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17th July 2011
On night-time visits to the fells
‘[I preferred] to find a patch of easy ground and outwit the cold by
pacing slowly to and fro across it during the hours of darkness,
adopting the old routine of a cigarette every half hour.’
Ex-Fellwanderer
10th July 2011
On night-time visits to the fells
‘On early such occasions I carried an Army blanket for warmth, but
later discarded it because of its weight and failure to induce sleep
…’
Ex-Fellwanderer
3rd July 2011
On night-time visits to the fells
‘I regarded the rougher mountains with awe and respect and a little
fear until I started to venture amongst them on nocturnal outings …’
Ex-Fellwanderer
26th June 2011
On writing the Pictorial Guides
‘I never climbed rocks, being too clumsy and imbued with a desire to
go on living, but I admired those who did and could well imagine the
exhilaration and sense of achievement they must have felt.’
Ex-Fellwanderer
19th June 2011
On writing the Pictorial Guides
‘I came to know every summit, every mountain track and every crag in
the district.’
Ex-Fellwanderer
12th June 2011
On writing the Pictorial Guides
‘I was completely dedicated to the books and spent every available
moment on them. The Lakeland garden I had created became an
Amazonian jungle. Domestic relationships withered and died.’
Ex-Fellwanderer
5th June 2011
On writing the Pictorial Guides
‘I prepared a plan for a series of illustrated guidebooks, a labour
of love that would occupy all my leisure hours until I was due to
retire from the office.’
Ex-Fellwanderer
29th May 2011
‘It will be ARDUOUS, but the reward will be well worth the work. It
will avoid the tourists, the roads, the picnic spots. It is the
claim of this programme that EVERY lake, EVERY valley, EVERY
mountain will be seen if not actually visited.’
Proposed Walking Tour in the Lake District Whitsuntide 1931 –
Itinerary
22nd May 2011
‘This tour is a most comprehensive one. Limited as we are by time,
it is impossible to visit every corner of Lakeland, yet this
programme, if followed consciously, will lead us everywhere worth
mentioning.’
Proposed Walking Tour in the Lake District Whitsuntide 1931 –
Itinerary
This year is the 80th anniversary of Wainwright's 1931 Whitsuntide
Tour of the Lake District.
15th May 2011
‘Leave the hills to those who most appreciate them is my motto.’
Fellwanderer
8th May 2011
‘To the man in a conducted party the mountains are prose, to the man
travelling alone they are poetry.’
Fellwanderer
1st May 2011
‘Solitary fellwalking is often roundly condemned, not by solitary
fellwalkers but by non-solitary fellwalkers and non-fellwalkers
including coroners.’
Fellwanderer
24th April 2011
‘When you step off the tarmacadam on to the rough ground, danger is
past, not just beginning.’
Fellwanderer
17th April 2011
‘You don’t go on the hills to break your neck. You go on the hills
to get away from places where other people might break your neck.’
Fellwanderer
10th April 2011
‘The whole essence of fellwalking … is freedom to wander on the
fells, and freedom to plan a route as you go along, and freedom to
change your mind.’
Fellwanderer
3rd April 2011
‘People who go for a walk on the fells are often strongly advised to
leave details of the route they intend to follow. The idea,
presumably, is that when they break their several legs the lads from
Keswick and Langdale and Coniston and other places who form the
rescue teams will know where to go and look for them.’
Fellwanderer
27th March 2011
‘Almost all accidents occur in descent, not in ascent.’
Fellwanderer
20th March 2011
‘Fellwalking brings immunity against accidents. It is a wonderful
exercise, the best of all. It strengthens the legs, clears the
mind, and tones up the whole body to a state of exhilaration.’
Fellwanderer
13th March 2011
‘On one outing (the crowning ignominy for a seasoned fellwalker) I
sought refuge under a lady’s umbrella.’
Pennine Way Companion Author’s personal notes in conclusion
6th March 2011
‘I came to pray not for fine days, which seemed too much to ask, but
for gentle and not-too-wetting rain.’
Pennine Way Companion Author’s personal notes in conclusion
27th February 2011
‘I spent eighteen months on the Pennine Way, walking it in bits and
pieces. Mostly it rained – pouring rain, driving rain, rain that
came down like stair-rods.’
