For this challenge I walked up Fairfield, a mountain in the Lake District. I love walking, and the thrill of a hard trudge up a mountain. Even better if there are amazing views from the top.
As in previous years (excluding Covid) I joined a small group walking holiday with Country Adventures over the Twixmas period between Christmas and New Year.
This year we were based in Ambleside in the Lake District. Pre-Covid the trips included accommodation but nowadays we’re responsible for our own lodgings so I’d booked a BnB, the Melrose Guest House, in the centre of town.
The trip consisted of two days of guided walking. The original plan was to walk the Langdale Pikes (which I’ve done before) but the weather had other ideas. On past trips we’ve had gale force wind, torrential rain and snow. This year we had fog. Joe, our leader, thought there might be a chance to get above the fog by going higher. He therefore suggested a walk up Fairfield, which I was happy with as I’d never climbed it before.
Fairfield
The Fairfield Horseshoe is a Lakeland classic. Sadly, in the middle of winter, there’s not really enough daylight to comfortably walk the eight peaks that make up the horseshoe. Instead we focused on Fairfield itself, and the three other Wainwrights we passed on route to the summit.
Our walk from Ambleside took us out to Rydal, from where we started the ascent. Fairfield is 873 metres high so although it’s a straightforward route it got the heart pumping. Particularly as this was the only mountain I’d climbed in 2024.
The weather didn’t improve on the way up. Despite the occasional glimmer of brightness the fog got thicker the higher we went. There were no views from any of the Wainwrights that we passed (Nab Scar, Heron Pike and Great Rigg). Even though the weather wasn’t playing ball I loved the walk, climbing a hill almost always makes me happy.
We’d had barely any wind on our walk up but it made its presence felt as we reached the summit of Fairfield. We stopped for a short break in an open topped shelter, which kept the worst of the winds off. There was no hanging around though as the temperature had dropped and there were no views to admire. I was a little sad about this as I primarily walk for the mountain scenery, but I’ll just need to come back on a sunny day.
We walked down, carefully picking our way over slippy scree and greasy rocks. I always find downhills harder, particularly when I’m faffing around trying not to slip.
A series of spectacular waterfalls emerged from the mist, water crashing down the hillside into little pools. One of our group had bought her swimming gear but she couldn’t be persuaded to hop in. I don’t blame her, I can’t think of anything worse.
Our walk ended in Grasmere, where I headed to the gingerbread shop to buy a pack of the world famous treat. It was dusk by this time so we took the tourist bus back to Ambleside; it was a little surreal sitting on the open top deck in the dark.
After a long hot shower back at the BnB I spent an enjoyable evening with the group in the Temperance Inn in Ambleside, fuelling up ready for another walk (Wansfell) the following day.
Challenge complete
Climb a mountain I’ve never climbed before – completed December 2024. Pop over to see the rest of my 60 things to do before I’m 60 list.