Length : Couldn't begin to calculate
Started : 26 June 1980
Finished : 2 August 2017
Companions : ( in part ) Michael Smithson, Patrick Brennan, Julie Farrell, Sue Brindle, Anup Mehta, Linda Mehta, Mike Morrison, Marcus Shearn, Andy Greenhalgh, Alison Greenhalgh, Phil Grogan, Mike Bethell, Jonathan Barnes, Jon Bates, Mark Billington, Pat Beck, Marie O' Donnell, Trish Calderbank, a pot-head called Steve whose surname escapes me, Phil Burton, Helen Smith, Dave Morris, Yvonne Grime, Wendy Guest, Ray Pilling, Naydine Hamner, Colin Whittaker, Andy Roughley, Ross Bishop, Joe Briscoe, Agata Zarabska, Joanne Scott, Serena Armstrong, Pete Hesketh, other members of Hike On Lancashire that I've forgotten or whose surnames I don't know , Simon Farrell
This was a personal challenge rather than a long distance trail. Bagging all the Wainwrights has become much more popular in the last two decades than it was when I started ticking them off and some friends have overtaken me in completing it while others are still engaged in it.
I first heard of Wainwright during 1977 when my first walking companion Michael Clarke, a dilettante whose passions were intense but short-lived , asked me if I'd ever read him, the answer being no. I rectified that two years later when one of his successors , Michael Smithson , bought me a copy of
Pennine Way Companion as a Christmas present and for good measure I bought
The Eastern Fells over
that same Christmas holiday to keep it company. I was familiar with one or two of the places described through two youth hostelling holidays in the Lake District in 1977 and 1978 but at that point the Pennine Way was of more interest.
The following summer, Michael ( S ) and I were planning to walk The Dales Way but one of the camping barns we planned to utilise was fully booked and there was no alternative accommodation. I therefore suggested we switch to the Lakes and do some hostelling using the Wainwright book as a guide. This was accepted. We were still at school but my mum was OK about me going as long as there were three of us , relying on that old advice that one should stay with an injured party, the other seek help. The only candidate for third man was Patrick Brennan, a reliable friend to me since my first day at school but he and Michael had only just met and hadn't really bonded.
I won't give a full account of our 5-day adventure. Sufficeth it to say that the school hostelling holidays, which had stuck to the passe, had not prepared me for the effort required to surmount a Lakeland peak. Add to that, carrying a full rucksack, the day being hot and starting three miles further away than originally intended because we had to stay at Windermere YHA rather than Ambleside which was full. We struggled up Low Pike without making the short detour to the summit which I naively thought would be the end of our labours then looked aghast at the climb required to summit
High Pike. By the time we got there, making High Pike my first Wainwright, we were completely out of drink and had four more summits to go before our descent to Patterdale. As we neared the top of Dove Crag I said to Michael "I think we've bitten off more than we can chew here" and suggested we took the escape route , following a fence down to the top of Scandale Pass and descending from there. Both agreed and we staggered down to Brotherswater, reviving ourselves with lemonade from the campsite. The next day we planned to do Helvellyn via Striding Edge but a guy staying at the hostel advised us against it and we decided to get to Grasmere via Grisedale a route I had done twice before with the school. When we got to the point where the path branches off for Helvellyn Patrick sprang a surprise by saying he was going to do Striding Edge after all and we agreed to meet up at Grisedale Tarn . Off he marched with only a cursory glimpse at the book. Three hours later, he duly joined us at the tarn none the worse for his experience. I'm still stunned that he did that at 14 but, thinking about it, he was a member of a sailing club from an early age so he din't shy from physical challenges. The next day's route was much more modest, climbing Heron Pike from Alcock Tarn but we still managed to miss the summit and only clocked up
Nab Scar instead. I recall the route down being very steep and eroded and both of them getting annoyed at how gingerly I was taking it. We then concluded the adventure with a fractious night at High Close YHA where a school party was also staying. At that point the thought of doing all the Wainwrights hadn't crossed my mind.
While low on achievement, the holiday had whetted my appetite for more and I bought
The Far Eastern Fells the following week. A few weeks later, I saw a used set of the books in Kelsall's bookshop in Littleborough for £7 and the George the proprietor who knew me agreed to break up the set and let me have the ones I needed for a fiver a fantastic purchase. I could therefore begin planning our next holiday. Because we'd taken the advice of the guy at Patterdale, my mum relaxed the gang of three requirement so it could be just Michael and myself. I planned out a ten night adventure for the summer of 1981 taking in many of the big ones although not Scafell Pike or Skiddaw.