Pennine Way Companion Author’s personal notes in conclusion
20th February 2011
‘Well, I’m glad it’s finished, I must say. I mean the walking, not
the making of the book, which has been very enjoyable.’
Pennine Way Companion Author’s personal notes in conclusion
13th February 2011
‘If your wife makes you clean your own boots, as some do, wandering
on the mud flats is not recommended.’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland p. 69
6th February 2011
Childhood Memories (continued)
‘… In winter I would write and illustrate adventure stories on any
blank pieces of paper I could find, but my greatest joy was to copy
drawings and cartoons from the comics that circulated amongst my
pals together with a few originals.’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
30th January 2011
Childhood Memories (continued)
‘… On wet nights I stayed indoors, sitting by the window, keeping a
census of all who passed in various categories: pedestrians,
cyclists, horses and carts; motorised vehicles were too few to be
worthy of record. …’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
23rd January 2011
Childhood Memories (continued)
‘… We often trooped along behind the lamplighter on his visits to
all the gaslamps in the street with a long stick that had a flare on
the end. …’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
16th January 2011
Childhood Memories (continued)
‘… if we heard of a building on fire we went to watch; if there were
roadworks nearby we stood around the brazier of the nightwatchman
outside his little hut. …’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
9th January 2011
Childhood Memories
‘On winter nights the meeting place was the gaslamp at the corner of
the street, where we invented games on the pavement but were always
on the lookout for diversions: …’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
2nd January 2011
‘I started to draw pictures. … Of mountains. … Mind you, the way I
did it was cheating. Not for me the patient wait on a fellside
boulder for the right conditions … No, a momentary halt and a clear
photograph were enough for me. I was a cheapjack at the game. … A
photograph captures the picture as it is seen in an instant of time,
whereas a drawing done on the spot takes hours … Yes I was a fraud.
With me it was the result that mattered, not the means.’
Fellwanderer
26th December 2010
‘When I left Blackburn for Kendal in 1941 I was given a folding
camera as a going-away present. … I took the camera with me on all
my fell walks, not with the object of photographing distant
landscapes and recording dramatic effects, but merely to get
pictures of items of interest I met on my travels for conversion
later into pen and ink drawings.’
Fellwalking with a Camera – Introduction
19th December 2010
On Black Hill (continued)
‘… Fortunately on this occasion I had a companion, but all his
frantic tuggings were in vain. By the rarest of chances, a Park
Ranger was sitting by the triangulation column, within hailing
distance, and four tugging arms proved more effective and I was
pulled out like a cork out of a bottle …’
Wainwright on the Pennine Way p. 15
12 December 2010
On Black Hill
‘My most frightening experience in a long lifetime of fellwalking
occurred here. I was crossing a small wet channel of peat that
seemed innocuous enough, when suddenly my boots sank out of sight
followed by several inches of leg, more inches being submerged as I
tried to extricate myself. Desperate struggles made things worse.
I was firmly anchored in bottomless mud, appearing as a man with
both legs amputated below the knees ...'
Wainwright on the Pennine Way p. 15
5th December 2010
‘Now for Black Hill. And a warning. If Bleaklow is a beast in bad
weather Black Hill is a brute in any weather. Walkers must be
prepared for a tough and gruelling trek through glutinous slime.
Girding up the loins is of no avail. Iron determination is needed.
And a companion with strong arms.’
Wainwright on the Pennine Way p. 13
28th November 2010
‘I never go to Mardale Head now without thinking of a summer’s day
more than forty years ago when I walked over Gatesgarth Pass and saw
the valley of Mardale for the first time. It was a lovely vista.
The floor of the dale was a fresh green strath shadowed by fine
trees and deeply inurned between shaggy heights; beyond, receding in
the distance, was Haweswater, then a natural lake. It was a
peaceful scene, the seclusion of the valley being emphasised by its
surround of rough mountains. Mardale was a bright jewel in a dark
crown …’
Fellwalking with Wainwright p. 10
Note: Mardale was ‘drowned’ in 1935 to form the present Haweswater,
now a reservoir.
