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Issue 57 - Spring 2017

THE WAINWRIGHT SOCIETY MAGAZINE

Encounters with Wainwright – Clive Barnard Fix the – the Society’s 2017 Beneficiary Keswick fish and chip shops in the 1950s and 60s The 2016 Photographic Competition Ex-Fellwanderer: A Thanksgiving – the 30th Anniversary The 214 – in fifty years to the day and much much more ...

THE SOCIETY FOR LOVERS OF THE

LAKE DISTRICT AND FELLWALKING www.wainwright.org.uk Remember, Wainwright Society members get Note from the Editorial Team 25% off Wainwright titles at Frances Lincoln! This issue of Footsteps includes a Welsh the hat from the correct answers, was Andrew mini-theme. AW is, of course, associated Amos, pictured below with his prize. predominantly with the northern hill THE FELLS BOOK 1: THE LAKE DISTRICT FELLS BOOK 2: country of , but we know he was THE THE also passionate about Scotland, his regular REVISED BY CLIVE HUTCHBY REVISED BY CLIVE HUTCHBY holiday destination, and also developed an interest in Wales in later life.

Alan Thomas has written a well-researched and fascinating article on Esmé Kirby, probably a new name to most readers, who was the dedicatee of AW’s A North Wales Sketchbook. AW met her on a number of occasions and, as Alan’s article shows, there was a deep mutual respect for the other’s work. Continuing the Welsh theme is a reflective article ‘Set in Stone?’, and on page 25 a review of Mountain Walking with a

cartoon by Roderick Hamm. £12.99 isbn 9780711236288 £12.99 isbn 9780711236554 A number of retrospectives are included in this issue. Roderick Hamm writes of a wintry AND COMING IN We do hope very much that you enjoy reading walk over Striding Edge half a century ago, MARCH 2017.... this issue and also wish you good health to enjoy THE LAKE DISTRICT FELLS BOOK 3: Barry Halsall recounts his fifty-year (to the day) the longer days and fairer weather in prospect THE odyssey completing the 214, Chris Butterfield now that spring is just round the corner. REVISED BY CLIVE HUTCHBY shares the cautionary story of his first Lakeland walk and Derek Cockell marks the 30th David Johnson – Editor anniversary of Ex-Fellwanderer. Andrew Stainthorpe – Graphic Designer Added to these trips down memory lane are a variety of news items and articles relating to the , exhibitions, Desert SOCIETY CONTACTS Island Discs, Fix the Fells (our main beneficiary for 2017), the Photographic Competition and • SOCIETY SECRETARY Keswick fish and chip shops. Quite a collection! Derek Cockell, The New House, Station Road, Bishops Lydeard, The Winter issue included a chance to win a signed Taunton, Somerset TA4 3BU copy of The Outrun by Amy Liptrot (winner of Tel: 01823 431698 THE LAKE DISTRICT FELLS BOOK 4: the 2016 Wainwright Golden Beer Prize for UK Email: [email protected] £13.99 isbn 9780711236561 THE Nature and Travel Writing). The answer to the question ‘What is the name of the stone-age village • MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY REVISED BY CLIVE HUTCHBY that lies on the Bay of Skaill on Orkney?’ was Skara Richard Daly, The Wainwright Society, £13.99 isbn 9780711236578 Brae. The winner, whose name was drawn from PO Box 35, , LA7 7WJ Email: [email protected] To take advantage of your discount, please visit our website www.QuartoKnows.com Issue 57 - Spring 2017 • WALKS ORGANISER THE WAINWRIGHT SOCIETY MAGAZINE and, where prompted, enter the promotional code WAINSOC (case sensitive) Front cover photograph: Caroline Nichol – Tel: 01253 738721 Stickle from high Email: [email protected]

on Jack’s Rake, , Encounters with Wainwright – Clive Barnard Fix the Fells – the Society’s 2017 Beneficiary Keswick fish and chip shops by Val Corbett in the 1950s and 60s • FOOTSTEPS EDITORIAL TEAM The 2016 Photographic Competition Ex-Fellwanderer: A Thanksgiving – the 30th Anniversary The 214 – in fifty years to the day Email: [email protected] valcorbettphotography.com and much much more ...

THE SOCIETY FOR LOVERS OF THE LAKE DISTRICT AND FELLWALKING

www.wainwright.org.uk

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Chairman’s Notes

It’s hard to credit that more than thirty As if that wasn’t clever enough, Wainwright years have marched past since I started my had the almost magical ability to pluck that PhD in Lakeland landscapes, an intensive emotionally-charged moment out of thin air CONISTON TORVER SAWREY LANGDALE course supervised by Professor Wainwright and transfer it to the printed page. That’s why in his spectacular outdoor study. his books are so much more than guides. They capture the soul of the landscape in a quite I thought I knew the high, wild bits of Lakeland remarkable way. pretty well. I’d looked up to them and down from them, hiked across them and scampered But before I go down from the mountain, may off them with bad weather at my back. But as I break into the silence of Haystacks and ask a the television programmes with AW slowly, favour? Will you whisper on the breeze to the ever so slowly, made their way onto film, powers that be that the Lake District deserves I realised how little I knew in comparison to to be a World Heritage Site? Nobody could the encyclopaedic knowledge of my usually make a more compelling case than the silent silent companion. He would take me to a Mr. Wainwright. viewpoint that I’d visited maybe a dozen times before. We would stand in silence as if before Wedding an altar and when he was ready, when he’d somehow absorbed the essence of the place, Venue he’d briefly describe the vista and explain why it was so special. Then silence again and in that silence the power of the landscape somehow Eric Robson coalesced, the spirit of the place breathed on Chairman the wind and in a mysterious way the place With magnificent views, our unique venue at The Coppermines Mountain Cottages made sense. make a truly memorable location for any special occasion

ELC TS W OM PE E We support The Lake District Cottages Tales of the 214 Have you renewed your Over the last few years, David Johnson has Society Membership for Cottages sleep from 2-35 people Hot Tubs been gathering stories and photographs 2017? from members who have completed Village, Country & Mountain Cottages Wi-Fi the 214, with a view to a book being Thank you very much if you have. It’s our Couples, Families, Groups & Weddings Log Fires produced. This is now coming under members who keep our Society strong active consideration now that Encounters and help fulfil our objectives. with Wainwright has been published. If you haven’t, please do so as soon as you Members who have completed the 214 can; otherwise this will be the last issue but have not sent in their stories are of Footsteps that we can send to you. The Coppermines & Lakes Cottages encouraged to do so in order for these to The Estate Office, The Bridge /TheCopperminesLakesCottages be included in the project. The stories can Coniston LA21 8HJ @Coppermines be of any length, and might include notable or amusing events or details of how the T. 015394 41765 @Coniston_Coppermines final fell was celebrated. Photographs are

also requested. David can be contacted at THE SOCIETY FOR LOVERS OF THE

www.coppermines.co.uk [email protected] LAKE DISTRICT AND FELLWALKING Photograph by Derry Brabbs

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My Introduction to the Lake District – a Cautionary Tale

