My walk up Lingmoor Fell starts conveniently at the National Trust campsite at the head of Great Langdale. I don’t even have to move the van and take full advantage by having a lazy breakfast. This may be my first walk of book four but it certainly won’t be my last from this location as Great Langdale is the launch pad for some of the big ones and a place I will get to know well over the coming months.
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.
Book Three The Central Fells
All the hills of the Central Fells listed in height order with the eleven walks that took me over them and interactive map showing hill location and route. Click on the hill or the walk to read the post. Scroll down to use the interactive map.
- A Frosty Walk up Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell (10,25)
- Four Wainwright’s from Thirlmere Dam ( 9,16,18,19 )
- A Walk up High Rigg from Bridge End (26)
- Tarn Crag and Easedale Tarn from Grasmere ( 13 )
- Four Wainwright’s from Grasmere ( 12,15,21,23 )
- Great Crag and Grange Fell from Rosthwaite ( 20,22 )
- Silver How and Loughrigg Fell in the sunshine from Grasmere ( 24,27 )
- A Walk up Eagle Crag and Sergeant’s Crag ( 11,17 )
- A Boggy Walk up Ullscarf from Thirlmere ( 4 )
- The Langdale Pikes ( 3,6,7,8 )
- An Outer Langdale Round ( 1,2,5,14 )
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.
Book Two The Far Eastern Fells
All the hills of the Far Eastern Fells listed in height order with the sixteen walks that took me over them and interactive map showing hill location and route. Click on the hill or the walk to read the post. Scroll down to use the interactive map.
- A Walk up Selside Pike and Branstree (13,21)
- A Summer High Street Collective (1,2,3,5,8,10)
- Grey Crag and Tarn Crag from Sadgill (19,22)
- A Harter Fell Round from Sadgill (6,11,24)
- Winter on Wansfell and Wansfell Pike (32)
- A Freezing Walk up Sour Howes and Sallows (30,33)
- A Short Walk up Hallin Fell (35)
- Brock Crags from Hartsop Village (27)
- A Walk up Gray Crag (15)
- Five Wainwright’s from St Peter’s Church, Martindale (17,18,28,29,34)
- A Walk up Caudale Moor and Hartsop Dodd (7,23)
- Rest Dodd and The Nab from Brotherswater (16,25)
- Place Fell from Patterdale (20)
- Cloudbusting in Kentmere, A Western Horseshoe (4,9,12,14)
- A Walk up Troutbeck Tongue from Troutbeck (36)
- Beda Fell and Angletarn Pikes from Patterdale (26,31)
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.
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.
Book One The Eastern Fells
All the hills of the Eastern Fells listed in height order with the sixteen walks that took me over them and interactive map showing hill location and route. Click on the hill or the walk to read the post. Scroll down to use the interactive map.
- A January Mell Fell Round (27,30)
- A Winters Walk up Hart Side (16)
- A Walk up Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike from Glenridding (20,34)
- Walthwaite to Glenridding via Clough Head and the Dodds (8,9,13,18)
- Gowbarrow Fell and Aira Force Circular (32)
- St Sunday Crag via Arnison Crag and Birks (10,24,35)
- A Walk up Seat Sandal from Grasmere (17)
- The Helvellyn Ridge, Dollywaggon Pike to Raise (1,2,4,6,7)
- Hartsop above How, the Priests Hole and Dovedale (26)
- High Hartsop Dodd and Little Hart Crag in the snow (23,28)
- Red Screes and Middle Dodd with ice and inversions (14,22)
- A Walk up Stone Arthur (31)
- The Pikes and Dove Crag from Ambleside (12,21,29)
- Hart Crag and Fairfield, up Dovedale, down Deepdale (5,11)
- Great Rigg, Heron Pike and Nab Scar taking Alcock Tarn (15,25,33)
- Birkhouse Moor and Catstyecam from Glenridding (3,19)
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.
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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