I've written elsewhere about this particular holiday. It started well with us claiming
Low Pike, High Pike again,
Dove Crag, Hart Crag and
Hartsop-above-How ( because Wainwright warned against going on to Fairfield in mist ) on the second day. The next day we were going up
Helvellyn having the advantage of starting from Helvellyn YHA ( because Patterdale was full ). The original plan was to go up Swirral Edge but this time it was Michael who decided to tackle Striding Edge and we agreed to meet up on the top. I had no real conception of what it was going to be like. The Edge itself was OK but the rock staircase that follows absolutely terrified me and at least twice I got stuck too scared to go on or go back down. At one point I decided to abandon my rucksack and ask someone to retrieve it but thought better of it. I climbed up each step worrying about what was next - the mist made this much worse - and the rush of relief when suddenly confronted by a cairn and a flat plateau - is indescribable. Michael and I arrived at the summit pretty simultaneously ; he too said he'd never go that way again and we headed down to Grisedale Tarn and on to Grasmere. I was so traumatised I neglected to pick off the low-hanging fruit of the summits of Nethermost Pike and Dollywaggon Pike , just yards off the path. The next day was where things went wrong. We were heading for Bowfell and Crinkle Crags
but
on the road to Stool End Farm I just refused the challenge and insisted we went via Blea Tarn and Wrynose Pass to our next hostel Duddon YHA ( long since closed ) i.e on the road . It was a combination of fatigue , timidity about possible dogs at the farm and not relishing the rainclouds that were gathering. Mick acquiesced without enthusiasm. The next day I had a better excuse; the Mountain Goat bus service that linked Wasdale Head and Wastwater YHA ( which is at the wrong end of the lake for walkers ) wasn't running yet and made the planned route over Slight Side and Scafell unfeasible so we went over Hard Knott Pass and down Eskdale, using the miniature railway in part to our destination. By the next day all the road walking had given me blisters so when we got to the top of Black Sail Pass I let Michael do Pillar on his own before we headed down to Black Sail YHA. By this time Michael was getting a bit peed off with me and we set off for Keswick in an awkward silence. I managed to find some energy to do
Green Gable which improved things. It turned out to be our last peak together . The next day we went over Sticks Pass to Helvellyn YHA and Michael declined my suggestion he might like to do Raise as we passed. The following day it was raining and I vetoed going up to High Street. We spent a long time waiting for a bus that wasn't running before realising we'd have to walk over Kirkstone Pass to get to Windermere YHA. The last two days were meant to be relaxation in Ambleside and were pretty wet. We spent a lot of time in the library. So, six peaks over ten days. Not very impressive, was it ?
I knew I'd let him down, not lived up to my own schedule and our relationship disintegrated over the next few months, greatly exacerbated by the fact that he now went to work while I went back to school to do A Levels. I had made it easier for him to toss me aside by formalising our relationship into a little club with some younger lads who were not serious walkers so all he had to do was resign his membership which he did that November with the stinging rebuke that he hadn't lost interest in walking. For the rest of my time at school I had no contact with him and with Patrick having drifted away into motorbiking I had no potential companion for a further assault on the Lakes. There were options with the school but I wouldn't countenance that after running my own show, however bad a fist I'd made of it. So I just sulked and brooded instead and it was during this time that I developed a quasi-religious adoration of Wainwright and elevated Michael into the pure model walker .
Just after I'd left school in 1983, I bumped into a mutual friend Sean who said Michael wanted to meet up to discuss what to do with club funds. We had a small balance at the bank from a couple of raffles but it was negligible. It was clearly an excuse to effect a rapprochement. I decided to seize the moment and pitch the idea of a weekend in Keswick to do Scafell Pike and he went for it. Despite his earlier words and my idealisation of him , , he hadn't actually done much walking since we parted ways; working outdoors as a council gardener he preferred other pursuits at the weekend. We therefore arranged to do the 17-mile Marsden Cuckoo Walk as a preliminary. When the day came round, a combination of nerves and the scorching heat made me physically sick and we had to turn back after a few miles. My condition was absolutely genuine but it must have rung a few alarm bells with him. We then got into a bit of an argument over how much I was going to pay him for petrol. He now drove a Land Rover and I accepted that it was heavier on petrol than other cars but he was still over-estimating the distance to Keswick.
