Records, lists and oddities

This page is here purely for fun – and for those who like lists. You might also look at the ‘Personal Notes in Conclusion‘. Note: all records include fells and walks in the Outlying Fells, except where noted.

Furthest north, south, east and west

For obvious reasons all these geographical extremes come in the Outlying Fells.

Northernmost point reached: The summit of Faulds Brow, which is therefore also the northernmost Wainwright, on walk 94 and again on walk 193.

Humphrey Head Point at high tide. My southernmost point.

Southernmost point reached: The rocks of Humphrey Head Point [pictured], just below the summit of Humphrey Head on walk 72. At SD 738391, or roughly 54º 9′ N, this is also the southernmost Wainwright summit of the 330.

Westernmost point reached: St Bees railway station, at about 3° 36′ W, the starting point of walk 127. The westernmost Wainwright is Dent, which was reached the second time on that walk, and also turned out to be the last one in my first round (walk 103).

Easternmost point reached: The end of the lane to the back of the Shap Wells hotel, terminus of both walk 80 and walk 81. This is at  NY5867103, 2° 38′ W.  The easternmost Wainwright is a close thing between Whatshaw Common (one of the Wasdale Horseshoe fells), bagged on walk 80, and High House Bank [pictured], one of the summits on the Crookdale Horseshoe.

High House Bank, seen from Robin Hood

Longest and shortest

Longest one-day walks so far:

1. Walk 102, 20.2 miles (13th October 2015).

Walk 35, 17.8 miles (2nd April 2011).

Walk 93, 17.5 miles (10th March 2015).

Walk 159 [pictured], 17 miles (23rd February 2019).

Walk 87, 16.6 miles (5th September 2014) and also walk 201, 16.6 miles (21st September 2022).

Whit Fell, seen from Burn Moor on the rather long walk 159.

My two-day hikes measure up as follows. Longest of all was walk 152a plus walk 152b, which went from Seascale to Buttermere, with an overnight at High Gillerthwaite, a total of 30 miles. Walk 43a plus walk 43b from Cleator Moor to Gosforth via Wasdale Head, was 27.1 miles.  Walk 20a and walk 20b (also breaking at Wasdale Head, but now from Ravenglass to Dalegarth) involved 23.8 miles. Walk 117 was 21 miles approximately (Burneside to Burnbanks via Mosedale Cottage). Finally, walk 60 as a two-day hike was 19.8 miles (long, but not as long as the single-day walk 102).

Shortest walks:

1. Walk 22, 3.3 miles (9th August 2010).
2. Walk 4, 3.5 miles (24th July 2009).
3. Walk 57, 4.25 miles (20th May 2012).
4. Walk 190, 4.5 miles (23rd July 2021) and walk 193, 4.5 miles (27th August 2021).
5. Walk 110, 4.75 miles (23rd May 2016).

Walk 4 could have been shorter still, as we went wrong at the end and unnecessarily extended it.

The Hall’s Fell ridge of Blencathra, leading straight to the summit.

Walk 110, despite its brevity, bags one Blencathra, via what Wainwright calls “the finest ascent in the District”, Hall’s Fell (see picture), so is not to be sniffed at.

I have omitted walk 104B (Loughrigg Fell) from the list because at the time that was a sort of stop-gap, unofficial walk and the distance was very approximately measured, but if it is counted, its 4 miles would put it third on this list.

Most feet of ascent:

I would say any walk with more than 3,000 feet of ascent (remember, Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England, is ‘only’ 3210 feet above sea level) is going to be a stiff walk, and these five are well above that. All the figures here are approximate, but reasonable guesses and based on information both from Wainwright and the OS map.

Scafell Crag, from the final slope up to the nearby Scafell Pike.

1. Walk 16, 4,300 feet (Pillar from Buttermere: the Ennerdale ridge needs climbing first, and again at the end of the day)
2. Walk 54, 4,200 feet (Dale Head and Newlands: perhaps the most surprising one on this list, but there are substantial descents involved on both sides of Robinson)
3. Walk 20B, 4,200 feet (but less than the walk above). (Scafell [pictured]: high enough without the descent from Mickledore that then adds to the burden)
4. Walk 56, 4,150 feet (Scafell Pike; my route saw me climb Seathwaite Fell first, which added a chunk of climbing)
5. Walk 64, 4,050 feet (Crinkle Crags from Eskdale, plus then Pike o’Blisco)

Longest distance between two summits on the same walk: Definitely the longest is the 5.5 miles, at least, between Caermote Hill and Longlands Fell on walk 144. This surpassed the previous record, 4.66 miles, which was also between Longlands Fell, and Binsey in this case, on walk 26. The picture is of Binsey taken from Longlands Fell, and shows the distance I had to travel.

