July - Ill Bell

Summit Height:
2484ft / 757m

What?
Ill Bell
(plus 10 other Wainwrights)

When?
17th July

Where?
Lake District

Why?
As I mentioned in my original introduction to this Blog, I hoped that this mountain-a-month challenge would increase the amount of time I spent in the hills this year by creating a focus.  The project has been incredibly successful in doing this, and as well as the 7 summits listed here I have reached a further 16 summits so far this year.  Come December, however, this particular challenge will be over, and I have decided I want another challenge that will continue into 2011 and beyond.  Given that one of my favourite areas for walking is the Lake District, and that I received the complete set of Wainwright’s Pictorial Guides as a gift recently, my new challenge is to reach the summit of all 214 Wainwrights.  I will be writing a Blog of my Wainright progress here;

 http://mrpinswainwrights.blogspot.com/

This month I spent a weekend in the Lakes and it became my first specific ‘Wainwright Bagging Trip'.  I managed to collect 11 summits over two days, and naturally I had to choose one of them as my mountain-a-month.

How?

Rainbow near St Sunday Crag

I caught an early train to  walking route took me from Windermere to Patterdale (where I spent the night) over a collection of Wainwrights; Yoke, Ill Bell, Froswick, Thornthwaite Crag, High Street, The Knott and Angletran Pikes.  On the Sunday, in terrible windy wet walking conditions, I walked back to Ambleside via St. Sunday Crag, Fairfield, Hart Crag and Dove Crag. 

I have chosen Ill Bell, despite it not being the tallest of the weekend, as I felt that it was the most satisfying climb, and it had some of the most stunning views.  My highlight of the whole trip was in fact Angletarn Pikes, but these were under my arbitrarily chosen height for what defines a mountain in this challenge.

View from Angletarn Pikes

The tallest mountain of the weekend, Fairfield, I climbed in terrible conditions with no views, and the second tallest, High Street, I found had relatively less to offer than many of the other summits.  So, Ill Bell it was, although it was a tough call as all 11 were wonderful mountains in their own right!