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Andy Beck - On Location

Windermere Station, 8.30 am ready to set off. AW wasnt clear which B&B they stayed at so I thought this would be as good a place as any to start.

By studying the map I chose what I thought was the obvious route that they would have taken towards Troutbeck, passing by Orrest Head.

Just for the sake of it I re-visited the top of Orrest Head.

The dogs on Orrest Head. behind them are the cloud shrouded tops that we would visit later. On AW's visit the weather was much better.

After crossing the fields past Near Orrest and Far Orrest we take to the lane, Longmire Road. On the map this is the logical route into the Troutbeck valley.

The quiet lane leads on towards Troutbeck Tongue.

Across the valley lies Troutbeck village under Wansfell Pike.

At this point I took the path to the left. On the right is the Garburn pass lane.

Troutbeck valley.

A patch of sun above Troutbeck

This is a pleasant way which as AW described has mountains all about you.

Rain behing Troutbeck Tongue, time for the waterproofs. Up until this time it had been warm with odd spots of rain.

Zooming in on a distant Thornthwaite Beacon.

Typical Lakeland barn.

Herdwicks and Hawthorn

Quarry working on the side of Yoke.

Thresthwaite Mouth

Rising up out of the valley with Troutbeck Tongue behind us on the right.

Before heading up to Scot Rake I had to divert a little to get this reference of Caudale Moor.

Now gaining height over the valley.

We are now on the old Roman Road with this section known as Scot Rake, a steep pull up. the two cyclists are the first people I have seen.

From the Rake there are fine views over to the summits of Froswick and Ill Bell.

On route to Thornthwaite Crag. Looking back the Kentmere valley is fairly bright but Troutbeck is in rain. as you may tell from the spots on the camera it was now raining quite hard.

Approaching Thornthwaite Beacon.

Us on Thornthwaite Beacon. Exactly 80 years ago today AW would have stood on this spot, his very first true Lakeland Fell top which would many years feature in his Pictorial Guides.

An appropriate black and white shot .

Then it was on to High Street, today covered in low cloud.

A moody Hayeswater.

High street summit, no views and no one else there.

Descending towards Twopenny Crag.

Long Stile from the cairn at the top of Short Stile

Looking back to High Street.

The next few shots tell the story, wet dogs on summits, here on Rampsgill Head.

Next we visit Kidsty Pike. I was not sure if AW would have visited here on that day in 1930 but best to cover all options.

And a short walk up to High Raise. Bailey is having serious considerations about this Fellwalking lark!

Sheep and cotton grass.

On towards wether Hill past Red Crag.

Wether Hill summit cairn, better called Weather hill today.

Onwards to Loadpot Hill with a bit of clarity behind us now.

The ruins of Lowther House.

Trig point and cairn on Loadpot Hill. I was saddened to see that recently the boundary stone has been up-rooted. I have actually photographed it for the project already in its origianl position and that how I will paint it. This looked to me as a pure act of vandalism as the stone is quite a weight.

A short time later the "Beck Construction Team" had been at work and the stone was replaced into the vertical and the cairn tidied up ready for Bailey's posing shot.

Descending off Loadpot we got our first wet view of Ullswater.

Passing the boundary stone Zeta does a bit of "Vole-hunting" (she never catches one) whilst Bailey keeps a look-out.

I'm wet!

The stone circle with Bonscale Pike behind. The three stones behind have been re-erected in the past couple of weeks (they were not up when I was here on the 27th May) they are not solid enough to last long in that position.

This section of AW's route was a bit of guess work on my part. (see my note at the bottom). Here we begin the steep descend down the fellside on an old track towards Mellguards. The rain on the short cropped grass made for caution.

Mellguards. AW and Eric may have gone on to Howtown through this gate before completing the route to Pooley Bridge along the road. I didnt fancy the road walk as the way is narrow and the hazard of traffic has increased somewhat since 1930 so I took the path that follows the intake walls.

Hallin Fell and Ullswater from the path

Swarthbeck Gill

First Foxglove that I have seen in bloom this year.

Near Thwaitehill we dropped down to the road through a mass of blooming gorse.

At the road we looked back to Athur's Pike and Bonscale Pike.

At Waterside House we picked up the shore path that would take us to Pooley Bridge.

Its stopped raining now but its still gloomy as we look back over Ullswater.

Before long we arrive at the Crown Inn, Pooley Bridge where our "taxi" awaits. it was now 7pm

A welcome reward of Cumberland Sausage and a pint after a long but rewarding day walking in AW's footsteps once again.

Notes in conclusion:

It would be quite difficult if not impossible to follow AW's route more accurately but hopefully this days walk gives a flavour of the day that Wainwright first trod the high fells, he of course had better weather. The next day though he was not so lucky, getting absolutely soaked as he and his cousin crossed Striding Edge en-route to Keswick. They carried no waterproofs or even a change of clothes. As I walked I wondered what had actually been the plans for the first day? Surely if they intended to walk on to Pooley Bridge then why not stay up high on the Roman Road and get to Pooley Bridge via Roehead thus avoiding several miles of road walking? If they were tired and opted to cut short the day and head down to Howtown why didnt they stay there, was the Hotel full or too expensive? This would have made the next day difficult as they had to get the bus to Patterdale in the morning. As for the stay at Pooley Bridge, there are several hotels there so how do I know that The Crown is where they stayed? (Even Hunter Davies Wainwright Biography puts them as staying at Howtown which is incorrect.) AW writes that they stayed at a Hotel with a "palatial" entrance which was run by a man from Bolton. A fellow society member, Derek Cockell has done some research into this. Apparently The Crown at that time was run by a man who was born in Bolton in 1881, of the two other hotels one was run by a local from Brathwaite and the other was run by a lady. The front of The Crown also fits the description even though the front has lost one of the distictive porches. No matter what the truth, this was a long and tiring day and where ever they stayed no doubt the food and beds were welcome. Who was to know that this first adventure would lead on to a life time love of the Lakeland Fells for the young man Alfred Wainwright.

These are just my thoughts, more than happy to hear from anyone who has answers to the above.

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