I was already a keen hiker, having started When the day arrived, we parked at the hotel in aged about eighteen, when I moved from Langdale at about 8 o’clock on a Sunday morning. We Bradford to Calderdale for a couple of set off, following the rocky path alongside Mickleden years in the late 90s whilst studying at Beck. The ground was still frosty and the air was clear. Calderdale College. This opened my eyes to There was snow on the tops, but the weather looked the beautiful South countryside. promising for the day. Craig had recently recovered I introduced the area to Craig, a friend of from a chest infection, but said he was fit for the walk. mine, and we explored much of the area Eventually we reached the bottom of Rossett Gill. together on and off for the next few years. Ahead was quite a long steep climb, but the adrenalin was pumping and I was eager to get to the top to At this point, I had never been to the Lake District. survey the fabulous views. Halfway up, Craig started Then one day I picked up a second-hand book, to wheeze a little, but insisted he was fine and refused Fellwalking with Wainwright. It opened my eyes to to turn back. We took our time with the remainder Looking down Mickleden from the top of Rossett Gill – photograph by Chris Butterfield this beautiful landscape and I became curious about of the climb and the views behind us were more than this chap called Wainwright although he wasn’t worth our effort. then much more than just another author. It wasn’t expected, he just laughed. We both faced seconds, revealed the summit of . It until much later that I became truly inspired, and We stopped for a snack at Angle Tarn, but we kept Pike from the summit of Bow Fell and discussed our disappeared as quickly as it had come, but it was appreciated the true genius of this man. it brief as it was getting quite cold and light snow options. It was early afternoon and we had limited a gift from the gods. From that brief window, I had started to fall. We soon reached the shelter hours of daylight left, but we assessed that we could ascertained our location. We were between Broad It was in early 2000 that I started to plan my first near ; the wind was quite intense at this still hit the summit and get back down before dark. Crag and , but had been going the wrong walk in the Lakes. Being quite gung-ho, I decided point. As we were surveying the route ahead on way. We changed direction and headed for Esk to climb the biggest fell first, . I did some the map, an extremely strong gust of wind ripped it We doubled back without delay and took the path Hause, slowly dropping below the thick blanket of for Scafell Pike. Our walk towards the summit research beforehand, purchased the appropriate OS out of our hands and within seconds it was gone − cloud and, with a sigh of relief, we picked up the trail was mostly uneventful and, after meeting several map and planned to start and finish the walk from it just took off and disappeared into the sky. and found our way back to the top of Rossett Gill people, we knew we were on the right path. We the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. It would be a full and down to the valley floor again. day out and a good introduction to this landscape. I We knew we were over halfway to Scafell Pike and eventually reached Ill Crag and . Scafell wasn’t going to be able to do the walk until April that felt we had studied the map well enough to know Pike was not far away now. At this point, however, I have walked this whole route several times since (or so we thought) in which direction to go, so we the snow was getting heavier and thick clouds were year when my friend Craig would be able to join me and, looking back after all these years, I don’t believe went for it. We headed off and started to ascend a drawing in. We were soon on the final scramble and, I hoped, when we would have decent weather. I’ve had another day in the Lakes quite as nerve- craggy fell (which turned out to be , although to the summit and were ecstatic to get there at racking. I think my carefree attitude and recklessness I wasn’t aware of this at the time). We descended last. We had the top to ourselves and surveyed was down to the naivety of youth, a time when one down the other side then climbed yet another the magnificent panorama, although this was fading thinks one is invincible. I am now older and more craggy outcrop (Bow Fell). On the final push to the fast under blinding white cloud. We ate a late lunch sensible and have total respect for these fabulous fells. summit, I rushed on ahead because I spotted two quickly and decided not to hang around too long. The wind was blowing fiercely and the freezing people at the top. Craig was not far behind. This was my introduction to the Lake District, snow forced our heads down. We headed in the which would later lead to my admiration for There didn’t seem to be any other high mountains direction of Ill Crag to retrace our steps exactly and beyond this summit, which was a concern for me. reach lower ground as soon as possible. Wainwright himself. He inspired me to explore I asked the guys on the summit if this was Scafell the fells further and to walk the and Pike. They said No and pointed to a huge snow- We were soon engulfed in cloud and became more the Coast to Coast with my wife Priscilla in 2013 capped mountain behind me, our true destination. than a little worried. We were on Ill Crag with no and 2015, respectively. I am still a long way off My heart sank. Seconds later, Craig appeared over definite indication of the direction we needed to completing the 214 Wainwrights, but I have ticked the brow of the fell. take. We slowly followed the contour of the crag, off all the major peaks. So, hopefully, this next goal which was our only, but not very accurate, clue. The will soon be within my grasp. Although I almost didn’t have the heart to tell him, wind was getting stronger by the minute and the I broke the news to him when he reached me, but cold was biting. After a short time, we had a stroke Chris Butterfield – Bo’ness, Scotland Chris Butterfield – not long before his first Lakeland fell walk rather than express frustration, which I’d have of luck. A break in the clouds, that lasted only Membership No. 3026

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his death in 2013. In his final illness, we would ‘Polyfilla cement provided the underlying modelling The Wainwright Exhibition often talk about his favourite places and views, the and this was completely covered with a fine quality walks he could still take in his mind. I have sent leather worked over the various contours. At this my subscription to the Wainwright Society for stage, the gold title was tooled on, using a heated – a Postscript membership. I think my father would be pleased!’ stylus after which the finished textures – such as on-lay leather, model-maker’s texture materials, leather dust A Love Letter to The Lakeland Fells was an In October 2016, there was a ‘Wainwright Society The unpublished article, entitled ‘Wainwright Re-bound’ and crumbs – were added. And what could be more exhibition celebrating the life and work of weekend’ held at the Wainwright exhibition. I and reproduced in part below, described how Harold appropriate than that the path snaking across both had carefully taken apart his copy of and was deemed a great and other members manned a stand and it was a Fellwalking with covers should be finished with real Lake District stone! Wainwright and then applied his skills to re-binding it into success. It was held at & pleasure to meet and greet visitors and talk to them a beautiful and unique item, one that Frances treasures. ‘It was a pleasurable task although not without Art Gallery for six months in 2015 and then about Wainwright, his work and the Society. Whilst some of the terminology is obscure, other than anxieties at times, but I hope I have produced an for eight months until 4 January 2017. Among these visitors was Frances Howard-Brown to a bookbinder, overall the article conveys how this unusual object which, perhaps in a hundred years’ Sue Mackay, Curator of Keswick Museum, told me: whose late father, Harold Page, had been a Society project was clearly a labour of love. time, one of my descendants will take along to the ‘The exhibition has been a phenomenal success for member. Frances, who lives in Sussex, visited the current equivalent of the Antiques Roadshow to be ‘In pursuing my book-binding hobby, I was aware suitably impressed by the immense value in ecus the museum. In the first year, it brought a record exhibition and showed me photographs of a book that a great deal of time was spent in doing such number of visitors, some impressive media coverage he had re-bound. I was interested to hear that her (or cowrie shells) put upon this unique piece of folk things as re-spining broken-backed books, casing craft!’ (Harold Page) and great feedback from visitors. The re-run last year father had written two articles, one about that project paperbacks or binding magazines (many years of also attracted a good number of visitors and bought and the other with the title ‘The Seven Wonders of Cumbria still to be tackled!) which, though useful and David Johnson us time to consider how we could use the entire Wainwright’ which appeared in the December 2009 satisfying to a degree, did tend to become rather project as a model on which to base future exhibitions issue of Footsteps. This was a personal appreciation boring. I needed a challenge and this I found in – themed to engage our visitors, working with the of the Pictorial Guides, written partly from the re-binding Fellwalking. Behind this apparently simple community as well as regional and national partners, perspective of ‘an amateur calligrapher’ (as Harold statement, however, lie many subsequent hours of Members will be interested in two looking for sponsorship, marketing etc. We look described himself in the article). thought, experimentation and painstaking work. follow-up exhibitions at Keswick forward now to investigating touring the Wainwright Museum. exhibition to bring it to even wider audiences.’ ‘The standard printer’s edition was first taken to pieces, the cover discarded and the body of the book dissected Running until 12 May 2017 is Instanto The Society, a sponsor of the exhibition, also shared to give the basic 32-page sections. From these, the new Outdoors, which includes contemporary in this success, with an awareness of AW’s life book was re-constructed using traditional book-binding photographs by Henry Iddon taken with a and work having been brought to a wider public techniques including hand-sewn double head-bands 100-year-old Underwood Instanto Camera audience attracting new members, and enhanced and wax-polished edges to improve its mass-produced originally used by the Abraham brothers. fundraising for our beneficiaries through sales of our image. It also incorporated hand-drawn endpapers Many of the early 20th-century climbing calendar and Encounters with Wainwright. The idea of based on drawings from Wainwright’s guides to images by the brothers, who are regarded a touring version of the Wainwright exhibition is an replace the original ones which had gone along with as Lakeland pioneers in climbing and the binding. Thus it became a whole book again, ready attractive prospect, but many practical issues need to photography, are also included. This Instanto for the application of external finishes, but because of be addressed before this could become a reality. We camera is also on display in the exhibition. will keep members informed of any progress. the unusual cover design, the remainder of my work became specialised and experimental in order to This will be followed by Life of a Mountain: achieve the sculptural effect. , an exhibition which launches on 20 May and runs through to January 2018. The front cover of the re-bound Topics covered will include history, farming, Fellwalking with Wainwright , fell hounds, mountain rescue, as well as walking and climbing. Featured will be the Frances later sent me a copy of the unpublished eponymous film by Honorary Member Terry article, and in an accompanying letter wrote: Abraham. The Society will be assisting the ‘Having been brought to the Lake District every museum with information about AW’s strong year as a child, I almost took the scenery for association with Blencathra. granted. Returning last weekend after too many years of absence, I saw the area through the eyes Entry to these exhibitions is included in the of an adult; and how I loved it! It gave me a little museum’s admission charge (which provides idea of how the area became such a part of my free entry visits for a 12-month period). Harold Page father’s life. He yearned for the fells right up until The endpapers

