Admiring Stickle Pike on walk 186

WALK 186: Stickle Pike (1231′, no 264), Great Stickle (1001′, no. 265), Tarn Hill (1020′, no. 266) and Dunnerdale Fells (920′, no. 267).

Stickle Pike from the south. Green Crag and, in snow, Scafell behind.

The first two weeks of December have not exactly been a productive walking time for me. Partly this is due to how work usually pans out at this time, but the weather is also responsible. This is rarely full winter (2010 was a notable exception, though) but it’s usually gloomy and cold, not designed to encourage the fellwalker.

Happily, 5th December 2020 was a fine exception to the general rule. It started off cloudy but by the end I was walking in full sunshine, and then spent an afternoon in Kendal bathing in more of the same. In the morning, I’d bagged four more Wainwrights: the three summits I had remaining in the Stickle Pike chapter, and then a bonus of the Dunnerdale Fells chapter, as Tarn Hill appears in both and is thus the only Wainwright to count double. Why? Well, it’s a complicated story, but for that you can read the fell pages.

The Duddon Valley (and cyclists), with Whit Fell in the background.

It’s a fine part of the District, though, and worth two chapters. Stickle Pike is surely the best-looking of all the Outlying Fells, and the walking is rugged without ever being difficult. A mountain in miniature, for sure. It’s just a shame that there’s no public transport to the immediate vicinity. Read all about it, and see more photos, on the walk 186 page.

As of today, then, I have bagged 267 of the 330 Wainwrights on my second round, so have 63 to go. I honestly don’t know whether today will turn out to be my last Lakeland walk of 2020: I’d rather it wasn’t, though it might be. Either way I will post a summary of the year before 2021 — a year I’m sure we’re all hoping will be different, at least — makes its way over the horizon.