Joined: Aug 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 8 Location: Dublin
memorial walk, not for the faint hearted! « Thread Started on Sept 19, 2009, 7:27pm »
hello, and thanks to all on this forum who gave me advice before heading off on the memorial walk, it was much appreciated. especially the choice of guide book, "the wainwright memorial walk" published by frances lincoln, it was small and light and very enjoyable to read in the pubs after each day's march. i didn't really refer to the maps in the book, relying on the OS maps instead, the 1:50k scale was fine for me. the book breaks up the original 6 day route into 11 days, i changed it back to 8 days and this was manageable, if a little stretched at times with the heavy rucksack which slowed me down a lot. most days were about 10 hours walking. i took a recovery day in keswick after the first 3 days which were arduous. i think i needed this rest day, i didn't get to do any real training before the trip. it was a great adventure and i would highly recommend it. i'll include a few tips for anyone doing the same trip.
don't go for the soup in the pub in buttermere, it's from a packet i'm sure. paying £4.95 for a 50p pack from the supermarket felt like a swizz! one thing i wasn't sure about was if i would find food in each village, the answer is you can. fortunately the soup in buttermere was the exception, i got great nosh in all the villages along the way and am happy to report that i ate like a king most of the time. these are the villages i stopped in along the way: patterdale, scales, keswick (may i recommend "casa bella", an italian restaurant with excellent fare and good value), buttermere, wasdale head (the lamb henry is highly recommended), langdale, grasmere and ambleside. if you're in bad weather, use the camp sites. most are well equipped with drying rooms. i camped out on the hillside for most nights but used the national trust camp sites in wasdale head and langdale, and was quite impressed. the YHA hostel in keswick also was a welcome shelter. next time i go, i intend to check in at a B&B or campsite as a base for a few days, and take day-trips from there. it was a bit of a pain to have to lug around so much gear. i would have enjoyed the walking a bit more if i just had a light day pack. having said that, it did add to the adventure to be on such a long journey, and it was a good motivation to keep ploughing through the bad weather. i had terrible weather except for the last few days, i've never seen rain like i did there, and i'm from ireland! i even got hailstones a few times when the temperature dropped on the higher hills. also the gales were quite dangerous at times, especially on the summits and the ridges. i wasn't expecting to be clambering across knife-edge ridges, there were a few of these on the route, and although very exciting, not recommended in very windy conditions, i was blown to the ground once or twice in force 10 gusts, and that was with the heavy ruck sack! when i got to blencathra, the route in the book went over "sharp edge", but i took the advice of some workers i met on the path on the ascent, they said it was too dangerous in the wind and recommended the safer path up the inside of the cirque. the book said that some of these ridges were safe in all but icy conditions, i felt this needed to be qualified a little further to include a strong warning about windy conditions. mobile phone signal was generally good except for some of the villages in the valleys. for anyone new to the lake district, i was very surprised by the quality of the paths and tracks on the route. i was expecting lots of tramping over heather on open hill side but there was usually a good path to follow, very well maintained. fortunately i had no injuries on the trip, although i think i was fortunate, because some of the scrambles down from the summits were on very loose rock (e.g. great gable) and it was a case of sliding down through the loose rocks on a very steep slope, like a mini land-slide. highly recommend the massage treatments in the lakeside hotel in newby bridge, a rub down was very welcome after such a gruelling trip. the hotel is lovely.
i would love to do it again in fair weather because i didn't get to see all that much, most of it was in mist and rain. the last 2 days in grasmere and langdale were spectacular and this more than made up for it. i'm totally hooked, and planning to go back next year. i'll leave you with some photos of my camp on the hills overlooking grasmere, at sunrise:
Joined: Oct 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 4,348 Location: Henley-In-Arden
Re: memorial walk, not for the faint hearted! « Reply #1 on Sept 20, 2009, 9:50am »
Hi Timmer!
What a great adventure. To be honest I've probably left it a bit late to wild camp the route like you have done as the weight of the rucksack might be a bit too much these days. But it,s great to see people getting out there doing these things. The morning sunsets must be spectacular being out in the hills. Please keep us posted with your further hill walking trips. It would be great to see some photos of the hills of your native Ireland.
Re: memorial walk, not for the faint hearted! « Reply #2 on Sept 20, 2009, 9:54am »
Glad you had a successful trip and are now hooked on the Lake District , thanks for the report.
Pity you had such bad weather, very wise to avoid Sharp Edge in those conditions, it's always there for another day. At least you ended with some sunshine, love your photo of the early morning rays over the fell.
Look me up on www.artbyraybradshaw.com I like to paint people enjoying the outdoors in and around the English Countryside. Mainly the Lakes and the Dales. More recently the urban scene is included. I would like to think that if AW was alive today, if he didn't appreciate my talent, he would at least get my humour.
Joined: Aug 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 8 Location: Dublin
Re: memorial walk, not for the faint hearted! « Reply #6 on Sept 22, 2009, 11:36am »
thanks everyone for the hello and welcomes. it was wild alright, which made it all the more amazing and memorable. the one good thing was that the weather kept the hills quiet, towards the end when the sun came out, there must have been hundreds of people going up the langdale pikes. it was such a contrast to crossing over the summits in the mist, not seeing a soul all day. i think AW was a victim of his own success, in publishing his discoveries of these great hills, people were always going to be drawn in greater numbers.
Re: memorial walk, not for the faint hearted! « Reply #7 on Sept 28, 2009, 4:54pm »
Hi Timmer.Sounds like you had a good adventure,must try this one myself.I spend alot of time in the Lakes and for me it's the finest place to be.You might be tempted by the Coast 2 Coast ,another of Wainwrights walk's.Alot just do half to Keld,which takes in the Lakes.The great paths you mentioned are thanks to the National Trust,the guys who maintain the paths are to be thanked for all their hard work.Check your map on your next visit Timmer,there are always other less busy paths to escape the crowds.Enjoy and keep on treking! Lesley
Look me up on www.artbyraybradshaw.com I like to paint people enjoying the outdoors in and around the English Countryside. Mainly the Lakes and the Dales. More recently the urban scene is included. I would like to think that if AW was alive today, if he didn't appreciate my talent, he would at least get my humour.
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, thanks for the report.
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