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and costly process and is needed where paths Fix the Fells – the Society’s have deteriorated to the extent where the state has gone beyond prevention. Restoration techniques include ‘soil inversion’, ‘stone- 2017 Beneficiary pitching’, and the rather strange method involving fleeces. The latter, used where paths are The Winter 2016/2017 issue of Footsteps As part of our ‘Best of the Rest’ Challenge in peaty or boggy, involves placing the fleeces below featured an article by Fix the Fells about 2010, we were able to donate a further £2,200 a layer of stone both to protect the peat and the massive task ahead of them following to Fix the Fells, and a presentation was made on allow better drainage. The Long Stile project falls the storms of the previous winter. the summit of . This was organised very much into the category of ‘restoration’ as to coincide with our walk marking the 80th clearly depicted in the photograph below. anniversary of AW’s first trip to the Lakes, with Fix the Fells encourages walkers to place their many participants having made the journey in a feet carefully, keep to designated paths and not to 1930s bus and dressed in period costume. stray onto vegetation surrounding the path. Taking Fix the Fells now have a huge programme ahead shortcuts will encourage other walkers to follow and thereby start an erosion scar. AW had his own of them, having so far identified 120 specific The route up Rough Crag and Long Stile, from thoughts on such: in Fellwanderer, he wrote: ‘… paths that need repair over the next ten years, Haweswater – photograph by Nick Holmes a good walker moves silently and is a joy to behold. with many more no doubt to be added. Work in He moves not gracefully, but rhythmically. His their current programme covers the length and programmed for 2018. Wainwright considered footstep is firm. He presses the path into place breadth of the Lake District and includes many of this ascent, from , to be the finest route with his boots, and improves it. The clumsy walker the routes that AW described. Examples from the to the top of High Street. He wrote (in High loosens and destroys paths. A good walker loves long list of places needing attention are Brown Street 6, The Far Eastern Fells): ‘The ridge of the zigzags of a path, which always give the easiest Tongue, the Breast Route on Scafell, Piers Gill, Rough Crag and the rocky stairway of Long Stile progression, but a bad walker can’t be bothered, The cheque presentation by the Calendar team on Sprinkling Tarn to Calf Cove, , photograph by Ray Bradshaw together form the connoisseur’s route up High cuts across them and ruins them for others.’ Of Stake Pass, May 2010 – Swirls to , Goat’s Hause, Far Easedale Street, the only route that discloses the finer course, he also encouraged walkers to find their and Threshthwaite Cove. To support the characteristics of the fell. The ascent is a classic, It seems a long time ago since we made our own routes (safely) and not always use established projects, a team of around 80 volunteers gives up leading directly along the crest of a long, straight first donation to Fix the Fells who are chosen paths; this philosophy is very different from using nearly 2,000 man-days of time each year to help. ridge that permits of no variation from the as our main beneficiary for 2017. In fact, it a current path and just widening it by trampling on Fix the Fells estimate that 4,000 tonnes of stone valley to the summit. The views are excellent stemmed from Society members suggesting in the edges. will be needed for the programme. throughout.’ 2009 that we produce a Society calendar. All profits from the first of these, totalling £3,800, Currently, the Lake District attracts 17 million However, the Long Stile route has been severely resulted in Fix the Fells benefitting by £11,400 visitors each year and the number is steadily eroded and needs a stone-pitched path to be after the match-funding which was available increasing, amongst them many walkers who constructed together with protection to the sides that year from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The will inevitably cause further erosion and the to help against future erosion. The photograph to calendar, along with our annual Challenge, resultant need for repair and maintenance. the right shows the current state of the path. has been the cornerstone of our fundraising Many members will be aware that there are capability ever since. even some people who blame Wainwright for Techniques used for path repair and maintenance the problem (which is rather like criticising Karl have changed over the years. There have been a Benz for causing the pollution in Beijing). Erosion few repairs that have brought criticism for being was present in upland locations long before too obtrusive, but ‘just doing nothing’ seems like AW started his writing. A case often quoted is a recipe for disaster. of a Lakeland traveller who, in 1819, arrived in The work of Fix the Fells falls generally into two Langdale from and complained that Erosion on Long Stile – photograph courtesy of LDNP the route he had just travelled was seriously different categories. ‘Prevention’ techniques eroded and in a worse condition than when he include clearing the path of obstructions which travelled that way ten years earlier. may affect drainage, while cleaning out ‘drain We wish Fix the Fells well in the huge task ahead runs’, and ‘pigeon-holing’ which involves of them and will bring Society members further The funds we during 2017 will be used repairing small holes with seed and turf to stop reports and updates in future issues of Footsteps. to help to repair the path on Long Stile which them joining up and eventually forming a gully. Caroline Nichol presenting a cheque on Orrest Head, leads up to High Street, the work itself being ‘Restoration’ is a much more time-consuming John Bewick June 2010 – photograph by David Johnson

10 11 Editor’s note: Brendan Dawson contacted me in July last year to record his completion of the Coast to Coast Walk Membership Discounts 2017 on the Society’s Completers Register. He was justifiably ‘rather proud’, being seventy-five and having undertaken the walk after one hip and two knee replacements, and after a procedure for prostate cancer. He wrote: ‘Other than those annoyances, I am in pretty good health … it feels like bragging … my physical issues really weren’t a factor, at Please see the Society Website for all details. Some discounters require you to least not by any measure that I would use.’ I asked Brendan to write a short item about the walk. show your Society Membership card, so please have it with you.

ESTABLISHMENT LOCATION DISCOUNT ON Berkeley House Keswick Self Catering El Camino v The Walk Blenheim Lodge Bowness-On- B&B I have walked the Camino Santiago twice, Borrowdale Self-Catering Holidays Rosthwaite Self Catering but as I told a number of other Coast Chapelfield Borrowdale Self Catering to Coast walkers, the CtoC is a more Coniston Coppermines Various Self Catering challenging undertaking (mainly because of the sections in the Lake District). Cotswold Outdoors Various Gear Cottages.com Various Self Catering I was planning on returning to Spain to walk the Camino Norte when a friend suggested that I scrap Crow Park Hotel Keswick Hotel that idea and experience three very different walks Cumbria Magazine Magazine Retail and Leisure in one. It sounded intriguing so I contacted an outfit Eldergrove B&B named Macs Adventures and asked them to make appropriate accommodation reservations for me, Park Country Guest House B&B which they did (very satisfactorily). You can, of Fieldsman Publications Website Retail and Leisure course, just as easily book yourself into hostels or a bit sketchy – I think that serious Brit walkers like Frances Lincoln Website Retail and Leisure even camp out, but I stayed in B&Bs, pubs and inns it that way!), three Aussies with a nephew in tow – at this juncture I need my comforts! and four very proud English ladies. They all added Greenbank Country House Borrowdale B&B measurably to the experience. Horsman’s Jeweller Ambleside Retail and Leisure I won’t burden you with a blow by blow account I began my walk on 11 June and completed it Hoseasons Various Self Catering – suffice to say the Lake District section was challenging, the Dales beautiful and rolling, and the on 28 June. This year I am picking out another Kellah Farm nr Haltwhistle B&B Moors lovely in their solitude. I got a good deluge walk in England for my bride (of fifty-three years). Kirkland Books Burneside Retail and Leisure going over on Day One and wonderful Perhaps something just a little less ambitious has been requested. It was my wife who suggested Lakeland Walker Magazine Retail and Leisure weather the rest of the way. They tell me that I was lucky, but I think a little rain could only enhance I mention my health issues, but only so that this Lothlorien Kent’s Bank Self Catering the experience. Overall, it was a treat. might encourage other would-be walkers – I Mountain Life at Rheged Penrith Gear guess that the real point is that there are very few Someone asked me how it compared with the physical reasons not to try the CtoC. For me it was Outdoor World Direct Web and Huddersfield Gear Camino. The answer is simple – they are both a most enjoyable walk and is absolutely deserving Rohan Ambleside Gear beautiful and challenging; the Camino is longer of National Trail status. If you haven’t walked the Rosemount Hotel Windermere B&B but the CtoC has the ascents and descents. The Coast to Coast – DO IT! Camino is far more crowded, but I met many on Royal Rosthwaite Hotel the CtC, including a wonderful Dutch couple who Brendan Dawson – Cornelius, North Carolina Salutation Ambleside Hotel & Meals got me back on the right track twice (signposting is Membership 3032 Sonata Guest House B&B Striding Edge Website Retail and Leisure The Mountain Factor Ambleside Gear Wainwright House Kendal B&B For all the latest Society news, please visit Walking World Website Retail and Leisure us online at www.wainwright.org.uk or follow Windermere Retail and Leisure us on Facebook or Twitter YHA Cumbria B&B

