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Great Carrs, Swirl How and Grey Friar from Wrynose Pass

The Halifax Bomber Memorial on Great Carrs

I’ve had a summer away from Lakeland doing other things but as I drink my morning coffee a thousand feet up the Wrynose Pass watching the sun rise over Wetherlam it’s like meeting up with an old friend again. Shared experiences and years of familiarity mean the relationship is comfortably secure and time and distance apart is quickly forgotten. Every corner tells a story, and my particular memory here is of pushing an old mark three Cortina up an icy Wrynose Pass just after Christmas sometime in the mid eighties on our way to Eskdale YHA.

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A walk up Talaia d’Alcudia, Mallorca

I forget that it’s market day and we’re stuck in traffic crawling through the ancient walled town of Alcudia on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. To pass the time the taxi driver puts his AC/DC playlist on, Highway to Hell is the first song and I’m hoping it isn’t an omen for my planned walk today. Eventually he drops me just outside Campament de la Victoria which is the start point of my walk up Talaia d’Alcudia, the highest mountain on the Alcudia peninsula. As the cab pulls away the sunshine on my face and the silence in my ears are both equally welcome.

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Moraine Lake and Lake Agnes Tea House Trail

Events elsewhere mean many Canadians are vacationing at home this year and it seems half of them have chosen to visit Banff and Lake Louise at the same time as us. Consequently, I made sure to call at Lake Louise Ski Resort yesterday and secure our tickets for the 8.15am bus stopping at Moraine Lake first before going on to Lake Louise. This way we still get to see both of these extremely popular and beautiful lakes but can take our time at Lake Louise and walk the Lake Agnes Tea House Trail, a walk I’ve had my eye on for some time.

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The Lighthouse Loop Trail – Vancouver Island

When ‘Oyster’ Martin moved to Vancouver Island in the 1980’s he fell in love with the rugged landscape and rocky headlands of the west coast that he saw from his fishing boat each day and had a dream to create a trail along the coastline that could be accessed and enjoyed by all. Forty years later that vision has grown into the Wild Pacific Trail and today I’m walking the Lighthouse Loop section, which happens to be the first section that was completed back in 1999.

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A walk around Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park

The alarm goes at 6am and by ten past we are on the road, half awake and unwashed with the bed still warm in the back of the van. All is quiet as we drive out of Lake Louise Campground through the sleepy town and out onto the Trans Canada One heading west. The sun is breaking through but clouds still cover the higher peaks and mist floats over the Bow river as we head up Kicking Horse Pass and back into British Columbia and Yoho National Park. The only other vehicles on the road are gigantic trucks, engines labouring up the incline.

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Walking the Tonquin Trail on Vancouver Island

It’s a six hour drive from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia on Vancouver Island to our campsite in Tofino and my nerves are tested on the narrow bendy bit of the Pacific Rim Highway beyond Port Alberni. I am after all, driving on the wrong side of the road and sitting on the wrong side of the vehicle. The journey passes without incident though and as we park up at Tsawaak RV campground a gossamer thin sea mist is drifting in from the ocean obscuring sight and muffling sound. The cold dampness on our skin is refreshing though after the heat of Vancouver and Victoria where temperatures were in the mid 30’c.

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Allen Crags and Seathwaite Fell from Seathwaite

In March 1988 Andy and I were enjoying a few days walking in a cold and frosty Lakeland. Having walked up Grains Gill from Seathwaite we were taking a break when we noticed two red clad walkers who were motoring up the path at some pace behind us. “They’re not hanging around,” remarked Andy and as the two speedy walkers drew level we recognised one of them to be non other than Sir Chris Bonington, one of Britain’s best known and celebrated mountaineers. We chatted for a few minutes before Sir Chris went off with his companion to climb Central Gully on Great End which was nicely compacted with frozen snow and Andy and I went off to climb England’s highest mountain for the first time. I’ve walked past that spot in Grains Gill many times since and will do so again today, in the heat of an English summer as I walk up Allen Crags and Seathwaite Fell. Each time I pass by I remember with fondness the day I met a mountaineering legend.

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Rosthwaite Fell and Glaramara from Rosthwaite

It’s always nice to start a walk straight from the campsite and Chapel House Farm has the added benefit that I can have breakfast looking up at my first hill of the day, Rosthwaite Fell. Wainwright dedicates his book on the Southern Fells, the book I’m currently walking through to “The Sheep of Lakeland, the hardiest of all fellwalkers”. In what has been a sustained spell of dry weather these hardy Herdwicks are suffering a little. Richard, the farmer and campsite owner tells me the dry weather has not been good for his flock of a thousand Herdwicks who are suffering from the lack of water and parasitic infestations growing in their wool. For his livelihood and the sheep’s well-being I hope Lakeland has some rain soon, maybe just not today.

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Lens Artists Challenge – Books

This week’s Lens Artist’s Challenge has been set by Ritva who invites us to share our photographic interpretations on the theme of Books. I’ve categorised my own contributions into The Grand, The Ancient, The Quirky and The Personal.

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