The obviously aspirational one that leaps right off the page is “Cross Fell” – oh what am I letting myself in for here? As much as I would like to hear the “Helm Wind” in action, I’m not going to do so as it’s quite cold up there at most times of the year let alone when the Helm Wind is in action at around April – May so I figured that late summer would be a far better time of year to go and get lost within seventy feet of being a Marylin / Munro / Fred or whatever the heck people want to classify peaks as!

Talking of “Fred” he (Fred Talbot) is the inspiration behind my wanting to walk Clougha Pike. I saw on one of the Sky lifestyle channels a couple of years back; his journey up to the summit of Clougha and thought that I would like to do that some day soon.

I think that this is the year that I will be fully exploring Pendle Hill. I’ve already done the Barley main two of Via Pendle House and via Boar Clough this year so that leaves me with another couple still to aim at: from the Nick Of Pendle and from Pendleton (supposedly the hardest route). I want also to explore the foothills of Pendle; Stang Moor Top, Ogden Hill and Barley Hill, using foot and bridal paths of a lesser quality than the main tourist ones in fine weather it should be doable.

However, it’s all well and good to dedicate a lot of time to one hill (Wainwright spent months doing Blencathara), but not if it’s going to impact on my overall peak count – and that has been just awful for well over a year now. I want to do Cross Fell and have wanted to do so for a long time now, there are limitations that have to be considered:

1. It’s 110 miles to Kirkland, double that and you have a full tank of petrol gone.
2. It’s 110 miles to Kirkland – that makes for an extremely early set off, there is always the option of booking into an hotel in Penrith for the weekend but this then adds to the overall cost of the outing.
3. The shortest route that I have found is 14.5Km – the longest that I have ever walked off-road is just shy of this figure but up and down an hill almost half of the daunting 2,930 feet.

Some things to take into account I’m sure you’ll agree.

So, here’s the proposed agenda until the end of the walking year in early December: