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CDh6
  • 5/7/2025
Wainwright Walks episode 1

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Travel
Transcript
00:00Nestled in the far north-west of England, this is the Lake District.
00:09A land defined by its natural beauty.
00:22Unknown to millions who love the lakes was the late Alfred Wainwright.
00:27Author, guide writer and talented artist.
00:31But above all, he was the greatest fell walker.
00:36Wainwright's guides have inspired generations of walkers to roam these glorious fells.
00:42And now, a century after his birth, it's my turn to go in search of the real Wainwright experience.
00:57I'm here in the Lake District to experience the magic of the fells that inspired a lifetime of work from the late Alfred Wainwright.
01:06My first challenge is arguably Wainwright's favourite.
01:09It's the place he chose as his final resting place.
01:12And it's the fell on which he took his last walk.
01:13It's Haystacks.
01:14And it's the fell on which he took his last walk.
01:15It's Haystacks.
01:16I'm here in the Lake District to experience the magic of the fells that inspired a lifetime
01:19of work from the late Alfred Wainwright.
01:21My first challenge is arguably Wainwright's favourite.
01:24It's the place he chose as his final resting place.
01:27And it's the fell on which he took his last walk.
01:30It's Haystacks.
01:31Haystacks stands at 1,900 feet in the western area of the lakes on the edge of Buttermere.
01:55Wainwright made no secret of his fondness for this fell, so I'm hoping to discover just
01:59why it captured his heart and imagination.
02:05Now, these guys have made the fells accessible to hundreds of thousands of walkers.
02:09I've got to admit, when I first saw one, it was on my dad's bookshelf when I was a teenager,
02:13and I didn't pay it much attention then.
02:15But now, at first glance, what you notice is the incredible attention to detail,
02:19which I hope I don't find too confusing.
02:21In 1930, aged 23, Wainwright left the industrial landscape of his hometown in Blackburn
02:34and made his first visit to the lakes.
02:36It was to change his life forever, inspiring a lifetime of work in Lakeland.
02:42Before I head off, I'm going to meet a Lake District local, a broadcaster,
02:47and a friend of Alfred Wainwright, Eric Robson.
02:53Hello, Eric. Nice to see you, Eric.
02:55And look, we've got the weather.
02:56I know, which is good. As long as the rain stays off, we're in good shape.
02:59And I brought the symbol of Haystacks, of course.
03:02The Shaggy Terrier. The Shaggy Terrier among foxhounds.
03:06Twenty years ago, Eric Robson made four series with Alfred Wainwright,
03:10or AW, as he was known to his friends,
03:12including the North Country, Scotland, Coast to Coast,
03:16and AW's final walk here on Haystacks.
03:21What was it about Haystacks that captivated Wainwright so?
03:25I think because it's a...
03:27Well, it's a very special mountain,
03:29because it's in a wonderful place in the Lake District.
03:33The views from it are tremendous in every direction.
03:35It's on a route, you know,
03:37between Buttermere and the great mountains of Gable and Scorfell.
03:41And also, it's...
03:44It's just got a spirit.
03:47It's got a real spirit.
03:49I've lived there lots and lots of times.
03:52It really does capture the changing light.
03:56Those little bits of water on the top in Ominap Town, places like that.
04:00Now, why do you think people still like the Wainwright guides so much?
04:06There are... There's so much choice out there now,
04:08and, you know, you could argue that they're not the most up-to-date,
04:10they're not the most modern,
04:11and yet, still hundreds of thousands of people
04:14use his words and pictures to guide themselves across the fells.
04:17Because nobody has interpreted mountain landscapes better.
04:21And, as you say, you can pick up any number of daft guidebooks,
04:25you know, glossy colour jobs, you know.
04:28But colour photography doesn't...
04:31doesn't fillet the mountain the way that Wainwright's drawings do.
04:35He devised a unique way of turning a three-dimensional image
04:40into a two-dimensional image that was still understandable.
04:44And you can actually see your way through the mountain with it.
04:48But it wasn't just that.
04:49I mean, the big mistake he made was calling these pictorial guides.
04:52You know, any fool can write a guidebook.
04:54I've written guidebooks, you know.
04:56These are not guidebooks.
04:57They're works of philosophy and poetry.
05:00He encapsulates all those things in his writing.
05:03And, also, he was fascinated by the relationship between man and landscape.
05:08Mm.
05:09That was really at the core of his work.
05:11You know, he knew this wasn't a wilderness.
05:13He knew this was a landscape generated by man.
05:16You know, the fingerprints of man are all over it.
05:18And it was that interlink between man and landscape
05:22that really made his book special.
05:24Because he revelled in that.
05:25And he drew those strands out.
05:27And he brought those mountains to life.
05:29Part of his books, as well,
05:31is that there was no one right way up or down a mountain or a fell, was there?
