Views from the Coffin Road, Haweswater (18/11/23)
So I’m just back from a walk in the fells that did *not* include bagging a Wainwright 😱, and reflecting on how my reasons for undertaking the ‘Wainwright challenge’ have changed from when I started half a year ago.
The me of six months ago would have seen this as an unsuccessful or wasted walk- what was the point if I wasn’t one step closer to completing them?
The me of now sees this as an important stage on my journey of what I am calling ‘mindful bagging’.
The Wainwrights are 214 fells in the Lake District (North West of England) that were described and illustrated in Alfred Wainwrights seven books titled ‘Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells’, released in the 1950s and 1960s. Wainwright was a fell walker, guidebook author and illustrator who was/is a well-loved British personality, that also devised the Coast to Coast Walk across Northern England.
Views from Hartside summit, a one-Wainwright walk (04/11/23)
‘Bagging’ the Wainwrights involves walking up these fells, which range from smaller hills to the highest peaks in England, and (to be ‘official’) touching the top of the summit cairns as you go. As they say, it doesn’t count if you don’t touch them.
It’s a popular challenge for those who like hiking, but I have seen in others and in myself such a disconnection from what is a beautiful journey.
It’s easy to get lost in the ‘challenge’- feeling like you aren’t making the most of a walk if you aren’t bagging multiple Wainwrights, as though all other routes and fells just aren’t worthwhile (who cares about Birketts am I right?!).
But I’ve realised since starting the journey in May that I don’t want to be one of those people I see marching past a fell, touching the cairn, then marching straight on by without any connection to the moment.
Ok may be they are connected to the moment and I’m casting assumptions, but over the last few months I’ve come to realise that this isn’t the way I want to complete the Wainwrights.
I want to appreciate every mountain, and feel a connection to it.
I want to pause at the summit and be grateful for the beauty of the mountain, for the nature all around me, for my body getting me there, for the people I’m with, and for the fact that I live so close to these majestic fells.
I hit my head so frickin’ hard going into that shepherds hut… very mindful of me 🤣(18/11/23)
I don’t want to feel disappointed when I see a walk advertised by the group I go hiking with (they’re called Summit Good Ramblers- check them out here) that includes fells I’ve already bagged, or only one Wainwright, or the dreaded none.
I don’t want my time in the fells to only be about bagging Wainwrights, as though nothing else really matters or that I’m not really achieving anything if I don’t tick off as many as possible on every walk.
After all, 214 fells can take a long time.
Views of Blencathra from near Lonscale Fell summit- another one-Wainwright walk (23/09/23)
Looking back, I originally started this as a challenge, another bucket list item achieve. And I know that stems from an old belief that doing these sort of physical challenges brings inner peace and happiness.
But I know from multiple physical challenges that those feelings are only short-lived. That I’ll feel great about myself for a little bit and then wonder what the next challenge will be, the one that will really bring me the feelings I am searching for on a permanent basis.
Chasing highs.
Yes I’ve loved my experiences, and they have contributed to the person I am now, but the person that I am right now knows that inner peace and happiness comes from, yep, you guessed it: inside.
I believe that our outer world can become a reflection of our inner world, but that it is ever-changing as we are constantly shifting, so we need to remain ever-present and conscious and connected to the moment and to ourselves.
So this version of me, the one typing right now, intends to be as present and mindful as possible, and that involves being so as I walk the Wainwrights.
Mindful bagging you see.
High Pike, the only Wainwright on the Cumbria Way…although I did sneak in Great Calva as the old version of me was running the show (14/9/23)
And now, my reason for undertaking this journey is that I love being outdoors and connected to nature, so I want to explore more of the Lake District that’s on my door step, which the Wainwrights enable me to do.
So, going back to the beginning, I went out on the fells today with the intention of bagging two Wainwrights, but I met some old friends at a Freegle Swap Shop beforehand (more on that mayhem in my next post) and we decided to go for a brew and cake at the Abbey Kitchen.
(Btw, if you ever find yourself in Shap, unlikely I know, do check out this Cafe, especially if you are vegan because they do the best vegan cakes 🎂👌)
In that moment, I chose to spend more time catching up with my friends rather than squeezing in the two Wainwrights planned (I didn’t have the time to do both due to dog care).
But if I had listened to the voice of the older version of me screaming “we need to leave now or we won’t fit the fells in and therefore this would all be a waste”, I would have chosen a part that doesn’t serve me anymore.
I would have chosen anxiety-driven control and the craving of challenges over meaningful connection and spontaneity, the latter two being what are important to me now.
Views from the Langdale 7 (yes, that's 7 Wainwrights): Old me 1, New me 0 (2/9/23)
So I decided to go on a shorter there-and-back walk along an old Coffin Road, soothing my screaming ego whilst imagining what it must have been like for our ancestors carrying the bodies of their loved ones over such difficult terrain to their nearest Church for the burial.
It also made me think of how connected they must have been to the experience of death and grief, the mental difficulties of losing a friend or family member reflected in the physical effort, and how much we have lost this intimate connection with life.
Thoughts for another post perhaps.
Until then, thankyou for reading and do feel free to ask any questions/share any thoughts in the comments box xx
Love,
Becca
65/214😜😜😜
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