21st November 2010
On The Bannisdale Round
‘NOTE VERY WELL INDEED that this is a walk only for the superbly
fit. … It is the longest walk in the book and a gruelling test for
old age pensioners, a marathon the safe accomplishment of which is a
merited occasion for ribald rejoicing; while those who perish on the
way must be content with the lesser gratification of knowing that
they died with their boots on.’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland p. 264
14th November 2010
‘The climb to Wrynose Pass starts at Fell Foot, once an inn, at the
head of Little Langdale; here the farm children used to man a gate
giving access to the road beyond, but the gate and the children have
long gone, as has so much of the Lakeland I knew fifty years ago.’
Wainwright on the Lakeland Mountain Passes p. 220
7th November 2010
‘People are as old as they feel and life to me has never advanced
beyond springtime. I still have the interests and enthusiasms of a
sixteen-year-old: simple enthusiasms, restricted mainly to climbing
hills and writing about them.’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
31st October 2010
‘I suppose I could be described as a backroom boy. I don’t like
being pushed on to a stage. I’ve never got rid of my Lancashire
accent and … um … I wouldn’t like to stand up in front of a lot of
people and talk. That’s not my line at all. No, I’m better at
writing than talking.’
England’s North Country (1985) In conversation with Eric Robson
24th October 2010
'Hill-wandering and wet feet go together; you may keep immune for a
while, but before the day is spent, you squelch;
…’
A Pennine Journey p. 11
17th October 2010
‘A running nose, at the best of times, is hardly a pleasing subject
to introduce into a story, and a writer who makes so bold places his
name in
jeopardy.’
A Pennine Journey p. 10
10th October 2010
‘If I tried to describe a ‘green road’, my pen would falter sadly.
A green road in a limestone country! Such is nectar to the eager
walker.' A Pennine Journey p. 8
3rd October 2010
‘I am always ready for a drink and a rest after six miles of a walk;
then the next ten are easy.’
A Pennine Journey p. 6
26th September 2010
Underneath a drawing of dead moles hung on a barbed wire fence,
titled, ‘Massacre at Masongill’:
‘Tireless workers and enthusiastic cavers, these moles paid the
penalty for being industrious. Slaughter of the innocents …. By the
guilty! And why this public evidence of capture? What’s so brave
about strychnine? Or noble about traps?’
Walks in Limestone Country Walk 4 p. 4
19th September 2010
On Farleton Fell
‘Man, with his usual penchant for destroying natural beauty wherever
he finds it is, alas, eroding his heritage here by quarrying
operations on a big scale at the base of the fell.’
Westmorland Heritage p. 144
12th September 2010
‘My shadow was my sole companion throughout the journey, and before
many days had passed I acquired quite an affection for it. … We got
along famously. I sung to it, confided in it, cursed it ever so
gently. But it proved a fine-weather friend. When the skies were
black, it deserted me.’
A Pennine Journey p. 5
5th September 2010
‘Exotic weeds have taken over the task of refurbishing the landscape
devastated by the now-disused Hillbeck Quarry, since man seems
unwilling to do anything about it, and they have a thousand years of
work ahead of them.’
Westmorland Heritage p. 137
29th August 2010
Last entry on the strip map of the Pennine Way:
‘STOP! This is the end. Son, you have walked the Pennine Way.’
Pennine Way Companion p. 5
22nd August 2010
‘Three miles an hour is hard travelling when the way is rough and
mostly up and down, and my average is between two and two and a
half.’
A Pennine Journey p. 5
15th August 2010
‘You reckon distances in valleys, not in miles, when crossing high
country; at least, I always do.’
A Pennine Journey p. 5
8th August 2010
‘Page 4 is intended exclusively for heroes, and you are put on your
honour NOT to read it unless and until you duly reach Kirk Yetholm.’
Pennine Way Companion The Plan of the Guide p. 3
1st August 2010
'If
I say I was in a big hurry on this first day of my walk, I stand
condemned, for the true walker is never in a hurry.’
A Pennine Journey p. 5
25th July 2010
On walkers ‘who have had enough and cannot face the long walk back
to Ingleton’:
‘At the Hill Inn … there is a telephone kiosk from which the
Ingleton taxi can be summoned to the rescue. Impoverished walkers
may be able to thumb a lift.’
