THE WAINWRIGHT SOCIETY MAGAZINE

www.wainwright.org.uk

Issue 57 - Spring 2017

THE SOCIETY FOR LOVERS OF THE LAKE DISTRICT AND FELLWALKING

Encounters with Wainwright – Clive Barnard

Fix the Fells – the Society’s 2017 Beneficiary

Keswick fish and chip shops in the 1950s and 60s

The 2016 Photographic Competition

Ex-Fellwanderer: A Thanksgiving – the 30th Anniversary

The 214 – in fifty years to the day

and much much more ...

3

To take advantage of your discount, please visit our website www.QuartoKnows.com and, where prompted, enter the promotional code WAINSOC (case sensitive)

Remember, Wainwright Society members get 25% off Wainwright titles at Frances Lincoln!

THE LAKE DISTRICT FELLS BOOK 1: THE EASTERN FELLS

REVISED BY CLIVE HUTCHBY

£12.99 isbn 9780711236288

THE LAKE DISTRICT FELLS BOOK 2: THE FAR EASTERN FELLS

REVISED BY CLIVE HUTCHBY

£12.99 isbn 9780711236554

THE LAKE DISTRICT FELLS BOOK 3:THE CENTRAL FELLS

REVISED BY CLIVE HUTCHBY

£13.99 isbn 9780711236561THE LAKE DISTRICT FELLS BOOK 4:

THE SOUTHERN FELLSREVISED BY CLIVE HUTCHBY

£13.99 isbn 9780711236578

AND COMING IN MARCH 2017....

Note from the Editorial Team

SOCIETY CONTACTS• SOCIETYSECRETARY Derek Cockell, The New House, Station Road, Bishops Lydeard, Taunton, Somerset TA4 3BU Tel: 01823 431698 Email: secretary@wainwright.org.uk

• MEMBERSHIPSECRETARY Richard Daly, The Wainwright Society, PO Box 35, Milnthorpe, Cumbria LA7 7WJ Email: membership@wainwright.org.uk

• WALKSORGANISER Caroline Nichol – Tel: 01253 738721 Email: walkevents@wainwright.org.uk

• FOOTSTEPSEDITORIALTEAM Email: footsteps@wainwright.org.uk

This issue of FootstepsincludesaWelshmini-theme.AWis,ofcourse,associatedpredominantlywiththenorthernhillcountryofEngland,butweknowhewasalsopassionateaboutScotland,hisregularholidaydestination,andalsodevelopedaninterestinWalesinlaterlife.

Alan Thomas has written a well-researched and fascinating article on Esmé Kirby, probably a new name to most readers, who was the dedicatee of AW’s A North Wales Sketchbook. AW met her on a number of occasions and, as Alan’s article shows, there was a deep mutual respect for the other’s work. Continuing the Welsh theme is a reflective article ‘Set in Stone?’, and on page 25 a review of Mountain Walking Snowdonia with a cartoon by Roderick Hamm.

A number of retrospectives are included in this issue. Roderick Hamm writes of a wintry walk over Striding Edge half a century ago, Barry Halsall recounts his fifty-year (to the day) odyssey completing the 214, Chris Butterfield shares the cautionary story of his first Lakeland fell walk and Derek Cockell marks the 30th anniversary of Ex-Fellwanderer.

Added to these trips down memory lane are a variety of news items and articles relating to the Coast to Coast Walk, exhibitions, Desert Island Discs, Fix the Fells (our main beneficiary for 2017), the Photographic Competition and Keswick fish and chip shops. Quite a collection!

The Winter issue included a chance to win a signed copy of The Outrun by Amy Liptrot (winner of the 2016 Wainwright Golden Beer Prize for UK Nature and Travel Writing). The answer to the question ‘What is the name of the stone-age village that lies on the Bay of Skaill on Orkney?’ was Skara Brae. The winner, whose name was drawn from

the hat from the correct answers, was Andrew Amos, pictured below with his prize.

We do hope very much that you enjoy reading this issue and also wish you good health to enjoy the longer days and fairer weather in prospect now that spring is just round the corner.

David Johnson – Editor Andrew Stainthorpe – Graphic Designer

Front cover photograph: Stickle Tarn from high

on Jack’s Rake, Pavey Ark, by Val Corbett

valcorbettphotography.com

THE WAINWRIGHT SOCIETY MAGAZINE

www.wainwright.org.uk

Issue 57 - Spring 2017

THE SOCIETY FOR LOVERS OF THE LAKE DISTRICT AND FELLWALKING

Encounters with Wainwright – Clive BarnardFix the Fells – the Society’s 2017 BeneficiaryKeswick fish and chip shops in the 1950s and 60sThe 2016 Photographic CompetitionEx-Fellwanderer: A Thanksgiving – the 30th AnniversaryThe 214 – in fifty years to the dayand much much more ...

5

It’s hardtocreditthatmorethanthirtyyearshavemarchedpastsinceIstartedmyPhDinLakelandlandscapes,anintensivecoursesupervisedbyProfessorWainwrightinhisspectacularoutdoorstudy.

I thought I knew the high, wild bits of Lakeland pretty well. I’d looked up to them and down from them, hiked across them and scampered off them with bad weather at my back. But as the television programmes with AW slowly, ever so slowly, made their way onto film, I realised how little I knew in comparison to the encyclopaedic knowledge of my usually silent companion. He would take me to a viewpoint that I’d visited maybe a dozen times before. We would stand in silence as if before an altar and when he was ready, when he’d somehow absorbed the essence of the place, he’d briefly describe the vista and explain why it was so special. Then silence again and in that silence the power of the landscape somehow coalesced, the spirit of the place breathed on the wind and in a mysterious way the place made sense.

As if that wasn’t clever enough, Wainwright had the almost magical ability to pluck that emotionally-charged moment out of thin air and transfer it to the printed page. That’s why his books are so much more than guides. They capture the soul of the landscape in a quite remarkable way.

But before I go down from the mountain, may I break into the silence of Haystacks and ask a favour? Will you whisper on the breeze to the powers that be that the Lake District deserves to be a World Heritage Site? Nobody could make a more compelling case than the silent Mr. Wainwright.

Eric Robson Chairman

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Tales of the 214Over the last few years, David Johnson has been gathering stories and photographs from members who have completed the 214, with a view to a book being produced. This is now coming under active consideration now that Encounters with Wainwright has been published. Members who have completed the 214 but have not sent in their stories are encouraged to do so in order for these to be included in the project. The stories can be of any length, and might include notable or amusing events or details of how the final fell was celebrated. Photographs are also requested. David can be contacted at footsteps@wainwright.org.uk

HaveyourenewedyourSocietyMembershipfor2017?Thank you very much if you have. It’s our members who keep our Society strong and help fulfil our objectives.

If you haven’t, please do so as soon as you can; otherwise this will be the last issue of Footsteps that we can send to you.

Photograph by Derry Brabbs

THE SOCIETY FOR LOVERS OF THE LAKE DISTRICT AND FELLWALKING

76

Iwasalreadyakeenhiker,havingstartedagedabouteighteen,whenImovedfromBradfordtoCalderdaleforacoupleofyearsinthelate90swhilststudyingatCalderdaleCollege.ThisopenedmyeyestothebeautifulSouthPenninescountryside.IintroducedtheareatoCraig,afriendofmine,andweexploredmuchoftheareatogetheronandoffforthenextfewyears.

At this point, I had never been to the Lake District. Then one day I picked up a second-hand book, Fellwalking with Wainwright. It opened my eyes to this beautiful landscape and I became curious about this chap called Wainwright although he wasn’t then much more than just another author. It wasn’t until much later that I became truly inspired, and appreciated the true genius of this man.

It was in early 2000 that I started to plan my first walk in the Lakes. Being quite gung-ho, I decided to climb the biggest fell first, Scafell Pike. I did some research beforehand, purchased the appropriate OS map and planned to start and finish the walk from the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. It would be a full day out and a good introduction to this landscape. I wasn’t going to be able to do the walk until April that year when my friend Craig would be able to join me and, I hoped, when we would have decent weather.

