Middle-aged flash packers

At one point last night, it seemed as though a total of zero Wainwrights would be achieved as our bedroom door refused to open. Settling down for the night, a final visit to the bathroom before sleep was stymied by a malfunctioning door handle. Try as we might, it remained firmly locked. As you would expect, my desire for a wee went off the scale. Thankfully, a mega stroke of luck meant Steve eventually found in the bowels of his wash bag a metal nail file. He unscrewed the handle and managed to open the door. What a guy!

I did worry slightly that this could be something of an omen and that perhaps the gods were trying their best to stop us from attempting our ambitious plan of 5 Wainwrights in one day. The ascent would be around 1200 metres which is substantial. Maybe one of us was going to fall to our doom on the last Wainwright….

However, nothing was going to stop birthday boy and we were at the start of our expedition , bright and primed the next morning.

For anyone interested in replicating this walk, here are the basic details: it begins at Lanthwaite Green Farm car park. Walk straight across the road and you will see 2 very daunting fells in front of you. Go and climb them. And then a few more. You will eventually get back to the car park, exhausted but exhilarated by this epic walk.

And it really was a fabulous hike. It’s got to be in the top twenty walks I’ve ever done. And without wishing to appear immodest, I’ve done a lot. Obviously helped by excellent walking weather – no rain, warm enough to wear a t shirt but not too hot.

However, for BB, this was a fabulous walk tinged with pain and at times, a feeling of “let this be over!” His back, painful from overdoing it on the gardening chores 2 weeks ago, did not enjoy the rocky ascents and then his knees had the audacity to complain about the descents. By the time we got to Rannerdale Knotts, he was in trouble. However, my suggestion that he could sit and wait for me to quickly knock off our last Wainwright was met with outrage and so he continued until the bitter end, walking like the tin man from the Wizard of Oz unable to bend anything apart from his arms.

The last couple of miles were on the flat and in the early evening sun. Steve’s body started to relax and we both agreed it had been an amazing day and worth the effort.

Next, a quick shop around Aldi to stock up on the pain relieving red wine and a few other bits and pieces, then hot baths and a birthday dinner of steaks followed by roulade.

Pretty good birthday for the old man I’d say.

And a final word from Mr. Wainwright, whose dedication in his book “The North Western Fells” reads;

‘to those unlovely twins my right leg and my left leg, staunch supporters that have carried me about for over half a century, endured much without complaint and never once let me down.’

I re-dedicate this to you, my dearest Steve. They maybe creaking a bit, but here’s to many more years of your twins carrying you along on amazing walks xx