Wainwright Hills

[1959_60]

An update on our quest to climb all 214 Wainwright hills in the Lake District.

We have completed 69 now.

During the hot spell we decided to do Helvellyn very early before the heat of the day made it unbearable.

So we set off on the climb before 4AM. It was absolutely brilliant up there at that time. No bugger about, nice and fresh and brilliant views.

The first picture is just after we had set off in the half light. The second one is the summit of Helvellyn, the third is the summit of Raise.

[1959_60]

Last week we chose to do Pillar and Steeple. Again, we chose to set off very early to miss the heat. In the event it was a murky day.

these hills are difficult to get to (5 miles from Ennerdale Bridge to get to the start of the climb...and five miles back).

So we opted to set up a wild camp near the start of the ascent in the Ennerdale Forest. (first picture).

It was really in the middle of nowhere and completely black. Around midnight we were disturbed by a deafening sound of a vehicle which seemed to be coming straight towards us. It must have been a RAF Hercules flying extremely low and right above us. This was repeated twice in the next hour.

Picture two is the summit of Pillar, and number three is a small outcrop just before the top of Steeple.