2023: a year in review

• Total hills climbed: 17
• Wainwrights: 14 new, three repeats
• Wainwrights done by end of year: 178
• Wainwrights left to do: 36
• Number of ascents of Orrest Head: None – unsure why!
• Beer festivals attended in the Lake District: One
• Beer festivals attended elsewhere: Two
• New swimming spots: Loads!

It’s been two years since I have done one of these stats posts – unless you count my previous post about wild swimming, which was not really a stats post as I haven’t actually got a log of what I have swum in. I suspect a tick list for wild swimming spots probably exists, but at the moment there is nothing I’m actually trying to achieve from a swimming point of view, other than enjoying myself. That said, it is nice to tick off a new lake, not that I am ticking lakes (I think…)

I didn’t bother to do a stats post for 2022, for the simple reason that it was the worst year ever in terms of stats. There were reasons for this; I wasn’t always lucky with the weather, I had some health issues, and there were various other things which went wrong as well. I also wasn’t necessarily in the right headspace for hill walking by the end of the year, and was seriously considering whether I should pack it in; it had become a source of stress for me which given it is supposed to help with stress was less than ideal. Doing a stats post would simply have made me feel even more rubbish about it than I already did and therefore have been counter productive. Fortunately, things did pick up somewhat in 2023.

It still wasn’t a great year in terms of numbers; there are various factors driving this. I’ve done most of the big rounds already and as a consequence of this, of never having started out with the intention of doing all the Wainwrights, and of some ongoing issues with health and fitness, I’m often having to pick hills off as singles or pairs. I’ve also got to the point I’m having to think about hiring cars again as well as having done a lot of my hills by public transport, my hill map is massively skewed to the South and West which are not doable by public transport without a heck of a lot of effort and/ or cost (e.g. taxis). That said, I did do some really good walks in 2023, and I managed to finish another section off as well as get very close to finishing two others. I’ve finished the year with 36 left to do which doesn’t sound like a lot, but I’m not setting myself any sort of target for it – the last thing I need is more self imposed pressure!

Anyway, on to the highs, lows and mishaps…

The highs

I think the first high of the year had to be my first walk, which was up High Hartsop Dodd. Not a classic hill by any means but one which got me back out and walking again after a lay off and after the doubts mentioned above as to whether to pack it in. The views were superb on a glorious February day and I had the hill mostly to myself which was great.

Another high was – quite literally – Catstycam. I’ve left a lot of the bigger ones to do to the end, and it was really good to get this one done and prove to myself that the bigger hills are not yet beyond me! The views were good too though I wonder how on earth I managed to get down Swirral Edge even with multiple uses of the AC en route.

In June, I managed to get a potential bogey hill out of the way when I did Sergeant’s Crag and Eagle Crag. Eagle Crag was one of the ones I had been worried about due to the rock step on it. I am awful at scrambling and this was one of the ones that had been worrying me but it was fine. The views were also great, though it was a baking hot day and I ran out of water well before getting back to the bus stop – less than ideal!

My final walk of the year was also great – a short one but a good one on Seathwaite Fell on a glorious November day with stunning views. A nice way to end the year.

Overall, the swimming in 2023 was great! More pictures on my other post, with Buttermere probably being my favourite new place to swim. Janet’s Foss was good too.

The lows

Difficult to think of too many. There has probably been only one walk I didn’t really enjoy, which was Tarn Crag (Easedale) on an iffy weekend in early July. The walk involved bashing my way through soaking wet bracken and also being rained on rather more than the forecast had suggested I would! The flipside was that I finished the Central Fells as a result but it is not one I am in a hurry to repeat. My overall impression of this section is of bog and whilst I have had some good walks in this area there are not many I think I’ll go back to.

I guess another low was the weather forecast for my walk in the Far Eastern Fells being totally wrong and rather than the forecast sunshine I was under a cloud inversion for much of it and saw nothing, though the views at the start of the walk were great and at least I popped out of the inversion at the top of Thornthwaite Crag. I also bottled out of doing the steep climb up Gray Crag so have that as another irritating outlier which will probably involve me going back up over Thornthwaite Crag in my classic ‘do a hill you’ve already done en route to one you haven’t’ fashion.

Hen Comb was also not a classic and finding the start point was a challenge not helped by what I suspect might be misdirection by the farmer i.e. the removal or hiding of a signpost. At least I got decent views though and the bog was considerably less grim than I had expected!

The mishaps

The usual factors have been very much present – although there has not been any one major mishap, bad weather, transport issues and so forth have needless to say occurred and whilst there is not much that can be done about the first of these, I do wish Avanti could run even a half decent service given I use the train to get to the Lakes unless I’m going for the best part of a week.

Physical issues haven’t helped either with an operation on one of my legs last year following me getting several blood clots, added to which I’ve had some issues with my hip as well as still not being really that fit. I still sometimes get told by some bloke on the hill (it always is a bloke for some reason) telling me I am ‘nearly there’ or ‘nearly at the tea shop’ as I puff and pant my way upwards. So far I have managed to resist the temptation to respond that I’ve probably done more hills than they have! That said, I may not look fit but I do now seem to get asked navigational questions a fair bit, and was once asked if I was ‘a veteran of these hills’ which either means I look as though I know what I am doing or I am starting to look old. Hopefully the former, though I do wonder how on earth I have ended up being 54 (husband’s comment – by not being dead yet. Accurate but blunt).

2024 plans

Honestly – I’m not sure. At the moment, I’m having another enforced layoff from the hills having had another operation as a precaution (same op, other leg) so my 2024 hill walking campaign will be delayed in getting off the ground. I’ve a few trips booked, including a trip to Wasdale, to try and get some of the hills in that area done. I’d also like to do St Sunday Crag, which is my last remaining Eastern Fell.

I’d also like to try and do at least a couple of the ones I’ve left to do which I think will be challenging. I’m still not sure I will finish the whole list and how I get on with some of the trickier hills will be key to that. I’d like to do Great Gable as a starting point, which looks a bugger, though I am told the ‘Breast Route’ looks worse than it is. It would also be nice to do some of the remaining Southern ones, though I suspect for Hard Knott I will have to park at the bottom of the pass and walk up it, unless I can tack it on to Harter Fell (which looks a possibility if I go up from Birks Bridge). I’ve no numerical target for the year, just to see how it goes and hopefully enjoy it.

As far as progress goes, I’ve now finished the Northern and Central Fells. I’ve one left in the Eastern Fells, three left in the North-Western Fells (one of which, Whiteside, looks tricky), three in the Far Eastern Fells… then 13 left in the Southern Fells and 16 in the Western (several of which look potentially problematic). Let’s just hope for some decent weather – and not too many mishaps!