12 13 and, thankfully, the cluster of ghastly white I chose this image as being worthy of a ‘mention The 2016 Photographic Competition caravans are nicely in the shade. A great effort in dispatches’ because it is a great example of the and congratulations. benefits of using a vertical format for landscape to create added depth to a photograph. I love the way Highly Commended: Philip Mann, Member that snakes around the promontory of No. 641 – First Snow from Surprise View land and, although the bottom-right foreground is a bit dark, there is still enough detail there to make it work. The colour, framing and atmosphere are excellent.

BEST IN SHOW

The winner of Best in Show was judged to be David Harrison’s Exiting Gordale Scar.

Derry commented: After much agonising deliberation, I have decided that by the shortest of short heads, the accolade of BEST IN SHOW has to be awarded to the THEMED CLASS entry. I just loved the moody sun and clouds of the OPEN CLASS winner but, although this was a great opportunist picture, I have to go with the meticulously composed image of the Limestone Dales. I admired both images immensely, but in order to separate them, I imagined using each photograph to show someone who had never been to either the Lake District or First Snow from Surprise View just what it was like and, on that basis, Exiting Gordale Scar the Limestone Dales came out on top.

The 2016 Photographic Competition closed this kind of subject, bright sunlight also means on 15 January with 26 members submitting shadows and they abscise vital landscape detail. Not 62 photographs in the two classes. Once a square inch of this composition is superfluous and again the judge was Honorary Member, the way that the perfectly sharp triangle of limestone Derry Brabbs, who cast his expert eye pavement leads the eye onwards into the savage over the entries. The results, with Derry’s landscape of the dry valley is truly inspirational. comments, are as follows: Brilliant effort!

THEMED CLASS: LIMESTONE COUNTRY OPEN CLASS

Derry commented on this class, as follows: Winner: Terry Abraham, Honorary Member Because there were only a disappointing fourteen – Heavenly light over Castlerigg entries for this class, I am restricting my choice to just the winner. I thought more people would have This is a spectacular picture that any landscape spent time walking amidst the glorious scenery of photographer would love to have taken and it the Limestone Dales, especially as it was one of matters not one iota that over half the image is AW’s favourite haunts. Maybe next time? either black or dark grey! We all dream of being in the right place at the right time to capture Winner: David Harrison, Member No. 2121 such an amazing combination of light upon – Exiting Gordale Scar the landscape and it is just one of those magic moments that cannot be planned for – other than This is a perfect photograph and ticks every box having a camera to hand. The gradated rays of light regarding composition, lighting and fulfilling the brief. falling on the valley floor are perfect, backed up Heavenly light over Castlerigg The absence of sunlight works so well because with by the differing shades of grey hills rising up behind

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Our thanks go to the members who submitted entries, to Derry Brabbs for judging the Keswick fish and chip shops competition and generously donating a framed landscape print to the winner of the Best in Show photograph, and also to Andy Beck for in the 1950s and 60s framing the winning entries.

And so to 2017 …

After fourteen years of judging the Photographic Competition, since its inception in 2003, Derry Brabbs, has decided to ‘retire’ or, as he put it, ‘This will be my last episode in a long-running The Committee has decided that this is an series.’ On behalf of all Society members, I opportune moment to consider the future format would like to thank Derry for the time he has of the competition and it is hoped to be able to devoted to the task as well as for his expert publish full details in the next issue of Footsteps. commentary and advice, which has helped to raise the quality of photographs submitted by Derek Cockell the members in this competition over the years. Secretary

The 2017 Wainwright Memorial Lecture – Clive Hutchby Cartoon by Roderick Hamm Early last year, I was contacted by a Society was the Ribble bus inspector Scott, who convinced member who wrote: ‘I have often thought it himself, despite denials, that I was Harry Griffin. And The 2017 Memorial Lecture is to be held I am sure that would be good to end a walk in the fells with there was Winnie, a waitress at the newly-opened at 6pm on Saturday 7 October at the members will fish and chips from the shop that AW used to Keswick Restaurant, where I presented myself for Rheged Centre, Redhills, Penrith, Cumbria be interested frequent, but I have never seen its address a meal every Sunday teatime for six years, never CA11 0DQ. to hear published. I wonder if any Society member varying my menu: my appearance was the signal for about Clive’s knows the address of the property and if it is Winnie to call to the kitchen, “Plaice and chips for The speaker will be Clive Hutchby who is experiences still standing and remains a fish and chip shop.’ one.” Poor Winnie: one week she was missing and author of The Wainwright Companion and, for and challenges later I learned she had died of cancer.’ the past three years, has been walking in AW’s in revising the I remembered that AW wrote a piece about the Wainwright in the Valleys of Lakeland p.204 footsteps whilst revising his Pictorial Guides to Pictorial Guides. Keswick fish and chip shops inWainwright in the the Lakeland Fells. The Eastern Fells, The Far Tickets will go Valleys of Lakeland so I thought that would be a Grey Friars Café and Dalzell’s chip shop were pre- Eastern Fells and The Central Fells have already on sale on 1 useful place to start. War establishments and may have disappeared before been published, with The Southern Fells, due to April, available ‘Keswick has changed since my early visits before the AW began work on the Pictorial Guides. We know be published before Easter this year. Clive will only from the war and I am not a lone voice in saying that the town from the above that he used the Keswick Restaurant be undertaking the research for The Northern Box Office at had a greater appeal in the old days when there during his research for the Pictorial Guides. Fells during 2017. Rheged (Tel: 01768 868000), and are priced at £8 were far fewer visitors and a man with a rucksack Does any Society member know what has become for Society members and £12 for non-members. on his back was an object of curiosity. There were Clive’s first visit to the Lake District was when of any of these establishments in the intervening years? The restaurant will be open before and after the few cars, the usual form of travel was by Ribble bus; he was twelve, climbing his first fell, Catbells, Any information would be very much appreciated. lecture. Note: if you wish to have a meal after the the only places of refreshment for those of us not on what turned out to be an unforgettable Please write to: Derek Cockell, The New House, lecture, you will need to book a table in advance. sufficiently affluent to patronise the hotels were the holiday. He is a former newspaper journalist, This should be done when you are booking your Grey Friars Café and Dalzell’s chip shop. Station Road, Bishops Lydeard, Taunton, Somerset, having edited publications in the UK, USA tickets for the lecture. TA4 3BU or email: [email protected] and Ireland, and is now a writer, designer and … Over many years of weekly visits, always by photographer. He lives within the Lake District Derek Cockell bus, I came to know some of the local characters Derek Cockell, Member No. 13 National Park. Secretary as well while remaining anonymous myself. There Bishops Lydeard

16 17 WAINWRIGHT’S Her qualities of endurance and determination Park was established in 1951, she took a close were well illustrated by her completion in 1938 of interest in the activities of the Park Authorities. BOOK the Welsh 3000s – the ascent of fourteen peaks Mired in political disputes among various DEDICATIONS over 3000ft covering a distance of around thirty councils, it took many months to work out how miles and about 14,000ft of ascent – in a women’s the National Park was to be run and by whom. record time of 9hrs 29mins, despite carrying Even then things moved far too slowly for Esmé. an injury. Thomas completed the same course Frustrated by inaction, she founded in 1967 the Esmé Kirby – in a record 8hrs 25mins. Not only was hers an Snowdonia National Park Society and set about outstanding achievement, especially for a woman recruiting as many members as she could. As at the time, but the more so because ‘racing’ Chairman, she ran the Society from her home at Guardian of Snowdonia in the mountains was treated with disgust by Dyffryn Mymbyr for the next twenty-five years. the climbing establishment. After the successful In A North Wales Sketchbook (1982), the record attempt, two of Thomas and Esmé’s following dedication appears: ‘Dedicated walking companions felt obliged to send an to ESMÉ KIRBY, Chairman, and Members apologetic letter to the Climbers’ Club Journal! of the SNOWDONIA NATIONAL PARK But nothing, perhaps, could have prepared Esmé SOCIETY. May their cause succeed.’ for her next challenge. During the few short years of their marriage she and Thomas had grown apart and, in the spring of 1939, within months of their record-breaking venture, Thomas left Dyffryn Mymbyr never to return. Instead he joined the Coldstream Guards, served with distinction in Italy, and later pursued a business career.