That was still unresolved when, with a week to go, he injured his ankle at work and couldn't drive let alone walk. My mum never believed him and said he'd just come up with a story to cry off from the trip. I gave him the benefit of the doubt but the doubt was certainly there. Faced with the glum prospect of cancelling the booking, I said what the hell and decided to go by myself using public transport instead.
And so, one very hot Saturday morning in August 1983, I set off alone for Scafell Pike from Seathwaite via Esk Hause. Just past Stockley Bridge, I made a bad decision to seek out the "former path not much used now" on Wainwright's diagram in the hope it would be easier. I couldn't find it and ended up toiling up steep grass slopes. This brought on the same sickness and I had to turn back and catch the bus back to Keswick. By the time I got there I was feeling better and decided to switch to Skiddaw instead. I was doing OK up to the long slog up Jenkin Hill then I was struggling again. While I stopped halfway up , two Liittleborough guys Alan Luke and Dave Grayson were coming down and I must have looked pretty ropey because they advised me not to go any further. However, I wasn't going home without at least one peak under my belt so I diverted to
Latrigg. It was while sitting by the cairn there, drinking in the superlative view that I made the decision. I would get to the top of every peak in the books and that would prove to Michael and anyone else that I was a proper walker.
I
first got the opportunity to add to my paltry total the following summer when I stayed at Grasmere Thorney How YHA for three nights, my last at a youth hostel until the new century. By watching the pennies, I had saved enough of my grant to afford it. Again , I was alone. Michael hadn't really kept in contact and though I initially joined the University YHA Society, I then shunned it . There was a bit of an issue whether they would return from their Sunday walks in time for me to get to church but the main reason I have to admit was that I wanted to lead rather than be led. Therefore, I'd made no new walking friends after a year at university, nothing to be proud of. Despite the lonely evenings that break was a success in peak-bagging terms with
Loughrigg Fell, Helm Crag, Gibson Knott, Calf Crag, Heron Pike, Great Rigg and
Fairfield all
being conquered. I'd reached more peaks in three days of walking than I managed in ten, three years earlier.
Unfortunately I wasn't so flush in 1985 and certainly not in 1986 so there were no Lakes breaks in those years. In February 1987 though, I started work and the project was back on the rails. I postponed the trip until September though in the hope that cooler weather would make the climbing easier. I stayed in a B & B in Ambleside rather than a hostel and conquered
Wansfell, Little Hart Crag, High Hartsop Dodd, Red Screes, Silver How, Blea Rigg, Rossett Pike and
Allen Crags. The only downside was that I made the mistake of descending to valley level between High Hartsop Dodd and Red Screes and having a good lunch at the Brotherswater Hotel. I then couldn't face the "treadmill" ascent of Middle Dodd, one of the steepest climbs in the Lakes leaving it an awkward "dangler" for years afterwards.
I didn't get up to the Lakes in 1988 . I think this was probably due to college commitments and the football fixtures not leaving a gap although the intervening publication of
Ex-Fellwanderer, which revealed that my patron saint certainly had feet of clay, may have been an influence too.
By 1989 though I had a car which made things a lot easier easier. I therefore booked some nights at a B & B called Barf a mile out of Keswick in October. That time I ticked off
Glaramara, Sale Fell, Ling Fell. Graystones, Broom Fell. Lord's Seat, Barf, Fleetwith Pike, Brandreth and
Grey Knotts . I started to formulate a rough plan where I would take the lowest fell I'd still to do in a book and then devise a walk that would take in that one and the Wainwrights that were closest to it. That way I'd avoid doing all the attractive ones first and the consequent risk of losing my resolve to complete the challenge. I also tried to choose the walks so that I'd finish all the books at roughly the same time.
In 1990, I chose a B & B in the centre of Keswick but when I got there the proprietor said his wife had just left him and he'd switched the booking to another guest house just round the corner. That's how I came to Fawsley House run by William and Myra Pearson . They were a lovely couple from the Highlands which meant I could only understand about 50% of what they said but I stayed there at the beginning of October for the next 6 years seeing their adopted daughter Carol grow up and often meeting the same guests year after year. That holiday I took up my recent purchase of a Gene Pitney Greatest Hits cassette and that became part of my holiday routine too so hearing one now is always likely to evoke a fewllwalking memory. I got into an evening routine of going to The Oddfellows Arms for dinner in the evenings then popping across to the Moot Hall for the evening slideshows ( often the same ones ) before returning to the guest house. One time I was there. there was a lovely Australian girl called Rebecca staying, all on her own, but I couldn't summon up the courage to suggest we go for a drink. That's always been the one that got away.