When the day arrived, we parked at the hotel in Langdale at about 8 o’clock on a Sunday morning. We set off, following the rocky path alongside Mickleden Beck. The ground was still frosty and the air was clear. There was snow on the tops, but the weather looked promising for the day. Craig had recently recovered from a chest infection, but said he was fit for the walk. Eventually we reached the bottom of Rossett Gill. Ahead was quite a long steep climb, but the adrenalin was pumping and I was eager to get to the top to survey the fabulous views. Halfway up, Craig started to wheeze a little, but insisted he was fine and refused to turn back. We took our time with the remainder of the climb and the views behind us were more than worth our effort.

We stopped for a snack at Angle Tarn, but we kept it brief as it was getting quite cold and light snow had started to fall. We soon reached the shelter near Esk Hause; the wind was quite intense at this point. As we were surveying the route ahead on the map, an extremely strong gust of wind ripped it out of our hands and within seconds it was gone − it just took off and disappeared into the sky.

We knew we were over halfway to Scafell Pike and felt we had studied the map well enough to know (or so we thought) in which direction to go, so we went for it. We headed off and started to ascend a craggy fell (which turned out to be Esk Pike, although I wasn’t aware of this at the time). We descended down the other side then climbed yet another craggy outcrop (Bow Fell). On the final push to the summit, I rushed on ahead because I spotted two people at the top. Craig was not far behind.

There didn’t seem to be any other high mountains beyond this summit, which was a concern for me. I asked the guys on the summit if this was Scafell Pike. They said No and pointed to a huge snow-capped mountain behind me, our true destination. My heart sank. Seconds later, Craig appeared over the brow of the fell.

Although I almost didn’t have the heart to tell him, I broke the news to him when he reached me, but rather than express frustration, which I’d have

expected, he just laughed. We both faced Scafell Pike from the summit of Bow Fell and discussed our options. It was early afternoon and we had limited hours of daylight left, but we assessed that we could still hit the summit and get back down before dark.

We doubled back without delay and took the path for Scafell Pike. Our walk towards the summit was mostly uneventful and, after meeting several people, we knew we were on the right path. We eventually reached Ill Crag and Broad Crag. Scafell Pike was not far away now. At this point, however, the snow was getting heavier and thick clouds were drawing in. We were soon on the final scramble to the summit and were ecstatic to get there at last. We had the top to ourselves and surveyed the magnificent panorama, although this was fading fast under blinding white cloud. We ate a late lunch quickly and decided not to hang around too long. The wind was blowing fiercely and the freezing snow forced our heads down. We headed in the direction of Ill Crag to retrace our steps exactly and reach lower ground as soon as possible.

We were soon engulfed in cloud and became more than a little worried. We were on Ill Crag with no definite indication of the direction we needed to take. We slowly followed the contour of the crag, which was our only, but not very accurate, clue. The wind was getting stronger by the minute and the cold was biting. After a short time, we had a stroke of luck. A break in the clouds, that lasted only

seconds, revealed the summit of Great Gable. It disappeared as quickly as it had come, but it was a gift from the gods. From that brief window, I ascertained our location. We were between Broad Crag and Ill Crag, but had been going the wrong way. We changed direction and headed for Esk Hause, slowly dropping below the thick blanket of cloud and, with a sigh of relief, we picked up the trail and found our way back to the top of Rossett Gill and down to the valley floor again.

I have walked this whole route several times since and, looking back after all these years, I don’t believe I’ve had another day in the Lakes quite as nerve-racking. I think my carefree attitude and recklessness was down to the naivety of youth, a time when one thinks one is invincible. I am now older and more sensible and have total respect for these fabulous fells.

This was my introduction to the Lake District, which would later lead to my admiration for Wainwright himself. He inspired me to explore the fells further and to walk the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast with my wife Priscilla in 2013 and 2015, respectively. I am still a long way off completing the 214 Wainwrights, but I have ticked off all the major peaks. So, hopefully, this next goal will soon be within my grasp.

Chris Butterfield – Bo’ness, Scotland Membership No. 3026

My Introduction to the Lake District – a Cautionary Tale

Chris Butterfield – not long before his first

Lakeland fell walk

Looking down Mickleden from the top of Rossett Gill – photograph by Chris Butterfield

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A Love Letter to The Lakeland FellswasanexhibitioncelebratingthelifeandworkofAlfredWainwrightandwasdeemedagreatsuccess.ItwasheldatKeswickMuseum&ArtGalleryforsixmonthsin2015andthenforeightmonthsuntil4January2017.

Sue Mackay, Curator of Keswick Museum, told me: ‘The exhibition has been a phenomenal success for the museum. In the first year, it brought a record number of visitors, some impressive media coverage and great feedback from visitors. The re-run last year also attracted a good number of visitors and bought us time to consider how we could use the entire project as a model on which to base future exhibitions – themed to engage our visitors, working with the community as well as regional and national partners, looking for sponsorship, marketing etc. We look forward now to investigating touring the Wainwright exhibition to bring it to even wider audiences.’

The Society, a sponsor of the exhibition, also shared in this success, with an awareness of AW’s life and work having been brought to a wider public audience attracting new members, and enhanced fundraising for our beneficiaries through sales of our calendar and Encounters with Wainwright. The idea of a touring version of the Wainwright exhibition is an attractive prospect, but many practical issues need to be addressed before this could become a reality. We will keep members informed of any progress.

In October 2016, there was a ‘Wainwright Society weekend’ held at the Wainwright exhibition. I and other members manned a stand and it was a pleasure to meet and greet visitors and talk to them about Wainwright, his work and the Society.

Among these visitors was Frances Howard-Brown whose late father, Harold Page, had been a Society member. Frances, who lives in Sussex, visited the exhibition and showed me photographs of a book he had re-bound. I was interested to hear that her father had written two articles, one about that project and the other with the title ‘The Seven Wonders of Wainwright’ which appeared in the December 2009 issue of Footsteps. This was a personal appreciation of the Pictorial Guides, written partly from the perspective of ‘an amateur calligrapher’ (as Harold described himself in the article).

Frances later sent me a copy of the unpublished article, and in an accompanying letter wrote: ‘Having been brought to the Lake District every year as a child, I almost took the scenery for granted. Returning last weekend after too many years of absence, I saw the area through the eyes of an adult; and how I loved it! It gave me a little idea of how the area became such a part of my father’s life. He yearned for the fells right up until

The Wainwright Exhibition – a Postscript

his death in 2013. In his final illness, we would often talk about his favourite places and views, the walks he could still take in his mind. I have sent my subscription to the Wainwright Society for membership. I think my father would be pleased!’

The unpublished article, entitled ‘Wainwright Re-bound’ and reproduced in part below, described how Harold had carefully taken apart his copy of Fellwalking with Wainwright and then applied his skills to re-binding it into a beautiful and unique item, one that Frances treasures. Whilst some of the terminology is obscure, other than to a bookbinder, overall the article conveys how this project was clearly a labour of love.

‘In pursuing my book-binding hobby, I was aware that a great deal of time was spent in doing such things as re-spining broken-backed books, casing paperbacks or binding magazines (many years of Cumbria still to be tackled!) which, though useful and satisfying to a degree, did tend to become rather boring. I needed a challenge and this I found in re-binding Fellwalking. Behind this apparently simple statement, however, lie many subsequent hours of thought, experimentation and painstaking work.

‘The standard printer’s edition was first taken to pieces, the cover discarded and the body of the book dissected to give the basic 32-page sections. From these, the new book was re-constructed using traditional book-binding techniques including hand-sewn double head-bands and wax-polished edges to improve its mass-produced image. It also incorporated hand-drawn endpapers based on drawings from Wainwright’s guides to replace the original ones which had gone along with the binding. Thus it became a whole book again, ready for the application of external finishes, but because of the unusual cover design, the remainder of my work became specialised and experimental in order to achieve the sculptural effect.

‘Polyfilla cement provided the underlying modelling and this was completely covered with a fine quality leather worked over the various contours. At this stage, the gold title was tooled on, using a heated stylus after which the finished textures – such as on-lay leather, model-maker’s texture materials, leather dust and crumbs – were added. And what could be more appropriate than that the path snaking across both covers should be finished with real Lake District stone!

‘It was a pleasurable task although not without anxieties at times, but I hope I have produced an unusual object which, perhaps in a hundred years’ time, one of my descendants will take along to the current equivalent of the Antiques Roadshow to be suitably impressed by the immense value in ecus (or cowrie shells) put upon this unique piece of folk craft!’ (Harold Page)

David Johnson

Memberswillbeinterestedintwofollow-upexhibitionsatKeswickMuseum.