AW’s sketch of Dyffryn Mymbyr ( Esmé’s parents begged her to return to Llandudno, A North Wales arts and natural history. But she proved an Sketchbook) © The Wainwright Estate unruly pupil. In the hope of taming her wilder but she refused; she had put too much of herself instincts, she was encouraged to take up the into the farm and was determined to make her life there. Fortunately, Thomas made over the The Society was intended as a watchdog, theatre and, in due course, joined a prestigious scrutinising the National Park’s intentions and acting school in London. However, her time property to her and, with the help of the farm’s two shepherds, she soldiered on alone. actions, and responding critically as appropriate. there was interrupted by illness and, to aid her Esmé, a tenacious campaigner, personified the recuperation, she made a fateful return to the But she was not alone for long. A few years later role, snapping loudly and often at the heels of family home near Llandudno. Have you ever heard of Esmé Kirby? Before she met Major Peter Kirby, who had been invalided what she regarded as a bovine Park Authority. during service in Egypt and who had been posted A forceful and confident speaker and a talented writing this article, I hadn’t. But anyone who has During a riding lesson she met Thomas Firbank, followed the story of the Snowdonia National to a camp near Capel Curig. A few years after writer, she pursued her campaigns with the twenty-three year-old owner of a 2,400-acre the war had ended, and when Kirby had secured relentless determination; once she got her teeth Park and the struggles to protect its beauties hill farm, Dyffryn Mymbyr, near Capel Curig. may well have; for nigh on fifty years, Esmé his own divorce, they married. Kirby had studied into an issue, be it unsightly car parks, litter, Within a week they were engaged. They married engineering and surveying at Durham University or obtrusive building developments, she rarely Kirby was a leading campaigner for its protection secretly soon after, with no friends or relations and preservation. and, although he was not much interested in let go − and frequently her efforts yielded the present, and began life together on the farm, sheep farming, he had a strong practical bent. desired results. For example, a road-widening Styled ‘Guardian of Snowdonia’ by her biographer, tending its 600 sheep and a small herd of cattle. He established a furniture-making business and scheme that required the destruction of the Teleri Bevan, Esmeralda Cummins was born in Thomas subsequently wrote a best-selling book, supported Esmé in her subsequent ventures, Cromlech Boulders, a popular climbing venue 1910 in Croydon, . Her father, Tancred I Bought a Mountain, recounting their experiences. counterbalancing her impatience with his fondness in the Llanberis Pass, was successfully thwarted Disraeli Cummins, was a well-to-do businessman for careful preparation and planning. ‘She provided after a six-year battle. Conditions on the farm were gruelling. At first, and adventurer with a passion for tennis and golf. the driving force’, wrote his obituarist, ‘but he the house had no electricity or running water. Her mother came from a distinguished family of was the invaluable staff officer, driving her around, Within a few years, the work of the Society was artists with strong Welsh connections. The family The work of sheep farming was hard, the hours writing necessary letters and smoothly liaising with taking up so much time that Esmé appointed (Esmé was one of six children) moved to North were long and the couple was inexperienced. those affronted by her forthright manner.’ one of her shepherds to manage the farm. Wales when she was a child. But Esmé relished the challenge. She was small Membership numbers were swelling, as was the in stature but physically and mentally tough, With the growth of tourism after the war and Society’s income. In turn, growing tension arose Educated at a private boarding school in opinionated, articulate and determined. Thomas the pressures for ‘development’, Esmé became between Esmé’s somewhat autocratic leadership Llandudno, Esmé excelled at sports. She was described her as ‘lithe, with a hard, slim body … concerned about the future well-being of style and the need for more effective management also keenly interested in literature, history, the cool grey eyes … [and] a win-or-bust complex’. Snowdonia. So, when the Snowdonia National and organisation of the Society’s affairs. Also, as is

18 19 often the case with forceful personalities, Esmé’s she wrote, were all too real but ‘we must think conservation efforts were not always welcomed. of them as great national treasures of incalculable Set in Stone? While those who supported her regarded her as value, to be lovingly cherished and respected a heroine, fighting to save the soul of Snowdonia, and handed on unspoilt to the next generation’. her detractors came to see her as a one-woman Although not a natural campaigner himself, AW In A North Wales Sketchbook, published in He wrote of Lakeland: ‘There is magic in the air and awkward squad, opposed to every opportunity probably regarded Esmé as a comrade in arms. 1982 (see page 18), AW recorded how his I have long been under its spell. [It] is my home, for development – for better housing, more jobs, views on that region had changed radically. my heaven.’ However, having experienced the joys improved roads. In her final report to the Snowdonia National ‘I retract my earlier opinions … I have of North Wales, and Snowdonia in particular (‘… Park Society, Esmé paid tribute to two ‘grand been unfair and with this book have tried the scenery here was more dramatic and of greater Things came to a head in 1994. After a lengthy old men of the mountains’ who had died to make amends. It was intended as a variety’), AW was able to conclude: ‘Now I am series of acrimonious disagreements and clashes, recently. One was a local man, Evan Roberts. Of penance but has been a joy.’ under two spells and entranced by both.’ Esmé and the Society parted company. Unabashed, the other she wrote: she promptly announced the formation of the AW was in his seventies when he first visited the Esmé Kirby Snowdonia Trust, taking a number of ‘AW, as Alfred Wainwright liked to be called, was area and produced work for Welsh Mountain loyalists with her. Now in her early eighties but with almost as famous as his beloved Lakeland hills. It Drawings (published in 1981) and then for A North enthusiasm undimmed, she began work on projects is not so well known that he made several forays Wales Sketchbook. Until then he had considered to re-establish the red squirrel on Anglesey and to into north Wales and visited us at our home on that Snowdonia ‘would not bear comparison with preserve the in the Capel Curig area. the side of the Glyders when he was working my beloved Lakeland’. In a letter written to Larry on his Snowdonia books … He was a generous Skillman in December 1966, he wrote: ‘Several member of the Society for many years and one people have, in fact, suggested that I turn my year sent us some of his original north Wales attention to North Wales, but the urge is missing sketches to sell at our plant sale. … A lovely and I doubt now whether my legs could stand the quirky man. He must have inspired love of the effort.’ (The Wainwright Letters, p.123) hills in more people than any other man.’

Coming from the ‘Guardian of Snowdonia’, it was a fitting tribute indeed.