Summit of Longlands Fell, looking to Over Water and Binsey

Later on in the project I became more lax about measuring distances beyond that of the walk as a whole, but the distance between Knipescar Common and Heughscar Hill on walk 137 must vie with this for second place at least, as does the gap between Arnison Crag and High Hartsop Dodd on walk 149, but I don’t think either beats the winner.

The longest delineated ridge route in Wainwright is the 4.5 mile one between Wansfell and Caudale Moor, but I have yet to attempt it. The longest one I have done from the book is the 3.5 mile route between Caw Fell and Crag Fell, on walk 207b.

Shortest distance between two summits: From Woodend Height to Yoadcastle in the Devoke Water chapter of the Outlying Fells (walk 101) is barely 300 yards, or 0.18 miles: my pedometer measured 484 steps cairn-to-cairn.  Runners-up: 0.25 miles, Steeple to Scoat Fell (walk 43a); 0.25 miles (approx) St. John’s Hill to Caermote Hill; 0.33 miles, Rampsgill Head to Kidsty Pike (walk 14) and also 0.33 miles between Buck Barrow and Kinmont Buck Barrow (both summits in the Whit Fell chapter) on walk 85.

Yoadcastle, from Woodend Height — the shortest distance between two Wainwright summits.

‘Fastest’ and ‘slowest’ bagging: Probably the most efficient place to go Wainwright-bagging is the Langdale Pikes. On walk 112 I bagged five summits on a walk that was only 5.1 miles, and if one discounts the ascent and descent, it’s only about 2 miles between the five summits (Pavey Ark, Thunacar Knott, Harrison Stickle, Pike o’Stickle and Loft Crag); once on top of the first, the rest were all bagged within the next 90 minutes.

Honorable mention also to walk 60, a two-day hike, between Great Borne and Base Brown  I bagged 9 summits in approximately 10 miles, or 1.1 miles per summit. Walk 3 included six summits in only 6.8 miles, one every 1.13 miles. In the Outlying Fells, the Naddle Horseshoe has seven summits in close proximity, but it’s not an easy walk to reach.

Tree in Lowther Park, walk 88

On the other hand, the following walks are the longest done where I did only one fell:

• Walk 88 (pictured): 14 miles to bag only Knipescar Common;
• Walk 43b (12.3 miles for Yewbarrow — although technically, this was the second day of a two-day hike);
• Walk 142 (12.1 miles for Burney);
• Walk 191 (11 miles for Kirk Fell);
• Walk 16 (10.2 miles for Pillar);
• Walk 140 (9.75 miles for Carron Crag).

Note that while walk 214 (12 miles) technically only bagged me Robinson, it did also include the summit of Dale Head.

Highest and steepest

The ten highest Wainwrights are:

1. Scafell Pike (3210 feet, no. 177 [first round] and no. 146 [second])
2. Scafell (3162 feet, no. 67 and no. 322)
3. Helvellyn (3118 feet, no. 146 and no. 317)
4. Skiddaw (3053 feet, no. 5 and no. 177)
5. Great End (2984′, no. 178)
6. Great Gable (2949′, no. 192 and no. 100)
7. Bowfell (2960′, no. 108 and no. 82)
8. Pillar (2927′, no. 56 and no. 166)
9. Nethermost Pike (2920′, no. 124 and no. 318)
10. Catstycam (2917′, no. 195 and no. 316)

Fleetwith Pike, viewed from the path to Scarth Gap

The most of these bagged in one walk came on walk 209, with three — Catstycam, Helvellyn and Nethermost Pike.

Notable outbreaks of steepness on the walks so far include the ascent of Fleetwith Pike from Gatesgarth (up the slope on the left of this picture); the climb to Great Door on Yewbarrow; Great Gable from Beck Head; the climb of Pillar from the Liza memorial footbridge in Ennerdale; Wandope from Sail Beck; Swirral Edge, on Helvellyn; Lonscale Fell up the east ridge; and the ascent of Rosthwaite Fell from Stonethwaite, which thanks to taking the wrong route up the face saw me ascend around 1000 feet in approximately 1/3 of a mile of horizontal distance.

However, the most extreme climb of all of those I have undertaken is probably the ascent of Dow Crag via South Rake on walk 96; from the shore of Goat’s Water to the ridge is 750 feet of ascent in less than 900 feet of horizontal distance. I make that 1:1.2.

Easy Gully, viewed from the Stickle Tarn dam. See the rocks at the top? I mean those.

So-called Easy Gully on Pavey Ark (walk 112 – pictured) can’t be much less steep but is noticeably shorter; nevertheless it also has a bitch of an obstacle at the top, which I nominate my most awkward moment thus far (and nor will I deliberately seek a more awkward one).