Running until 12 May 2017 is Instanto Outdoors, which includes contemporary photographs by Henry Iddon taken with a 100-year-old Underwood Instanto Camera originally used by the Abraham brothers. Many of the early 20th-century climbing images by the brothers, who are regarded as Lakeland pioneers in climbing and photography, are also included. This Instanto camera is also on display in the exhibition.

This will be followed by Life of a Mountain: Blencathra, an exhibition which launches on 20 May and runs through to January 2018. Topics covered will include history, farming, mining, fell hounds, mountain rescue, as well as walking and climbing. Featured will be the eponymous film by Honorary Member Terry Abraham. The Society will be assisting the museum with information about AW’s strong association with Blencathra.

Entry to these exhibitions is included in the museum’s admission charge (which provides free entry visits for a 12-month period).

Harold Page The endpapers

The front cover of the re-bound Fellwalking with Wainwright

1110

Fix the Fells – the Society’s 2017 BeneficiaryTheWinter2016/2017issueofFootsteps featuredanarticlebyFixtheFellsaboutthemassivetaskaheadofthemfollowingthestormsofthepreviouswinter.

It seems a long time ago since we made our first donation to Fix the Fells who are chosen as our main beneficiary for 2017. In fact, it stemmed from Society members suggesting in 2009 that we produce a Society calendar. All profits from the first of these, totalling £3,800, resulted in Fix the Fells benefitting by £11,400 after the match-funding which was available that year from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The calendar, along with our annual Challenge, has been the cornerstone of our fundraising capability ever since.

As part of our ‘Best of the Rest’ Challenge in 2010, we were able to donate a further £2,200 to Fix the Fells, and a presentation was made on the summit of Orrest Head. This was organised to coincide with our walk marking the 80th anniversary of AW’s first trip to the Lakes, with many participants having made the journey in a 1930s bus and dressed in period costume.

Fix the Fells now have a huge programme ahead of them, having so far identified 120 specific paths that need repair over the next ten years, with many more no doubt to be added. Work in their current programme covers the length and breadth of the Lake District and includes many of the routes that AW described. Examples from the long list of places needing attention are Brown Tongue, the Breast Route on Scafell, Piers Gill, Sprinkling Tarn to Calf Cove, Dollywaggon Pike, Swirls to Helvellyn, Goat’s Hause, Far Easedale and Threshthwaite Cove. To support the projects, a team of around 80 volunteers gives up nearly 2,000 man-days of time each year to help. Fix the Fells estimate that 4,000 tonnes of stone will be needed for the programme.

Currently, the Lake District attracts 17 million visitors each year and the number is steadily increasing, amongst them many walkers who will inevitably cause further erosion and the resultant need for repair and maintenance. Many members will be aware that there are even some people who blame Wainwright for the problem (which is rather like criticising Karl Benz for causing the pollution in Beijing). Erosion was present in upland locations long before AW started his writing. A case often quoted is of a Lakeland traveller who, in 1819, arrived in Langdale from Borrowdale and complained that the route he had just travelled was seriously eroded and in a worse condition than when he travelled that way ten years earlier.

The funds we raise during 2017 will be used to help to repair the path on Long Stile which leads up to High Street, the work itself being

programmed for 2018. Wainwright considered this ascent, from Mardale, to be the finest route to the top of High Street. He wrote (in High Street 6, The Far Eastern Fells): ‘The ridge of Rough Crag and the rocky stairway of Long Stile together form the connoisseur’s route up High Street, the only route that discloses the finer characteristics of the fell. The ascent is a classic, leading directly along the crest of a long, straight ridge that permits of no variation from the valley to the summit. The views are excellent throughout.’

However, the Long Stile route has been severely eroded and needs a stone-pitched path to be constructed together with protection to the sides to help against future erosion. The photograph to the right shows the current state of the path.

Techniques used for path repair and maintenance have changed over the years. There have been a few repairs that have brought criticism for being too obtrusive, but ‘just doing nothing’ seems like a recipe for disaster.

The work of Fix the Fells falls generally into two different categories. ‘Prevention’ techniques include clearing the path of obstructions which may affect drainage, while cleaning out ‘drain runs’, and ‘pigeon-holing’ which involves repairing small holes with seed and turf to stop them joining up and eventually forming a gully. ‘Restoration’ is a much more time-consuming

and costly process and is needed where paths have deteriorated to the extent where the state has gone beyond prevention. Restoration techniques include ‘soil inversion’, ‘stone-pitching’, and the rather strange method involving sheep fleeces. The latter, used where paths are peaty or boggy, involves placing the fleeces below a layer of stone both to protect the peat and allow better drainage. The Long Stile project falls very much into the category of ‘restoration’ as clearly depicted in the photograph below.

Fix the Fells encourages walkers to place their feet carefully, keep to designated paths and not to stray onto vegetation surrounding the path. Taking shortcuts will encourage other walkers to follow and thereby start an erosion scar. AW had his own thoughts on such: in Fellwanderer, he wrote: ‘… a good walker moves silently and is a joy to behold. He moves not gracefully, but rhythmically. His footstep is firm. He presses the path into place with his boots, and improves it. The clumsy walker loosens and destroys paths. A good walker loves the zigzags of a path, which always give the easiest progression, but a bad walker can’t be bothered, cuts across them and ruins them for others.’ Of course, he also encouraged walkers to find their own routes (safely) and not always use established paths; this philosophy is very different from using a current path and just widening it by trampling on the edges.

We wish Fix the Fells well in the huge task ahead of them and will bring Society members further reports and updates in future issues of Footsteps.

John Bewick

The cheque presentation by the Calendar team on

Stake Pass, May 2010 – photograph by Ray Bradshaw

Caroline Nichol presenting a cheque on Orrest Head,

June 2010 – photograph by David Johnson

Erosion on Long Stile – photograph courtesy of LDNP

The route up Rough Crag and Long Stile, from Haweswater – photograph by Nick Holmes

131312

El Camino v The WalkIhavewalkedtheCaminoSantiagotwice,butasItoldanumberofotherCoasttoCoastwalkers,theCtoCisamorechallengingundertaking(mainlybecauseofthesectionsintheLakeDistrict).

I was planning on returning to Spain to walk the Camino Norte when a friend suggested that I scrap that idea and experience three very different walks in one. It sounded intriguing so I contacted an outfit named Macs Adventures and asked them to make appropriate accommodation reservations for me, which they did (very satisfactorily). You can, of course, just as easily book yourself into hostels or even camp out, but I stayed in B&Bs, pubs and inns – at this juncture I need my comforts!

I won’t burden you with a blow by blow account – suffice to say the Lake District section was challenging, the Dales beautiful and rolling, and the Moors lovely in their solitude. I got a good deluge going over Dent on Day One and wonderful weather the rest of the way. They tell me that I was lucky, but I think a little rain could only enhance the experience. Overall, it was a treat.

Someone asked me how it compared with the Camino. The answer is simple – they are both beautiful and challenging; the Camino is longer but the CtoC has the ascents and descents. The Camino is far more crowded, but I met many on the CtC, including a wonderful Dutch couple who got me back on the right track twice (signposting is

a bit sketchy – I think that serious Brit walkers like it that way!), three Aussies with a nephew in tow and four very proud English ladies. They all added measurably to the experience.

I began my walk on 11 June and completed it on 28 June. This year I am picking out another walk in England for my bride (of fifty-three years). Perhaps something just a little less ambitious has been requested. It was my wife who suggested I mention my health issues, but only so that this might encourage other would-be walkers – I guess that the real point is that there are very few physical reasons not to try the CtoC. For me it was a most enjoyable walk and is absolutely deserving of National Trail status. If you haven’t walked the Coast to Coast – DO IT!

Brendan Dawson – Cornelius, North Carolina Membership 3032

Editor’s note: Brendan Dawson contacted me in July last year to record his completion of the Coast to Coast Walk on the Society’s Completers Register. He was justifiably ‘rather proud’, being seventy-five and having undertaken the walk after one hip and two knee replacements, and after a procedure for prostate cancer. He wrote: ‘Other than those annoyances, I am in pretty good health … it feels like bragging … my physical issues really weren’t a factor, at least not by any measure that I would use.’ I asked Brendan to write a short item about the walk.

