My first 3 Wainwright's - An unfashionable route.

Distance: 8.2 miles
Total Ascent: 1605 feet

I decided recently to take up fell walking. With living on the edge of the lake District it seemed the natural thing to do. I also figures that the best way to start it all was to climb all 214 Wainwrights. 

The best place to start seemed to be the ones closest to me. They are of moderate height and easily accessible from my house. In fact the whole Lake District in no more than a 90 minute drive from my front door.

Other than the occasional ascent of the Outlying Wainwright known as Dent (it's literally on my doorstep) the last fell of any note I have climbed was Catbells and that was when I was 11 and probably fit enough to climb Everest. I am now 33, slightly overweight and do far too little exercise, so walking the fells is not going to be as easy as it was back then.



My route would take in the summits of Grike, Crag Fell, Whoap and Lank Rigg, in just over 3 hours, with a 1 hour return back to my car from the final summit.

I parked up at Kinniside Stone Circle. There are several approaches to Grike. You can take the forestry road, the bridleway or up over Blakely Raise. The forestry path is not very inviting after recent tree felling and I figured I had enough ascent planned without Blakely Raise. So i took the bridleway.

The route took me across the the forestry path and onto the lower slopes of Grike. Much of the lower slopes were pretty boggy made worse by recent heavy rain. The final ascent to Grike was reasonably steep but nothing to bad and the summit appeared surprisingly quickly after the stile. For a fairly unassuming and rarely visited summit it has a very good wind shelter. This was was very welcome as the stiff westerly wind was quite strong at the summit and giving a significant chill. 

The view from Grike is restricted due to the presence of Crag Fell and Lank Rigg, but has good views back to West Cumbria and the Irish Sea.

It was then on to Crag Fell. The path is fairly clear between the fells and not too boggy. Crag Fell summit was obtained quickly and presents much better views down the Ennerdale Valley. It was very windy by now so I took care not get to close to the edge. The large cairn gave some shelter but I needed a break from the wind so descended after a short while.

The descent of Crag Fell is also clear as is the cutting through the forest and onto the lower slops of Whoap (and onto Iron Crag if that is your route).

The path to the summit of Whoap, however, is very unclear. I ascend via the wall for a short while, then when the ground became less boggy I crossed over open ground before picking up the path that seems to run from Iron Crag to Whoap. Whoap is a little known and rarely visited summit. This is not surprising, the views are severely restricted in all directions. The only saving grace is the magnificent view you get of the imposing Lank Rigg.

I didn't hang about long at Whoap summit. I took the path to the col between Whoap and Lank Rigg and began the steep ascent of Lank Rigg, the highest point on my route. The wind on the col and Lank Rigg felt much stronger than the earlier wind. It was buffeting and biting cold by now.

The ascent really is steep, going up 319ft in half a mile, straight up the face of the fell. It was tough going and I was greeted at the top with a biting cold wind and very little shelter (Trig points are useless as wind shelters).

I didn't hang about too long up here either as it was getting very cold in the wind.

There are 2 descents I know of from Lank Rig, you can return to the col and take the path along the side of Whoap, then Blakely Raise, or you can head down the north western slope onto Lank Rigg common, intercepting the 1st route near Blaklely Raise. I did the former.

The return to the car was a long walk, taking the best part of an hour and almost half of my total mileage. Not the most exciting journey, but I walked with a sense of accomplishment. I had walked 3 Wainwrights in a single morning and looked forward to doing it again soon. I also didn't meet a single other person on my route.

On a side note. I could get an O2 signal on all 4 summits (not sure how on Whoap as line of sight were limited). I created a "Place" on Facebook for checking-in purposes. So if you visit these summits with your iPhone you may be able to check-in with your mobile phone in future.

Here are some photos of my day (taken with the iPhone)