05:35No, that's right.
05:36He gave you many options.
05:37All his pictorial guides were an indication that you could do it.
05:43Because when Wainwright started writing his books in the 50s,
05:46the vast majority of people who visited the Lake District thought,
05:50phew, can't get up there.
05:52And suddenly he produced these books that proved they could.
05:55Because if you can't go that way, go the other way.
05:57He was going up in a pair of old boots and a scruffy sweater
06:00and an old anorak, you know.
06:02He wasn't kitted out.
06:03Now, you might be able to help me here.
06:05There's one half of me that likes Wainwright,
06:07the poetic, romantic, descriptive man who was in love with the fells.
06:12There's another side of me that thinks he was just a bit,
06:14a bit of a grumpy old man, a bit old fashioned.
06:16Well, he wasn't a grumpy old man.
06:18I mean, this, you know, legend has him being so.
06:21But actually he was a gentle, generous chap.
06:26He didn't say a lot, but he just, you know,
06:29he engaged his brain before he opened his mouth,
06:31which is a very endearing characteristic.
06:33And he thought very deeply and cared very deeply
06:36about the landscapes he was in.
06:37These places mattered to him.
06:39There were not places to gabble, you know,
06:42there were places to savour.
06:44And he taught me a huge amount of how to appreciate these hills,
06:48you know, that you actually get yourself out there,
06:50you know, time and again, perhaps, to one particular place.
06:53And just enjoying what's there.
06:55He was this mystery character.
06:57The cult started very early on.
06:59People started to look for him.
07:00It was like sort of sightings of the great white whale, you know.
07:03I mean, he'd managed to be the sort of ghost in the machine
07:06for so many years because, you know,
07:08there was, yes, little line drawings of him in the book.
07:11But then he started doing the coffee table books
07:13where the photo, the Derry Babs photographs of him were there.
07:16People could recognise him instantly.
07:18And out on the hill, you know, you get,
07:20you could see out of the corner of your eye.
07:22I'd be doing an interview with him.
07:23And there would be a group of people who would be safe.
07:26There he is.
07:27And they would be straight towards us, you know.
07:29The only other thing, the thing,
07:31something he did grump about was people misusing the hill,
07:35misusing the mountains.
07:37He hated organised parties.
07:38He hated organised, you know,
07:39great swarms of people walking together.
07:42He didn't approve of that.
07:43Go discover on your own.
07:44Go discover on your own.
07:45I mean, the solitary quality of this place
07:47is what he tried to capture for himself.
07:50And I think what he communicates so well in those books.
07:53And I think it's that communication
07:55that sort of echoes down the decades.
07:58Well, I shall go and discover.
08:00I shall go and see if he's up there.
08:02And maybe I'll see him up there.
08:03Enjoy your walk.
08:04I will. Thanks, Eric.
08:05Nice to meet you. Bye-bye.
08:11Before I head off,
08:12let's take a moment to look at the route ahead.
08:29Haystacks rises between the deep hollow of Warnscale Bottom and Ennerdale.
08:33I'll start at a point known as Gatesgarth Farm, nestled on the edge of Buttermere.
08:40The path takes me across farmland along the southern edge of the water.
08:46The initial ascent is a steep climb northwest
08:49before the path turns sharply
08:51and heads southward through the bracken-covered hill.
08:56The path takes me along the edge of the hillside,
08:59giving spectacular views into the valley below
09:03before reaching the flatter parts known as Low and High Wax Knot.
09:10I'll head across the zigzag path at Scarf Gap
09:13where the terrain becomes rocky underfoot.
09:15Before reaching a grassy saddle
09:18from where I have a clear view of the summit ascent.
09:30I'll then approach the peak via a small, unnamed tarn.
09:37Before reaching the breathtaking views from the summit cairn.
09:40I'll go back to the summit cairn.
09:41I'll try and do my best to push the transit
09:42if there's any chance.
09:43I'll start to see you,
09:44then I'll go back to the summit cairn.
