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| Green Crag |
Wainwright when finishing his series of guidebooks on the Lakeland fells at Christmas 1965 wrote:
'The fleeting hours of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal. Always there will be the lonely ridge, the dancing beck, the silent forest; always there will be the exhilaration of the summits. These are for the seeking, and those who seek and find while there is yet time will be blessed both in mind and body."
And so it is. 27 years ago during the first family holiday in Langdale, I began a rambling adventure around all of the 214 hills that Wainwright considered being worth inclusion in his seven books. It is in many ways a random collection of hills that bears none of the surveyor's penchant for measurement. It was probably dictated as much by the Ribble bus timetable and the eye of a retired town clerk as any obstinate perusal of an Ordnance Survey map. So the Wainwrights cannot be changed by any would-be custodian of hill lists such as occurs with the Munros and Marilyns. They are probably better for this but like many other fell wanderers, I have found some of Wainwright's classifications strange. Birkhouse Moor that I climbed on Sunday involved dropping down to an outlying spur on my way up Helvellyn. But it doesn't really matter, it gives some conversation and suggests that Wainwright had a wicked sense of humour.
I was already very familiar with the Lakeland hills before 1984 having spent countless days climbing and walking in the Lakes but mainly amongst the higher tops accessed from Wasdale, Borrowdale and Langdale. With a 3-month-old and a two and a four-year-old in tow, it was a slightly more difficult challenge in the innocence of parenthood. In 1984 we started with Loughrigg Fell, Castle Crag, and an audacious slog up the Langdale Pikes complete with compliant but rapidly tiring children. The soundtrack for the walk were the words 'carry me now, it's my turn' and 'when do we get ice cream'. Suffice to say that in the 1980s the walks were not always as quick or as frequent as I would have liked.
Each year during the week in Langdale I would take a morning to run/walk over as many hills as possible before meeting the family at some distant pub for lunch. On another day I would jump out of the car towards the end of an afternoon outing and work my way back to Langdale over another set of hills. When friends visited it was always likely that we would tramp up the favourites again so there was no real momentum towards compleating the Wainwrights. Three years ago I began to take it more seriously and to pick off the lonely, smaller hills in the corners of the Lakes. They had the added advantage of being away from the maddening crowds. They gave surprisingly good sport as I tried to link them together or went out in the evening for a short walk or run.
So arriving in the Lakes this year I had only six Wainwrights to go - Beda Fell, which was a gentle walk on arrival on a dull Saturday afternoon; Birkhouse Moor, Birks and Arnisdale Fell that provided the bookends for a round of the cloud obscured Helvellyn hills on Sunday; Hartsop above How which was appended to the Fairfield horseshoe on a hot muggy Monday afternoon and then Green Crag on Tuesday afternoon.
The family came to Green Crag and we had the best day of the week to enjoy the walk. Wainwright must have been with us as we wandered through a silent beech wood, crossed the Duddon river by stepping stones, followed a dancing beck through a plantation and crossed the boggy approach below the crags. There were no lonely ridges but the views were exhilarating with the Isle of Man, Barrow and Sellafield all within range.
We had a long picnic lunch on the summit with a bottle of Prosecco and my walking friend, Mark, arrived about half an hour later having already completed 12 hills in the morning. We were a happy band on the return and I reflected ruefully that I had never had a day as good as this to finish any of my Munro rounds. We cooled down in the river before packing Mark into the boot of the car and returning to Langdale for a swim, the gym and then a few drinks before, during and after dinner. Tomorrow was reserved for tennis and watersports but another round of Wainwrights is already taking shape in my mind. It will have to be a bit quicker than 27 years.
'The fleeting hours of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal. Always there will be the lonely ridge, the dancing beck, the silent forest; always there will be the exhilaration of the summits. These are for the seeking, and those who seek and find while there is yet time will be blessed both in mind and body."
And so it is. 27 years ago during the first family holiday in Langdale, I began a rambling adventure around all of the 214 hills that Wainwright considered being worth inclusion in his seven books. It is in many ways a random collection of hills that bears none of the surveyor's penchant for measurement. It was probably dictated as much by the Ribble bus timetable and the eye of a retired town clerk as any obstinate perusal of an Ordnance Survey map. So the Wainwrights cannot be changed by any would-be custodian of hill lists such as occurs with the Munros and Marilyns. They are probably better for this but like many other fell wanderers, I have found some of Wainwright's classifications strange. Birkhouse Moor that I climbed on Sunday involved dropping down to an outlying spur on my way up Helvellyn. But it doesn't really matter, it gives some conversation and suggests that Wainwright had a wicked sense of humour.
I was already very familiar with the Lakeland hills before 1984 having spent countless days climbing and walking in the Lakes but mainly amongst the higher tops accessed from Wasdale, Borrowdale and Langdale. With a 3-month-old and a two and a four-year-old in tow, it was a slightly more difficult challenge in the innocence of parenthood. In 1984 we started with Loughrigg Fell, Castle Crag, and an audacious slog up the Langdale Pikes complete with compliant but rapidly tiring children. The soundtrack for the walk were the words 'carry me now, it's my turn' and 'when do we get ice cream'. Suffice to say that in the 1980s the walks were not always as quick or as frequent as I would have liked.
Each year during the week in Langdale I would take a morning to run/walk over as many hills as possible before meeting the family at some distant pub for lunch. On another day I would jump out of the car towards the end of an afternoon outing and work my way back to Langdale over another set of hills. When friends visited it was always likely that we would tramp up the favourites again so there was no real momentum towards compleating the Wainwrights. Three years ago I began to take it more seriously and to pick off the lonely, smaller hills in the corners of the Lakes. They had the added advantage of being away from the maddening crowds. They gave surprisingly good sport as I tried to link them together or went out in the evening for a short walk or run.
So arriving in the Lakes this year I had only six Wainwrights to go - Beda Fell, which was a gentle walk on arrival on a dull Saturday afternoon; Birkhouse Moor, Birks and Arnisdale Fell that provided the bookends for a round of the cloud obscured Helvellyn hills on Sunday; Hartsop above How which was appended to the Fairfield horseshoe on a hot muggy Monday afternoon and then Green Crag on Tuesday afternoon.
The family came to Green Crag and we had the best day of the week to enjoy the walk. Wainwright must have been with us as we wandered through a silent beech wood, crossed the Duddon river by stepping stones, followed a dancing beck through a plantation and crossed the boggy approach below the crags. There were no lonely ridges but the views were exhilarating with the Isle of Man, Barrow and Sellafield all within range.
We had a long picnic lunch on the summit with a bottle of Prosecco and my walking friend, Mark, arrived about half an hour later having already completed 12 hills in the morning. We were a happy band on the return and I reflected ruefully that I had never had a day as good as this to finish any of my Munro rounds. We cooled down in the river before packing Mark into the boot of the car and returning to Langdale for a swim, the gym and then a few drinks before, during and after dinner. Tomorrow was reserved for tennis and watersports but another round of Wainwrights is already taking shape in my mind. It will have to be a bit quicker than 27 years.
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| Scafell range from Green Crag |
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| Beechwoods |
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| Green Crag summit |
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| Proseccoed |
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| Kids on Duddon Stepping Stones |
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| Cooling down |
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| Fairfield Horseshoe |
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