Walks in Limestone Country Walk 7 p. 4
18th July 2010
‘There are no greener hills than those of limestone country; the
grass is soft and velvety, and cropped close by sheep.’
A Pennine Journey p. 4
11th July 2010
‘Ribblesdale is lovely. A walker in this Arcadia will find himself
captured by the spirit of the river.’
A Pennine Journey p. 3
4th July 2010
On purple saxifrage:
‘To take these shy plants is to kill them – they are creatures of
the hills; in town gardens they pine and die. So don’t.’
Walks in Limestone Country Walk 9 p. 4
27th June 2010
‘Pendle Hill was my
first climb, when a boy. I don’t know how old I was at the time,
but I remember how thrilled I was when I breasted the last steep
slope and found myself at the shattered column of stones at the
summit.’
A Pennine
Journey p. 3
20th June 2010
‘[The Langdale
Pikes] look down on the valley of Great Langdale like a pride of
crouching lions: they look fierce, hostile, repelling, yet they are
greatly loved by devotees who return time after time … for another
friendly wrestle with the giants of the group.’
Wainwright’s
Favourite Lakeland Mountains p. 149
13th June 2010
‘Langcliffe … is a
quiet village set around a pleasant green. Among its attractions
are many picturesque cottages, a beautiful 17th century
Hall, a ‘big tree’ and a fountain.’
Walks in
Limestone Country Walk 29 p. 2
6th June 2010
‘I felt I was some
other person; this was not me. I wasn’t accustomed or entitled to
such a privilege. I was an alien here. I didn’t belong. If only I
could, sometime! If only I could! Those few hours on Orrest Head
cast a spell that changed my life.’
Ex-Fellwanderer – A Thanksgiving
23rd May 2010
‘Dovecote Cave is the sort of place that makes an old man feel young
again’
Walks on the Howgill Fells Walk 32 p. 1
Note: On a recent visit with a walking companion, we discovered that
the cave is now inaccessible to the public!
16th May 2010
On Swindale (describing the ascent of Howes):
‘Here is an unknown corner of Lakeland that would be ruined by
countless picnickers if it were more easily accessible. So keep it
under your hat.’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland p. 234
Note: Beattie and I will be climbing Howes as part of the ‘Best of
the Rest’ Challenge of The Wainwright Society.
9th May 2010
On Yordas Cave:
‘Yordas, according to legend, was the name of a Nordic giant with a
liking for hunting small boys and devouring them in this cave. What
a strange thing to do!! Why not small girls?’
Walks in Limestone Country Walk 5 p. 6
2nd May 2010
On Yordas Cave:
‘The floor is of mud: mostly firm mud, but muddy mud near the
subterranean stream.’
Walks in Limestone Country Walk 5 p. 6
25th April 2010
Describing Stainforth Bridge
‘… a reminder of days past when humble men had an eye for beauty and
a pride in creating it, an enduring tribute to craftsmanship and
good taste…’
Walks in Limestone Country Walk 29 p. 2
4th April 2010
'Orrest Head, for many of us, is ‘where we came in’ – our first
ascent in Lakeland, our first sight of mountains, in tumultuous
array across glittering waters, our awakening to beauty.'