09:46this nice gentle path isn't in the book this steep one is so that must be the way
10:14which is a bit unfortunate really isn't it start with a bang
10:19hope i don't get lost it'd be embarrassing to get lost from the very start of the walk
10:39i have to admit i was expecting a more gradual climb from the beginning
10:44this is hard work already
10:47this is just a few minutes into the walk proper
11:07about 500 feet up now and already
11:10the view is just spectacular buttermere looking melliflu it's beautiful you just want to dive in
11:18apart the water
11:19and i think the weather's going to hold over there is a chink of beautiful blue sky
11:27lakeland is known for its changeable weather patterns each valley almost having its own
11:40microclimate even the most experienced of walkers can be caught unawares by a sudden burst of rain
11:47or low mist creeping in
11:49i'm really looking forward to getting to the top
11:54to find out exactly why wainwright found this fell
11:58so special assuming i'll make it of course
12:01fell walking means rough walking those who take to the hills whatever their motivation
12:16are rewarded with the variety of spectacular views and distant panoramas
12:20from where the lakes below are transformed into sparkling jewels in the sunlight
12:32look at that shaft of sunlight it's almost godly
12:43i've been going for about 20 years
13:1325 minutes now so i think it's time to soak in some more other views
13:20see exactly what wainwright's got in store for me
13:34interestingly wainwright maps are not strictly plan or elevation views
13:39he deliberately distorted perspectives and scales
13:42in order to get in all the information that he thought would be valuable for any walker
13:57you wouldn't think the same view could get any better but it does
14:04now this according to aw is low wax knot and meant to be lots of boulders
14:11anyway clearly someone's got here before me and moved them all which is very kind of them
14:19so
14:26wainwright describes his passion for this landscape in the first of his pictorial guides
14:31the magical atmosphere of the lakes
14:34the silence of lonely hills
14:38the dawn chorus of birdsong
14:40silver cascades dancing and leaping down bracken steeps
14:44and the symphonies of murmuring streams
14:51it's easy to see why wainwright who was office bound all week
14:56loved to escape to this
14:57the peace and the quiet and the scenery
14:59but he always argued that you should walk alone
15:04he didn't like other people it was a distraction
15:06he especially didn't like school children gangs of them
15:10and you could say that was a bit unsociable
15:13but actually being here alone now
15:16it is so serene and so peaceful
15:20and it's a real luxury to have all this space to yourself
15:33it's beautiful, it's really beautiful
15:50if you take a peek across the valley there
16:05you can see
16:07two different paths to get to the top of haystacks
16:12and in the book there are actually six different ways to get to the top
16:17so no chance of getting bored
16:22Wainwright indicates in book six that his preferred route up haystacks
16:25was the ascent from Gatesgarth where I started
16:28but via this path at Warnscale Bottom
16:31this takes you on a longer ascent of two and three quarter miles
16:37Wainwright liked the imposing crag overhanging the path
16:40he would then enjoy the views on my walk
16:43as he made his leisurely descent
16:47it is already becoming clearer to me just what an achievement it was
17:00to finish seven hand drawn books like these in only thirteen years
17:04It's already becoming clearer to me just what an achievement it was to finish seven hand-drawn
17:11books like these in only 13 years.
17:16The more I look at them and around me, the more I can appreciate his work, his passion
17:21and sheer dedication.
17:34I'm approaching Scarf Gap now and suddenly the terrain has become much rougher underfoot
17:40and also the path has just widened, actually you can't really see the path.
17:45What was once an S shape up the mountain has just, in the words of Wainwright, been butchered
17:50by short cutters.
17:51You see, people just walk straight up the middle and create this mess.
18:04Wainwright described this route in book six.
18:09The ascent of Haystacks via the pass of Scarf Gap is a prelude of much merit and beauty to
18:16a mountain walk of unique character.
18:22And after an hour and a half, I'm into the rhythm of this Lakeland walk.
18:27I've been looking forward to this because this is the last cairn at the top of Scarf Gap.
18:33And Wainwright marks significant cairns with triangles and it's definitely here.
18:37But it also means it's been here since 1966 because that's when this book was published.
18:43So a lot of tired legs have wandered past here and right now mine are no exception.
18:54Cairns like this one are familiar sights across the lakes, made by the simple act of adding
18:57a stone as you pass.
19:00Now I've been incredibly lucky with the weather so far, but imagine trying to navigate your
19:05way in the mist and rain.
19:08The cairns are an invaluable tool for helping you stick to the path.
19:30From this grassy saddle, I can now get a clear view of all the surrounding fells.
19:35Wainwright captures the character of this walk in the opening sentence of his introduction.
19:41Haystack stands unabashed and unashamed in the midst of a circle of much loftier fells,
19:47like a shaggy terrier in the company of foxhounds.
19:53It's lovely and soft underfoot here, on this saddle that's nestled in between the mountains.
19:57That way's Kirk fell.
19:58But more importantly, up there is my first clear view of the climb to the summit.
20:05In his first guide, Wainwright acknowledged,
20:09Many of they were fallen under the spell of Lakeland, and so many of they were moved to tell of their affection in story, in verse, in picture, in song.
20:16That is a cracking view of Buttermere and Crummock Water behind it.
20:23I'm just not quite sure whether that is Grassmore or on the ground.
20:26It's a great view of Buttermere and Crummock Water.
20:29In his first guide, Wainwright acknowledged,
20:32Many of they were fallen under the spell of Lakeland,
20:35and so many of they were moved to tell of their affection in story, in verse, in picture, in song.
20:41There's the Crummock Water behind it.
