The Northwest Fells are arguably the most complex and integrated concentration of wonderfulness in the Lake District, a cluster of summits that combine to create a fellwalkers’ utopia, making the task of singling out Worthies particularly onerous. The natural divide of Whinlatter Pass does concentrate the quality to the south, and many would declare those … Read more
The classically romantic prospect of the Langdale Pikes, when viewed from the glittering shores of Windermere, or the agreeably open common at Elterwater, was the quintessential showcase of Lakeland’s mountain splendour for the Victorian tourist. Today, this bustle of bristling summits surmounting a bulging fellside and etching the skyline with compelling distinction, still possesses enough … Read more
Blencathra is amongst the Lake District’s finest mountains, its public face dominated by a battalion of fell tops spread along the extensive summit ridge, whose imperious presence descends dramatically in a riot of rocky ridges, down to the buzz of vehicles on the A66 trunk road at its foot. For the motorist on this highway, … Read more
The Old Man of Coniston is the crowning peak of southern Lakeland and one of the most popular ascents in the Lake District. When viewed from the shores of Coniston Water, the mountain exerts a massively dominating presence, although the Old Man is merely the highest point (and only that by supposition) amongst a compact … Read more
Black Combe is an outlier, the elephant in the room of the Lake District Wainwrights. It is an isolated sentinel occupying the south west tip of the National Park, yet linked by continuous high ground to the Coniston range, whose mountains jostle for attention amidst the celebrated heights of the national park. Black Combe shrugs … Read more