Alan Thomas – Warrington Membership No. 2518 This new enthusiasm is apparent from the inclusion MAIN SOURCES of a generous 100 drawings in Welsh Mountain Bevan, T. (2014) Esmé: Guardian of Snowdonia, Y Drawings. They cover all of Snowdonia and evidence Lolfa: Talybont. the extensive exploration, including at high level, described later by AW in A North Wales Sketchbook. Firbank, T. (1997) I Bought a Mountain (orig. 1940), Five years later, on 18 October 1999, Esmé John Jones: Ruthin. AW, the zealous new convert, enthused: ‘Everything Kirby died at Dyffryn Mymbyr aged eighty- Morgan, S. (2014) Guardian of Snowdonia Esme delighted me.’ The only discordant note was nine. She was buried on the nearby hillside Kirby immortalised in new memoir: http://www. sounded a year later in A South Wales Sketchbook, overlooking the mountains and valleys of her walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/guardian- In the Introduction to the sketchbook, AW wrote: where he wrote: ‘And for the people of South Wales beloved Snowdonia. ‘… when in 1979 I was offered the use of a ofsnowdonia-esme-kirby-immortalised-7866980 I have the greatest respect. On visits to North Wales cottage in Dolgellau I emerged from slippered I have, on occasion, as an Englishman, encountered Despite her focus on Snowdonia, Esmé Kirby’s Rhydderch, F. (2015) A Sympathetic Portrait: retirement, put on my boots, and went. My eyes a sullen hostility amongst the natives.’ campaigns tackled issues that were of wider http://www.iwa.wales/click/2015/09/a- were opened … What I saw I liked immensely. I significance. The growing pressures of tourism sympathetic-portrait/ became suddenly enthusiastic about North Wales. It is quite common for people to say they ‘know’ on the countryside, proposals for open-cast At the age of 72 I was a boy again.’ what AW believed about all sorts of issues, often mining, the depletion of wildlife, nuclear power- The Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ backed up by quotations. However, I suggest that plant construction, road ‘improvements’, the news/obituaries/1444044/Peter-Kirby.html AW went on to recount climbing Cader Idris and care should be exercised in being too dogmatic in routing of power cables, unsympathetic building The Daily Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ touring the district by car. A series of further visits such matters. What is believed and expressed at developments, afforestation and, perhaps obituaries/1320181/Lieutenant-Colonel-Thomas- followed, in which he climbed more mountains one time or in a particular context may well change especially, the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley to Firbank.html and explored extensively. ‘I did everything the over time, and this example of AW’s opinions on provide water for the City of – such guidebooks recommended and more besides.’ North Wales makes the point. concerns would have been readily appreciated by The 3000 feet mountains of Wales: http:// Among mountains ascended were Snowdon (once AW. The dangers of exploiting the National Parks, www.14peaks.com/index2.php?id=8 by train) and Tryfan (‘… a beauty and a beast’). David Johnson

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offered so much advice uninvited. Clive said it was a joke for AW, something that greatly amused him. Clive Barnard’s full account of his Encounters with Wainwright meetings with AW is one of 120 The last sitting was more to approve the bust before stories that comprise Encounters with – Clive Barnard it went through the final process and AW told Clive Wainwright. that he was more than happy with it. This time Clive absolutely incredible, a huge bear of a man. I never made the tea, which AW pronounced ‘half-good’. Copies can be obtained via the Society’s found any grumpiness at all. He was lively, very Clive proffered him a cigarette as had become usual website or by simply sending a cheque with at the start of a sitting, but AW said, ‘Nay lad, have jokey, he had a terrific sense of humour. I can’t your name and address to David Johnson, one of mine and you can keep the packet if you like.’ speak any ill of him whatsoever. He did me favour at 18 Pease Way, Histon, Cambridge, CB24 He then proceeded to smoke more than half of after favour.’ 9YZ. Any enquiries can be directed by email them himself, but Clive noted that ‘the typically kind to [email protected] or AW provided Clive with a pair of his glasses and thought was there’. by phone at 07881 894519. one of his pipes as aids to ensure that those on the AW called in on Clive a few times after the last sitting, bust would be correct. Clive told me: ‘When I had each time making the tea. AW’s son, Peter, also called All sale proceeds finished taking the information from them, I offered in often, sometimes when his father was there and after costs of them back but was told to keep them or throw the two would chat away. On one occasion AW postage are being them away as that were old and of no further use missed Peter by a couple of minutes, which upset AW. donated to Animal to him. I naturally kept them.’ Rescue Cumbria. Clive summed up AW in this way: ‘I thought him an absolutely cracking person. He did have charisma. Very powerful. If you put him in the middle of a football crowd, he would stand out. He was a big man, a big bear – a nice one!’ David Johnson

The following is an abridged version of Clive Barnard’s story in Encounters with Wainwright in the News Wainwright. Clive was commissioned by Gazette in 1986 to sculpt a In late January, as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations of Desert Island Discs, bronze bust of AW, which is now in Kendal a list of ‘Nine of the most moving’ of its editions, chosen from over 1500 programmes, Museum, and he also produced a trio of was posted on BBC 4 iPlayer. limited-edition figurines of him. Alongside names such as Jacqueline du Pré, Yoko Ono and Martina Navratilova was … Alfred From my conversation with Clive it became very Wainwright! Included were short extracts from the nine programmes, in AW’s case where apparent that there had been a rapport and a lot he talked of his final fell walk, saying ‘the mountains wept tears for me that day’. The entire of banter between AW and Clive, whose story interview can be heard on the Desert Island Discs online archive. of their meetings is both fascinating and revealing. There were nine sittings, about one a week One day, AW wandered into the gallery next to The programme with AW as the castaway was over a 2 or 3 months’ period, at Clive’s studio at Clive’s studio and sidled up to a group having a broadcast in September 1988. It is one of twenty . coffee and discussing a walk they were planning. included by the presenter, , in her book They were consulting one of his Pictorial Guides Desert Island Discussions, published in 1990. The story During the first session, there were some edgy and saying how much they loved them. AW stood behind this interview is contained in Encounters with interchanges, including when AW suggested there and starting to give advice: ‘Don’t take that Wainwright. When contacting Sue Lawley for her to Clive that he should ask the Gazette for route, take this one. Don’t go there, go here.’ story of meeting AW, I asked why she had chosen more money, then cadged a cigarette and later And so on. The group did not know who he was Wainwright to be in this select band. She replied: complained about the tea Clive had made him. and AW didn’t let on, remaining poker-faced. The ‘He was a fascinating and legendary figure in his own Clive stood his ground on the latter, telling AW: lady running the gallery café witnessed this and lifetime. How could I leave him out?’ ‘You’d better make it then … you’re the only one was dying to say to the group: ‘Do you know who doing nothing. I’m working here’. Clive said that he this is?’, but ‘client confidentiality’ prevailed. They David Johnson

and AW got on fine from then on. ‘I found him probably went away puzzled why this old man had Sue Lawley with AW (photograph from Radio Times) 22 23 Editor’s Note: Roderick Hamm is a regular contributor of cartoons to illustrate Footsteps articles (see pages 17 and 25). As a boy, he met AW – and that was over seventy-five years ago when AW and Roderick’s BOOK father worked together in Blackburn. That story is told in Encounters with Wainwright. Here Roderick tells of an exciting winter fell walk half a century ago. REVIEW

Life on the Edge Mountain Walking SNOWDONIA – 40 of the finest routes in Snowdonia

This book, published by Cicerone Press, the women’s record has been compiled by Terry Fletcher, best 5 hours 28 minutes known as the former editor of Dalesman (set in 1988 and 1989, and Cumbria magazines, who has been respectively)! walking and climbing in Wales for over fifty For both newcomers years. He is an Honorary Member of our Along Striding Edge to Helvellyn – and seasoned photograph Society. by Maggie Allan veterans to mountain The book is divided into nine sections, each with climbing and walking in Wales, this is a of other hardy (or foolhardy) folk were already up to seven walks ranging from 3 miles and 230 superb pocket-sized there or arriving by various other routes. One little feet of climbing up to 12 miles with 3350 feet. publication that is easy to chap was staggering along, carrying a tandem, his The concluding walk is a two-day marathon over larger lady trailing behind. follow and will lead to many happy days in the the fifteen Welsh 3000s see( page 18), covering magnificent mountains of north Wales. 31 miles and 13,000 feet of climbing. Whilst After sheltering in the stone construction to restore this is usually undertaken over two days, the equilibrium, we faced the need to return to base. John Burland – Otley current men’s record is 4 hours 20 minutes and Member No 2 On a bright February day in the 1960s, Some decided to brave Swirral Edge – a knife- a small group of members of Prestwick edge of ice leading to Catstycam and Red Tarn. Round Table (Manchester) tackled It seemed an absurdly perilous prospect so the Helvellyn. rest of us continued along the top past Brown Cove and descended via a safe but rough way to It was cold – very cold, so we did what we could . Then, of course, we had to tramp (in those early naïve days) to be appropriately clad. along the road to rejoin our braver brethren at our I, for example, wore a Harris tweed jacket over a transport base. jersey and shirt. As an extra layer, I’d kept on my pyjamas. A woolly hat and new boots completed A bowl of steaming, scalding soup restored our the outfit. A rather large and heavy (ex-Army body temperature and home we went, thinking Stores) rucksack carried supplies. For effect, if not we’d been lucky to have survived such a fearsome for benefit, I carried a metal-spiked, pre-war, Swiss chill with such inadequate kit. I suppose it ranked as walking stick which was covered with stocknagels of yet another section of life’s learning curves. places our family had visited in the 30s, when I was a youngster. Roderick Hamm Member No. 2553 Starting from , we took the ‘tourist’ route up to Striding Edge. This was covered in icy snow, and a stiff ‘breeze’ blew Find us online at straight through the pyjama level. But we carried on, using whatever bit of track seemed most www.wainwright.org.uk and appropriate, scrambled up the steep bit at the end on Facebook and Twitter and so achieved the summit plateau. A fair number Cartoon by Roderick Hamm