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland p. 26
28th March 2010
Describing the ridge walk from Hugill Fell to Reston Scar
‘Finding a legitimate way through the network of walls is like
trying to solve a bent-nail puzzle, except that in this case there
is positively no solution’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland p. 23
21st March 2010
Describing a walk on Green Quarter Fell
‘ … the long easy climb is without excitement and its accomplishment
is gratifying only as evidence that there is life in the old dog
yet.’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland p. 15
14th March 2010
Describing a walk on Potter Fell:
‘Therefore it behoves a walker subject to sudden maladies to endure
a companion on this expedition, however solitary he may be by
nature. You should choose a looker: you never know what might
happen!’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland p. 9
7th March 2010
Describing a walk on Scout
Scar:
‘… a path turns off left at a cairn and leads distinctly across open
fell to a stile in a wall and a kissing gate in another (it seems a
little nostalgic to be talking of kissing gates at our age) …’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland p. 7
28th February 2010
Memories of Lakeland
‘… glittering moonlight on
placid waters … stars above dark peaks … the tranquillity that comes
before sleep, when thoughts are of the day that is gone and the day
that is to come …’
The Eastern Fells - Introduction
21st February 2010
Memories of Lakeland
'…
curling smoke from the chimneys of the farm down below amongst the
trees, where the day shall end … oil lamps in flagged kitchens, huge
fires in huge fireplaces, huge suppers …’
The Eastern Fells – Introduction
7th February 2010
Memories of Lakeland
'… the small ragged sheep that
brave the blizzards … the symphonies of murmuring streams, unending,
with never a discord …’
The Eastern Fells - Introduction
31st January 2010
Memories of Lakeland
‘… the supreme moment when the
top cairn comes into sight at last, only minutes away, after the
long climb …’
The Eastern Fells
– Introduction
24th January 2010
Memories of Lakeland
‘… fierce winds on the heights
and soft breezes that are no more than gentle caresses … a sheepdog
watching its master’
The Eastern Fells - Introduction
17th January 2010
'Life did not start too well for me. I was born and brought up in
Blackburn in a small four-roomed cottage, two up and two down, in a
terrace of like dwellings, with flagged floors, no garden, no
bathroom, a privy in the little backyard, the living room
wallpapered and the others lime-washed.’
Ex-Fellwanderer
Alfred
Wainwright was born 17th January 1907
10th
January 2010
Memories of Lakeland
‘… the snow and ice and
freezing stillnesses of midwinter: a white world, rosy-pink as the
sun goes down …’
The Eastern Fells - Introduction
3rd January 2010
‘Fellwalking is action and fellwalking is fun.’
Fellwanderer
20th December 2009
Memories of Lakeland
‘… storm and tempest in the high places, and the unexpected glimpses
of valleys dappled in sunlight far beneath the swirling clouds
…rain, and the intimate shelter of lichened walls …’
The Eastern Fells - Introduction
13th December 2009
Memories of Lakeland
‘… silver cascades dancing and leaping down bracken steeps …autumn
colours … a red fox running over snow … the silence of lonely hills
…’
The Eastern Fells – Introduction
6th December 2009
Memories of Lakeland
‘… morning sun drawing aside the veils of mist; black-stockinged
lambs, in springtime, amongst the daffodils …’
The Eastern Fells – Introduction
29th November 2009
Memories of Lakeland
‘… the moment of wakening, and the sudden joyful realisation that
this is to be another day of freedom on the hills …’
The Eastern Fells - Introduction
22nd November 2009
‘Seathwaite … is a small farming community … and the wettest
inhabited place in the country … Encompassed by steep fells, its
river, the Derwent, becomes a raging torrent when in spate and the
devastation caused by flood waters is clearly seen in the choke of
boulders along its course …’
Fellwalking with Wainwright p. 158
15th November 2009
‘All mountain paths should be savoured slowly and treated with
respect even in bad weather or when there’s a bus to catch. They
are the walker’s greatest help in his wanderings amongst the fells
and should be preserved with care, not kicked into unsightly ribbons
of loose stones which can cause accidents.’
Wainwright on the Lakeland Mountain Passes p. 174
8th November 2009
‘This is deservedly the most popular walk from Dalegarth Station,
the mile journey being charming and the final section, at Lakeland’s
loveliest waterfall, exquisitely so. You have heard of sylvan
beauty: it is here, in Eskdale, at Dalegarth Force.’
Walks from Ratty p. 22
1st November 2009
‘I have never carried a compass, preferring to rely on a good sense
of direction, and in my case the latter has always proved reliable,
more than a compass could ever be and certainly less fiddling to
consult. But all authorities insist that a compass should be taken,
so perhaps you should.’
Fellwanderer
11th October 2009
‘If you start, don’t give up, or you will be giving up at
difficulties all your life.’
Pennine Way Companion p. 170
4th October 2009
‘Caving, of course, does nothing for pristine clothing, but the
bedraggled and apparent roughnecks seen in the streets of Ingleton
after a hard day can afford to ignore the caustic comments of
observers: they know a wonderful world their critics will never
see. I take my hat off to them.’
