Simon Ingram
Want a challenge? Like mountains? In the Lake District? Stop everything: Trail’s just found your Next Big Day Out...
gets his boots on and limbers up for the new Lake District Three Peaks challenge
Twitter @MrSimonIngram
First off, I need to say something: sorry. I say this in the manner of someone slightly guilty for underestimating or misjudging something and who feels the need to apologise. So, again, sorry. But in my defence, I genuinely didn’t think this walk would be this good.
It all started when we received a call from the organisers of the Keswick Mountain Festival, saying that they were planning a new walking event for this year and it was quite good and would we like to come and have a go.
“It’s a Three Peaks Challenge. Quite a good one,” she’d said.
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll squeeze in half an hour to have a look next time we’re up there.” I said, or words to that effect, whilst scribbling down the details on, if memory serves, the greasy bit of card a sausage roll sits on. As I started to put the receiver down I think I heard her say “You don’t need a car either...” but then she was gone, and I was back to dreaming about Scotland or whatever it is I do all day.
Three peaks? In the Lakes? Without going over 3000ft or catching a train or driving like a lunatic with one eye on the clock and another on the sheep you’re about to run over? Pffft. Surely this wasn’t going to be good. Then later on, on the way to the bin I’d looked at this greasy bit of paper and realised this perhaps had a bit more going for it. All of the three peaks in question – Walla Crag (379m), Latrigg (3687m) and the incontestably dreamy Cat Bells (451m) – were all on my to- do list, but were still outstanding, and this was a niggle that was beginning to gnaw a hole in my boots. And I do like Keswick. If I could buy a town, I would buy Keswick. It’s not going to happen, so nobody panic – but could you dream up a more perfect setting for a mountain lover?
But then there was the distance. 18 miles! It had been a long time since I’d walked that in a day. Between you and me it had been quite a long time since I’d walked that in three days. It was quite a long way to walk in just the one. But really – how hard could this be? Three little peaks, none of them exceeding 700m and a town in the middle. We drove into Keswick mumbling solemn oaths about early nights and perhaps a light dinner with a few green things on it, plus porridge for breakfast. Best to be fresh, you see.
Sadly due to circumstances entirely within
our control, we still managed to arrive at Crow Park the following morning hungover and tired and very slightly late. The only thing stopping the fish and chips I’d had the night before from reappearing was the fried breakfast I’d piled on top of it, and I’d had nowhere near enough coffee. The sun had arrived for the day from the Sahara, the other people walking this were actually glowing with sinewy fitness, and one of them had a T- shirt bearing the slogan of a Himalayan Peak along with the worrying words ‘2017 Expedition’. They were talking about training. Even the dog looked smug. All of this in hand, I’d be lying if there wasn’t a lingering concern that today might be a bit harder than I’d expected. The word ‘hell’ was quietly mentioned.
Never mind, I thought – focusing on the comforting notion that we’d pass through Keswick after each peak, providing the opportunity to stock up, refuel and perhaps have a little sleep somewhere shady. The Dog & Gun perhaps.
“Right,” said the guy with the Himalaya on his T- shirt. “Everybody got everything they need? There’s a café in Borrowdale but that’s about it.”
“Borrowdale?” I said, with rising panic. “We’re going south around the lake?”
He looked at me. “Of course! It wouldn’t be a challenge otherwise, would it?” And with that, we were off.
The Keswick Three Peaks Challenge was dreamed up by the organisers of the Keswick Mountain Festival as a way of bringing walking back to a festival that has, in recent years, upped its game in more speedy activities. “The one activity that brings all outdoor enthusiasts together is the joy of walking. Simply putting one foot in front of the other in a beautiful place… often to get to the top of something,” says Nicola Meadley who, with Keswick local Andy Airey came up with this route, and both of whom – along with mountain guide Matt Le Voi and a couple of other lucky souls – were walking it with us today. “So we wanted to bring walking back. And for those visitors who are new to Keswick it really does give them a chance to see the whole area in one day.”
True, this. If you love the landscape around Keswick – and you’d be nuts not to – there is really little better worth doing for the nine hours recommended to complete this walk in a brisk fashion. A timed challenge walk of the route will be a highlight of this year’s Keswick Mountain Festival. And today we were getting to try it out.
We walked on leaf-shadowed paths at the edge of the woody, boatyard and jetty- strewn northern shore of Derwent Water, then took our first steps from track to path, and the gradient took an upward lunge.
