KYQ4: Great Cockup and other little Wainwrights

Sunday 30 April 2023

Great Cockup and other little Wainwrights

Great Cockup from Meal Fell

Friday, 28 April 2023

Ascent: 650 metres
Distance: 11 kilometres
Time: 2 hours 36 minutes

Longlands Fell 482m 33mins
Brae Fell 586m 1hr 1min
Sca Fell 650m 1hr 20mins
Meal Fell 539m 1hr 36mins
Great Cockup 524m 1hr 52mins

The May Bank holiday and we booked an Airbnb in the Lake District, I collected Gregor in Glasgow late Friday morning and made good time down to Carlisle and then across to the Northern Fells. Gregor had 6 remaining Wainwright hills to climb at the Back o' Skiddaw. We parked at Longlands just after 2pm and followed the Cumbria Way for a kilometre before heading up a steeper path to Longlands Fell. The heavy rain in Scotland had been progressively upgraded and the white cloud cover when we started walking had now been penetrated by patches of blue sky. The walking was a delight on sheep mown grass although the recent rains had freshened up the occasional boggy section.

We picked up the pace on the long descent and climbed to Brae Fell before Gregor headed off so that he could collect Knott, which I decided to miss and climb at a future date with High Pike and Carrock Fell. It was probably a mistake and would only have added 20 minutes to a relatively quick outing. The promenade over Little Sca Fell to Sca Fell was an easy leg. I headed west dropping steeply towards Meal Fell. It was becoming a sunny afternoon and the going was easy, even the final steep descent and climb to Great Cockup presented a minimal challenge. I was there a couple of minutes ahead of Gregor. Skiddaw, which had been concealed in solemn grey clouds for most of the walk, appeared as the skies burst into an evening rapture.

We walked across to the western cairn before descending down the grassy slopes to cross the River Ellen and then enjoyed the excellent path alongside the Longlands beck back to the car. The early evening light and soft air with birds singing reminded me of a similar late afternoon playing in the hills and hollows in Brookfield at Peter Morris's sixth birthday party. My dad collected me from the party on the family tandem and it has remained one of my strong memories of childhood. It was 5pm when we reached Longlands and began the drive along the narrow roads to Bassenthwaite and Keswick. We stopped at Booths in Keswick to pick up some food and were staggered at the prices, businesses in the Lake District seem to have taken license to inflate prices even more than in the rest of the UK.