Wainwright in the Limestone Dales p.78
27th September 2009
‘Fellwalking is a pastime for life’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland Introduction p. ix
20th September 2009
AW’s first visit to Lakeland, 1930
‘In the days that followed I lived in an ecstasy of delight. We
climbed to the ridges, scrambled amongst the rocks and reached a few
summit cairns. We walked entranced along the valleys and
lakesides. I was bewitched by everything.’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
13th September 2009
‘Thus, starting at Edale, which is found at the foot of page 171,
the map proceeds up-page and is continued on page 169, where it goes
up-page and continues on page 167, and so on. Ultimately, if you
don’t give up or get lost, you will arrive at Kirk Yetholm at the
top of page 5.’
Pennine Way Companion The Plan of the Guide p. 3
6th September 2009
‘Heights are given in English feet and distances in English miles
despite the current regrettable practice of quoting them in foreign
metres and kilometres to which the author, a jingoistic Englishman,
refuses to comply.’
Wainwright on the Lakeland Mountain Passes Introduction p.9
23rd August 2009
‘Miterdale is a secret valley, little known and unfrequented … Yet
this is one of Lakeland’s sweetest valleys, a hidden retreat deeply
inured amongst hills, where woodland and copse and pasture combine
with a delightful river to present a picture of undisturbed rural
peace.’
Walks from Ratty p. 12
19th July 2009
‘One should always have a definite objective, in a walk as in life –
it is so much more satisfying to reach a target by personal effort
than to wander aimlessly. An objective is an ambition, and life
without ambition is ….. well, aimless wandering.’
A Coast to Coast Walk p. iv
12th July 2009
‘The worst experience that befalls a solitary walker is coming face
to face with a large party, especially when they are strung out
along his path. In a tight place, where this many-headed and
many-legged caterpillar cannot be bypassed, it must be confronted.
It may be a party of 36. Every one of them ventures a greeting of
sorts (the courtesy code of the hills y’know). If I am in sociable
mood I mumble a response to the first. The rest must share it. I
am not going to say good-afternoon 36 times in quick succession.
The tail-end think me a surly beggar. Okay, so I do not like large
parties on the hills.’
Fellwanderer
5th July 2009
‘Dedicated to THE SECOND PERSON (unidentifiable as yet) TO WALK FROM
ST. BEES HEAD TO ROBIN HOOD’S BAY’
A Coast to Coast Walk
28th June 2009
'Mountain tops are
very satisfying. … They are remote, detached from everyday life.
They are new viewpoints, reminders of true values, places to refresh
the soul, to banish worries, to sweep away the cobwebs that so
confuse the urban mind. In a changing world they remain unchanged.
… One always feels better after climbing a mountain.’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland Introduction p. ix
14th June 2009
‘What a blessing is memory when a happy life is coming to a close;
what pleasure there is in recalling days of enjoyment and
exhilaration. The good times live on to the end.’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
7th June 2009
On Coronation Day 1953 (2nd June):
‘The day was memorable because it brought the news that Hillary and
Tensing had reached the summit of Everest, an event that interested
me more than the Coronation, for I had long cherished an impossible
ambition to be the first man to reach the top of the highest
mountain in the world.’
Wainwright on the Lakeland Mountain Passes p. 85
31st May 2009
'Only
those who are getting on in years will remember Mardale as a
charming and secluded valley – before being ‘promoted’ to reservoir,
and can bring to mind the natural beaches, where primroses fringed
the banks, that are now sterile shores, arid and lifeless …’
A Coast to Coast Walk p. 52
3rd May 2009
‘I have omitted, with reluctance, references to a few natural
features that have been subject to abuse of privileges by a minority
of visitors. … I have written this book only for visitors who behave
responsibly and show respect for others.’
Wainwright in the Limestone
Dales Introduction
26th April 2009
On the ascent of Ingleborough:
‘Good Yorkshiremen do this climb as a duty of their inheritance –
and find it a pleasure, as will all ‘foreigners’ too. It is a fine
walk on a fine day and full of reward.’
Walks in Limestone Country Walk 9 p. 1
19th April 2009
On the ascent of Whernside:
‘This is the longest walk in the book. The walking is easy but the
miles are long and tempus fugits quickly.’