For all the latest Society news, please visit us online at www.wainwright.org.uk or follow

us on Facebook or Twitter

Membership Discounts 2017Please see the Society Website for all details. Some discounters require you to show your Society Membership card, so please have it with you.

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The 2016 Photographic Competition

The2016PhotographicCompetitionclosedon15Januarywith26memberssubmitting62photographsinthetwoclasses.OnceagainthejudgewasHonoraryMember,DerryBrabbs,whocasthisexperteyeovertheentries.Theresults,withDerry’scomments,areasfollows:

THEMEDCLASS:LIMESTONECOUNTRY

Derry commented on this class, as follows: Because there were only a disappointing fourteen entries for this class, I am restricting my choice to just the winner. I thought more people would have spent time walking amidst the glorious scenery of the Limestone Dales, especially as it was one of AW’s favourite haunts. Maybe next time?

Winner:DavidHarrison,MemberNo.2121– Exiting Gordale Scar

This is a perfect photograph and ticks every box regarding composition, lighting and fulfilling the brief. The absence of sunlight works so well because with

this kind of subject, bright sunlight also means shadows and they abscise vital landscape detail. Not a square inch of this composition is superfluous and the way that the perfectly sharp triangle of limestone pavement leads the eye onwards into the savage landscape of the dry valley is truly inspirational. Brilliant effort!

OPENCLASS

Winner:TerryAbraham,HonoraryMember– Heavenly light over Castlerigg

This is a spectacular picture that any landscape photographer would love to have taken and it matters not one iota that over half the image is either black or dark grey! We all dream of being in the right place at the right time to capture such an amazing combination of light upon the landscape and it is just one of those magic moments that cannot be planned for – other than having a camera to hand. The gradated rays of light falling on the valley floor are perfect, backed up by the differing shades of grey hills rising up behind

and, thankfully, the cluster of ghastly white caravans are nicely in the shade. A great effort and congratulations.

HighlyCommended:PhilipMann,MemberNo.641–First Snow from Surprise View

I chose this image as being worthy of a ‘mention in dispatches’ because it is a great example of the benefits of using a vertical format for landscape to create added depth to a photograph. I love the way that Derwentwater snakes around the promontory of land and, although the bottom-right foreground is a bit dark, there is still enough detail there to make it work. The colour, framing and atmosphere are excellent.

BESTINSHOW

ThewinnerofBestinShowwasjudgedtobeDavidHarrison’sExiting Gordale Scar.

Derry commented: After much agonising deliberation, I have decided that by the shortest of short heads, the accolade of BEST IN SHOW has to be awarded to the THEMED CLASS entry. I just loved the moody sun and clouds of the OPEN CLASS winner but, although this was a great opportunist picture, I have to go with the meticulously composed image of the Limestone Dales. I admired both images immensely, but in order to separate them, I imagined using each photograph to show someone who had never been to either the Lake District or Yorkshire Dales just what it was like and, on that basis, the Limestone Dales came out on top.Exiting Gordale Scar

Heavenly light over Castlerigg

First Snow from Surprise View

16 17

The 2017 Wainwright Memorial Lecture – Clive HutchbyThe2017MemorialLectureistobeheld at6pmonSaturday7OctoberattheRhegedCentre,Redhills,Penrith,CumbriaCA11 0DQ.

The speaker will be Clive Hutchby who is author of The Wainwright Companion and, for the past three years, has been walking in AW’s footsteps whilst revising his Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. The Eastern Fells, The Far Eastern Fells and The Central Fells have already been published, with The Southern Fells, due to be published before Easter this year. Clive will be undertaking the research for The Northern Fells during 2017.

Clive’s first visit to the Lake District was when he was twelve, climbing his first fell, Catbells, on what turned out to be an unforgettable holiday. He is a former newspaper journalist, having edited publications in the UK, USA and Ireland, and is now a writer, designer and photographer. He lives within the Lake District National Park.

I am sure that members will be interested to hear about Clive’s experiences and challenges in revising the Pictorial Guides. Tickets will go on sale on 1 April, available only from the Box Office at Rheged (Tel: 01768 868000), and are priced at £8 for Society members and £12 for non-members. The restaurant will be open before and after the lecture. Note: if you wish to have a meal after the lecture, you will need to book a table in advance. This should be done when you are booking your tickets for the lecture.

Derek Cockell Secretary

Keswick fish and chip shops in the 1950s and 60s

Earlylastyear,IwascontactedbyaSocietymemberwhowrote:‘IhaveoftenthoughtitwouldbegoodtoendawalkinthefellswithfishandchipsfromtheshopthatAWusedtofrequent,butIhaveneverseenitsaddresspublished.IwonderifanySocietymemberknowstheaddressofthepropertyandifitisstillstandingandremainsafishandchipshop.’

I remembered that AW wrote a piece about the Keswick fish and chip shops in Wainwright in the Valleys of Lakeland so I thought that would be a useful place to start.

‘Keswick has changed since my early visits before the war and I am not a lone voice in saying that the town had a greater appeal in the old days when there were far fewer visitors and a man with a rucksack on his back was an object of curiosity. There were few cars, the usual form of travel was by Ribble bus; the only places of refreshment for those of us not sufficiently affluent to patronise the hotels were the Grey Friars Café and Dalzell’s chip shop.

… Over many years of weekly visits, always by bus, I came to know some of the local characters as well while remaining anonymous myself. There

was the Ribble bus inspector Scott, who convinced himself, despite denials, that I was Harry Griffin. And there was Winnie, a waitress at the newly-opened Keswick Restaurant, where I presented myself for a meal every Sunday teatime for six years, never varying my menu: my appearance was the signal for Winnie to call to the kitchen, “Plaice and chips for one.” Poor Winnie: one week she was missing and later I learned she had died of cancer.’ Wainwright in the Valleys of Lakeland p.204

Grey Friars Café and Dalzell’s chip shop were pre-War establishments and may have disappeared before AW began work on the Pictorial Guides. We know from the above that he used the Keswick Restaurant during his research for the Pictorial Guides.

Does any Society member know what has become of any of these establishments in the intervening years? Any information would be very much appreciated. Please write to: Derek Cockell, The New House, Station Road, Bishops Lydeard, Taunton, Somerset, TA4 3BU or email: secretary@wainwright.org.uk

Derek Cockell, Member No. 13 Bishops Lydeard

Our thanks go to the members who submitted entries, to Derry Brabbs for judging the competition and generously donating a framed landscape print to the winner of the Best in Show photograph, and also to Andy Beck for framing the winning entries.

And so to 2017 …

After fourteen years of judging the Photographic Competition, since its inception in 2003, Derry Brabbs, has decided to ‘retire’ or, as he put it, ‘This will be my last episode in a long-running series.’ On behalf of all Society members, I would like to thank Derry for the time he has devoted to the task as well as for his expert commentary and advice, which has helped to raise the quality of photographs submitted by the members in this competition over the years.

The Committee has decided that this is an opportune moment to consider the future format of the competition and it is hoped to be able to publish full details in the next issue of Footsteps.

Derek Cockell Secretary

Cartoon by Roderick Hamm

1918

Her qualities of endurance and determination were well illustrated by her completion in 1938 of the Welsh 3000s – the ascent of fourteen peaks over 3000ft covering a distance of around thirty miles and about 14,000ft of ascent – in a women’s record time of 9hrs 29mins, despite carrying an injury. Thomas completed the same course in a record 8hrs 25mins. Not only was hers an outstanding achievement, especially for a woman at the time, but the more so because ‘racing’ in the mountains was treated with disgust by the climbing establishment. After the successful record attempt, two of Thomas and Esmé’s walking companions felt obliged to send an apologetic letter to the Climbers’ Club Journal!

But nothing, perhaps, could have prepared Esmé for her next challenge. During the few short years of their marriage she and Thomas had grown apart and, in the spring of 1939, within months of their record-breaking venture, Thomas left Dyffryn Mymbyr never to return. Instead he joined the Coldstream Guards, served with distinction in Italy, and later pursued a business career.

Esmé’s parents begged her to return to Llandudno, but she refused; she had put too much of herself into the farm and was determined to make her life there. Fortunately, Thomas made over the property to her and, with the help of the farm’s two shepherds, she soldiered on alone.