20:43I'm just not quite sure whether that is Grassmore or not, the big mountain.
20:48Because this is the view from the summit, but there isn't a definitive page from here.
20:55I think it is.
20:57It's lovely anyway.
21:00This is such a clear day that I can see all the way beyond Crummock Water to the Solway Firth in Scotland.
21:10Wainwright always maintained that he began writing the guidebooks for his own memory of the places he'd visited and loved.
21:25Something to look back on when he could no longer walk the fells.
21:31It was on Haystacks that A.W. took his final walk, with eyesight that had deteriorated too far for it to be safe any longer.
21:41He famously said,
21:43It's amazing to think that Wainwright was still walking when he was nearly 80.
21:58From the opening sentence of Book One, his motivation was clear.
22:04Surely there is no other place in this whole wonderful world quite like Lakeland.
22:10No other so exquisitely lovely.
22:12No other so charming.
22:14No other that calls so insistently across a gulf of distance.
22:17All who truly love Lakeland, our exiles went away from it.
22:29I can appreciate why Wainwright was so enchanted with Haystacks.
22:33And he never travelled abroad and I suppose when you've got this on your doorstep, why would you?
22:45Wainwright says that for a man trying to get persistent worry out of his mind, the top of Haystacks is a wonderful cure.
22:53I like that.
22:55Persistent worry.
22:57We've all got persistent worries, haven't we?
23:01Haven't we?
23:11Well, tempting as it is to linger.
23:13It's only 20 minutes to go.
23:15I'm reliably informed to the top.
23:17So let's get going.
23:23Ooh.
23:25So that's my first view of the summit.
23:28And there's the beautiful Ennerdale Valley which I know is a particularly quiet spot of the lakes because there's no vehicle access.
23:35But enough of that.
23:37More of that.
23:53There's no way to go.
23:54Oh, here's my first Lakeland summit.
23:55There is the cairn.
23:56Nearly there.
23:57Nearly.
23:58That's it.
23:59Oh.
24:00I've got to go.
24:01Oh.
24:02Here.
24:03Here we are.
24:04Here we are.
24:05My first Lakeland summit.
24:06And there is the cairn.
24:07Nearly there.
24:08Nearly there.
24:09Nearly.
24:11That's it.
24:12Oh.
24:13That's it.
24:14Oh.
24:15Oh.
24:16Oh.
24:17Oh.
24:18Oh.
24:19Oh.
24:20Oh.
24:21Oh.
24:22Oh, oh.
24:23Fantastic!
24:29It's an incredible feeling, it's exhilarating, exciting
24:33to have made it to your first proper summit.
24:43Hello, lakes!
24:53On reaching the top, what I've discovered and can appreciate
25:15is that this summit is more than a peak and a cairn.
25:19There are three tarns, plunging edges of the rocky crags
25:23and sumptuous views from every vantage point.
25:35Wainwright describes this as, in fact, the best fell top of all.
25:39A place of great charm and fairyland attractiveness.
25:43For beauty, variety and interesting detail.
25:47For sheer fascination and unique individuality,
25:51the summit of Haystacks is supreme.
25:53One can forget even a raging toothache on Haystacks.
25:57But we're not going to end our walk here.
25:59We're going to head over that way,
26:01to his final destination,
26:03innominate tarn.
26:13Such was his love of Haystacks,
26:15it was the place where he chose to have his ashes scattered.
26:17Alfred Wainwright died in 1991, aged 84.
26:29This is a fantastic introduction to the Lakeland Fells.
26:33Of all 214 fells in the Lake District,
26:35Haystacks clearly captured his heart and his imagination.
26:41And it's easy to see why.
26:43It's easy to see why he was able to find his own face.
26:45He was able to find his own face.
26:47He was able to find his own face.
26:49To the end of the day,
26:51he was able to find his own face.
26:53What is the view of Haystack?
26:55All I ask for at the end is a last long resting place by the side of a nominate
27:20tarn on haystacks where the water gently laps on the gravelly shore and the heather blooms
27:26and pillar and gable keep unfailing watch. A quiet place, a lonely place. I shall go to
27:33it for the last time and be carried. Someone who knew me in life will take me there and
27:38empty me out of a little box and leave me there alone. And if you, dear reader, should
27:44get a bit of grit in your boots as you're crossing haystacks in years to come, please
27:48treat it with respect. It might be me.
28:18In the end, Wainwright's widow, Betty, and his best friend granted his last wish. Wainwright
28:25said, a walk in Lakeland is like a walk in heaven. And I'm inclined to agree.
28:31Enjoy more Wainwright walks tomorrow at 7.30 here on BBC4.
28:38Wainwright walks tomorrow at 7.30 here on BBC4.
28:45Wainwright walks tomorrow at 7.30 here on BBC4.
28:53Wainwright