That first stay at Fawsley saw the conquest of
Bonscale Pike, Arthur's Pike, Castle Crag, High Spy, Maiden Moor , Catbells , Low Fell, Fellbarrow and Burnbank Fell . The quartet from
The Northwestern Fells were not my original targets that day but having driven round the back of Skiddaw to do some of the Caldbeck fells I found I'd forgotten to put my boots in the car !
One of my worst experiences was descending from Low Fell. First, I completely lost the supposedly easy way down suggested by Wainwright and ended up desperately slithering my way through a rough quarry then what was an open fell side in his day was now a wooded plantation protected by a high barbed wire fence. It took me a long while to solve the problem by taking a sawn off log from a nearby pile and creating my own very precarious stile to get over it. I also bought
The Remote Fells of Lakeland by Graham Dugdale
. The walks in there covered many of the more obscure Wainwrights and after the Low Fell experience, I often used that in preference to the actual Wainwright books because it was so much more up to date.
The 1991 holiday saw one of my biggest hauls bagging
Hallin Fell, Steel Knotts, Loadpot HIll, Wether Hill, Black Fell, Holme Fell, Great Cockup, Meal Fell, Great Sca Fell, Brae Fell , Longlands Fell . Blake Fell, Gavel Fell and
Hen Comb.
The
1992
venture
was eventful. The haul was
Beda Fell, Angletarn Pikes, Brock Crags , Ullscarf, Rosthwaite Fell .Bowscale Fell, Bannerdale Crags, Mungrisdale Common, and
Souther Fell . First , the climb up from Stonethwaite to Rosthwaite Fell was really difficult. The route was horrendously eroded and as it wasn't a right of way no remedial work was being done. There were few places where you could get a trustworthy purchase and with a deep gill just to the side there was some apprehension about where I might end up if I slipped. What got me up was seeing an OAP struggling up - I actually asked him if he was Harry Griffin as he looked a bit like the veteran
Guardian correspondent but the answer was no. By making my hands into a claw and really pressing my fingers into the loose earth I managed to get up to the easier ground above but I'd say that was the hardest ascent of all. Ullscarf a couple of days later was a different story again. I didn't mean to climb it that day at all and was going for Armboth Fell instead . However the path there forded Launchy Gill and it was too deep. There was no way of getting across without getting my feet wet.
I decided therefore to do a circuit of Launchy Tarn and get round to the path on the other side that way. However obstacles in the way kept forcing me higher into the mist until I was totally lost. I wandered around trying to avoid crags and steep slopes for what seemed like ages. I was close to the point of using my whistle to make a distress call but the mist suddenly cleared to reveal a fence ahead and I knew whereabouts I was. When I got up to the fence I could actually see Ullscarf's summit cairn so I bagged that as the day's peak leaving Armboth for another time.
1993's walks were more sedate and bagged
Rest Dodd, The Nab, The Knott, High Tove, High Seat, Bleaberry Fell, Walla Crag, Seathwaite Fell, Base Brown, Lank Rigg, Crag Fell and
Grike. The main incident was driving off after the walk in the Western fells with the book in my mapcase on top of the car. I left details with the police but no one ever handed it in. Perhaps it's still out there somewhere. The other happier incident was coming face to face with a large herd of red deer on The Nab, the sort of sight that stays with you.
1994's haul was
Great Mell Fell, Gowbarrow Fell, Little Mell Fell, Hartsop Dodd, Caudale Moor, Lingmoor Fell, Pike O' Blisco . Whinlatter, Rannerdale Knotts and
Mellbreak . That was notable for glorious weather. When I got back to work, my boss said "Best Indian summer for years and you book a week's leave you lucky bugger".
