One question I always get asked is ‘What is your favourite fell in the Lake District?’
It’s a simple enough question, but one that I always find difficult to answer.
Maybe this is because, as someone who is about 180 Wainwrights into completing the full 214, I’m saving my decision until I’ve had time to climb them all. It might be because it’s genuinely impossible to pick out one summit when they each have their own special majesty.
Of course, there are always some which I think of with particular fondness.
My experience of climbing Blencathra for the first time – when I had only recently given up drinking and smoking – was sweaty, breathless and utterly exhausting.
But despite that, it will always have a special place as the one which kickstarted a new chapter in my life.
If Blencathra was a physical baptism of fire, then Helvellyn, which followed shortly after, introduced me to the mental and spiritual elation you can only find in high places filled with fresh mountain air.
The view down its graceful flanks to the tarns below triggered a healthy obsession; an addiction which only makes me happier and stronger.
When certain mountains have played such a formative part in your life, it’s hard not to imbue them with a character and think of them almost on a par with the people who have influenced you along the way.
Perhaps this is another reason why it’s so hard to choose a favourite; just in case you offend all the others who’ve given you such great moments of pleasure!
For a spectacular view I like to head up to Fleetwith Pike and spend some time gazing down the valley over Buttermere and Crummock Water.
I also love Wansfell, my small but perfectly formed local peak, which is a great spot for a quick hit after work when the sun’s setting.
But to say that one of these, or any of the other Lakeland mountains, is the best is impossible.
Although each summit may have only one name, their nature changes from season to season, from day to day, even from minute to minute in the right (or wrong) weather. The experience of every one differs with the route you take and the people, thoughts, feelings – and food – which accompany you.
At the end of the summer I sat on Fleetwith Pike and enjoyed watching the sun going down over the Irish Sea with a tomato and chicken farfalle.
It was the perfect meal to complement that season and that time. But if I was to go there today I’d be preparing a hearty, warming curry or a Tuscan bean stew, the weather would definitely be colder and it would be a completely individual experience – maybe not better or worse, just different.
You can’t expect to have the same encounter with a fell each time you return. Sometimes there is a sadness in this, knowing the joy you feel in the moment will never be recreated. It’s just for now. But there’s also a great amount of excitement and wonder.
As ancient as they are, these hills never get old, constantly reinventing themselves in our minds on each visit. What will it be like next time I climb Helvellyn? Who knows?
And, for all their beauty, they can also bring hardship; storms buffet you, rain soaks you to the skin and steep slopes sap your energy.
However, in time you learn that the clag will eventually pass, the path will flatten out, get easier and lead to somewhere worthwhile. Perhaps this is the best lesson they can teach us; difficulties will pass and we must savour happiness whenever we can.
- What’s your favourite fell and why? We’d love to know! Email admin@cumbriacrack.com
