href="#ulink_e0e46881-1557-5cf0-8de3-5ae671ee45bf">Mountain skills
Route 1 Loughrigg Fell circuit
Route 2 Wansfell and Troutbeck
Route 3 Fairfield Horseshoe
Route 4 Stony Cove circuit
Route 5 Kentmere skyline
Route 6 Windermere and Kentmere
Route 7 Easedale and Blea Rigg
Route 8 Grizedale Forest
Route 9 Black Crag and Tarn Hows
Route 10 Claife Heights
Route 11 Old Man of Coniston
Route 12 Langdale Horseshoe
Route 13 Three Shires loop
Route 14 Boot and Scafell
Route 15 Duddon Valley
Route 16 Scafell Pike
Route 17 Torver and Walna Scar
Route 18 Coppermines Valley
Route 19 Langstrath loop
Route 20 Tilberthwaite loop
Route 21 Buttermere and High Stile
Route 22 Catbells and High Spy
Route 23 Black Sail and Pillar
Route 24 Tour of Kirk Fell
Route 25 Mellbreak and Crummock
Route 26 Coledale Horseshoe
Route 27 Buttermere Sailbeck loop
Route 28 Borrowdale loop
Route 29 Walla Crag and Castlerigg
Route 30 Skiddaw
Route 31 Blencathra loop
Route 32 Dockray coach road
Route 33 Gowbarrow loop
Route 34 Askham and Patterdale
Route 35 Martindale circuit
Route 36 Patterdale loop
Route 37 High Street
Route 38 Helvellyn skyline
Route 39 Helvellyn tour
Route 40 Pinnacle Ridge skyrunning
Appendix A Useful contacts
Grisedale Tarn in the late afternoon light (Route 39)
ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE
Runners on Route 13 navigating with a map
INTRODUCTION
This book will introduce you to the world of trail and fell running on some of the finest mountains of the world; the Lake District. They may not have the stark granite spires of the Mont Blanc massif, or the huge mountain faces of the Himalayas or the Andes, but the old weathered Cumbrian mountains exude a majesty and history that make them more quietly stunning and fascinating. It’s a landscape that draws you in, with the next fell ever beckoning you to run its slopes, until the lure of a cosy pub beckons you back into the valley.
It was only at the end of writing this book that I realised what a personal journey it had been for me. I sat atop Jenkins Crag at sunset one glorious June evening, the surface of Windermere as still as a mirror below me, as the fells beyond caught the last rays of the sun; Wetherlam, Cold Pike, Crinkle Crags, Bowfell and Loughrigg. Each ridgeline, each crinkle, each notch on those fellsides was as familiar as my own hands, and a cascade of memories flooded in with each area my eyes focused on. To be lucky enough to live in the Lake District is one thing, but to feel so connected to these fells and to have learnt to read the running lines over them forges a permanent bond.
There is a rich history of mountain running in the UK, with the first recorded fell race in Braemar around 1040. The Lake District became the spiritual home to fell running, with the Guide’s Race in each of the village fairs and sports days. These were first recorded in the 19th century, and one of the oldest events occurs each August in Grasmere. Keswick hotelier Bob Graham made a round of 42 fell tops within 24 hours in 1932, and this circuit has become a test piece for all fell runners.
Bob Graham took 23hr 39min, but the men’s record now stands at 13hr 53min by Billy Bland in 1982, and the women’s at 15hr 24min by Jasmin Paris in 2016. Joss Naylor ran an incredible round with 72 peaks in 23hr 20min in 1975. In 1970 the Fell Runners Association (FRA) was established, and there are now over 400 races each year in its calendar. Many records in fell running stand for an incredible length of time, such as Kenny Stuart’s 18min 56sec record for the Wansfell race, set back in 1983.
Books
