11. Bagging the wainwrights - A Lakeland day out with Marie 🥾⛰️🥵😎☀️💦

Getting out on the hills walking is something which I love, and something which I have been keen to do more of. I’ve always walked, whether it be shorter walks around home, or greater challenges in more mountainous regions, particularly north west Scotland or the Lake District. One of my retirement activities has been to work my way through the Wainwright Lakeland fells. I know that I have done many over the years, but remembering exactly what I have done, and when, is a challenge 🤣 So complete with my new Wainwright Lakeland Fells map / chart, I have gradually been ticking off new conquests, only crediting past walks if I can actually remember the detail - so not many! 214 is the ultimate goal 😃

Today I had an epic planned - something completely new, and definitely not a walk I have done before - the Kentmere horseshoe 😃 I’d arranged to do this with my friend Marie, another Wainwright bagger - much more advanced than me though with her fell ticking off 🤣

We met in Kentmere, which is a bit of a trek up a very long and narrow road from Staveley - so were determined not to miss any fells in our plan, as didn’t fancy this trip to the start again! This was a bit of a throwback to a past experience when we did the Fairfield horseshoe, and actually missed the last wainwright peak on our plan! 🤣 Dave dropped me at Kentmere, and setting off in fabulous sunshine we headed for our first wainwright fell, Yoke. The weather had been so mixed recently, and we soon realised we were probably in the wrong clothes for the walk - too many! The sun soon came out and it was blazingly hot 🥵 

Beautiful views looking back to where we had started from

The trek up to Yoke certainly got the blood pumping, and after a bit of a slog and persistence we reached the summit at 706m. The views were amazing, the clarity of the hills beyond stunning, and we could see our next conquest Ill Bell in the not too far distance. This necessitated a sharp descent from Yoke, to be followed by quite a steep ascent to the Ill Bell summit at 757m. Again, fabulous views and a real sense of achievement 😃 Two bagged so far, more to come 🤣

A leisurely start

Yoke in the background - it was getting very hot!

The summit of Ill Bell

We walked at a leisurely pace, probably due to the intense heat - not that we were in any hurry though - we had all day and loads of daylight ahead. Coming down off Ill Bell was steep, but ahead we could see our third fell, Froswick at 720m. Arriving there we chatted with a couple of women whom we had seen along the way - they were heading down from here to Troutbeck, and seemed in awe that we were intending to do the whole horseshoe 😃 We did wonder whether their amazement was a sign that we didn’t really know what we were letting ourselves in for! But we pressed on, and with enthusiasm, with the lure of lunch at our next, and fourth Wainwright summit - Thornthwaite Crag at 784m (not that we hadn’t been snacking all the way along so far 🤣).

Lunch at Thornthwaite Crag

Amazing ridge over which we had walked 

It had taken us about 4 hours to reach this point, but were assured by the women we spoke to that the eastern side of the horseshoe was somewhat less challenging 😃 So after a bit of a rest, our official lunch stop, we set off across the north side of the horseshoe to High Street - admittedly a lot flatter and a faster walk. We soon caught sight of Mardale Ill Bell in the distance, and walking across that northern section opened up the most amazing views and landscapes - all the way up to Ullswater, with sights of Helvellyn in the distance - truly breathtaking 😃 Arriving at Mardale Ill Bell we met a really friendly lone walker who quickly offered to take a photo of us together at the summit 😃

Views looking northwards

Arriving at Mardale Ill Bell

In the distance we could see our 7th peak - alarmingly at a massive elevation ahead! I’d been kidding myself that the eastern (downward) route would be relatively gentle, and had even clocked the landmass ahead which I thought would take us down the valley. Alas I was wrong, and the huge expanse of Harter Fell lay ahead - so gathering all our strength we set off on the climb to the summit. Actually it wasn’t that bad really, and we were soon taking photos at the summit cairn 😃 Getting a bit giddy now, we hastily set off, knowing we were on the homeward stretch, only to realise a few minutes later that we were heading in the wrong direction 🤣 Thankfully having recognised this, we were soon back on track and heading for the lovely rounded summit of Kentmere Pike on the distant horizon. Clocking the summit cairn and trig point, we headed south to our final wainwright summit for the day, Shipman Knotts. The ground was quite boggy underfoot now, but we pressed on at speed, and soon arrived at our destination, with views down towards the village of Kentmere. Looking the other way to the higher eastern fells we could see huge swathes of dark rain, and knew it was heading our way 😢 Within minutes the rain caught up with us, and pretty soon we were completely soaked - thank goodness we’d actually carried our waterproofs all the way round, and through the blistering heat of the day 👍

Marie at the summit of Harter Fell

Having completed this final, 9th fell, we mistakenly thought that the route back to the car would be quite quick - but sadly it was a much longer trek than we had expected, and together with struggling to get on the best path down, through the hammering rain, and boggy underfoot, it meant another hour for our expedition. Anyway, before long we saw the spire of Kentmere church in the distance, and knowing that our car was parked close by, felt a sense of relief and joy to be back at the start.

Needless to say (for those who know) there was barely a silent moment throughout our mammoth trek - so much for us to chat about and catch up on - from various things going on in our lives to future ambitions, plans and goals, as well as what books we’ve recently read or what adventures we’ve had. It’s probably fair to say that both Marie and I have always got our next adventures lined up, and also new ideas and activities we are wanting to build into our lives in the year ahead. I talked about my recent introduction to playing tennis, and plans to join a local tennis club, while Marie was pondering recommitting to another 12 months of volunteering weekly in a local school, helping kids with reading - amongst many other things! One of the great things about walking and chatting with Marie is the gentle supportive nudging and encouragement that takes place - I think we both can feel inspired by each other, and definitely feed off each other’s drive and enthusiasm for life ❤️

There were a few other folk out on the fells, so great to chat to them along the way. The funny thing is that I always expect anyone we meet to be doing the exact same walk as us, so am surprised when people’s plans are different 🤣 Great to find this out though as blindly following people in the distance can lead to unintended and tricky outcomes 🤣  But thankfully our walk went according to plan, and all of today’s intended fells walked. Arriving back, like a pair of drowned rats, Marie dropped me off in Staveley where Dave and Ruby had spent the day - biking and a trip to the lovely More? bakery / cafe for Dave, and swimming in the river for both Ruby and Dave 😃 Quickly peeling off my wet clothes, we headed straight to the Watermill Inn at Ings for a most welcome pint, pie and chips - needless to say we were fast asleep in the van by 9.30 🤣

Most welcome 😃

Definitely a good choice 👍

What an amazing day it had been - 9 wainwright fells bagged, 15 mountain miles walked, out in the 

glorious sunshine (mostly) and the most breathtaking scenery for around 9 hours 😃 Total elevation walked was around 1200m, lots of ascents and descents between fells - a fabulous challenge which we both thoroughly enjoyed. Once again we reflected on how fortunate we were to be able to walk - for pleasure - having the physical and mental capacities to engage in such activity, as well as the privilege of opportunity. SO looking forward to the next challenge!

❤️❤️❤️