Wainwright’s best six fells – and other favourites

At the end of volume 7, Wainwright writes the following:

Bowfell (left) and Rossett Pike, viewed from the slopes of Pike o’Stickle

“I promised to give my opinion of the six best fells. I should not have used the word ‘best’, which suggests that some are not as good as others. I think they are all good. The finest, however, must have the attributes of mountains, i.e. height, a commanding appearance, a good view, steepness and ruggedness…. I now give, after much biting of fingernails, what I consider to be the finest half-dozen:

• Scafell Pike
• Bowfell [pictured]
• Pillar
• Great Gable
• Blencathra
• Crinkle Crags

These are not necessarily the six fells I like best. It grieves me to have to omit Haystacks (most of all), Langdale Pikes, Place Fell, Carrock Fell and some others simply because they do not measure up in altitude to the higher mountains.”

And me? Of these six I most highly rate Bowfell and Blencathra, probably in that order.

On the other hand:

‘Summit’ cairn of Mungrisdale Common. Great Calva behind.

Wainwright gives the following fells very bad write-ups:

• Mungrisdale Common (Book 5, The Northern Fells – from pages 1 and 2 of his chapter): “To add to its other failings, Mungrisdale Common does not lend itself to illustration. Most fells have at least one good aspect, but the Common, from whatever side it is seen, has no more pretension to elegance than a pudding that has been sat on… [its] natural attractions are of a type that appeals only to sheep…” [pictured]
• Armboth Fell (Book 3, The Central Fells – from page 1 of his chapter): “Peak-baggers and record-chasers may have cause to visit the summit, but other walkers may justifiably consider its ascent a waste of precious time and energy… for the flat desolate top is little better than a quagmire, a tangle of swamp and heather and mosses, as is much of the surrounding territory. It can be said of very few fells that they are not really worth climbing: Armboth Fell is one of the few.” [See picture]

Armboth Fell, viewed from Fisher Gill

High Tove (Book 3, The Central Fells – from page 1): “It is hard to imagine that anybody feels any affection at all for High Tove, except perhaps from the sheep whose natural heaf it is. This dark heathery mound, squatting on the ridge between Watendlath and Thirlmere, and so gently contoured that water cannot drain away from it, is everywhere shockingly wet – a condition persisting even in drought – and is without any redeeming feature except as a viewpoint.”

Little Mell Fell (Book 1, The Eastern Fells – from pages 1 and 2): “Little Mell Fell barely merits inclusion in this book. It is a fell – its name says so – but it is not the stuff of which the true fells are made…. It is an uninspiring, unattractive, bare and rounded hump – the sublime touch that made a wonderland of the district overlooked Little Mell…”

For my opinions on this kind of thing, see my ‘Personal Notes in Conclusion’.

Birks, from Nethermost Pike’s east ridge.

And finally…

Wainwright fells with vaguely silly names

• Barf
• Great Cockup
• Birks
• Troutbeck Tongue
• Haycock

Most common words used in the names of fells

A truly geeky list that I can only excuse by having had half an hour to kill one lunchtime. Note that some fells get counted on here twice: e.g. Scafell Pike comes under both ‘fell’ and ‘pike’. (This list includes only the main 214, I have not yet been geeky enough to go through the additional 116 OFs.)

1. Fell (occurs in the name of 43 Wainwrights)
2. Crag(s) (30)
3. Pike(s) (27)
4. High (12)
5. Great (11)
6. Dodd (10)
7. [equal 6th actually] Knott(s) (10)
8. Side (8)
9. Rigg (7)
10. Moor, Head, Barrow and Gray/Grey each appear in the name of 5 fells.

Sail from Ard Crags.

Crag Fell can therefore be said to have the most unoriginal name among all the 214 Wainwrights.

Shortest and longest names

Discounting the Outlying Fells the shortest name of a fell is 4 letters, a record shared between Dodd, Sail (pictured), Yoke, and Barf. However, including the OFs makes the typing of all that redundant as that volume can muster the 3-letter Caw. Also, some of the Outlying Fells’ summits are unnamed so technically come in at zero.

The longest is a tie between Mungrisdale Common and Kinmont Buck Barrow (Whit Fell) at 17 letters, followed by Skiddaw Little Man (16 letters). Some of the chapters in the OFs (like the Wet Sleddale Horseshoe) have longer names but these are not the names of actual summits.

On St John’s Hill, looking north.

None of the Wainwrights begin with the letters J, Q, V, X and Z. In fact the letters X and Z don’t appear anywhere in the names of any Wainwright. J only appears once in all the 330 – on St. John’s Hill (Caermote Hill) [pictured]. Q appears in the name of the Green Quarter Fell chapter, but this is not actually the name of one of the summits, so there is no Q actually in the name of a Wainwright.