Whatever your idea of Cat Bells, you really do need to climb it. For me the sight of this hook- shaped peak is what makes that view down Derwent Water from Crow Park so utterly entrancing. I decided years ago that this was my favourite view in England at any time of year. But the truth is, most views improve with height.
So it was with Cat Bells we started, on a day which was shaping up to be more than lucky in terms of the weather. It’s a scramble to the top – an easy one, but a scramble – and once there, the prospect is mind-blowing. The silvery bays way below, cut by the occasional wake of a canoeist navigating between wooded islets brought to mind some idyllic and wholesome Norwegian or Canadian tourism brochure. To the west, the tucked-away valleys of Newlands and its splayed-finger branches of
Keskadale and Little Dale and numerous others, all separated by slender, long ridgelines. Ironic that one of Lakeland’s most popular fells offers such a view of some of the most overlooked – in every sense – and beguiling landscapes in the District. A new, neat little trig of local slate with a polished brass viewfinder plate nestles bashfully under the summit crags. How nice that this trig doesn’t try to be the highest thing on the hill. It leaves the topmost crags of the summit free for those who want to occupy it and enjoy their moment. For the ten minutes we were there these were children being filled bottom to top with wonder, pride in their own achievement and various kinds of sugar; an elderly lady on her first visit to the Lake District, and her first hill ever; and, for a brief moment, us. Peak number one. What an absolutely magnificent little hill.
“SUDDENLY HERE WERE WIDEOPEN FELLS, THE DARK SHAPE OF BLENCATHRA TO THE NORTH SHAPED LIKE A CRESTING WAVE”
I could prattle on forever about Cat Bells but we’re on a clock so best get going. 18 miles doesn’t walk itself, you know.
My memories of the next section are of a descent into the cool glades of Borrowdale at the southern edge of Derwent Water. Here we walked by a collection of natural harbours with names straight out of an Arthur Ransome book – Brandlehow Bay, Otter Island, Myrtle Bay, Great Bay – and the tree-lined Manesty Park to edge the shore, before re-joining the Cumbria Way briefly before turning gradually north.
Psychologically rounding the lake was the route’s mid-point. It wasn’t, but it felt like we were on our way back to Keswick. More importantly it was time for a tea break at the splendidly convenient High Lodore Farm tea room, where we could reflect on how well this was going. I was even starting to get a tan.
The route onward shifted character again, with a steep climb from the back of the café up onto the eastern skyline of Derwent Water. This was the biggest surprise for me: a wild-feeling wooded ascent which rose past the Lodore waterfalls onto a ridge-line of slender trees, and eventually a singletrack road. This was, Andy assured, home to some of the most beautiful roads in Lakeland.
I’d heard of Surprise View, but when I finally broke out of the trees onto the crag overlooking it (and you can insert your own joke here, but I guarantee it will be basically the same) it was still a surprise.
There were a few people and a dog clustered around the viewpoint, which stretched out across Derwent Water, over towards Cat Bells, and back towards the white splash of Keswick, the ziggurat of Skiddaw building in tall triangles beyond. One of these, Latrigg, was our final peak. But there was one more between us and it. And another iconic Lakeland landmark thrown in too.
We had lunch at Ashness Bridge. Probably the most photographed bridge in the Lake District, this little stone structure – exactly the sort of bridge you might find a troll living under – has a corker of a view to the north. What amazed me as we sat there was that it also still had cars trip-trapping over it, albeit only the occasional and intrepid ones that made it up this far.
We soon left the road, zig-zagging up onto a skyline that was rapidly losing its tree- cover to open fell. And then we were in a different world yet again. Suddenly here were wide- open fells, the dark shape of Blencathra overcast to the north-west, shaped like a cresting wave.
Up here we found Walla Crag, peak number two – click, click – unexpectedly wild-feeling, craggy and in summer I imagine full of floral pomp. The Crag’s biggest claim to fame back in the day was its numerically uncanny height – 1234ft – but since then the spoilsports at Ordnance Survey have re- ordered this to 1243ft, or 379m.
Which takes us to peak number three. If there was a sting in the tail of this route, it is Latrigg. At 368m high it’s not much of sting as these things go though.
The descent towards Keswick from here took us over open fell above the beguiling Great Wood, over the surprisingly deep gorge of Brocklebeck, through the town abuzz with folk
enjoying the sunny day then east into Brundleholme. I was starting to flag a little – just a little – by this point, but the sense of the terrain was shifting again into the sweeping, muscular terrain of the northern fells before turning to steeply climb onto the podium of Latrigg.