By 1995 I had realised that there were some fells which couldn't be reached from Keswick unless I were willing to drive over the notorious Hard Knott Pass which I wasn't. I therefore booked a few days in a B & B at Eskdale in April to bag some of them. The weather was very favourable and I bagged
Whin Rigg, Illgill Head, Harter Fell, Green Crag, Hard Knott, Buckbarrow, Seatallan and
Middle Fell. There was a price to pay though as I damaged my knee. I think I jarred it on the way to Whin Rigg when jumping over a patch of mud. I struggled to get up to my room in the loft after that but still managed to do my walk the next day which no doubt made it worse. I was in a lot of pain for two to three weeks after that, struggling even to get from Victoria Station to the office where I worked on Deansgate.
It had cleared up by October and I was able to bag
Glenridding Dodd, Place Fell, Armboth Fell, Binsey, Dodd, Causey Pike, Scar Crags, Outerside and
Barrow , a rather bitty haul and the weather was pretty lousy too. The highlight of that trip was actually meeting a nice girl for lunch in Earby on the way up to the Lakes.
In March 1996 I stayed in Coniston but my efforts were hampered by snow and ice on the fells. Without ice axe and crampons, I had to retreat from some routes and only bagged
Sallows, Sour Howes, Wetherlam and
Cold Pike. Consolation came from another date with the same girl,this time on the way back.
September 1996 drew in
Arnison Crag, Birks, St Sunday Crag, Rampsgill Head, Kidsty Pike, High Raise, High Rigg, Raven Crag, Carrock Fell and
High Pike. That was the end of the Fawsley era for reasons explained below. I did stay there again a few years later but the Pearsons had moved on to Gretna by then and it wasn't the same
In March 1997 I returned to Coniston but this time round I had company, my fiance Julie. Wainwright-bagging was not the main purpose of the trip and the weather was awful but we did do
Great Carrs,
Grange Crag and
Great Crag . The
descent from the latter was very steep and slippery , unexpected in a generally benign area. In the summer we knocked off
Ard Crags and
Knott Rigg on a day trip.
With a wedding looming the usual autumn visit to Keswick was jettisoned and due to mortgage tyranny we only visited the Lakes once in 1998 , ticking off
Troutbeck Tongue where Julie lost an earring.
In 1999 my mum offered to pay for a break in Keswick if we'd keep her company which of course we accepted. That yielded
Raise and
Haystacks with Julie and
Bakestall,
Grey Friar and
Swirl How on my own.
We repeated the arrangement in 2000 which yielded
Stone Arthur, Seat Sandal , Dollywggon Pike , Eagle Crag, Sergeant's Crag, Great Borne and
Starling Dodd. The Great Borne route was notable for the flurry of threatening notices erected by mad farmer Thomas Ireland of Whins Farm declaring there were no Wainwright routes across his land. I opted for cutting across from the top of Floutern Pass which involved vaulting his barbed wire fence. Nuts to you Mr Ireland. We were there during the fuel crisis but fortunately my car was still running on four star - remember that ? - which didn't run out.
Unfortunately Julie was too ill to go a third time in 2001 and the stay had to be cancelled. I did however claim
Dow Crag and
Coniston Old Man with the group we had recently joined, Bolton Outdoor Group, just after the Lakes paths were re-opened following the foot-and-mouth epidemic.
In March 2002 Julie and I had a short break in Morecambe and claimed
Gray Crag on a day trip, Julie taking it as evidence that she had fully recovered. In June we went on a Buttermere weekend arranged by other members of B.O.G. and I bagged
High Crag and
High Stile . This was one of the more intimidating routes so I was glad to do it with company. The only snag was the leader Andy losing his nerve in the mist and descending to Bleaberry Tarn instead of going on to Red Pike, making that another awkward "dangler". A couple of months later, we did another B.O.G. weekend in Keswick and claimed
Grisedale Pike and
Hopegill Head together.
Over the next few years I claimed a number on weekends or day trips either with B.O.G. or just Julie. These were
Steel Fell ( on a very wet day )
Dale Head, Robinson, Ullock Pike, Carl Side, Long Side, Harter Fell, Kentmere Pike, Shipman Knotts and
Brim Fell. By 2006 I had finally met someone else who was intent on doing them all, Mark Billington of Lancashire Young Person's Walking Group and I started occasionally walking with him to claim some, the first being
Sergeant Man and
Tarn Crag in 2006. The last ones with B.O.G. were
Sheffield Pike and
Hart Side later that year.
