lake district | Jims Walking Journey

Great Rigg, Heron Pike and Nab Scar

Gazing out at the glorious views of Lakeland from the summit of Great Rigg I feel a little melancholic. This is my first mountain summit since turning sixty. I remember well my first trip to the Lake District. In 1983, aged twenty one, a mate and I drove over from Yorkshire where I was stationed at the time. We were with a couple of girls we fancied in a very old VW Beetle owned by one the girls. We walked around Keswick before heading up to Watendlath for a dip in the tarn and then a walk up High Tove. On the way back to Yorkshire the Beetle broke down several times and had to be coaxed back to life with a bit of WD40. When you’re 21 thinking about being 60, well you may as well be thinking about being dead. But here I am, very much alive, still climbing hills 39 years later.

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A Walk up Stone Arthur

It’s not often, hardly ever in fact that you get to see the summit of the hill you are about to climb from your start point. Y Garn in Snowdonia is one such hill that comes to mind (you can read my blog about that walk Here). The hill I am going to walk up today, Stone Arthur is another and pulling on my boots in the lay-by outside Grasmere village I can see it’s rocky top poking up invitingly through the leafless winter trees.

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Red Screes and Middle Dodd

I’m back at Sykeside campsite to complete a walk that was cut short a few weeks ago because of storm Arwen and bad weather. Today’s walk will take in Red Screes and Middle Dodd via Caiston Glen and Scandale Pass. Once again the weather is rather peculiar. For the last few days, high pressure has settled over the whole of the country trapping cold air underneath it and causing a country wide temperature inversion. For days on end there have been cloud inversions in the Lakeland valleys as they remain below freezing but the tops bask in sunshine and warmth. I wonder if these unusual weather patterns are a sign of things to come because of climate change. I am thankful though that we are not having to contend with drought, floods or wildfires as some parts of the World have to.

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High Hartsop Dodd and Little Hart Crag in the Snow

Standing on top of High Hartsop Dodd with the snowfall becoming increasingly heavy I wondered whether history was about to repeat itself. One of the rules I have set myself on this journey through the Wainwright’s is to get a view off each mountain summit. This was the second time I had stood in this very spot in as many months. The first I didn’t count as the cloud came down and obscured the view. Was this second attempt going to go the same way. Should I carry on and hope the forecasted ‘snow shower’ passed or should I turn back yet again?

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Hartsop above How and Dovedale

Last night I stepped out of the campervan at Aira Force and was greeted by a cloudless sky and the sight of the Milky Way above my head. I turned off the headtorch and could see a billion stars, all merged together, stretching out in that distinctive long milky band across the inky black clear night sky. As I stared up, transfixed by the sight and trying to remember the last time I saw this glorious spectacle a shooting star shot straight across the sky burning out over the northern horizon. Light pollution generally stops me seeing the Milky Way so this is a treat and I go to bed marveling at the sheer immensity and beauty of this universe that we all inhabit.

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The Helvellyn Ridge, Dollywaggon Pike to Raise

Starting today’s walk at Dunmail Raise, nearly 800ft above sea level does seem a little bit like cheating. I suppose though, unless you decide to climb every hill from the seaside you’re not starting from zero anywhere, so I comfort myself with this fact as I climb over the stile and head slowly up the hill and away from the traffic noise of the A591. A feature of the eastern fells seems to be giant ferns that often cover the lower slopes and today is no exception with the path forging a thin stone line between a mass of greenery that soaks my trousers with the morning dew. Today’s walk will take me up onto the Helvellyn ridge from Grisedale Tarn which becomes a high level highway taking in Dollywaggon Pike, Nethermost Pike, Helvellyn itself, White Side and finally Raise before dropping down the Sticks Pass into Thirlmere.

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A walk up Seat Sandal

The cloud is hanging low in the valleys as I leave the campsite. It is one of those still, silent Lakeland mornings where even the sheep are silenced by the muffling effect of the mist. Driving past Thirlmere, the water resembles a sheet of glass, the evergreens on the hillside reflecting perfectly in the Mill Pond flatness of the reservoir.

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St Sunday Crag via Arnison Crag and Birks

As I leave Side Farm campsite I can see the three hills of my intended days walk perfectly framed by a dry stone wall and some trees across the bottom reaches of Ullswater. It’s the perfect photo and I am drawn to the multiple shades of green that make up the fellside contrasting nicely with the blue sky above and the greenish blue of the lake below. Today’s walk takes in Arnison Crag, Birks and St Sunday Crag before returning to Patterdale via Grisedale.

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Aira Force and Gowbarrow Fell

I last walked up Gowbarrow Fell in the summer of 1992. We were stopping in a holiday cottage in Matterdale and I took a walk up in the late afternoon with my faithful border collie, Hemp. That evening, Mrs E and I watched Linford Christie win gold in the 100m final at the Barcelona Olympics. After my most recent walk up this fell I returned to the campervan to hear that Marcel Jacobs had just won Gold in the 100m final at the Tokyo Olympics. In an even more pleasing act of synchronicity, when I checked the date of Christie’s win, you’ve guessed, it was the very same day, 1st August. I’m looking forward to walking up Gowbarrow Fell on the 1st August 2050 to continue the pattern.

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A walk along the Dodds

It’s a bright, sunny morning and the birds are singing as I’m dropped off at the old coach road at Wanthwaite bridge, the start point of today’s walk. The high pressure weather system that has brought unseasonable Mediterranean heat to our shores continues to linger over the country into a second week and even though it’s early the temperature is already in the mid 20c’s . As soon as I start walking I realise that my poles, instead of being strapped to my rucksack are sitting in the back of the camper. It looks like today is going to be powered by legs only.