But she was not alone for long. A few years later she met Major Peter Kirby, who had been invalided during service in Egypt and who had been posted to a camp near Capel Curig. A few years after the war had ended, and when Kirby had secured his own divorce, they married. Kirby had studied engineering and surveying at Durham University and, although he was not much interested in sheep farming, he had a strong practical bent. He established a furniture-making business and supported Esmé in her subsequent ventures, counterbalancing her impatience with his fondness for careful preparation and planning. ‘She provided the driving force’, wrote his obituarist, ‘but he was the invaluable staff officer, driving her around, writing necessary letters and smoothly liaising with those affronted by her forthright manner.’

With the growth of tourism after the war and the pressures for ‘development’, Esmé became concerned about the future well-being of Snowdonia. So, when the Snowdonia National

Park was established in 1951, she took a close interest in the activities of the Park Authorities. Mired in political disputes among various councils, it took many months to work out how the National Park was to be run and by whom. Even then things moved far too slowly for Esmé. Frustrated by inaction, she founded in 1967 the Snowdonia National Park Society and set about recruiting as many members as she could. As Chairman, she ran the Society from her home at Dyffryn Mymbyr for the next twenty-five years.

The Society was intended as a watchdog, scrutinising the National Park’s intentions and actions, and responding critically as appropriate. Esmé, a tenacious campaigner, personified the role, snapping loudly and often at the heels of what she regarded as a bovine Park Authority. A forceful and confident speaker and a talented writer, she pursued her campaigns with relentless determination; once she got her teeth into an issue, be it unsightly car parks, litter, or obtrusive building developments, she rarely let go − and frequently her efforts yielded the desired results. For example, a road-widening scheme that required the destruction of the Cromlech Boulders, a popular climbing venue in the Llanberis Pass, was successfully thwarted after a six-year battle.

Within a few years, the work of the Society was taking up so much time that Esmé appointed one of her shepherds to manage the farm. Membership numbers were swelling, as was the Society’s income. In turn, growing tension arose between Esmé’s somewhat autocratic leadership style and the need for more effective management and organisation of the Society’s affairs. Also, as is

In A North Wales Sketchbook(1982),thefollowingdedicationappears:‘DedicatedtoESMÉKIRBY,Chairman,andMembersoftheSNOWDONIANATIONALPARKSOCIETY.Maytheircausesucceed.’

Have you ever heard of Esmé Kirby? Before writing this article, I hadn’t. But anyone who has followed the story of the Snowdonia National Park and the struggles to protect its beauties may well have; for nigh on fifty years, Esmé Kirby was a leading campaigner for its protection and preservation.

Styled ‘Guardian of Snowdonia’ by her biographer, Teleri Bevan, Esmeralda Cummins was born in 1910 in Croydon, Surrey. Her father, Tancred Disraeli Cummins, was a well-to-do businessman and adventurer with a passion for tennis and golf. Her mother came from a distinguished family of artists with strong Welsh connections. The family (Esmé was one of six children) moved to North Wales when she was a child.

Educated at a private boarding school in Llandudno, Esmé excelled at sports. She was also keenly interested in literature, history, the

arts and natural history. But she proved an unruly pupil. In the hope of taming her wilder instincts, she was encouraged to take up the theatre and, in due course, joined a prestigious acting school in London. However, her time there was interrupted by illness and, to aid her recuperation, she made a fateful return to the family home near Llandudno.

During a riding lesson she met Thomas Firbank, the twenty-three year-old owner of a 2,400-acre hill farm, Dyffryn Mymbyr, near Capel Curig. Within a week they were engaged. They married secretly soon after, with no friends or relations present, and began life together on the farm, tending its 600 sheep and a small herd of cattle. Thomas subsequently wrote a best-selling book, I Bought a Mountain, recounting their experiences.

Conditions on the farm were gruelling. At first, the house had no electricity or running water. The work of sheep farming was hard, the hours were long and the couple was inexperienced. But Esmé relished the challenge. She was small in stature but physically and mentally tough, opinionated, articulate and determined. Thomas described her as ‘lithe, with a hard, slim body … cool grey eyes … [and] a win-or-bust complex’.

Esmé Kirby – Guardian of Snowdonia

AW’s sketch of Dyffryn Mymbyr (A North Wales Sketchbook) © The Wainwright Estate

WAINWRIGHT’S

BOOKDEDICATIONS

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In A North Wales Sketchbook,publishedin1982(seepage18),AWrecordedhowhisviewsonthatregionhadchangedradically.‘Iretractmyearlieropinions…Ihavebeenunfairandwiththisbookhavetriedtomakeamends.Itwasintendedasapenancebuthasbeenajoy.’

AW was in his seventies when he first visited the area and produced work for Welsh Mountain Drawings (published in 1981) and then for A North Wales Sketchbook. Until then he had considered that Snowdonia ‘would not bear comparison with my beloved Lakeland’. In a letter written to Larry Skillman in December 1966, he wrote: ‘Several people have, in fact, suggested that I turn my attention to North Wales, but the urge is missing and I doubt now whether my legs could stand the effort.’ (The Wainwright Letters, p.123)

In the Introduction to the sketchbook, AW wrote: ‘… when in 1979 I was offered the use of a cottage in Dolgellau I emerged from slippered retirement, put on my boots, and went. My eyes were opened … What I saw I liked immensely. I became suddenly enthusiastic about North Wales. At the age of 72 I was a boy again.’

AW went on to recount climbing Cader Idris and touring the district by car. A series of further visits followed, in which he climbed more mountains and explored extensively. ‘I did everything the guidebooks recommended and more besides.’ Among mountains ascended were Snowdon (once by train) and Tryfan (‘… a beauty and a beast’).

He wrote of Lakeland: ‘There is magic in the air and I have long been under its spell. [It] is my home, my heaven.’ However, having experienced the joys of North Wales, and Snowdonia in particular (‘… the scenery here was more dramatic and of greater variety’), AW was able to conclude: ‘Now I am under two spells and entranced by both.’

This new enthusiasm is apparent from the inclusion of a generous 100 drawings in Welsh Mountain Drawings. They cover all of Snowdonia and evidence the extensive exploration, including at high level, described later by AW in A North Wales Sketchbook.

AW, the zealous new convert, enthused: ‘Everything delighted me.’ The only discordant note was sounded a year later in A South Wales Sketchbook, where he wrote: ‘And for the people of South Wales I have the greatest respect. On visits to North Wales I have, on occasion, as an Englishman, encountered a sullen hostility amongst the natives.’

It is quite common for people to say they ‘know’ what AW believed about all sorts of issues, often backed up by quotations. However, I suggest that care should be exercised in being too dogmatic in such matters. What is believed and expressed at one time or in a particular context may well change over time, and this example of AW’s opinions on North Wales makes the point.

David Johnson

Set in Stone?often the case with forceful personalities, Esmé’s conservation efforts were not always welcomed. While those who supported her regarded her as a heroine, fighting to save the soul of Snowdonia, her detractors came to see her as a one-woman awkward squad, opposed to every opportunity for development – for better housing, more jobs, improved roads.

Things came to a head in 1994. After a lengthy series of acrimonious disagreements and clashes, Esmé and the Society parted company. Unabashed, she promptly announced the formation of the Esmé Kirby Snowdonia Trust, taking a number of loyalists with her. Now in her early eighties but with enthusiasm undimmed, she began work on projects to re-establish the red squirrel on Anglesey and to preserve the footpaths in the Capel Curig area.

Five years later, on 18 October 1999, Esmé Kirby died at Dyffryn Mymbyr aged eighty-nine. She was buried on the nearby hillside overlooking the mountains and valleys of her beloved Snowdonia.

Despite her focus on Snowdonia, Esmé Kirby’s campaigns tackled issues that were of wider significance. The growing pressures of tourism on the countryside, proposals for open-cast mining, the depletion of wildlife, nuclear power-plant construction, road ‘improvements’, the routing of power cables, unsympathetic building developments, afforestation and, perhaps especially, the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley to provide water for the City of Liverpool – such concerns would have been readily appreciated by AW. The dangers of exploiting the National Parks,

she wrote, were all too real but ‘we must think of them as great national treasures of incalculable value, to be lovingly cherished and respected and handed on unspoilt to the next generation’. Although not a natural campaigner himself, AW probably regarded Esmé as a comrade in arms.

