1975 was an important year. Well, it was for me anyway given that was the year I was born in. August specifically. So as I turn 50 this year (2025, June as I start to write this) I decided on my 49th birthday I should aim to do something to mark the occasions and give me something physical to get me out and about. Now, when I dreamed up this idea I was still under the illusion I would still be running regularly. Due to an arthritis diagnosis at 48 I knew I would perhaps not be racing – but should definitely still be running. The reality is that when I run, even carefully (a 38 minute park run in Feb for example) I end up the next day in pain and take painkillers for several days after… so as the year has worn on it has taken some real planning to get the total number I have so far (37) factor in “life” and well, its going to go down to the wire I am sure.
If I were still running would I have gone for 50 races for 50, like I did 40 races for 40? Probably!
So bagging trigs it is. I started on August the 18th with Scafell Pike. A strong start! I knew that work would help me get a number over the year and of course it has, Yorkshire 3 Peaks, Scafell Pike, Pendle Hill etc but the reality is that with work comes repetition – I have been to Scafell Pike 5-6 times so far over the course of the year and the same with the Y3P, but of course I can only count the trigs ONCE! If I were counting total trigs rather than individual trigs I would have got 25 done on Y3P and Pendle alone!
Lancashire has 101 trig points in it with a dozen or so located in East Lancs/Yorkshire border so I knew I needed to get those, being canny many have been bagged whilst marshalling fell races (a win treble! bagging a trig and helping a mate & a sport I love). I have managed to get trigs in every month so far since august 2024 aside from November (tied to home for family stuff). This definitely set me back a little leading to the tense finish we have at present and although summer leads to long evenings and the chance to get some in after work, it also means less weekend time due to work so big trig days were going to be tough to schedule.
As it stands I have bagged 5 in Cumbria, 20 in Lancashire, 9 in Yorkshire, 1 in Berkshire and 2 in Scotland.
When? 4 in August 24, 6 in September, 2 in October, 0 in November, 1 in December, 2 in Feb, 3 in March, 7 in April, 6 in May and 5 so far in June 2025…
I plan on getting a big day in Bowland to bag 4-6 on foot. I am hopeful some work on a charity hike in Yorkshire will allow me to get 1 in on the walk – but as write I haven’t seen the route yet so who knows, I am back at a Dales OEC in July so will get 2-3 in after work there, same as after work at Lancs OE I can get another 1-3 in Bowland on quick hits on the way home. I am hopeful I can persuade the family to come out and get 1-2 with me on a Sunday and I have some Lakes work booked that will deliver 1 for certain. So I have rough site of around 10-12, which will just about see me right. We are booked to be away on my birthday in the Lakes so I aim to try and leave the last one as the 50th either the day before or actually on my birthday. I shall post here after completion with news of the next challenge for my 51st year – completing the Wainwrights.
I am far from original when I post on social media another “todays office” picture. I am lucky to work in the parts of this country I work in across the north west. But…. and you saw that coming I am sure, It does tend to be the same parts! So mid way through the silly season (April to July) I hatched a plan to get some hill time for myself as a solo mission…. between work, holiday, parenting, my wife’s work and life and stuff we narrowed it down to a window over two days in early August. So that was that then.
My plan was to bag a few Wainwrights in an area of the Lake District I did not really know. What with the weather we have been enjoying this summer, one could almost say I was getting quite excited! some hill time, a wild camp, more hill time and a pass to enjoy them. Brilliant!
I decided on the Northern Fells, beyond Skiddaw Forest/Blencathra. I had not been up beyond there before and decided that nine of these hills/mountains could be strung together in an approximate 30 km route. Over two days this would be ideal. Whats more having finally got my entry in for the ROC Mountain Marathon, I could use this as training and so treated it as a “fast & light” exercise the aim being to achieve a gentle run, practice some micro nav and do all that carrying a mountain marathon kit list on my back.
The afternoon of August 3rd arrived and once I’d tagged my wife on the parenting front I set off, slightly later than planned up the A65 to avoid any M6 Friday northbound problems. I found road works instead! Eventually arriving on the road out of Mosedale where I figured there would be somewhere to park – there was (thank you Google Earth), plenty of spots fortunately. I set off at 17.00 (I’d hoped for 3.30-4.00 ish) in gentle drizzle, warm, but you could see that the visibility would be limited on the tops.
The first objective was Carrock Fell (663m). I’d planned a fell runners line straight out of the valley, anticipating an element of bushwhacking – it being the height of summer and the ferns at their deepest. what I hadn’t anticipated was the density of the heather, the amount of gorse and the scree banks peppering the sides of the fell. Although steep, the angle in fell shoes is not intimidating (go Mudclaw 300’s!) but what was tricky was the combination of loose surface, prickly bushes and impenetrable shrubbery! I’d clocked a path on the map and decided to follow that up, the path ended on the map, usually they carry on in the real world on the ground… this one may as well have met a brick wall! I couldn’t get round the gorse and scree combination, so I retreated back to the road thinking I would just jog the 2.5km on tarmac to the actual right of way up Carrock Fell, unless I spotted a clearer way through the undergrowth, which I eventually did. Phew. By now the weather was lifting and I was fortunate to get a shot like this:
Two thirds of the way up Carrock Fell
Carrock Fell has a real charm to it. With old earthworks and stone formations on top (‘fort’ on the map), it is also right at the edge of the park and offers great views over the less hilly parts of Cumbria to the east.
