My 21st celebration in the Lake District: Elterwater

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.

The beginning of the wainwright ‘bagging’ in the Lake District

A fantastic and challenging fell run over the Easter weekend in the Lake District.

Statistics

Distance: 15.4 miles

Elevation: 5774ft

Wainwrights (WR) completed 8 (Total accumulation- 8/214)

Category of the Lake District: Eastern Fells

3D- Video link: https://www.relive.cc/view/2308349523

After completing the Coast to Coast in 2017 (198-mile walk) and passing through the Lakes during the lands’ End to John O groats trip in the summer of 2018 (1040 mile cycle ride) I had my eyes set onto exploring every nook and cranny of rugged fells in the Lake District. Thus, I finally set my next challenge of starting off the Wainwright bagging in the lakes.

The 214 wainwrights of the Lake District

The route I had planned was not for the faint-hearted; it started from Glenridding and instantly began with a long climb towards the first Wainwright of Birkhouse Moor (WR 1) followed by going over striding edge that led to the top of the second Wainwright; Helvellyn (WR2) (950metres). 

The beginning of the first climb towards Wainwright 1; looking over Ullswater

Striding Edge; a few scramble with sudden drops either side!

After taking in the views of Helvellyn I ran up and down the undulated fells of Nethermost Pike (WR3), High Crag and Dolly WaggonPikee (WR4). After this, it was an incredibly steep descent down toward Grisedale tarn and a slow scramble up towards Seat sandal (WR5). If you were having a nice leisurely run around the lakes this part of the run wouldn’t have been planned as it was almost 500ft of climbing in little over .3 of a mile but I was enthusiastic to bag as many Wainwrights as possible in my first outing. This was definitely energy zapping in 23 degrees and I soon began to run out of water; fortunately, I was back down Grisedale tarn where I could rehydrate (note to self-remember water filter next time).

A posing sheep on the ascent towards seat sandal: Dollwaggon to the left, st Sundays straight ahead of the sheep and Fairfield to the right

After a quick recharge of the batteries with a few snacks and tarn hydration, I suddenly had Fairfield (873metres) to climb; I had done this fell before when I raced the British Fell relays but it was much tougher as I had already got a significant amount of elevation in my legs.  It was a pretty bonkers route as you constantly had large climbs and short, steep descents which never gave the legs a full recovery before you began to climb again towards Fairfield (WR6). 

Once summited Fairfield I was on the other side of the valley where I sharply scrambled down the crags where I soon had to run back up another fell towards St Sunday (WR7) and Birks. 

A quick snack near St Sundays crag; looking over towards Grizedale tarn and Seat Sandal

It was a brilliant start of the Wainwright bagging; the Eastern Fells of the Lake District are stunning and I cannot wait for my next adventure to explore more of the Wainwrights!