2022 Stats Post/Happy New Year!

Feel free to add your own stats in the comments below…

My aim for this year was to average one hill per day throughout the year.  However, I was on 365 hills by mid Autumn so decided to up it to 400 for the year.  By December 13th, I had 394 so all looked in the bag… of course, that was the day I broke my wrist on an icy lane after my impromptu four hills!  That meant I had six hills left to do in two weeks with a badly broken wrist and not able to drive to the hills.

I spent a lot of time lying awake scheming… there were three small hills I could get to by bus so I determined to do these two days running.  The hills were Binsey, Whittas Park and Caermote – a Wainwright, an Outlying Wainwright and an ‘other’ (a no-status hill).  There’s a mile walk to the next village for the bus and then it takes you to the very start of the southern Binsey track – the bus stop is one even the bus drivers don’t know about so mustn’t get used much.

From Caermote I had a slight trespass down farm fields to the main road just short of my favourite eating place, Craggs where the staff, who have been delivering baking to my house since my accident, were most surprised to see me walk in!  My trespass down the farmland was, by the way, done in a bright red winter jacket past the farmer who was feeding his sheep – he didn’t say owt anyway.

The first day it was due to rain all day (which it pretty much did so I just put full Paramo waterproofs on) but it was warm and calm.  The second day was quite a gale so reaching the summits was a bit more challenging.  It had been hard to find footwear as I can’t lace anything up so that rules out hillgoing footwear.  I’d decided my ‘fashion’ snowboots were my best bet and they were great!  Comfortable, ‘fur’-lined and rubber cleated soles with good grip.  I’ve had to refurbish them somewhat after two days on the hill!  I was still scared on the grassy descents though after my fall as the paths had turned to slippery mush instead of firm grass – it’s just been so wet this year!

After my double egg and chips followed by trifle at Craggs both days I had a mile to walk up the main road to catch the bus back and then the mile at the other end back to my house.  So, I hit the magic target of 400 but really had to work for them at the end!

Still haven’t been to Wales and have stuck to the Lake District Hills and my local Pennines and I’ve done some circuits very many times, e.g. the Binsey hills 27 times and Meal Fell area hills 23.  But I’ve also enjoyed trips to the Ennerdale Hills as they were far less frequented so I could get some peace, and revisited other hills I haven’t been on for years!  I did have a long chat to a superb gent on Lank Rigg one day… he was 80 years old and a regular visitor to the area and doing longer rounds than me!

A new hill this year and a new favourite

Wainwright Reascents: 257
Wainwright Outlying: 13
Hewitts: 2 (Fell Head and Nine Standards Rigg)
Other: 128
Hill grand total: 400

Scottish trips: 1 for my Highland Cross cycling/walking across Scotland in a day challenge
Car Camping trips: 0  as I had to retire my beloved Sunny this January 😦
English trips: 3 (all Lake District but just further away – couldn’t manage more due to frequent job changes!)

After-work hills: 29

Before-work hills: 11

Gills explored: 0 – must try harder!

Outdoor climbs: 1 outing to my favourite local quarry yielding: 5 climbs but at a lower grade this year, the hardest being 2 HDiffs

Ticks: 0 for a change

Still this year, I find that I’m now at a disadvantage living locally to the Lakes hills as you can only really get parked to do anything if you’re staying in lodgings in the valley you want to walk in. Otherwise there is no parking until around 1500 or 1600 which in winter is just too late to set off and can be quite inconvenient in summer too! 😦

Weather-wise in my end of Cumbria we had probably the worst year ever!  Summer staggered in sometime around mid June and had definitely gone again by September.  It was mostly no warmer than 70degF and generally much cooler, which is very poor, and extremely windy (I lost count of the days I was unable to stand up on minor summits such as Great Cockup).  It must also have been the wettest I’ve ever seen the fells – they only had around a 3-week break from the constant soaking and this year the paths were in spate on some walks never mind the becks!  My choice of hills got smaller as the year progressed as I won’t damage my precious hill’s paths in very wet conditions.

As to the famous heat waves this year… well we had a 2-day one and a 3-day one – admittedly it was very hot then for fell walking.

You might remember the problematic Ford Ka I bought for work last year… well it had a coolant leak so I took it in to trace the source.  They found one leak but not the other two and the car ended up overheating.  This not only meant the car stopped and refused to continue (very sensibly on its part) but it turned out to have caused major engine damage.  I nearly died when I got the final bill as there wasn’t much change out of two grand!! 😮

Hoping for better weather in 2023 and less broken bones/accidents.  Hope you all have a good year and thanks for bearing with me!

A few photos from my Highland Cross walk – one of my greater achievements…

plenty of water!

the back of Saileag, the Five Sisters behind… and the path continues on to another distant col…

the final col

stunning scenery!

Advertisement