In March 2007 Julie became pregnant and I claimed
Grey Crag and
Tarn Crag later that year correctly guessing that I would then be indisposed for a while. 2008 and 2009 were blank years, My next conquests were
Selside Pike and
Branstree with Mark on an awful day in March 2010. That May we had a short break at Drigg and I managed to bag
Yewbarrow,
Red Pike and
Scoat Fell . I finally ticked off
Middle Dodd in July with Mark then a couple of weeks later he led a group walk to
Scafell Pike, which also encompassed
Lingmell and
Great End. I came off that walk with a great feeling of sadness; ticking off the Big One brought home to me that I was now likely to complete the project . I claimed
Great Calva and
Knott on a solo walk later in the year.
2011 was a blank because I arranged three walking weekends elsewhere for the L.Y.P.W.G then in 2012 Julie booked the first of our annual breaks in Keswck where I was to divide my time equally between walking and taking Simon her and out. 2012 saw
Whiteless Pike, Wandope, Eel Crag, Sail , Great Gable and
Kirk Fell conquered. The passage between the latter two was one of the worst bits of walking in the whole project; in fact a large part of it was done shuffling down on my behind.
The July 2013 break which had scorching weather saw the conquests of
Birkhouse Moor, Catstycam ( those two on a walk with L.Y.P.W.G ),
Clough Head, Great Dodd, Watson's Dodd, Stybarrow Dodd, Loft Crag, Pike O' Stickle, Harrison Stickle ,Pavey Ark, Thunacar Knott and
High Raise. Arriving at the latter summit meant that
The Central Fells became the first of the books to be completed. The other incident of note was that just below the summit of Clough Head, I caught sight of a girl that appeared to be in distress, collapsed on all fours. As I got closer I realised there was actually a bloke beneath her and she was in that position the better to give him a blow job. I hurried on ; perhaps I should have checked whether she knew him or the service was available to any passing rambler.
In 2014 I claimed
Blencathra ( remarkably easy ),
Crinkle Crags, High Street, Mardale Ill Bell and
Thornthwaite Crags . Crinkle Crags became an ordeal because I opted for the company of a couple in the mist rather than following Wainwright and they led me astray down a scrambly route towards Eskdale instead of on to Bowfell. By the time the error was realised, I was too exhausted to go on to Bowfell and left it to the following year.
In 2015 I claimed the last two "danglers",
Red Pike and
Hindscarth and also
Bowfell and
Esk Pike. Last year saw the conquest of
Whiteside and
Grasmoor ( a wet and rough walk on which I was very glad of the company of L.Y.P. W.G. members ),
Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick, Caw Fell and
Haycock. Those walks meant
The North-Western Fells and
The Far Eastern Fells and left one more walk from each of the remaining books to complete the challenge.
When Julie decided to book a fortnight this year I knew that , God willing , the end was in clear view. I booked a couple of nights away in Eskdale to do the remaining ones on the Western side. I did
Pillar and
Steeple on the first day, the only time the weather was good then
Slight Side and
Scafell , a nervy walk in thick mist although oddly enough there were a couple about ten minutes behind me who were doing exactly the same walk and retrieved the sit mat I'd carelessly left behind on the summit. Those were tough walks to do on successive days but I had the chance to recuperate before the next one ( with L.Y.P.W.G though now re-christened Hike On Lancashire ) on the second Sunday. That yielded
White Side and
Nethermost Pike.
That left one more walk and Julie and my son Simon accompanied me. We drove to the car park at the top of Gale Road behind Latrigg and set off for Skiddaw in indifferent weather. When the time came for me to branch off for Lonscale Fell, Julie didn't want me to do it while she was still unfamiliar with the route so I agreed to bag it on the way down. That would make Lonscale Fell my final peak which wasn't my original intention but that's marriage isn't it ? By the time we got on to
Skiddaw it was raining heavily and blowing a gale but they both made it to the top with me. As we left the top plateau the weather abated but Julie and Simon let me do the detour to
Skiddaw Little Man on my own. That had long been my choice to finish on because Wainwright nominates it as the best viewpoint in Lakeland but as it happened it was still misty so that didn't really matter. I caught up with Julie and Simon and asked if they wanted to come with me to my last peak , an easy stroll alongside a fence, but they preferred to plod on down the main path back to the car.
Lonscale Fell is far from the most charismatic of summits, a small cairn on a patch of damp moorland, but there was a nice symmetry in finishing there as it's almost directly above Latrigg where I first embraced the challenge 34 years earlier.
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