Tag: mountains

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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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Wainwright’s Book Three The Central Fells

All the hills of the Central Fells in height order with the eleven walks that took me over them. Click on the hill or the walk to read the post. Scroll down to use the interactive map for hill location and route.

1. High Raise 762m 2,500ft 8. Loft Crag 680m 2,231ft 15. Calf Crag 537m 1,762ft 22. Grange Fell 415m 1,362ft
2. Sergeant Man 736m 2,415ft 9. High Seat 608m 1,995ft 16. High Tove 515m 1,690ft 23. Helm Crag 405m 1,329ft
3. Harrison Stickle 736m 2,415ft 10. Bleaberry Fell 590m 1,936ft 17. Eagle Crag 525m 1,722ft 24. Silver How 395m 1,296ft
4. Ullscarf 726m 2,382ft 11. Sergeant’s Crag 571m 1,873ft 18. Armboth Fell 479m 1,572ft 25. Walla Crag 376m 1,234ft
5. Thunacar Knott 723m 2,372ft 12. Steel Fell 553m 1,814ft 19. Raven Crag 461m 1,512ft 26. High Rigg 357m 1,171ft
6. Pike of Stickle 709m 2,326ft 13. Tarn Crag 550m 1,804ft 20. Great Crag 450m 1,476ft 27. Loughrigg Fell 335m 1,099ft
7. Pavey Ark 700m 2,297ft 14. Blea Rigg 541m 1,775ft 21. Gibson Knott 420m 1,378ft  

 

Wainwright’s Book One The Eastern Fells

All the hills of the Eastern Fells in height order with the sixteen walks that took me over them. Click on the hill or the walk to read the post. Scroll down to use the interactive map for hill location and route. 

1.Helvellyn 950m 3,117ft 8.Great Dodd 857m 2,812ft 15.Great Rigg 766m 2,513ft 22.Middle Dodd 654 m 2,146 ft 29.Low Pike 508m 1,667ft
2.Nethermost Pike 891m 2,923ft 9.Stybarrow Dodd 843m 2,766ft 16.Hart Side 756m 2,480ft 23.Little Hart Crag 637m 2,090ft 30.Little Mell Fell 505m 1,657ft
3.Catstycam 890m 2,920ft 10.St Sunday Crag 841m 2,759ft 17.Seat Sandal 736m 2,415ft 24.Birks 622m 2,041ft 31.Stone Arthur 500m 1,640ft
4.Raise 883m 2,897ft 11.Hart Crag 822m 2,697ft 18.Clough Head 726m 2,382ft 25.Heron Pike 612m 2,008ft 32.Gowbarrow Fell 481m 1,578ft
5.Fairfield 873m 2,864ft 12.Dove Crag 792m 2,598ft 19.Birkhouse Moor 718 m 2,356 ft 26.Hartsop above How 570m 1,870ft 33.Nab Scar 450m 1,476ft
6.White Side 863m 2,831ft 13.Watson’s Dodd 789m 2,589ft 20.Sheffield Pike, 675 m 2,215 ft 27.Great Mell Fell 537m 1,762ft 34.Glenridding Dodd 442m 1,450ft
7.Dollywaggon Pike 858m 2,815ft 14.Red Screes 776m 2,546ft 21.High Pike, 656 m 2,152 ft 28.High Hartsop Dodd 519m 1,703ft 35.Arnison Crag 433m 1,421ft

 

 

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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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Four Wainwright’s from Grasmere

I’ve had company over the last couple of days. A Robin arrives regularly at the van door looking for food and then repays my benevolence by demanding that I get off its territory. He needn’t worry as I’ll be gone today and he’s fatter than when I arrived. The murk of yesterday has gone and I can see today’s walk from my parking spot. The long southern ridge leading up Steel Fell, the curve around the head of Greenburn leading to Calf Crag, Gibson Knott and finally Helm Crag all look inviting in the morning sunshine. The most dangerous part will be crossing the A591.

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Four Wainwright’s from Thirlmere Dam

Commitments and the never ending rain which makes planning clear summit days difficult have kept me away from the hills so far this year. But the weather seems to have finally turned and it looks like spring has arrived, soon to be merged straight into summer. As I park up at High Bridge End the sun is shining, lambs are gamboling in the fields, new life abounds and a chirpy chaffinch heralds my arrival back to Lakeland. The air is fresh and clean and the mountains green and lush. I’ve missed the reassuring presence of these hills and it’s good to be back.

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A walk up Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s Highest Mountain

MacGillycuddy’s Reeks may sound like a character out of a Roald Dahl book but is in fact an extensive mountain range in County Kerry, Ireland and the home to Ireland’s highest peaks including its highest, Carrauntoohil. The far south west of Ireland is a little out of the way for an Englishman but a road trip around the ‘Emerald Isle’ with some friends provides an opportunity, should the timetable and the changeable Kerry weather oblige to climb this mountain.

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Tour du Mont Blanc Day Twelve – Refuge la Flégère to Chamonix

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy!
Robert Burns

The best laid scheme of today was to finish our Tour du Mont Blanc on top of Le Brévent and then get the cable car down into Chamonix to celebrate. It started to go awry with the weather forecast of last night and was confirmed in the early hours when the storm rolled in, wind whistling through the gaps in the old wooden frames and rain sweeping across the panes.

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Tour du Mont Blanc Day Eleven – Tré Le Champ to Refuge la Flégère

Stepping onto the wooden balcony that adjoins our room at 6am all is silent in the valley. The cool, still morning air fills my nostrils with the scent of pines and wood smoke. Dew glistens on the grass in the small camping field next to the refuge and people in the tents are stirring. I stand for a while in the stillness, looking up at Mont Blanc and reflecting on our walk so far. We have seen the mountain we are walking around from different aspects, from different countries and in different weather. It has been the central hub and ever present reminder of the reason for our journey, our very own ‘Tour du Mont Blanc‘. Today is our penultimate day and it promises to be a good one.

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Tour du Mont Blanc Day Ten – Trient to Tre Le Champ

Today we have the third and final border crossing of our Tour du Mont Blanc when we say goodbye to the forests of Switzerland and cross back into France at Col de Balme. It’s a Grand Old Duke of York walking day, a long steep walk up followed by a long steep walk down. Hill walking pared down to its simplest form, you’re going up or you’re going down, just keep putting one foot in front of the other and don’t forget to breathe. The reward for all this effort is we’ll get our first sight of Mont Blanc from the French side and we’ll also see the Chamonix valley, the end of our journey for the first time.

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