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Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike from Glenridding

Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike, the objects of today’s walk form the northern wall of the Glenridding valley and can be clearly seen from Glenridding village and from Gillside campsite, my home for a couple of days walking. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you like the heat) today’s walk coincides with some of the hottest days of the summer and with temperatures reaching into the 30°c’s an early start seems best to avoid both the crowds and the heat.

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A Mell Fell Double

So today is the day. The day when I start my quest to complete all of the Wainwright’s in book order, starting of course with Book One, The Eastern Fells. I have spent the night at ‘The Quiet Site, a caravan/campervan site which happens to be at the foot of Little Mell Fell, perfect for my walk. It’s January and it’s cold but I am treated to a glorious sunrise, the clouds slowly turning golden in anticipation and then our very own star rising up over the Far Eastern Fells and marking the start of a new day.

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A Winter’s Walk up Hart Side

I arrive early at the National Trust car park just South of Dockray and am spoilt for choice as it is completely empty. Not liking choice, I choose two spots before finally settling on a third. It’s a cold, crisp dry January morning with the promise of a bit of sun later. The road into Dockray is followed for a short while until the footpath, next to a little art studio is joined.

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My Journey Through the Wainwright’s, One Book at a Time.

My first visit to the Lake District was in 1982 and from that day on, whenever I visit I never cease to be captivated by the beauty of its Mountains Lakes and Valleys. Whether driving along the A66 to Keswick and seeing Blencathra stretching up into the sky ahead of me or getting that first glimpse of the Langdales from the A591 heading to Grasmere, travelling into Lakeland always lifts my spirits and restores my soul.

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An Autumn walk around Grasmere and Rydal Water

Autumn in the Lake District can often be one of the most sublime times of the year, truly a “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” as Keats said. As I looked out of our hotel window over breakfast however and saw the leaves rapidly falling from the trees I wondered whether there would be any left to enjoy on my walk. I needn’t have worried, when the rain stopped there was still plenty of Autumn Gold to make for a very enjoyable walk around two of the smaller lakes in the district.

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Coast to Coast Walk – Glaisdale to Robin Hoods Bay

Day 14 Glaisdale to Robin Hoods Bay 19 Miles

Day fourteen, the last day, starts with a wholesome farmhouse breakfast after a good nights sleep. Over breakfast we chat to the farmer about the weather and we all agree that it has been rather wet for the time of year. It’s a dairy farm and the farmer tells us that ‘even the cows are miserable’. This makes me wonder how you can tell a miserable looking cow from a normal looking cow but I guess I’m not with these cows every day for months and years. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Glaisdale to Robin Hoods Bay”

Coast to Coast Walk – Clay Bank Top to Glaisedale

Day 13 Clay Bank Top to Glaisdale 18 Miles

The end of the walk, which for a couple of weeks has seemed so distant is now suddenly within touching distance and only two days walking away. They are long days though, seventeen to nineteen miles a piece depending on which book you read (I did this walk prior to possessing my very own GPS which no doubt would have given yet a different number!) We are dropped off at Clay Bank Top just after 9am and, like yesterday the day starts with an uphill leg and lung warmer, a steady six hundred feet of ascent from the road up onto Urra Moor.

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Coast to Coast Walk – Osmotherley to Clay Bank Top

The path stretching out along the Cleveland Crest

Day 12 Osmotherley to Clay Bank Top 11 Miles

Having spent two days crossing the Vale of York we are now back in hill country and about to enter our third National Park, The Yorkshire Moors. We enter the Park just outside Ingleby Cross and the trail soon starts to head upwards at a steady incline through Arncliffe Wood. It is a still, silent morning and we are the only people around. As we climb through the wood, out of the corner of my eye I catch sight of a deer. It has its back to us and is munching away on some ferns about thirty feet away. Despite our best efforts all too soon it senses our presence and rapidly darts off into the undergrowth, it’s bouncing white bottom contrasting with the green foliage as it vanishes, magician like from view.

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Coast to Coast Walk – Kirkby Stephen to Keld

Day 7 Kirkby Stephen to Keld 12 miles

We don’t often consider it, but sleep is a powerful healer. Despite going to bed shattered and aching, this morning I woke up feeling renewed, the throbbing legs were feeling better and I was ready to get moving along the trail again. Like yesterday, we had breakfast with Bob and Alan who had also spent the night in the hostel. Apart from the four of us, there were only two other guests, two lads who I heard coming in in the early hours, drunk, loud and laughing. Denise the warden said they went around the country dressed as Spiderman but their car had broken down so they were stuck in Kirkby Stephen! Sounds like the plot of a road movie to me. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Kirkby Stephen to Keld”

Coast to Coast Walk – Shap to Kirkby Stephen

Day 6 Shap to Kirkby Stephen 20 miles

Had a leisurely breakfast catching up with Bob and Alan who were also staying at New Ing Lodge. Gwen and I left at about 10am and as we stopped off at the Co Op to buy our chocolate supplies for the day my eyes were drawn to the newspaper headline on the billboard outside which read, “Gales batter the Lake District!”. Gwen and I of course didn’t need to be told this news, we had lived (and walked) through it. Continue reading “Coast to Coast Walk – Shap to Kirkby Stephen”

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