In her final report to the Snowdonia National Park Society, Esmé paid tribute to two ‘grand old men of the mountains’ who had died recently. One was a local man, Evan Roberts. Of the other she wrote:

‘AW, as Alfred Wainwright liked to be called, was almost as famous as his beloved Lakeland hills. It is not so well known that he made several forays into north Wales and visited us at our home on the side of the Glyders when he was working on his Snowdonia books … He was a generous member of the Society for many years and one year sent us some of his original north Wales sketches to sell at our plant sale. … A lovely quirky man. He must have inspired love of the hills in more people than any other man.’

Coming from the ‘Guardian of Snowdonia’, it was a fitting tribute indeed.

Alan Thomas – Warrington Membership No. 2518

MAINSOURCES

Bevan, T. (2014) Esmé: Guardian of Snowdonia, Y Lolfa: Talybont.

Firbank, T. (1997) I Bought a Mountain (orig. 1940), John Jones: Ruthin.

Morgan, S. (2014) Guardian of Snowdonia Esme Kirby immortalised in new memoir: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/guardian-ofsnowdonia-esme-kirby-immortalised-7866980

Rhydderch, F. (2015) A Sympathetic Portrait: http://www.iwa.wales/click/2015/09/a-sympathetic-portrait/

The Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1444044/Peter-Kirby.html

The Daily Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1320181/Lieutenant-Colonel-Thomas-Firbank.html

The 3000 feet mountains of Wales: http://www.14peaks.com/index2.php?id=8

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The following is an abridged version of Clive Barnard’s story in Encounters with Wainwright. Clive was commissioned by Westmorland Gazette in 1986 to sculpt a bronze bust of AW, which is now in Kendal Museum, and he also produced a trio of limited-edition figurines of him.

From my conversation with Clive it became very apparent that there had been a rapport and a lot of banter between AW and Clive, whose story of their meetings is both fascinating and revealing. There were nine sittings, about one a week over a 2 or 3 months’ period, at Clive’s studio at Haverthwaite.

During the first session, there were some edgy interchanges, including when AW suggested to Clive that he should ask the Gazette for more money, then cadged a cigarette and later complained about the tea Clive had made him. Clive stood his ground on the latter, telling AW: ‘You’d better make it then … you’re the only one doing nothing. I’m working here’. Clive said that he and AW got on fine from then on. ‘I found him

absolutely incredible, a huge bear of a man. I never found any grumpiness at all. He was lively, very jokey, he had a terrific sense of humour. I can’t speak any ill of him whatsoever. He did me favour after favour.’

AW provided Clive with a pair of his glasses and one of his pipes as aids to ensure that those on the bust would be correct. Clive told me: ‘When I had finished taking the information from them, I offered them back but was told to keep them or throw them away as that were old and of no further use to him. I naturally kept them.’

One day, AW wandered into the gallery next to Clive’s studio and sidled up to a group having a coffee and discussing a walk they were planning. They were consulting one of his Pictorial Guides and saying how much they loved them. AW stood there and starting to give advice: ‘Don’t take that route, take this one. Don’t go there, go here.’ And so on. The group did not know who he was and AW didn’t let on, remaining poker-faced. The lady running the gallery café witnessed this and was dying to say to the group: ‘Do you know who this is?’, but ‘client confidentiality’ prevailed. They probably went away puzzled why this old man had

Encounters with Wainwright – Clive Barnard

offered so much advice uninvited. Clive said it was a joke for AW, something that greatly amused him.

The last sitting was more to approve the bust before it went through the final process and AW told Clive that he was more than happy with it. This time Clive made the tea, which AW pronounced ‘half-good’. Clive proffered him a cigarette as had become usual at the start of a sitting, but AW said, ‘Nay lad, have one of mine and you can keep the packet if you like.’ He then proceeded to smoke more than half of them himself, but Clive noted that ‘the typically kind thought was there’.

AW called in on Clive a few times after the last sitting, each time making the tea. AW’s son, Peter, also called in often, sometimes when his father was there and the two would chat away. On one occasion AW missed Peter by a couple of minutes, which upset AW.

Clive summed up AW in this way: ‘I thought him an absolutely cracking person. He did have charisma. Very powerful. If you put him in the middle of a football crowd, he would stand out. He was a big man, a big bear – a nice one!’

David Johnson

CliveBarnard’sfullaccountofhismeetingswithAWisoneof120storiesthatcompriseEncounters with Wainwright.

Copies can be obtained via the Society’s website or by simply sending a cheque with your name and address to David Johnson, at 18 Pease Way, Histon, Cambridge, CB24 9YZ. Any enquiries can be directed by email to encounters@wainwright.org.uk or by phone at 07881 894519.

All sale proceeds after costs of postage are being donated to Animal Rescue Cumbria.

WainwrightintheNewsInlateJanuary,aspartofthe75thanniversarycelebrationsofDesertIslandDiscs, alistof‘Nineofthemostmoving’ofitseditions,chosenfromover1500programmes,waspostedonBBC4iPlayer.

Alongside names such as Jacqueline du Pré, Yoko Ono and Martina Navratilova was … Alfred Wainwright! Included were short extracts from the nine programmes, in AW’s case where he talked of his final fell walk, saying ‘the mountains wept tears for me that day’. The entire interview can be heard on the Desert Island Discs online archive.

The programme with AW as the castaway was broadcast in September 1988. It is one of twenty included by the presenter, Sue Lawley, in her book Desert Island Discussions, published in 1990. The story behind this interview is contained in Encounters with Wainwright. When contacting Sue Lawley for her story of meeting AW, I asked why she had chosen Wainwright to be in this select band. She replied: ‘He was a fascinating and legendary figure in his own lifetime. How could I leave him out?’

David Johnson

Sue Lawley with AW (photograph from

Radio Times)

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Mountain Walking SNOWDONIA– 40 of the finest routes in Snowdonia

Life on the Edge

OnabrightFebruarydayinthe1960s,asmallgroupofmembersofPrestwickRoundTable(Manchester)tackledHelvellyn.

It was cold – very cold, so we did what we could (in those early naïve days) to be appropriately clad. I, for example, wore a Harris tweed jacket over a jersey and shirt. As an extra layer, I’d kept on my pyjamas. A woolly hat and new boots completed the outfit. A rather large and heavy (ex-Army Stores) rucksack carried supplies. For effect, if not for benefit, I carried a metal-spiked, pre-war, Swiss walking stick which was covered with stocknagels of places our family had visited in the 30s, when I was a youngster.

Starting from Patterdale, we took the ‘tourist’ route up Birkhouse Moor to Striding Edge. This was covered in icy snow, and a stiff ‘breeze’ blew straight through the pyjama level. But we carried on, using whatever bit of track seemed most appropriate, scrambled up the steep bit at the end and so achieved the summit plateau. A fair number

of other hardy (or foolhardy) folk were already there or arriving by various other routes. One little chap was staggering along, carrying a tandem, his larger lady trailing behind.

After sheltering in the stone construction to restore equilibrium, we faced the need to return to base. Some decided to brave Swirral Edge – a knife-edge of ice leading to Catstycam and Red Tarn. It seemed an absurdly perilous prospect so the rest of us continued along the top past Brown Cove and descended via a safe but rough way to Glenridding. Then, of course, we had to tramp along the road to rejoin our braver brethren at our transport base.

A bowl of steaming, scalding soup restored our body temperature and home we went, thinking we’d been lucky to have survived such a fearsome chill with such inadequate kit. I suppose it ranked as yet another section of life’s learning curves.

Roderick Hamm Member No. 2553

Editor’s Note: Roderick Hamm is a regular contributor of cartoons to illustrate Footsteps articles (see pages 17 and 25). As a boy, he met AW – and that was over seventy-five years ago when AW and Roderick’s father worked together in Blackburn. That story is told in Encounters with Wainwright. Here Roderick tells of an exciting winter fell walk half a century ago.

Find us online at www.wainwright.org.uk and

on Facebook and Twitter

Thisbook,publishedbyCiceronePress,hasbeencompiledbyTerryFletcher,bestknownastheformereditorofDalesman and Cumbriamagazines,whohasbeenwalkingandclimbinginWalesforoverfiftyyears.HeisanHonoraryMemberofourSociety.

The book is divided into nine sections, each with up to seven walks ranging from 3 miles and 230 feet of climbing up to 12 miles with 3350 feet. The concluding walk is a two-day marathon over the fifteen Welsh 3000s (see page 18), covering 31 miles and 13,000 feet of climbing. Whilst this is usually undertaken over two days, the current men’s record is 4 hours 20 minutes and

the women’s record 5 hours 28 minutes (set in 1988 and 1989, respectively)!

