Field Notes #7
Walking backwards down a Fell
Route. Kinniside Common
Distance Walked. 13.5 Miles.
Total Height Gain. 2926 feet.
Wainwright Fells Climbed. Grike. Crag Fell. Caw Fell. Lank Rigg
Wainwright Tally. 174 climbed. 40 remaining.
Conditions: Warm, dry and virtually wind free. Again. Hazy sunshine with scattered slow moving high cloud. Cloudy later.
Number of times attacked by Fever Flies during walk. Lost count. Eased off towards the end of walk.
Camera Equipment: Left long lens at home. Didn’t miss it.
Notes: This is what I would consider a slack day on the fells, despite the long distance covered. Any thing over ten miles is a considerable effort for my legs these days and this was a beast. 13.5 miles becomes a mental challenge as well as a physical one. Especially when the scenery and light is not particularly inspiring. On the latter part of the walk, neither the landscape nor the light were doing it for me so my camera was redundant for the last few miles, in favour of panting and gritting my teeth.
First time I’ve ever seen somebody descending a fell backwards. I thought I was seeing things at first but as I climbed and got closer my suspicions were confirmed.
“You OK mate?” I asked as he approached.
“Athritic ankles. Only way I can get down the bloody things these days”.
That is a serious level of commitment to being out on the fells if nothing else. I can relate. The pull of these places is magnetic. Addictive. The compulsion almost impossible to ignore once you have been bitten.
Speaking of which, the Fever Fly, often mistaken for the St Marks Fly, usually hatches from its pupae stage over a 48 hour period of dry weather in late July. Males hatch in their millions and fly at head height trying to spot emerging females. Have a guess which 48 hour period this particular fell walker pitched up in an area of the lakes favoured by said insect. Yep. If you are viewing this on a laptop or bigger screen, zoom into the shot with the fell framed by the gate and you will possibly see a couple.
Footnote: A real juxtaposition if ever there is one is standing looking at the splendour of Pillar and surrounding fells in all of their brooding glory, and turning 180 degrees and seeing the Sellafield nuclear facility on the horizon. Shot five for those interested.
is it me or the edge of the fly and the route on the map have look alike shape?
Another excellent series, Paul. For reasons I've never quite fathomed, Ennerdale is one corner of the Lakes that I rarely visited. Having seen your set, that's something I'd like to rectify next time I'm up there. Mind you, I'm going to leave it until those "fever flies" are on holiday. I have a midge-net / hat (bought for when I was living in Scotland) but the buggers still manage to be a pain.