A Wasdale Circular

It may have taken a few years to publish this blog but this was the walk that inspired Andy for the Wainwrights in Colour project. A Wasdale circular walk that was to change his life. The planned route was to take in the fells of Yewbarrow, Red Pike and Pillar.

On Location: 2nd July 2006

Wainwright Fells: Yewbarrow, Red Pike (Wasdale) and Pillar

Parking: There is a small parking area near Overbeck Bridge on the single tracked road to Wasdale Head.

This walk can also be completed by parking at Wasdale Head. Either way, there is a short amount of road walking to be done.

Make sure that you are prepared for days out on the hills. Follow the advice from Mountain Rescue

The camera that I was using at this time was a Fuji Finepix s5500. At only 4mp the pictures are not of the best quality.

Introduction: At the time we were just regular walkers and would often venture over to the Lake District for a weekend of walking. On this day I had planned to take in a couple of fells on the afternoon of our arrival at Wasdale Head. Little was I to know that this walk would inspire me to a whole new series of paintings that would commit me to 10 years of work.

A note on the sketches. The sketches shown in this blog are all from the Wainwrights in Colour project and book. You will see that Andy interprets the reference photographs to enhance the colours etc where he feels that it is needed. That’s what all artists do. Wainwright himself often used artistic license in his pen and ink drawings, including often compressing the scenes (generally in width) to fit the shape of the Pictorial Guides. As a size comparison, Andy’s original sketches were scaled twice the width and height of the illustrations in the Pictorial Guide.

Route map: click on the arrow to play the route. Route files in various formats such as GPS are available to download by clicking in the Plotaroute.com link at the bottom right.

At Overbeck Bridge we used the small car park and set off on the walk. It was a warm summer’s afternoon. In fact, we didn’t set off until about 1pm.

The distinctive western end of Yewbarrow as we ascend from the car park.

On reaching the fence line we follow it up towards Bell Rib. A stile in the fence allows us to cross over the fence and follow the ascending path.

The path becomes more loose and steep as we head up through the gap near Dropping Crag.

We slowly made our way up to the summit plateau of the fell. Red Pike was over to our left.

A warm, hazy afternoon and the high hills of the top end of Wasdale as seen from the summit cairn.

We proceeded onwards along the path to the next cairn above Stirrup Crag

The cairn marks the point where the path drops down over Stirrup Crag. This route can provide a bit of a challenge for some walkers as it is more of a scramble, requiring some “hands on” work.

Sections like this need care. I find it best to face in towards the rock and carefully descend using both hands and feet.

Looking back at Stirrup Crag from Dore Head. From here you can see the challenge of Stirrup Crag. The worst section being the upper area.

In these days I didn’t take many photographs. Despite having a digital camera I was still in the “old school” mindset of shooting with film- 36 frames on a roll. Consequently The are not shots of us reaching our next top which was Red Pike.

We passed over the summit and continued on towards Pillar. Looking back at Red Pike summit.

The Scafells are diffused by the afternoon summer haze.

Slightly further on I stopped and looked back at Red Pike. I recognised the scene but I had never been here before. I took the Pictorial Guide out of my rucksack and realised that I had stopped at virtually the same place as AW had done to photograph the scene that he used at the bottom of Red Pike 1. I took this photo and after a few minutes thought that it would be quite nice to produce a comparative watercolour of the same scene.

And that is how the “germ” of The Wainwrights in Colour was born. At almost 6pm on a warm summer afternoon.

Below is a sketch from that photograph.

At the time of my “moment” Esther and the dogs had been ahead of me and I soon caught up with them taking in the sunshine near Black Crag.

Runners heading up towards Scoat Fell.

Esther approaching the top of Pillar. I had told her of my idea to do the comparative painting.

From the summit I headed north to take a look at Pillar Rock from above. As Wainwright had done. So again I took a comparative shot. I was now thinking about producing more than just a few of these scenes.

Pillar Rock sketch. A small 2″x2″ watercolour.

My brain was now working overtime as to how I could incorporate this idea into my painting plans.

Esther and the dogs were ahead of me as we descended down to Looking Stead.

Great Gable looms over Kirk Fell.

Kirk Fell and Black Sail Pass.

We descended from the pass back down to the edge of Wastwater and than it was a short walk back to the car at the start. (I was too busy thinking to remember to take photos of this last section of the walk).

All we had planned to do was have a nice afternoon out on the fells at the start of a weekend away. In the end I was inspired by one fleeting moment to begin a journey which would see me exploring all of the lakeland fells in intimate detail for the next 10 years.

It’s amazing what life can put in front of you.

Thanks for reading.

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