And what a fantastic Birthday this was!
Now normally I don’t really celebrate my Birthday. I think when you’ve had small children you focus on their Birthdays so much that yours becomes just another day. Then there is the fact that we’ve all had two pandemic Birthdays, one of them being my 50th, so I wasn’t really planning on this one being anything special.
The boys are still away at University until Easter so I decided to go away to the Lake District for my birthday earlier this month as it probably has to be my favourite place in the UK, and I’ve not been here since my two running races around Ullswater and Helvellyn in October. I just adore it here. It’s an adventurer’s playground. If you don’t like mountains, lakes, walking and solitude then you’ll hate it. But I love all those things.
The lake, and namesake village, of Buttermere was my base this time around. Oh, please can I have a view out of my bedroom window like this every morning, not just my Birthday morning?!?!
I’d decided on Buttermere for two reasons. Firstly, I’ve not stayed here before to explore its hills and fells and secondly it is the base for exploring Haystacks.
Haystacks was the favourite peak of Alfred Wainwright so I thought if it’s his favourite it must be quite spectacular. He described it as a “place of great charm and fairyland attractiveness.”
So first a bit about Alfred Wainwright. He was a British fell walker, guidebook author and illustrator, and quite a fascinating chap. I guess you’d describe him as a bit odd. He was agnostic and had absolutely no time for religion. He also described himself as antisocial and would avoid engaging with other people at all costs. He used to wander alone on the fells and his 7 volume pictorial guides to the 214 Lakeland fells, containing his own illustrations, are the go-to guides for anyone who loves to wander in these parts.
He died in 1991 and his ashes are scattered alongside Innominate Tarn on the top of Haystacks. So, I thought that it was about time I paid him a visit, because although he was quite a solitary figure, he did come out with some quotes which were absolutely spot on and resonate with me so much.
The first of his quotes which you’ll hear me say a lot is, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing.” Too right. And my birthday was freezing up in the lakes, but suitable clothing worn, off I went in search of birthday adventures after my full Cumberland Breakfast…..yum!
So here is where I went, what I discovered and a few absolute gems from Wainwright thrown in for good measure.
First summit of the day Fleetwith Pike, reached by going directly up Fleetwith Edge. At 648m this is a difficult climb and isn’t really a walk, large parts of it involve scrambling on all fours and if you aren’t comfortable with heights, it can be a bit of a challenge. I’ve trained myself to like heights so that wasn’t too much of an issue, but even I was glad to get up to the summit cairn, it was hard work! You are rewarded with the most amazing view of Buttermere Lake, Crummock Water and Haystacks from the top.
“The fleeting hour of life of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal. Always there will be the lonely ridge, the dancing beck, the silent forest; always there will be the exhilaration of the summits. These are for the seeking, and those who seek and find while there is still time will be blessed both in mind and body.”
― Alfred Wainwright, The Western Fells
From the summit of Fleetwith Pike you then make your way towards Haystacks. But not before you come across two amazing little discoveries enroute. Dubs Hut and Warnscale bothies, both members of the Mountain Bothies Association. A bit of an explanation about these cute little discoveries. They are managed by the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA), a registered charity whose purpose is: ‘To maintain simple shelters in remote country for the use of all who love wild and lonely places.’
The MBA was founded in 1998 and looks after approximately 100 of these mountain huts. Over 90 of them are in Scotland but these two are a couple of the few they maintain in England. They are all unlocked and anyone can use them free of charge. There are no facilities, no electricity and no piped water. Well, when I say no facilities, Dubs Hut does have a cute little stove for you to light a fire and a camping kettle. Both have a source of water nearby, Warnscale has a fast-flowing ghyll close by and Dubs Hut has a yellow bucket and pipe capturing the mountain rainwater runoff but both would need a good filter or boil before consumption. Fortunately, I’d got a small bottle of prosecco in my rucksack to celebrate my birthday………why have water when you can have prosecco!
There are also platforms to use as beds if you want to stay overnight, or need to stay in an emergency, but I decided I quite liked my hotel! I wouldn’t be averse to staying in one overnight for fun but I don’t think I’d be one hundred percent on doing it without a friend as they are so remote and in the middle of nowhere and you are stuck spending the night with whoever turns up, in a very lonely location. I did however bump into a lovely walking group in Dubs Hut who were fun to share a cuppa and a chat with, I’m not quite as unsociable as Wainwright. In fact, I’m not unsociable at all, I love to chat, too much!!