Walks in Limestone Country Walk 7 p. 1
29th March 2009
‘With climbing comes an uplift, not only of the body, but of the
spirit and the mind. There is no competition here with one’s
fellows, no silly jealousies of the man in the next salary grade;
one’s aspirations are simple and decent. There is no worshipping of
false idols on the mountains, but, instead, deep awareness of a
Creator.’
Fellwanderer
22nd March 2009
'I climbed Blencathra every Sunday in the winter of 1960/61 and
never once saw another human being. I had the mountain to myself,
discovering its secrets and hidden recesses, and on the summit I was
a king on his throne.'
Wainwright's Favourite Lakeland Mountains p. 19
15th March 2009
‘I think Wasdale Head must take pride of place amongst the valleys
of Lakeland, not for scenic beauty but because of the sheer grandeur
of its mountain setting. It is deeply inured below steep and shaggy
slopes, a patchwork of bright fields intersected by walls of massive
width built of stones cleared from the pastures, an emerald strath
circumscribed by rough fellsides overtopped by giants: the Scafells,
Great Gable and Pillar.’
Fellwalking with Wainwright p. 174
8th March 2009
‘Fellwalking accidents happen only to those who walk clumsily. The
only advice you need (and this shouldn’t be necessary either) is to
watch where you are putting your feet.’
Fellwanderer
1st March 2009
‘I have omitted, with reluctance, references to a few natural
features that have been subject to abuse of privileges by a minority
of visitors. … I have written this book only for visitors who behave
responsibly and show respect for others.’
Wainwright in the Limestone Dales Introduction
22nd February 2009
‘ Fellwalking helps better than doctors to keep a man fit, and
enthusiastic not only about hills but about life … The satisfaction
derived from a successful climb becomes even keener with the passing
years.'
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland Introduction p. ix
8th February 2009
‘The beauty of the Lake District is there for all to see. The glory
of the mountains is there for all to see who climb. The secrets are
for those who wander from the trodden ways.’
Fellwanderer
1st February 2009
‘I have long maintained that accidents in fellwalking invariably
happen to people who think they can study the views while moving.
If you want to look around, stop.’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
25th January 2009
On Gaping Gill:
'the
surface appearance of Gaping Gill is starkly simple and severe and
its dangers are palpably and appallingly obvious. Keep children and
dogs under lock and key. On no account should a visitor try to look
straight down the shaft, as the author is doing in the picture, the
silly old so and so. He ought to have more sense at his age.’
Walks in Limestone Country Walk 11 p. 6
18th January 2009
'I
have long maintained that accidents in fellwalking invariably happen
to people who think they can study the views while moving. If you
want to look around, stop.’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
11th January 2009
‘…fellwalking is something to do rather than talk about, …’
Fellwanderer
4th January 2009
On the writing of Fellwanderer
‘It would be an easier commission, and make better reading, if I had
some thrilling adventures to recount, some hair-raising exploits to
recall. But I haven’t. I have found the fells placid, and they
have made me placid and given me a wonderfully serene pleasure,
always.’
Fellwanderer
28th December 2008
AW’s first view of Lakeland from Orrest Head Whitsun 1930
‘I had seen landscapes of rural beauty pictured in the local art
gallery, but here was no painted canvas; this was real. This was
truth. God was in his heaven that day and I a humble worshipper’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
21st December 2008
Days on the fells have always been for me the best days of all’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
14th December 2008
AW’s first view of Lakeland from Orrest Head Whitsun 1930
‘It was a moment of magic, a revelation so unexpected that I stood
transfixed, unable to believe my eyes.’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
7th December 2008
‘Ardent fellwalkers never give up. They fade away, in due course,
surrounded by maps, their gnarled fingers still tracing fresh
routes. They die hoping for hills in heaven.’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland Introduction p. ix
30th November 2008
‘I love the mountains of Lakeland. They have been good friends to
me over a long life, always there when wanted, always reliable,
always welcoming. I have often sung their praises in an attempt to
repay the debt I feel I owe them.’
Wainwright’s Favourite Lakeland Mountains Introduction p. vii
23rd November 2008
'When I first climbed Penyghent the path could barely be discerned
in the tough grass; today it has the dimensions of a road, its
misuse being largely due to parties walking abreast and chattering
instead of walking sedately in single file as all should do on
narrow paths.’
