My 21st celebration in the Lake District: Elterwater
‘A scenic and beautiful winter weekend of fellrunning and wainwright bagging.’
Jo had organised a surprise weekend away for my 21st Birthday where we drove up to Elterwater in the Lake District to stay in a beautiful hotel with a stunning view over (place)
January 2nd: Ivy Crag and Loughrigg Fell
Distance: 10 miles
Elevation: 1884ft
A beautiful 10 mile to prep the legs for tomorrows harder outing, it was wet, cold with mist on the top of the fells. Still, nonetheless, the Lakeland fells were fabulous to be running in winter amongst ourself with minimal human contact.
January 3rd: Pavey Ark, Harrison Stickle, Pike O' Stickle, Bleag Crag
Distance: 12.7miles
Elevation: 4121ft
The first 7 miles was a beautiful climb that encompassed the Great Langdale valley on our left-hand side and the towering Harrison stickle straight ahead of us which would be the highest section on our route. However, as the notable phrase of, Pictures describe 1000 words is arguable true, I can simplify the photos into just a few: it was just breath-taking scenery; we were incredibly lucky with the weather considering it was January!
Albeit the conditions did begin to turn wild at mile 4 after coming off Blea Rigg; we were relatively under clothed for wintery conditions. Although the adventure of fell running was exhilarating, we had a sharp scramble from Stickle Tarn up to Harrison O’ Stickle where I persuaded jo to persevere with the weather and continue on climbing to tick off another wainwright where there were even spots of snow and ice.
After this climb, my Wainwright bagging addiction kicked in once more where we quickly descended off the top of Harrison o stickle to then shortly scramble up an out and back of Pike o Stickle. We had a long descent back down into the Langdale valley along the Great Langdale Beck (a beautiful river) passing Chapel Stile and then to Elterwater where we were beginning to race the ever so quickly closing darkness of the winter evenings.
After a fantastic and cold day, we relaxed in the Spa which was a mile down the road at the lodge then tucked into a local Lakeland village pub which brought closure to a fantastic excursion which to date is one of my favourite spots in the lake district. It is truly a honey pot of fells and escapism from the more civilised and popular places of the National Park.
