Great Stone Top, St Helena: an international walk

Great Stone Top, St Helena: 1,621 feet above sea level. 6.25 miles/10km, 1,400 feet of ascent.

Since I began this blog in 2009 I haven’t missed out on walking in the Lakes in any given January, but this year, 2023, is going to be an exception. I just haven’t been able to get up there since the turn of the year; firstly because of having to drive Joe up to Scotland in the first weekend (though I did get up West Lomond, one of the County Tops). And as of last week I’ve been away from Britain, having made a second trip out to the South Atlantic, and the island of St Helena.

Little (left) and Great Stone Tops.

However, in walking terms, this is no great hardship. There is some magnificent hiking to be had here, all over the island’s 47 square miles. Today, 25/1/23, saw me head out to the peak of Great Stone Top (on the right in the picture above), which perches proudly some 1,621 feet directly above the Atlantic Ocean below. Not to mention its (slightly) smaller brother, Little Stone Top (approximately 1,510 feet) and Boxwood Hill (1,424 feet). All three combined in an excellent walk, and it was about time I added another entry on my ‘international walks‘ guest appearance page. Read all about this one, and see the usual crop of additional photos, on its own walk page.

Looking down into Sharks Valley, from the summit of Great stone Top.

I’m back in the UK in a couple of weeks. No idea when I’ll get back to the Lakes but hopefully it won’t be too long. But that doesn’t mean I hope this is the last walk I’ll manage while here — we’ll see how the (unpredictable) weather pans out.