Walk 146: Joe reaches the summit of England

Joe and Ill Crag

Congratulations to Joe, who agreed to acccompany me on yesterday’s walk 146 and thus attained the summit of Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. It’s not a walk to be underestimated, as anyone who has done it will know — the distance is fairly long and there are some difficult sections, particularly in the last mile or so before one attains the summit. And the full day expedition was done in relative heat and almost constant sunshine — believe it or not. (It really has been a very nice May, one to treasure.)

Rossett Pike, the day’s intensely blue skies, and the year’s early bracken crop

Nevertheless, we made it, his first visit and my second. I will feel no need to rush back to Scafell Pike but so be it, I can live with that. The walk also included neighbouring Lingmell — you can read all about it, as usual, on the relevant walk 146 page.

As of today, then, I have done 147 of the 330 Wainwrights a second time and thus have 183 to go. I hope the next ones will be bagged within the next fortnight although at the moment the availability of functioning rail services in the area is a random factor, but let’s not bring Northern Rail into this…

Walk 145: Crinkle Crags — in the sun!

Crinkle Crags, seen from Dungeon Ghyll

I haven’t been getting out on walks as often as I’d choose this year, as various other things (personal projects, train strikes, the weather, life) have been getting in the way. But yesterday, 12th May, was far too good a forecast to waste so I headed for Great Langdale and exorcised the ghosts of one of my wetter, colder Lakes experiences, namely walk 64 back in August 2012. That walk ensured I would add Crinkle Crags to the list of ‘fells I really needed to go back to in better weather’ — but walk 145 certainly delivered that. A fine, sunny day, but not too hot: ideal for walking and for bagging one of Wainwright’s ‘Top Six Fells’. Do I rank it that highly? Well, have a look at the detailed walk 145 page and see.

View through Mickle Door, the walkers are on the path coming up from Red Tarn.

The logistics of this walk, and others ending at Dungeon Ghyll, have been made easier by a retiming of the buses back from there to Ambleside — there is now a bus at 15.05, instead of there being nothing between 14.05 and 17.05. This is far better for walkers and shows that someone, somewhere, may even be thinking about these things.

As of today, then, I have bagged 145 of the 330 Wainwrights on my second round, thus have 185 to go. The plan is to return in just over a week, 22nd May — weather permitting but we seem to be in a settled spell at the moment, so fingers crossed. And it’s definitely time I went back to the Western Fells.