Steeple Approach

After crossing the Woundell Beck footbridge we followed a vague track into the forest, in the general direction of our target, Lingmell. We'd come down this path last September (see Ennerdale Charm) and found it to be remarkably sketchy. Soon we came across a very rough forestry road that was running parallel to Woundell Beck. I could see from the OS map that this continued to run alongside the beck, before heading up to the Lingmell area. The track was better walking than our Ennerdale Charm track and so I decided to change our route to use this path instead. Initially the forestry road was easy walking but eventually it turned into a muddy footpath.  There was quite an impressive waterfall along Woundell Beck that doesn't even get a mention on the OS map. We finally escaped the plantation into a world of sunshine and climbed steeply up the hillside next to a stream. The vague track then diverted off south eastwards towards Tewit How, but we carried on eastwards over trackless moor to Low Beck. It was fairly easy walking across the top of the fell but got tougher nearer to Low Beck. Looking at the map I could see another footpath running up from the bottom of the valley alongside Low Beck to this same point. I reckon that would have been a better path to get to the start of the Steeple ridge path.

At least the track from the beck was clear and obvious up to the Steeple ridge. We could see a couple of other walkers with a  hundred metres head start on us and so we started to chase them down.

Wainwright Tommy Topper

'I've only got one more Wainwright to do after Steeple' said the elderly walker whom we had just caught up. As the Cabin Boy guffawed in anticipation, I nearly fluffed my Tommy Topper lines as I struggled to get my words out as fast as possible 'Well, Steeple is actually my last Wainwright' I blurted. 'It looks like I've beat you!' I added. I have to say that I was almost instantly embarrassed by that last comment, but I couldn't help it. Sportingly, the man congratulated me. 'How are you going to celebrate at the top?' he asked. 'Well, I'm hoping that the Kapitan and the Cabin Boy are going to open a flask of cold champagne' I told him. I stole a quick glance at my companions who were looking uncomfortably at each other and shuffling nervously on their feet.  'What will be your last Wainwright?' I asked. 'Great End. A lot of people choose that as their last one.' With my logistics hat on it seemed an odd one to choose since you'd normally include Great End on a Wainwright traverse of the Scafell Pike massif (see Top Of England). A little later when I was discussing this with the Cabin Boy and the Kapitan, the Cabin Boy said, 'Great End...as in, it's a "Great End to the Wainwrights" you bloody idiot.' The penny dropped but I told the Cabin Boy that I knew exactly what the man meant and that she should remind herself that I was the Captain and that she was the Cabin Boy.

The penultimate Wainwright Walker's partner had stopped 50 metres ahead of us and he shouted ahead to her that I was on my last Wainwright. We caught up with her and I was expecting at least a shake of the hand, if not two pecks on the cheek. In the end I got neither. I think the Wainwright enterprise in their relationship was more to do with the husband than the wife. We left the couple to make their own slow way up. It wasn't far to go along the ridge now. I could almost feel the bubbles of cold Taittinger tickling my nose.

63 Walks Over 452 Days

The views from the Steeple ridge were stunning from every side. It had been a long time since I'd done Steeple and I'd forgotten that for most of its length the ridge is quite broad. It narrowed a little towards its summit and I sent the Kapitan and Cabin Boy ahead to capture my last Wainwright summit on film for posterity. And then I could see Steeple's summit cairn ahead of me. 213 summit cairns had gone before it. With immense willpower, I dragged my weary limbs forward and upwards, trekking poles shaking with the effort, I eventually dropped to my knees with weariness, and crawled those last few yards, before stretching and touching the summit cairn with a shaking  outstretched middle finger. The Wainwrights were complete! I'd finished my first ever Venture on Nun's Walks. 452 days of blood, sweat and tears. 63 walks of toil and pain. 'Okay. You can crack open the champagne now' I told my apprentices. 'Fill my champagne flute until it overflows' I ordered. 'Oh, well...we...well, we haven't actually brought any' mumbled the Cabin Boy. I nodded sagely and gave a dry chuckle; it was only to be expected from novices that still had five more Wainwrights to summit. They really hadn't a clue.

Life After The Wainwrights

After the rather dry celebration on the summit another walked approached us from the Scoat Fell side and we started to chat. I tried to steer the conversation towards Wainwrights but he was having none of it and he soon disappeared back to Scoat Fell again. I said goodbye to my last Wainwright and followed the walker down. The descent from Steeple to the col with Scoat Fell is probably the steepest and most exposed section. It wasn't that bad though and for once, even the Cabin Boy didn't complain. From Scoat Fell we followed the stone wall that runs along the length of Ennerdale's southern ridge. It led us up to the stony top of Haycock where we stopped to have lunch. While we ate, we looked towards the Wasdale valley and I pointed out the 5 Wainwrights that the Cabin Boy and Kapitan still had to summit.  I reminded them that I'd completed all 214 Wainwrights, in case they had forgotten during their exertions up to Haycock.

After lunch we continued our route along Ennerdale's southern ridge. It really was delightful, easy walking with great views in all directions. There were occasional undulations, but nothing significant enough to make us breathless. It didn't seem long before we reached the end of our ridge walking at Crag Fell. We decided to skirt around its summit, since we'd already ticked it as a Wainwright, and then started our descent to Ennerdale Water. Our track took us to Ben Gill, an impressive gash in the side of the hill. The Tree Troublers had nuked the area below this but our track continued to the foot of the hill and was still usable.

Lakeside Delight

The lakeside path back to the Bowness Knott carpark was an absolute delight. It was about 2 miles long but it didn't feel a drag even after a long, hard walk. The view along the Ennerdale Valley became more impressive as we progressed around the lake. Curiously, Pillar Rock was only visible from a small proportion of the lakeside path. For most of the time it seemed to be tucked away behind White Pike on Pillar's north western flank. The lakeside path was busy with walkers, enjoying the scenery and the sunny weather. The Steeple ridge looked very impressive from this vantage point. The Chaffinches welcomed us back when we reached the carpark. It was the same old song they were singing this morning.

I really enjoyed today's walk. It was quite long and tough in sections, but the views were exquisite. Ennerdale is a very pretty valley. The Cabin Boy told me that they did have some champagne to celebrate my completion of the Wainwrights, and that it was currently in a fridge at our base in Grasmere. I thanked them and made a mental note to check that they didn't didn't quaff it all whilst I was in the shower.