For both newcomers and seasoned veterans to mountain climbing and walking in Wales, this is a superb pocket-sized publication that is easy to follow and will lead to many happy days in the magnificent mountains of north Wales.

John Burland – Otley Member No 2

BOOK REVIEW

Cartoon by Roderick Hamm

Along Striding Edge to Helvellyn – photograph by Maggie Allan

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concept with evil side effects: it has bred laziness and a new race of scroungers. People don’t fend for themselves as they used to have to do; new generations have developed that do not work out their own salvations but depend on the State to provide for them as a right to which they are entitled. ‘From the cradle to the grave’ is interpreted literally. If State benefits are available they are grabbed without a blush. Why work if there is no need to?’

On Tourists: ‘New types of visitors have come. When travelling was difficult you could be sure that the few people you met were all ardent admirers of the Lakeland scenery and there was a kinship between them. Not now. Cars and coaches throng the approach roads and unload crowds at the public toilets and gift shops and cafes. They go no further. They are noisy, ill-mannered. Transistor radios blare out tuneless music and screaming voices. At many beauty spots pandemonium has replaced peace. … These people are completely out of tune with the surroundings and incapable of appreciating beauty.’

Wainwright’s severest criticism was reserved for those who practised cruelty on animals, whether by hunting, culling or experimentation.

‘It was during my lonely wanderings on the mountains that I developed an admiration for the birds and animals who shared my days: the sheep, the fell ponies, the occasional foxes and deer, the ravens, the hawks, the buzzards and recently

the Mardale eagles. I admired them for their uncomplaining acceptance of the harsh conditions in which they lived, for their independence. They are content with little, wanting only to be left in peace. Their greatest enemy is man, sharing the same world but refusing to acknowledge that these creatures are neighbours with equal rights to existence. … Man is the bully, the biggest and cruellest predator of all.’

For AW, there was a better world and this was to be found in landscape and nature. And the personification of this better world, his heaven on earth, was the Lake District. That was why he criticised the ‘new’ tourists in their cars and carrying their transistor radios, and why he was so passionate about protecting the Lake District landscape.

At the end of the book, there was a quiet contemplation of the life hereafter. AW freely confessed that he did not know what was to come after death. His only fear was that it would be ‘a black void of nothingness’. But what if heaven was like the Lake District?

‘We are promised God’s heaven. I wish I could think so. It would be great, wouldn’t it, to move on to a brand new life, with new eyes, in new territory. I would not feel a stranger in heaven, having for so many years lived in the earthly paradise of Lakeland. There may be hills there to climb. There may be an opportunity for a pictorial guidebook to heaven. I may be permitted to come down occasionally and flap my wings over Haystacks.’

Coming full circle, this book is one of memories, of happy days spent on the fells with no regrets that his fellwalking days were over. As AW wrote: ‘We have more blessings than we could ever count.’

‘Days on the fells have always been for me the best days of all. They still are, but now I must be content to relive them in memories; sight is failing but I can visualise past adventures so clearly in the eye of the mind. I can sit in an armchair and go up Great Gable again, or cross Mickledore to Scafell, and the pictures I see with closed eyes are as vivid as they ever were. What a blessing is memory when a happy life is coming to a close; what pleasure there is in recalling days of enjoyment and exhilaration! The good times live on to the end.’

Derek Cockell Member No. 13

On17January1987,AlfredWainwrightcelebratedhis80thbirthdayandtocommemoratethismilestonehewroteacompanionvolumetoFellwanderer,thebookthatdescribed‘thestorybehindtheguidebooks’whichwaspublishedin1966.ThenewbookwascalledEx-Fellwanderer: A Thanksgiving,anappropriatetitleas,withhisdeterioratingeyesight,AWwassignallingtheendofhisactivefellwalkingdays.

Perhaps more than any other, this book was a personal reflection by AW looking back over a long life − from humble beginnings in Blackburn to his long love affair with Lakeland. It was not, however, a book of regrets or missed opportunities but more the story of a journey from a smoky mill town to the summits of his beloved mountains, a joyous ramble through decades of happy fellwandering. As AW put it: ‘This book is not a personal lament for the end of fellwalking and the end of an active life, but a thanksgiving for the countless blessings that have been mine in the last eighty years.’

The thread that runs through the book is AW’s life story: for the first time, he revealed details that had only been hinted at in previous publications. His readers knew that he came from Blackburn since a brief account of his childhood was contained in Fellwanderer. But this book was different as it included descriptions of his home and family life, his schooling, his early career as an ‘office boy’ and his transfer to Blackburn Council’s Treasurer’s Department in the town hall where he studied to become a qualified accountant.

What is interesting is that we see how his childhood experiences are a precursor to his later life as a fellwalker, artist and author. He wrote:

‘In winter I would write and illustrate adventure stories on any blank pieces of paper I could find, but my greatest joy was to copy drawings and cartoons from the comics that circulated amongst my pals together with a few originals.’

‘I was different too in my liking for long solitary walks. Someone had given me a map of Lancashire, a tattered sheet on a small scale but it opened a bit more of the world for me, and I was eager to learn. … These early excursions out of sight and sound of the towns bred in me a love of lonely uplands that has persisted ever since, and a fascination for maps that has never faded …’

And, like everyone, he suffered from teenage angst in those awkward years between childhood and adult life:

‘The other embarrassment was the change from short trousers to long, which, anticipating the jeers and comments that would follow, I delayed until the passing of time left me no choice. At the age of sixteen I was already six feet tall and as thin as a rake, with spindly legs emerging from trousers that ended at the knees. I was becoming a source of public amusement. So I took the plunge, got a pair of long ones and after skulking along the back streets for a few weeks to avoid ribaldry and laughter, began to like them. They gave me new confidence. Now I really was a man.’

Another feature of the book is AW’s comparisons between ‘then and now’; some might say a rose-coloured view of life looking back from the summits of older age to a lost world of youth. And his comparisons are not usually complimentary about the world of the 1980s.

On the Welfare State: ‘Bad old days? No, I don’t agree. People worked hard; they had pride, courage, character, honesty, and an observance of moral standards not seen today. These virtues have been largely destroyed by the Welfare State, a good

Ex-Fellwanderer: A Thanksgiving – the 30th Anniversary

© Derry Brabbs

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IfirstvisitedtheLakeDistrictin1966whenIwastwenty-oneyearsold,neverhavingwalkedinmountainsbefore.

My plan had been, after graduating from university that summer, to spend September on a month-long camping trip in Scotland. As fate would have it, a close friend invited me to his wedding which was to be held in Morecambe at the end of the first week of my planned holiday, so my girlfriend and I had to modify our plans, deciding to spend the week camping at Wasdale Head, attend the wedding, then head off to Scotland immediately afterwards.

From our campsite at Wasdale Head, the views were truly inspiring and far beyond my wildest dreams. On 5 September, we ascended Scafell Pike by the main tourist path and later that week I climbed Kirk Fell and Yewbarrow. I became completely hooked on fellwalking, and so started a long-distance love affair which persists to this day.

My work took me all over the country, with several years each in various places including Burnley, Gloucester, Surrey and Nottinghamshire, which severely limited opportunities to walk in the Lake District. In between classic long-distance walks in Yorkshire and treks to Kilimanjaro and the Himalayas, I always came back to the Lake District whenever I could, and it was always my preference as a holiday destination.

Because of their infrequency, my walks tended to be long arduous affairs to make the most of the opportunity – long ridge routes and big horseshoes, and ultimately a non-stop circuit of all the points over 3000ft, starting and finishing in darkness. I walked most of these, particularly the long ones, alone.

Many years later, my second wife and I eventually achieved a long-held ambition and settled near Keswick. Even then, due to the arrival of two children, opportunities for long walks tended to be restricted. The children were introduced to the fells with ascents of Catbells before the age of four, but sadly they both later lost interest.

Much later, in early 2016, on a walk over Robinson, I met some walkers who told me about the 214 Completers. I had never thought about deliberately setting out to climb all the peaks in the Wainwright guides which I had used to devise interesting routes but not used as a check-list.

