergeant’s Crag

It’s the second time I’ve stopped at Chapel House Farm campsite in the last few weeks and the second time I find myself walking towards Stonethwaite looking to climb two Wainwright’s. Last time I was on my to Great Crag and Grange Fell. Today I’m looking towards Eagle Crag which rises up rather dauntingly from the valley floor and peeking out from behind it, Sergeant’s Crag.

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Silver How and Loughrigg Fell from Grasmere Village

It’s summer, or at least that brief moment in time that passes for summer these days. It’s also a Sunday on one of the hottest days of the year so I know today’s walk up Silver How and Loughrigg Fell, two of the lower lying and popular fells around Grasmere is likely to be a busy one.

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Great Crag and Grange Fell from Rosthwaite

Over the last few years I have become familiar with every twist and turn of the A592 and A591 as I have tramped over the Eastern and Far Eastern Fells. Today, I’m driving down the B5289 into lovely Borrowdale. Excited to be making progress I feel like an early pioneer heading slowly westwards into new territory. And road numbers aren’t the only change. I survived on mostly van meals in the more remote fells but the fleshpots of Keswick and Grasmere are already tempting me with easy access to beer and steak, coffee and cake. Like Odysseus I must resist their siren call if I’m not to finish the Central Fells heavier than when I started.

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