Sunday 9th September 2018. An ascent of King’s How 392m/66m and Brund Fell 416m/38m on Grange Fell, Central Fells, Lake District, England, from Borrowdale. 7.9km, with 525m of ascent. 4 hours 0mins.

I had set 9th September as the date when I planned to ascend my 2000th hill in the British list of Tumps (on which see at
http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/Tumps.php?ct=SEWM), thereby gaining entry to the Relative Hills Society’s (RHSoc) TumpHof (on which, see at http://www.rhb.org.uk/tumps/).

As my 2000th Tump, I chose King’s How, one of the tops on the craggy plateau that sits between Borrowdale and Troutdale in the Central Fells of the Lake District. It had much to recommend it. The ascent, though not arduous, was an interesting one by a circuitous route to avoid the crags and cliffs on its western flank. In addition, there was a large car park at its base, and plenty of good eating places nearby at which I could celebrate afterwards.

After posting an invite in various places on social media, used by my fellow hill-walkers, I waited to see who would be able to attend. As it turned out, the date was not a good one, as many of the regulars for events like this were elsewhere. I did receive many words of warm encouragement from those who could not attend. By the day before, I had had only two confirmations and one cancellation. The weather forecast also had an impact on attendance. It was not the conditions I had been hoping for.

I arrived at the Bowder Stone car park in Borrowdale shortly before 11:30 to find JdF and DB ready and waiting, despite the sheets of rain and hill-fog blowing in on a strong south-westerly wind. The forecast indicated some improvement in the conditions around lunchtime, so we retired to the Borrowdale Hotel for coffee, to await developments.

We returned to the car park an hour later, avoiding the hefty £7.50 daily parking charge, as we are members of the National Trust and National Trust for Scotland. After a false start on a steep slippery path, obviously used by rock climbers to scale the nearby quarry cliff, JdF found the right path and we got underway. It led north over a beck into a wooded clearing below the quarry cliff, with a huge boulder in its midst. It then swung east up over heath-land to reach a wall. Now heading south, we ascended steeply through the woods to emerge on a moor. The crag-girt summit of King’s How was now only a few hundred metres away to the south-west. The trail took a circuitous route, to avoid the necessity of rock climbing, up to a shoulder where there was a memorial stone inserted into the rock face. It was dedicated to King Edward VII by his sister Louise (see at https://www.visitcumbria.com/kes/edward-vii-monument-grange-fell/).

JdF and DB continued the short distance up to the un-marked summit, as a squall of rain hit us. I followed, keeping to the traditions on events of this type. Despite the weather, it was a good place to join the TumpHof, with moody views in all directions. Another group arrived, so we left the summit for them to enjoy in peace while we retired to the memorial stone to shelter from the wind and rain-showers. In the rush to get out the house that morning, I had forgotten to pack the items often produced for these events – cake and whisky. With great luck, JdF was equipped with the former and DB with the latter, for which I am most grateful to them. At least I had packed, and was wearing, an ancient pair of green shorts I have worn before for most of my ‘topping-out’ events, so my own tradition was maintained, even if the weather was not the best that day for such attire.

We continued on our way south-east, dropping down on a narrow path to a wall, working our way around the east flank of Brund Fell and north to its fine spiky summit, defended by rough crags. This was my 196th of the 214 fells in Alfred Wainwight’s Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells. As is the way with hill-bagging, once one objective is reached, one sets one’s sights on the next. The view was not as extensive as on King’s How, but the ever-changing light conditions made for good photography. We chatted with a young American couple from California who arrived on the summit, comparing the usually clement weather conditions on the mountains of their home state with that typical of the Lakeland fells. For pictures relating to our ascent of Brund Fell, see at https://peakery.com/grange-fell-brund-fell-united-kingdom/summits/182058/.


Time was getting on, and the weather was turning worse. I abandoned my plan to push on to Great Crag. We headed south to join the path that connects Rosthwaite in Borrowdale with Watendlath, turning right to follow it west towards the valley. Halfway down we took a branch trail north-west through woodland to the road. A narrow path across a beck through bracken seemed the best way of avoiding a road-walk of over a kilometre back to the car park, visiting the famous Bowder Stone en route. As I crossed the stream I slipped on slimy rocks, plunging headlong into the water downstream. I became wedged between the boulders on either side of the beck. My companions managed to drag me upright by pulling on my rucksack. I was soaked through and briefly in shock, but mercifully largely unhurt. I had had a lucky escape, as I was due to fly out to Crete on a walking holiday two days later.

We abandoned the slippery path and walked along the side of the road back to our cars. Dried out, I retired with my companions for a celebratory meal in the Borrowdale Hotel before heading home to North Wales, to make ready for my trip to Crete.