Warnscale quite possibly has the greatest view from any mountain bothy in the UK. It looks out over the whole of the Buttermere valley and on a clear day you can see the Irish Sea. I had to get the flask out here and just sit and rest a while.
“Oh, how can I put into words the joys of a walk over country such as this; the scenes that delight the eyes, the blessed peace of mind, the sheer exuberance which fills your soul as you tread the firm turf? This is something to be lived, not read about. On these breezy heights, a transformation is wondrously wrought within you. Your thoughts are simple, in tune with your surroundings; the complicated problems you brought with you from the town are smoothed away. Up here, you are near to your Creator; you are conscious of the infinite; you gain new perspectives; thoughts run in new strange channels; there are stirrings in your soul which are quite beyond the power of my pen to describe. Something happens to you in the silent places which never could in the towns, and it is a good thing to sit awhile in a quiet spot and meditate. The hills have a power to soothe and heal which is their very own. No man ever sat alone on the top of a hill and planned a murder or a robbery, and no man ever came down from the hills without feeling in some way refreshed, and the better for his experience.”
― Alfred Wainwright
Then it was onto Haystacks and the discovery of Innominate Tarn. It is exactly as Wainwright describes it and it does truly have “great charm and fairyland attractiveness.” I can see why he liked it and why he wanted this to be his final resting place.
By this time the sun was dimming in the sky and knowing it was another couple of hours walk back to the hotel I decided to descend and call it a day as my little legs were tired, the bar was beckoning, I was hungry and I needed my bed! The food was delicious. Now I can be a sophisticated eater when I need to be and can eat ‘haute cuisine’ with the best of them but I’m sorry, when I’ve trudged up a couple of peaks in the freezing cold there is only one thing for it………pie and beer!
Day two of the Birthday weekend I was up early ready for another day of adventures. When I’m off on an adventure I don’t mind getting up early. It’s about the only time I am a morning person, when I’m walking, exploring or adventuring.
“Morning is the best part of the day for walking. The air is freshest then, the earth sweetest. The flowers preen themselves after their bath of dew, and stand erect with rare self-assurance, proud of their bright clean colours. The birds are happiest in the morning, and most lively then. They dart across the path before you, wheel and soar above the trees, swoop unerringly to their nests. They chatter and chirrup and sing in unending chorus, blithely contented and gay, and so very very glad to be alive.”
― Alfred Wainwright
I’d decided I wanted to walk around Crummock Water which is next to Buttermere as it would be a nice flat walk after the hills of the day before, but also because it is supposedly one of the prettier and quieter lakes in the Lake District with the tallest waterfall in the county, Scale Force, off to one side of the lake. I’d not been around this one before and it really did take my breath away. It is beautiful. The weather was perfect, a really cloudy sky but dry and perfectly still so it made it so atmospheric. The lake’s surface was like glass and everything was reflected in it. I love clouds at the best of times but on this particular day, reflected in the water, they really were something else.
“Clouds are the most transient of nature’s creations. They come out of a clear sky, disintegrate before your eyes, vanish. You never see the same cloud twice. Every moment of its brief existence brings a change, a change of form or tint or texture; but its beauty remains constant to the end. The beauty of the clouds is there for us to see every day, if we are not too busy to look up….”
― Alfred Wainwright
Half way around the lake you pass a way marker pointing you in the direction of Scale Force. It’s a good half mile uphill climb from the edge of the lake. When I reached it, it was beautiful but you can’t quite see the main waterfall, just the lower fall. I can’t resist a bit of a challenge and I really wanted to see the main waterfall. I stood a while and pondered whether I could climb a piece of exposed rock to the left of the lower fall to get to the next level. I eventually decided to go for it and it was the right decision. I got absolutely soaked from the spray and blowback from the waterfall as it was quite windy up the gulley but it really was such a spectacular sight and so worth the effort.
Being both wet through and freezing cold by now, I called it a day and headed off to the car for the three-hour drive home, vowing to visit more often as this was my idea of the perfect weekend and the best birthday adventure ever!