I was intrigued, and back at home I checked my walking diaries (which I had kept from the beginning) and found I had climbed 130 Wainwrights. Having recently been alerted to a potentially dodgy hip joint, I thought I ought to crack on with climbing the rest while I still could. (Ironically, during all my subsequent walks, which included the eighty-four remaining peaks as well as very many more on the way, I never felt the slightest twinge from my hip!)

And so it was that I set out on an intensive campaign. I set myself a deadline of 4 September 2016 so I would complete all 214 fells within fifty years of the first one. Except when very bad weather intervened, I’d often be walking three days a week and taking in two or three new peaks each time. Soon I was in sight of my goal.

There was one relatively insignificant peak that I had never managed to incorporate into my long walks in the area – Troutbeck Tongue. I decided this would be my final climb so that my wife Sue could be with me (she is not keen on accompanying me on my epic trips). Troutbeck Tongue merely requires a gentle stroll by the river and a short ascent. A pleasant and relaxing way to end. After a hectic couple of weeks involving long car journeys to complete the final few Wainwrights, I had just three days left before my target date – all I needed was Sue to be available and to have half-decent weather.

As luck would have it, these two conditions coincided on 4 September. We reached the summit in fine weather and found it deserted. I surprised her by producing a half-bottle of champagne which I had secretly carried up in my rucksack in a bag of ice. We drank the champagne from plastic wine glasses and took masses of photographs. As we prepared to leave the still-deserted summit, the sun came out for the return to Troutbeck – a perfect ending.

Barry Halsall – Keswick Member No. 3094

Postscript

In the euphoria of the moment as we descended Troutbeck Tongue, Sue decided that she wanted to try to complete the 214 herself and naturally I have been engaged as mountain guide. At that point she had already climbed seventy-four fells, and is so full of confidence that we are already planning a champagne celebration to be held on Castle Crag, sometime in 2018!

As for me, I may have completed all 214 Wainwrights, but I still intend to carry on climbing them for many years to come, for as long as the legs still work! Looking back over 50 years of walking the Lakeland fells, I can honestly say that however long the walk, however rough the going, whatever the weather and wherever I have wandered, I have never once felt lonely or bored. On my solitary walks, I have never felt the need for any form of ‘in-flight entertainment’ by way of a Walkman cassette player, CD player, MP3 or whatever the current technology is; nor have I felt the need for a GPS app on my mobile phone. I still prefer the challenge and satisfaction of navigation with map and compass (besides, there are no batteries to run out and reception is always perfect!).

The 214 – in fifty years to the day

Reminder–PeanutsandPenniesThe winter issue of Footsteps included an article: Peanuts and Pennies or ‘How to find 2s 4d on Catbells’. This included a copy of a note from AW to Molly Lefebure which gave instructions for finding a bag hidden in a crevice in a wall near Catbells. The article challenged members to follow these instructions and discover what is now to be found there.

So far, four members have undertaken the challenge successfully.

The closing date is 20 May, so there’s still plenty of time to join in whilst enjoying a short and very pleasant low-level walk below Catbells. The results will be reported in the Summer issue of Footsteps.

David JohnsonBarry at the summit of Scafell Pike, Sep

tember 1966

Barry and Sue on Troutbeck Tongue, September 2016

31

Society News

SOCIETYCALENDAR. Sales of our 2017 Wainwright calendar have almost ended and the final total raised will be available soon. Work on the 2018 calendar has started and members are invited to send any pictures they think may be suitable to: calendars@wainwright.co.uk by 20 March. Pictures should be in landscape format, of a Lake District subject and a minimum of 4Mb to enable reproduction in a large format. Any queries may be sent to the same address.

NATIONALGRIDFINALCONSULTATION. The Society submitted its response to the final proposals by National Grid for the construction of an electrical connection from the new nuclear power station at Moorside, Cumbria. We objected to the siting of much larger and taller pylons along the Whicham valley and around the head of the Duddon estuary, believing that there should be underground cabling in this area to minimise the impact on the landscape of the National Park. The full statement can be read on our website at: http://www.wainwright.org.uk/articles/2017/national-grid-final-consultation.html

KENDALWALKINGFESTIVAL–Friday2ndandSaturday3rdJune. Keep your eyes open for a possible additional walk around Kendal that we have been asked to lead as part of this event. Details have not been finalised, but as soon as they are we will let members know via the next e-newsletter and the Society website.

ACOASTTOCOASTWALK. If you are planning to complete the Coast to Coast Walk in 2017, can you assist the Society with route monitoring as you travel? It is not an onerous task, involving noting access problems such as broken stiles or blocked paths etc. Your help would be very much appreciated. If you can assist, then contact the Secretary at: secretary@wainwright.org.uk

ULLSWATERWAY. The Ullswater Way, a 20-mile walk around the lake, was inaugurated last year. The Society has been working with the Friends of the Ullswater Way, advising about the placing of two ‘installations’ to commemorate Wainwright’s love of the area and Ullswater. The Society has donated £750 towards the cost of purchase of these two works. One is a ‘Sitting Stone’, a polished piece of slate rock, engraved with a Wainwright quotation and large enough to seat two or three people. The second is a plaque to be placed in Patterdale, which will record that the post office was the first place that Wainwright sold copies of his Pictorial Guides.

FIND YOUR MOUNTAIN

W h a t e v e r p e r s o n a l m o u n t a i n y o u ’ r e f a c i n g , h u r l y o u r s e l f a t i t i n t ru e Wa i n w r i g h t s t y l e

SEARCH ‘WAINWRIGHTGOLDENBEER’ www.wainwrightgoldenBEER.co.uk

Carlton Bank on the Coast to Coast Walk – Jeff Carlton

Patterdale Village and Post Office (A Second Lakeland Sketchbook, No. 139) © The Wainwright Estate

Dates for your Diary

WAINWRIGHTSOCIETYWALKS2017

Aprogrammeoffivevariedwalkshasbeenplannedfor2017.FulldetailsofthewalksinthesecondhalfoftheyearwillbeincludedinfutureissuesofFootsteps and on the Society’swebsite.

• Saturday25March(priortotheAGM)– RESTONSCARandBLACKCRAG

3½ miles, with 600ft of ascent. Time: 2 hours. Difficulty: easy/moderate.

In The Outlying Fells of Lakeland Wainwright wrote: ‘There must be many readers who, like the author, have been passing Reston Scar en route for the Lakes with no more than a glance up at it, regularly for donkeys years.’ There will be plenty of time to enjoy this walk from Staveley and have lunch in the village before the AGM at 3pm.

• Saturday27May–WANSFELL,from Ambleside

6½ miles, 1,600ft of ascent. Time: 5 hours. Difficulty: moderate.

This walk will be part of the 2017 Challenge and celebrates the 60th anniversary of the publication of The Far Eastern Fells. In this, Wainwright wrote ‘Caudale Moor sends out three distinct ridges to the south, and the most westerly and longest of the three descends to a wide depression (crossed by the Kirkstone road) before rising and narrowing along an undulating spur that finally falls to the shores of Windermere. This spur is Wansfell. Although its summit ridge is fairly narrow and well defined, the slopes on most sides are extensive, the fell as a whole occupying a broad tract of territory between Ambleside and Troutbeck.’

The walk will leave from The Old Bridge House, Ambleside, at 10am. During the walk there will be a cheque presentation to Fix the Fells, the Society’s 2017 main beneficiary.

• Saturday29July–HUMPHREYHEAD

• Saturday23September–FLINTERGILL alongTHEDALESWAY,fromDENT

• Saturday7October–ANGLETARNPIKES

(prior to the Memorial Lecture – see below)

WAINWRIGHTSOCIETYAGM–Saturday25March

Members are reminded that the 2017 AGM will be held on Saturday 25 March 2017 at Staveley Village Hall, commencing at 3.00pm. This will be preceded, at 2.15pm, by a short talk by a representative of the Society’s 2016 beneficiary, the Lake District Calvert Trust, followed by a cheque presentation.

2017MEMORIALLECTURE–Rheged,Saturday7October

Our speaker will be Clive Hutchby. See page 16 for further details.

Ticketswillbeavailablefrom1AprilfromtheRhegedCentre(Tel:01768868000).Price:£8formembers(non-members£12).

The Wainwright Society accepts no responsibility for the views, opinions, products or services contained within the Society magazine, Footsteps, neither is it responsible for their content or accuracy.

Footsteps is designed and produced by The Wainwright Society