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concept with evil side effects: it has bred laziness the Mardale eagles. I admired them for their Ex-Fellwanderer: A Thanksgiving and a new race of scroungers. People don’t fend uncomplaining acceptance of the harsh conditions for themselves as they used to have to do; new in which they lived, for their independence. They generations have developed that do not work are content with little, wanting only to be left in – the 30th Anniversary out their own salvations but depend on the State peace. Their greatest enemy is man, sharing the to provide for them as a right to which they same world but refusing to acknowledge that On 17 January 1987, Alfred Wainwright are entitled. ‘From the cradle to the grave’ is these creatures are neighbours with equal rights celebrated his 80th birthday and to interpreted literally. If State benefits are available to existence. … Man is the bully, the biggest and commemorate this milestone he wrote a they are grabbed without a blush. Why work if cruellest predator of all.’ companion volume to Fellwanderer, the there is no need to?’ book that described ‘the story behind the For AW, there was a better world and this was On Tourists: ‘New types of visitors have come. to be found in landscape and nature. And the guidebooks’ which was published in 1966. When travelling was difficult you could be sure that personification of this better world, his heaven The new book was called Ex-Fellwanderer: the few people you met were all ardent admirers on earth, was the Lake District. That was why he A Thanksgiving, an appropriate title as, with of the Lakeland scenery and there was a kinship criticised the ‘new’ tourists in their cars and carrying his deteriorating eyesight, AW was signalling between them. Not now. Cars and coaches throng their transistor radios, and why he was so passionate the end of his active fellwalking days. the approach roads and unload crowds at the public about protecting the Lake District landscape. toilets and gift shops and cafes. They go no further. Perhaps more than any other, this book was a ‘I was different too in my liking for long solitary They are noisy, ill-mannered. Transistor radios blare At the end of the book, there was a quiet personal reflection by AW looking back over a walks. Someone had given me a map of out tuneless music and screaming voices. At many contemplation of the life hereafter. AW freely long life − from humble beginnings in Blackburn , a tattered sheet on a small scale but it beauty spots pandemonium has replaced peace. … confessed that he did not know what was to come to his long love affair with Lakeland. It was opened a bit more of the world for me, and I was eager to learn. … These early excursions out of These people are completely out of tune with the after death. His only fear was that it would be ‘a not, however, a book of regrets or missed black void of nothingness’. But what if heaven was sight and sound of the towns bred in me a love of surroundings and incapable of appreciating beauty.’ opportunities but more the story of a journey like the Lake District? from a smoky mill town to the summits of his lonely uplands that has persisted ever since, and a beloved mountains, a joyous ramble through fascination for maps that has never faded …’ ‘We are promised God’s heaven. I wish I could think so. It would be great, wouldn’t it, to move on to a decades of happy fellwandering. As AW put it: And, like everyone, he suffered from teenage angst in brand new life, with new eyes, in new territory. I ‘This book is not a personal lament for the end those awkward years between childhood and adult life: of fellwalking and the end of an active life, but a would not feel a stranger in heaven, having for so thanksgiving for the countless blessings that have ‘The other embarrassment was the change from many years lived in the earthly paradise of Lakeland. been mine in the last eighty years.’ short trousers to long, which, anticipating the jeers There may be hills there to climb. There may be an opportunity for a pictorial guidebook to heaven. and comments that would follow, I delayed until the I may be permitted to come down occasionally and The thread that runs through the book is AW’s life passing of time left me no choice. At the age of sixteen flap my wings over Haystacks.’ story: for the first time, he revealed details that had I was already six feet tall and as thin as a rake, with only been hinted at in previous publications. His spindly legs emerging from trousers that ended at the Coming full circle, this book is one of memories, of readers knew that he came from Blackburn since knees. I was becoming a source of public amusement. a brief account of his childhood was contained happy days spent on the fells with no regrets that So I took the plunge, got a pair of long ones and after his fellwalking days were over. As AW wrote: ‘We in Fellwanderer. But this book was different as it skulking along the back streets for a few weeks to have more blessings than we could ever count.’ included descriptions of his home and family life, avoid ribaldry and laughter, began to like them. They his schooling, his early career as an ‘office boy’ gave me new confidence. Now I really was a man.’ ‘Days on the fells have always been for me the and his transfer to Blackburn Council’s Treasurer’s best days of all. They still are, but now I must be Department in the town hall where he studied to Another feature of the book is AW’s comparisons © Derry Brabbs content to relive them in memories; sight is failing become a qualified accountant. between ‘then and now’; some might say a rose- but I can visualise past adventures so clearly in the coloured view of life looking back from the summits eye of the mind. I can sit in an armchair and go up What is interesting is that we see how his of older age to a lost world of youth. And his Wainwright’s severest criticism was reserved for Great Gable again, or cross Mickledore to Scafell, childhood experiences are a precursor to his later comparisons are not usually complimentary about those who practised cruelty on animals, whether and the pictures I see with closed eyes are as vivid life as a fellwalker, artist and author. He wrote: the world of the 1980s. by hunting, culling or experimentation. as they ever were. What a blessing is memory when a happy life is coming to a close; what ‘In winter I would write and illustrate adventure On the Welfare State: ‘Bad old days? No, I don’t ‘It was during my lonely wanderings on the pleasure there is in recalling days of enjoyment and stories on any blank pieces of paper I could find, agree. People worked hard; they had pride, mountains that I developed an admiration for the exhilaration! The good times live on to the end.’ but my greatest joy was to copy drawings and courage, character, honesty, and an observance of birds and animals who shared my days: the sheep, cartoons from the comics that circulated amongst moral standards not seen today. These virtues have the fell ponies, the occasional foxes and deer, the Derek Cockell my pals together with a few originals.’ been largely destroyed by the Welfare State, a good ravens, the hawks, the buzzards and recently Member No. 13