Wainwright in the Limestone Dales p.123
16th November 2008
‘Fellwalking is a pastime available to everyone, and unlike games
and sports is not restricted to age groups. It is a pastime for the
young and the middle-aged and the old; indeed, its attractions
actually increase as the years go by.’
The Outlying Fells of Lakeland Introduction p. ix
9th November 2008
‘I am a great enthusiast for zigzag paths: they have been engineered
with care, always following the easiest line of ascent or descent.’
Fellwalking with Wainwright p. 21
2nd November 2008
On Gordale Scar in the Yorkshire Dales:
It is a savage and dramatic scene that would have sent John Ford
into a paroxysm of excitement as a location for a Wild West movie.’
Wainwright in the Limestone Dales p.161
26th October 2008
After an early expedition to Scafell:
'I
learned many lessons that day. I learned never to underestimate the
fells; the Lakeland heights are small by Alpine standards but they
are tough, and the summits are always further than you think. I
learned always to carry food, and always to wear boots.’
Ex-Fellwanderer - A Thanksgiving
19th October 2008
‘The rough fell country above the limits of cultivation has, through
long acquaintance, become my special delight, my pet obsession.
...There are many people - shepherds, farmers, huntsmen and
followers, rain gauge readers and surveyors - who know their own
particular areas much more intimately, but probably few who have
roamed the whole district so extensively and with the sole object of
seeing what there is to be seen: not the obvious things only but
those also that are hidden and those that are nearly forgotten. ...
I have preferred most the secret places that must be searched for,
the drove roads and neglected packhorse trails, the ruins of
abandoned industries, the adits and levels and shafts of the old
mines and quarries, the wild gullies and ravines that rarely see a
two-legged visitor.'
Fellwanderer
12th October 2008
‘the Settle to Carlisle railway makes grown men little boys again.’
Wainwright in the Limestone Dales p. 185
5th October 2008
‘I count Upper Ribblesdale amongst my favourite places on earth.
Here imagination catches glimpses of witches and fairies.
Especially fairies.’
Wainwright in the Limestone Dales p. 110
28th September 2008
'In
his own field, a bull is always right. On his own land, a farmer is
always right.’
Walks in Limestone Country The Plan Of The Book
14th September 2008
On the Howgill Fells
' … their greatest appeal must ever be to those who love to walk
freely ‘over the tops’ and commune with nature in solitude. There
is no better place for doing this than the Howgill Fells, bless
them.’
Walks on the Howgill Fells
7th September 2008
On The Three Peaks walk:
‘For those contemplating the walk, the best advice is to keep going
steadily, don’t rush, don’t give up or you will give up at
difficulties throughout life, don’t fall by the wayside and, above
all, enjoy every mile, especially the last.’
Wainwright in the Limestone Dales p. 180
31st August 2008
‘I like to have mountain summits all to myself. They are the
loneliest of places and are best appreciated in silence. Human
discords, loud conversations, shouting, raucous laughter and the
modern evil of transistor radios are totally out of place.’
Fellwalking with Wainwright p. 118
17th August 2008
‘Whenever I have a choice between a steep path and an easy one I
prefer the latter, and if it takes me on a roundabout course and is
longer in distance so much the better: less effort will be entailed
and more will be seen on the way.’
Fellwalking with Wainwright p. 87
20th July 2008
‘Ridges, in general, provide the best fellwalking in Lakeland … The
narrower the ridge, the greater the enjoyment. Ridgewalking is
fellwalking at its best.’
Fellwalking with Wainwright p. 157
13th July 2008
It amuses me to see all the articles and treatises and even books
written on the subject of walking on the fells. Goodness me, if a
person needs a manual of instruction on walking he should stay at
home. Walking is one of the first things we learn. Our mothers
taught us, remember? We do it all our lives.’
Fellwanderer
6th July 2008
'Surely there is no other place in this whole wonderful world quite
like Lakeland ... no other so exquisitely lovely, no other so
charming, no other that calls so insistently across a gulf of
distance. All who truly love Lakeland are exiles away from it.'
The Eastern Fells – Introduction
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Photographs taken with a Fuji MX-2900
Zoom or a Canon EOS 20D
Copyright © 2012 Derek Cockell All Rights
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