Pleased to have finally bagged the first hill of the day an embarrassing two hours hours after I set out, I hatched a plan that the next hill – High Pike (658m)- would likely be the last today, aiming too have topped out on this an hour later or so at 8 pm. After the top of that hill, I would then find somewhere to pitch up for the night. That gave me plenty of time to find a good pitch, get water and feed myself in day light. I had a couple of locations in mind looking at the map, but had given myself plenty of time to choose. Site selection really is the difference between a good nights sleep and a poor one when wild camping. By now the visibility had dropped again and the mist was down, making progress slower but to be honest much more fun! I had to proper navigate! Great Mountain Marathon practice, using aiming off, hand rails, catching features and timing I got to a misty High Pike at 20.01. Perfect timing!
Although I enjoyed getting to this one in the conditions, I bet the views on a clear day would be amazing. One to re-visit.
My first choice on the map wild camp spot was just off off the Cumbria Way by a gil which looked like it might offer both fast flowing water and several flatter areas. Off I set in to the gloom…. it was not long before I noticed this:
look carefully!
A building? I checked the map – yep definitely – a tiny one – marked on the map but not one I had noticed, choosing the breadth of Cumbria Way and a sheepfold and water course or two to navigate by. Well a building may provide shelter from the wind, it was on the track so I knew I was destined to check it out. As I got closer I saw the door was open and it dawned on me it was one of the Lakes Bothys. A bothy being a simple shelter designed to offer a roof and walls for the night for free,to whomever needed it. Some are literally just that, four walls and a roof, others are quite stunning with open fires or stoves, tables and chairs. Now this was a game changer! Never mind wild camping when there is a bothy on the menu!
I got closer to…
And a voice loomed out of the dark – “alright mate” Rather making me jump, but in I bowled to say hello to the occupant. First thing I noticed was he was the dead spitting image of an old mate of mine (Duncan) he even sounded like him weirdly. We got chatting – he didn’t seem like an axe murderer (I couldn’t see an axe) and said he would be grateful for the company as he was on a through hike – self supported – of all the Wainwrights (that’s 214 hills!) as his holiday. That was my decision made – anyone doing that in one go would be well worth the conversation, so I decided to sack off the tent and go for water to then return and spend the night in the bothy. And what a top decision that was to be!
Kyle, as it happened lived in a town 20 minutes from me in Burnley and worked in the outdoors. This meant he must work for Robinwood – yes he replied! Which meant we would know some of the same people, which of course we did…. small world indeed. Kyle was a great chap to natter to for the evening and when the time came to close the door and batten down for the night, the bothy decision was looking inspired… until 8 minutes past 2 in the morning when some voices could be heard outside:
” Oh look a bothy”, “yeah, thats Lingy Hut” “shall we look inside?”, “no we better not, in case there is someone in there and we wake them”
Too bloody late for that mate!
A bleary morning followed but the forecast better weather looked like it was on the way for the day.
the view from the window of Lingy Hut
Kyle was up and away early I took a more leisurely pace getting ready. To be fair poor sleep on top of a dodgy dehydrated meal I had ‘tried’ the night before and actually abandoned a few spoons in to it – it tasted and smelled chemically vile – had left me feeling a wee bit fragile….
A big part of the Bothy Code is to leave the bothy better than you found it. So I made sure I gave the place a good sweep through and took some other peoples sweetie papers with me and by 7.30 am I was off to collect seven more Wainwrights and several connecting hills between them. The weather was drier for sure but the cloud base was low – about 550 to 600m so I was back on nav mode and moving well, fueled by Haribo, Babybel cheese, coffee and a cereal bar or two.
Next on the list was Knott (710m). The biggy of my plan and from here had it been clear I would have been able to see all the target hills for the day. Never mind!
Tempting as it is to post a number of pictures of summit cairns surrounded by mist I shall resist… The day passed quickly and I felt as though I was making good steady progress and feeling stronger than I thought I might having not tackled this number of hills at pace in a while. From Knott, I headed to Great Sc Fell (651m) to Little Sca Fell then on to Brae Fell (586m) which looked lovely in and out of the mist, before climbing back up and over some gils toward Longlands Fell (483m) Lowthwaite Fell, Meal Fell (550m), Great Cock Up (526m) then ascending Burn Tod, over looking Frozen Fell targeting Little Calva and Great Calva (690m) to then descend back to the valley bottom and return to the van.
By Little Calva the weather was lifting and the sun was becoming el scorchio. The last 90 minutes of my foray were very pretty but tough in the heat. The whole area is one to visit again…. if only I could guarantee the views!
the top of Great Calva
looking back up to Great Calva following a never ending descent through acres of heather.
a welcome stream to cool tired legs and feet.
I got back tot he van just before 14.00. Perfect really as the van was still there and I had said I would be home around 16.00.
Cant wait for the next trip out – it was great and has reignited my desire to bag the Wainwrights. 118 done, 96 to go….
To contact me to discuss navigation training/coaching for walking or running or indeed any other hill skills you can contact me here.
