Walk 203: a float above the clouds

WALK 203: Wetherlam (2,503 feet above sea level, number 304 of my second round). 8.66 miles, 2,700 feet of ascent.

There are plenty of occasions where I am thankful for the fact that I have a flexible job and sometimes can just take advantage of a great weather forecast. Yesterday, 29th November, was certainly one of those days. A temperature inversion left the valleys of Lakeland clamped in cloud all day, but a few hundred feet up, everything was floating above this layer of mist, resulting in some spectacular views.

A sample of the day’s conditions: the view is of Wansfell Pike.

In addition there was the chance to see atmospheric effects of the kind I had not seen before, like the Brocken Spectre for example (see the picture on the walk 203 page). In all these respects this was a magnificent walk, and far more uplifting for the soul than staying in and doing e-mail again, don’t you think? (I’ll make up the hours, I’m sure.)

Not only that but my target for the day, Wetherlam, is a fine fell with plenty of interest. I came up today from the Little Langdale side, which requires some stiff, scrambly climbing up Wetherlam Edge, making the route not one for beginners — but worth trying for those of us who don’t mind a little rock-handling. Read all about it and see plenty more photos like the ones here on the walk 203 page.

Wetherlam summit, looking east.

As of today, then, I have bagged 304 of the 330 Wainwrights on my second round and so have 26 to go. It may happen that I get another walk in before 2022 draws to a close: as is so often the case at this time of year, it depends on the weather. But if yesterday proves anything it’s that sometimes, ‘the weather’ is a game of chance that can certainly pay off. So let’s keep things flexible and see what can be done.

Walk 202: before the storm came

WALK 202: Top o’ Selside (1099 feet above sea level, number 300 of my second round), High Light Haw (860′, no. 301), Low Light Haw (810′, no. 302) and Brock Barrow (748′, no. 303). All these appear in the Top o’ Selside chapter in volume 8. 5 miles, 1,250 feet of ascent.

View from the ascent route; the Coniston fells are somewhere over there in the cloud.

Having been frustrated throughout October by a failure of a) good weather and b) potential days off work to coincide, I missed out on that month entirely. And with little flexibility in November either (with the weekend closure of the Hebden Bridge – Preston line to also contend with), I was very keen to get a walk in yesterday, 2nd November. But the weather forecast was on the barest limits of tolerability, promising grey, cool weather for the morning, and rain and high winds for after lunch.

Time to find a walk that could be done just in the morning, then, and Top o’ Selside duly obliged. I started and finished at High Nibthwaite at the foot of Coniston Water, a place to treasure for all fans of “Swallows and Amazons” as this, apparently, was where Arthur Ransome spent his summer holidays and was inspired. Although the weather could certainly have been better, there were plenty of golden autumn colours about, and the walk as a whole was reasonably straightforward. Two Birketts bagged too (Arnsbarrow Hill and Stang Hill), so that’s six summits altogether in just five miles, and two hours and fifteen minutes of walking. Not bad at all. Read all about it and check out the (rather gloomy, today) photos on the walk 202 page.

View over Allan Tarn, known as ‘Octopus Lagoon’ in Ransome’s books.

Top o’ Selside itself has the honour of becoming number 300 on my second round. As of today, I have bagged 303 of the 330 Wainwrights a second time, and so have 27 to go. Several of them are big ones — Helvellyn, Scafell and Great End particularly — and might have to wait until the spring, although I note that I did Helvellyn for the first time in December (walk 47). It will be the end of November, early December before I get the chance to return to the Lakes, so at that point, let’s just see where the feet take me.