Latrigg – Mount Keswick, as it is rightly known – is accessible to everyone. Wheelchairs go up it. Prams go up it. And that’s not because the hill allows it, it’s because special effort has been made to make it so. If you have someone in your life who will benefit from this, I implore you to take them up Latrigg. Push them up and let them take all of this in. Our group sat on the top and watched the strangely hypnotic goingson of the town from the grassy summit. You can hear everything, see everything from up here. Watching Keswick, every surface reflecting in the evening sun, grading into the shimmering green of Crow Park, the steel of Derwent Water, then the fells stacked back in a blue, layered ramp. My watch said half five. It had taken us nine and a half hours. Probably half an hour longer than it should have. But then, it wouldn’t be a challenge otherwise, would it?
So how was it? It wasn’t tough actually. It was incredibly satisfying. I enjoyed this route because I love the northern Lakes. I can think of no better scenery in England than that surrounding Keswick and, inexplicably, managed to climb three peaks I’d never managed to climb before, despite wanting to very much. So for me this walk was personally perfect.
But equally, I can’t think of a better route to introduce someone to the Lake District. Three iconic peaks, a skyline walk of incontestably the prettiest lake in Cumbria (don’t even try to argue) and three views you can get blissfully lost in.
This walk will remind you with an ache how much you love the Lake District. Considering I didn’t really need reminding of this, it sort of took me by surprise. And, despite its advanced length, as the terrain is so ceaselessly interesting it really doesn’t make you want to chop your feet off at the ankle by the end of it. And regardless of your expectations, thatÕs got to be a plus.
THREE PEAKS BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT
It is possible to excise cars altogether from the National Three Peaks Challenge – so long as you’re not in a rush. First get to Bangor station, from where a bus will take you to the either Llanberis or Pen-y-Pass to bag Snowdon. Then it’s on to Ravenglass in the Lakes, from where the Ravenglass and Eskdale Steam Railway will deliver you to Dalegarth, from where you head north to Scafell Pike. Back at Ravenglass, it’s on to Carlisle, and then by train to Fort William and Ben Nevis. Logistically it’s a minor challenge in itself, but it’s awfully satisfying when you nail it.
YOU’LL NEED… two to three days, unless you’re a timetable ninja.
DO IT IF… you want to ease the load on the honeypots. Or you don’t drive!
THE SIX PEAKS
Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis, Snowdon, Carrauntoohil, Slieve Donard and Snaefell – the highest peaks in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland, with the Isle of Man tacked on to boot. Think cars, boats, planes… and a fair bit of walking.
YOU’LL NEED… a miracle. Plus at least a week. DO IT IF… you really can’t find a challenge big enough for you.
THE DIY THREE PEAKS
Simple idea – find a bunch of peaks within 24hour driveable distance, colour code them by country, put their names in a hat and pick one of each. Trail did it (Carnedd Llewelyn, Grasmoor and Ben Lawers, if you’re curious), and it was fab. And we’ve done the hard work for you too – see www.lfto.com/diy3peaks for a ready-made list.
YOU’LL NEED… 24 hours to three days. DO IT IF… you like unchartered territory.
LAKELAND BIG THREE
Scafell Pike, Helvellyn and Skiddaw are all within walking distance of each other – and as all break over the 3000ft contour this 45-mile challenge with over 3000m of ascent is great for those who want to turn their three peaks into a pub-to-pub hop over a few days without stepping in the car once. Tack on Scafell and you’ve bagged the Lakeland 3000ers, and by necessity, much more besides... YOU’LL NEED… two to four days. DO IT IF… you like your walks long and your Lakeland hills high.
THE DEPUTY THREE PEAKS
One way of being a bit different to the norm – and still having a corking, surprisingly wild challenge – is to climb the second highest mountains in the UK. Carnedd Llewelyn, Scafell (Helvellyn if you are going by second highest massif) and Ben Macdui offer a starkly different experience to their higher counterparts – and the beauty of this route is that it’s technically possible within 24 hours. Why rush though? YOU’LL NEED… 24 hours to three days. DO IT IF… you like to back the underdog.
THREE PEAKS BY BIKE
One hell of a challenge but if your legs are up to it, and you love your cycling, it’s worth considering. 470 miles and three mountains is no pushover, but route options are hugely varied and you’ll certainly leave the challenge a lot fitter.
YOU’LL NEED… a week, if you’re fit. Endurance pro Sean Conway (above) did it in three days.
DO IT IF… you’re an unstoppable mountain machine.