Wainwright and me...
Eric Robson gives us his personal insight into the original 'man of the fells', Alfred Wainwright
In many ways it was the oddest of friendships. In age, politics and obsession we could hardly have been further apart. Oh, and according to the original plan I wasn't even going to be making the Wainwright programmes for the telly. Richard Else, a very talented producer from BBC Newcastle had pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of persuading AW to emerge from his world of shyness to make a series of programmes about walking in the mountains. All sorts of famous names were being bandied about to present this landmark series. Wainwright would have none of them. So, thinking on his feet, Richard said that, actually, he would prefer the presenter to be a fell farmer he knew from Wasdale. AW agreed to meet him.
Now I live in Wasdale and have a smallholding on which I keep a few sheep, pigs and poultry, but fell farmer I'm not and never have been. In the car on the way down to Kendal to meet the great man I said to Richard that perhaps I ought to be wearing a smock and have a bit of straw in my mouth. Sternly, Richard told me not to go over the top. Anyhow, I obviously passed muster because it was the start of five years of
enjoyable filming - in Limestone country and AW's beloved Lake District, on the Coast to Coast Walk and in Wainwright's other paradise on earth, the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
Wainwright's reputation as a curmudgeonly, misogynist, introverted old duffer went before him. In fact he turned out to be a kind, gentle, generous man with a streak of poetry in his soul. Yes, he was shy and reserved but the reservation was one of his most attractive characteristics. He engaged his brain before opening his mouth which is a precious attribute, rarely found in television interviewees.
His Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells are classic books that have stood the test of being hauled to the top of the 214 Lakeland summits millions of times in the past half century. The only mistake Wainwright made was to call them ‘guides' because they're so much more than that. As I've often said, to the delight of guide book writers everywhere, any fool can write a guide book. I've written guide books. What Wainwright created was so, so much more. The books are little works of art in their own right and at their heart is the bond between man and mountain; a philosophy that illuminated Wainwright's long life.
He was a pioneering environmentalist, too, a man with a small carbon footprint long before the phrase took hold with trendier environmental movements. Towards the end of my time with Wainwright his eyesight had deteriorated to the point where he was living in a world of mists. He couldn't see the mountain panoramas that he was describing to us but he knew them so well; he held them so clearly in his mind's eye that he could list every summit with its peculiarities and particular delights.
One of the joys of making the BBC series with him was that we managed to take him back to places he'd thought he'd never visit again. I have very happy memories of those days in the hills and there are still times in the mountains when, for just a moment, I catch the smell of Three Nuns tobacco and hear his harrumph of displeasure or, more often, his wheezy sigh of contentment.
For more information about AW, The Wainwright Society website is the place to go for details on upcoming events, competitions, merchandise and membership, visit www.wainwright.org.uk!
Wainwright and you...
The Northern Fells
With many routes of ascent, Wainwright spent months exploring Blencathra; the classic is the summit approach from Scales via Sharp Edge. Through Mousthwaite Comb and on towards Scales Tarn with its reflections of rock and sky, with a climb to the crest of naked rock that's the fearsome Sharp Edge. Shuffle across on all fours if need be, no disgrace in doing that, as you can feel intrepid as you stroll across The Saddle to Blencathra summit. Descend back to the valley by way of the arêtes and pinnacles of Hall's Fell with their glorious sense of wild mountain air.
order wainwrights guide to the Northern Fells
Southern Fells
Quite simply, my favourite mountain walk in the whole of Lakeland: the crossing of Whin Rigg (1755') and Illgill Head (1983') above the towering Wastwater screes. Start from Santon Bridge and from the top of Irton Pike onwards there are majestic views of the mountains at the valley head. Taking the path close to the edge of the screes, you look down to a scene of shattered, shifting rock and, if you've still got the energy after the five miles to Wasdale Head, walk back by the lakeside path, negotiating the boulder fields at the foot of the screes.
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The Far Eastern Fells
Mardale Ill Bell has had a rough deal, I reckon, often overlooked for the better known High Street or Kentmere Pike. It's a fine summit and a very fine ascent. Start at the end of Haweswater and climb along the beck to Small Water with its trogolodytic stone shelters. Then on to Nan Bield Pass with its cairned path over to Kentmere. At the pass, turn north west to the summit which, according to Mr. Wainwright, is "four miserable feet short of the magical two and a half thousand". The far eastern fells are all around you. Nestling below is Blea Water and, away to the east, Haweswater reservoir with its drowned village of Mardale Green.
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The Western Fells
I like Grike. I remember mentioning this final summit of the West Lakes to a keen fell walker who denied that any such place existed. "Sounds like
a character out of Charles Dickens," he said. The next weekend I visited Grike, strolling along the old mine road from Kinniside Stone Circle as
widening seascapes and skyscapes unfurled behind me. Grike is a lonely place, no tourist honey-pot. The first time I visited there wasn't even a path to the summit. From the top and the summit of Crag Fell beyond, there are grand views towards Ennerdale and across the lake to Great Borne. It's a very special place.
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The Outlying Fells
If you want a mountain you can scamper up before breakfast or in your lunch break, Stickle Pike is the spot. There's even space to park your car because the road from Broughton Mills to Duddon Valley runs past this ‘kingpin of the Dunnerdale Fells' as AW describes. Even grander, he thought of it as a ‘budding Matterhorn': a proper pointy mountain with a stiff climb and the reward of views across the southern fells out over the Duddon Estuary. Stickle Tarn, snuggled up to the mountain is a beautiful place. If you've never walked a fell this is a cracking place to start and, having experienced Stickle Pike, I bet you'll do more.
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Introducing the Coast to Coast
In the early 1970s, Wainwright had already become the patron saint of Lakeland fell walkers and his seven volume guide books were heading
for their millionth sale, yet he was looking for a new challenge. Long distance walking was catching on in Britain and the final section of
The Pennine Way from Derbyshire to the Scottish Borders had just been officially opened. Wainwright set about devising a walk across England, using footpaths and other rights of way, the result being the 192 mile route from St. Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood's Bay on the Yorkshire coast, passing through the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks. A.W. devised a way of breaking the walk into day stages so that it could be completed during a fortnight's holiday break and offered a more leisurely version that gave people ‘time to stand and stare', always one of Wainwright's favourite pastimes. Tens of thousands of walkers have completed the Coast to Coast challenge over the years, many
sharing A.W.s view that, if the Pennine Way is a walk you finish with relief, the Coast to Coast is a walk you finish with regret. Wainwright was immensely proud of his creation, A Coast to Coast Walk, and in 2004 it was voted the second best long distance walk in the world, beating the Inca Trail and the trek to Everest. Not bad for an old chap, with a map and a ruler, in a back bedroom in Kendal.
order Wainwrights A Coast to Coast Walk
Wainwright - the podcasts
Explore some of Lakeland's finest fells, personally guided by the man ‘himself', with the Wainwright podcasts for Orrest Head, Place Fell, Latrigg, Haystacks, Helm Crag, Nab Scar, Coniston Old Man and Catbells.
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