Here are some details for this year’s Long Walk, on Saturday 29th June, based at Little Ground House. Diane and Rob Green have done a fantastic job organising this event which follows the first section of the 26 Lake, Meres and Waters route devised by Leo Pollard. 

Booking is essential. Thank you to all those who have already let us know they are going to attend. There are still a few beds left in the hut and the field will be open for anyone who wishes to camp or stay in their vans.

Here are all the docs below in one PDF

Here is a brief description of the route and outlines the plan for the weekend. 

Here are maps 1 to 5 showing the Long Walk Main Route marked in red:

Map 1 – Start-Maggies-Bridge-Car-Park-Loweswater-Crummock-Water

Map 2 – Crummock-Water-Breakfast-Stop-hotel-car-park-Buttermere-Buttermere-Bleaberry-Tarn-Red-Pike

Map 3 – Red-Pike-Lunch-Stop-Ennerdale-Youth-Hostel-Car-Park-Ennerdale-Water-Tewit-How

Map 4 – Ennerdale-Tewit-How-Nether-Beck

Map 5 – Nether-Beck-Wast-Water-Little-Ground-House

Here are maps 6 to 8 showing an extra extended part of the route from the Breakfast Stop to the Lunch stop, for runners who want to add a bit more mileage.

Map 6 – Breakfast-Stop-Buttermere-Peggys-Bridge-Warnscale-Bottom

Map 7 – Peggys-Bridge-Warnscale-Bottom-High-Style

Map 8 – High-Style-Ennerdale-Youth-Hostel-Lunch-Stop

Elevation guide for the Long Walk Main Route

Elevation guide for the Long Walk Extended Route

The route outlined is a guide and may not be the best path/line to take on the day. Walkers should use their own judgement. 

Here are the photographs to this years race. Click on the image below to access them or scroll through them with the arrow.

Many thanks.

Mark.

Guy Richardson, a Lake District author,  has donated a copy of his book “The Scafells, A Grand Tour” to the club and it’ll be going to Little Ground House for members to read. When he sent it I said I would write a little review of it, so here goes.

Before it arrived I was expecting to see a big heavy hardback ‘coffee table’ book with photographs and a bit of accompanying text. However it is much better than that. It does contain some beautiful photos but it’s also a very interesting and entertaining read. It takes you on a walk from Wastwater to Cockley Beck so it covers ground that many of our members will know well. On the way it talks about a wide range of subjects prompted by that part of the walk.

Among other things it covers the history of the Wasdale area, the development of tourism and rock climbing, the geology and evolution of the landscape, surveying and map making, poetry  (including the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s description of his descent of Broad Stand), the naming of Scafell Pike, fellrunning and walking challenges, the changing ownership of different parts of the Lake District, conflicts about land use, the design of boots and the making of stone-age axes. The last chapter distills the challenges faced by the landscape of not just the Scafells but the Lake District in general, and the management of the experience for the growing number of visitors.

The book is  well structured and although it contains a lot of information it is easy to read and the chapters are short so it’s good for dipping into. It’s also paperback so that it could, at a pinch, be carried along to read on the way (if you had good weather and plenty of time!).

It’s definitely worth a read and I’ll be buying a copy for myself so that I can revisit it when I’ve forgotten what I’ve read! At just under £12, it’s also an affordable gift for anyone interested in the Lake District.

The water system at Bishop’s Scale is now sorted – 5th July 2023

This morning (Sunday 11 June) we’ve been told that there is no water coming into the Langdale hut. If you are planning to visit the hut please take plenty of bottled water with you for drinking. We believe there is currently water in the beck that can be used to fill buckets to flush the toilets but if it doesn’t rain soon we might need to close the hut until it does.

The door code for Tyn Twr has been changed. Please contact the hut warden or another member of the management committee if you intend to visit and are not aware of the new code.

Committee Contact Details

This event will be taking place on Saturday 1st April 2023. Start 11:00hrs. Entry on day only

All members have been notified (by email and post) that the AGM has been postponed until Saturday 26th November.

Please note that this race is now taking place on Saturday 7th May 2022 and not on Saturday 2nd April as originally advertised. ARCC apologise for any inconvenience this date change might cause and we hope to see you in the Langdale valley on 7th May for this classic short fell race.

The water quality problem at Bishop’s Scale has been rectified and we have had notice (7 Feb 2022) that the tap water now meets the required standards. Thank you for your patience with this matter!

Bob Wightman, the Membership Secretary of the Bob Graham Club has got in touch about filling in information that is missing from the records. If anyone can help please get in touch with Bob.”Hi, I’m the membership secretary of the Bob Graham Club. I’ve been digitising the old paper records and am missing some information. Some of this may relate to your club members but in working through who helped who on the Round I’ve come across Achille Ratti members who might be able to help me. One such is Colin Jones who did his round in 1998 assisting Alan Sweatman for whom I’m missing info.A full list may be found here – http://www.bobgrahamclub.org.uk/index.php?page=missing, if you, or any of your current members, recognise any of your members there would you mind asking them to get in touch with me and I can hopefully fill in the blanks in our records.Many Thanks.Bob Wightman”