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Postscript

The 214 – in fifty years to the day In the euphoria of the moment as we descended Troutbeck Tongue, Sue decided that she wanted to I first visited the Lake District in 1966 when My work took me all over the country, with several try to complete the 214 herself and naturally I have I was twenty-one years old, never having years each in various places including Burnley, been engaged as mountain guide. At that point she walked in mountains before. Gloucester, Surrey and Nottinghamshire, which had already climbed seventy-four fells, and is so severely limited opportunities to walk in the Lake full of confidence that we are already planning a My plan had been, after graduating from university District. In between classic long-distance walks champagne celebration to be held on , that summer, to spend September on a month- in Yorkshire and treks to Kilimanjaro and the sometime in 2018! long camping trip in Scotland. As fate would have Himalayas, I always came back to the Lake District it, a close friend invited me to his wedding which whenever I could, and it was always my preference As for me, I may have completed all 214 Wainwrights, was to be held in Morecambe at the end of the as a holiday destination. but I still intend to carry on climbing them for many first week of my planned holiday, so my girlfriend years to come, for as long as the legs still work! and I had to modify our plans, deciding to spend Because of their infrequency, my walks tended to Looking back over 50 years of walking the Lakeland the week camping at Head, attend the be long arduous affairs to make the most of the fells, I can honestly say that however long the walk, wedding, then head off to Scotland immediately opportunity – long ridge routes and big horseshoes, however rough the going, whatever the weather and afterwards. and ultimately a non-stop circuit of all the points over wherever I have wandered, I have never once felt 3000ft, starting and finishing in darkness. I walked lonely or bored. On my solitary walks, I have never From our campsite at , the views most of these, particularly the long ones, alone. felt the need for any form of ‘in-flight entertainment’ were truly inspiring and far beyond my wildest by way of a Walkman cassette player, CD player, MP3 dreams. On 5 September, we ascended Scafell Many years later, my second wife and I eventually or whatever the current technology is; nor have I felt Pike by the main tourist path and later that week achieved a long-held ambition and settled near the need for a GPS app on my mobile phone. I still I climbed and . I became Keswick. Even then, due to the arrival of two Barry and Sue on Troutbeck Tongue, September 2016 prefer the challenge and satisfaction of navigation with completely hooked on fellwalking, and so started a children, opportunities for long walks tended to be map and compass (besides, there are no batteries to long-distance love affair which persists to this day. restricted. The children were introduced to the run out and reception is always perfect!). fells with ascents of Catbells before the age of four, There was one relatively insignificant peak that but sadly they both later lost interest. I had never managed to incorporate into my long walks in the area – Troutbeck Tongue. I Much later, in early 2016, on a walk over decided this would be my final climb so that my Reminder – Peanuts , I met some walkers who told me about wife Sue could be with me (she is not keen on the 214 Completers. I had never thought about accompanying me on my epic trips). Troutbeck and Pennies deliberately setting out to climb all the peaks in Tongue merely requires a gentle stroll by the river the Wainwright guides which I had used to devise and a short ascent. A pleasant and relaxing way to The winter issue of Footsteps included an interesting routes but not used as a check-list. end. After a hectic couple of weeks involving long article: Peanuts and Pennies or ‘How to car journeys to complete the final few Wainwrights, find 2s 4d on Catbells’. This included a I was intrigued, and back at home I checked my I had just three days left before my target date – all copy of a note from AW to Molly Lefebure walking diaries (which I had kept from the beginning) I needed was Sue to be available and to have half- which gave instructions for finding a bag and found I had climbed 130 Wainwrights. Having decent weather. hidden in a crevice in a wall near Catbells. recently been alerted to a potentially dodgy hip joint, The article challenged members to follow I thought I ought to crack on with climbing the rest As luck would have it, these two conditions these instructions and discover what is while I still could. (Ironically, during all my subsequent coincided on 4 September. We reached the now to be found there. walks, which included the eighty-four remaining summit in fine weather and found it deserted. So far, four members have undertaken the peaks as well as very many more on the way, I I surprised her by producing a half-bottle of challenge successfully. never felt the slightest twinge from my hip!) champagne which I had secretly carried up in my rucksack in a bag of ice. We drank the champagne The closing date is 20 May, so there’s still And so it was that I set out on an intensive from plastic wine glasses and took masses of plenty of time to join in whilst enjoying a campaign. I set myself a deadline of 4 September photographs. As we prepared to leave the still- short and very pleasant low-level walk below 2016 so I would complete all 214 fells within deserted summit, the sun came out for the return Catbells. The results will be reported in the fifty years of the first one. Except when very bad to Troutbeck – a perfect ending. Summer issue of Footsteps. weather intervened, I’d often be walking three days a week and taking in two or three new peaks each Barry Halsall – Keswick David Johnson Barry at the summit of Scafell Pike, September 1966 time. Soon I was in sight of my goal. Member No. 3094

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Society News FIND YOUR MOUNTAIN

Carlton Bank on the Coast to Coast Walk – Jeff Carlton

A COAST TO COAST WALK. If you are planning to complete the Coast to Coast Walk in 2017, can you assist the Society with route monitoring as you travel? It is not an onerous task, involving noting access problems such as broken stiles or blocked paths etc. Your help would be very much appreciated. If you can SOCIETY CALENDAR. Sales of our 2017 assist, then contact the Secretary at: secretary@ Wainwright calendar have almost ended and the wainwright.org.uk final total raised will be available soon. Work on the 2018 calendar has started and members are invited to send any pictures they think may be suitable to: [email protected] by 20 March. Pictures should be in landscape format, of a Lake District subject and a minimum of 4Mb to enable reproduction in a large format. Any queries may be sent to the same address.

NATIONAL GRID FINAL CONSULTATION. The Society submitted its response to the final proposals by National Patterdale Village and Post Office A( Second Lakeland Whatever Grid for the construction of an electrical Sketchbook, No. 139) © The Wainwright Estate connection from the new nuclear power station personal at Moorside, Cumbria. We objected to the WAY. The , a siting of much larger and taller pylons along the 20-mile walk around the lake, was inaugurated mountain Whicham valley and around the head of the last year. The Society has been working with the you’re facing, Duddon , believing that there should be Friends of the Ullswater Way, advising about the underground cabling in this area to minimise the placing of two ‘installations’ to commemorate hurl yourself impact on the landscape of the National Park. Wainwright’s love of the area and Ullswater. The The full statement can be read on our website Society has donated £750 towards the cost of at it in true at: http://www.wainwright.org.uk/articles/2017/ purchase of these two works. One is a ‘Sitting national-grid-final-consultation.html Stone’, a polished piece of rock, engraved Wainwright with a Wainwright quotation and large enough to style two or three people. The second is a plaque KENDAL WALKING FESTIVAL – Friday 2nd to be placed in Patterdale, which will record that and Saturday 3rd June. Keep your eyes open the post office was the first place that Wainwright for a possible additional walk around Kendal that sold copies of his Pictorial Guides. SEARCH ‘WAINWRIGHTGOLDENBEER’ we have been asked to lead as part of this event. www.wainwrightgoldenBEER.co.uk Details have not been finalised, but as soon as they are we will let members know via the next e-newsletter and the Society website.

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Dates for your Diary

WAINWRIGHT SOCIETY WALKS 2017 A programme of five varied walks has been • Saturday 29 July – planned for 2017. Full details of the walks in the second half of the year will be included • Saturday 23 September – FLINTER GILL in future issues of Footsteps and on the along THE DALES WAY, from DENT Society’s website. • Saturday 7 October – ANGLETARN PIKES • Saturday 25 March (prior to the AGM) – (prior to the Memorial Lecture – see below) and BLACK CRAG 3½ miles, with 600ft of ascent. Time: 2 hours. Difficulty: easy/moderate. WAINWRIGHT SOCIETY AGM – In The Outlying Fells of Lakeland Wainwright Saturday 25 March wrote: ‘There must be many readers who, like the author, have been passing Reston Members are reminded that the 2017 AGM Scar en route for the Lakes with no more will be held on Saturday 25 March 2017 than a glance up at it, regularly for donkeys at Staveley Village Hall, commencing at 3.00pm. This will be preceded, at 2.15pm, years.’ There will be plenty of time to enjoy this walk from Staveley and have lunch in the by a short talk by a representative of village before the AGM at 3pm. the Society’s 2016 beneficiary, the Lake District Calvert Trust, followed by a • Saturday 27 May – , from cheque presentation. Ambleside 6½ miles, 1,600ft of ascent. Time: 5 hours. Difficulty: moderate. This walk will be part of the 2017 Challenge and celebrates the 60th anniversary of the publication of The Far Eastern Fells. In this, Wainwright wrote ‘Caudale Moor sends 2017 MEMORIAL LECTURE – out three distinct ridges to the south, and Rheged, Saturday 7 October the most westerly and longest of the three Our speaker will be Clive Hutchby. descends to a wide depression (crossed See page 16 for further details. by the Kirkstone road) before rising and narrowing along an undulating spur that Tickets will be available from 1 April finally falls to the shores of Windermere. This from the Rheged Centre (Tel: 01768 spur is Wansfell. Although its summit ridge is 868000). Price: £8 for members (non- fairly narrow and well defined, the slopes on members £12). most sides are extensive, the fell as a whole occupying a broad tract of territory between Ambleside and Troutbeck.’ The walk will leave from The Old Bridge House, Ambleside, at 10am. During the walk there will be a cheque presentation to Fix the Fells, the Society’s 2017 main beneficiary.

The Wainwright Society accepts no responsibility for the views, opinions, products or services contained within the Society magazine, Footsteps, neither is it responsible for their content or accuracy. Footsteps is designed and produced by The Wainwright Society