NORTHERN WAINWRIGHTS – IN A DAY

13th December 2025

The aim of the day was to complete all the Northern Wainwrights in a day by means of running and yomping. The circular route took in 24 Wainwrights including some of the most exciting the lakes has to offer such as Blencathra and Skiddaw. The 46 mile route had a total elevation gain of 15,000 foot. In total this took 14 hours and 2 minutes, averaging 18:08 / mile.

Set out at the foot of Binsey just after 4am with fellow Cumberland Fell Runner (CFR) Mylo Jewell. It was raining and had been most of the night, the rain stopped at 5am. The rest of the day was calm, and sunny with a windy finale. We made good time up Binsey and along the road to the bottom of Longlands Fell. The terrain was easy going until Carrock Fell where there was a few bogs en route. Navigation wasn’t too bad as there was no fog.

Our very steep, slippy, off piste  descent down Carrock, towards the River Caldew seen our first obstacle of the day. We had to get over the river which was pretty deep, we managed to find a section that was knee height. We got over without falling into the river, which was a good bonus. I almost slipped , if so this could have been an issue as it was pretty cold.

The ascent up to Bowscale at 702m from the river at 280m was the first big slog of the day, it started off steep up a grass bank for a few hundred metres then it evened out a bit. It started getting light half way up and the torches could be put away until the evening. There was then a long runnable section to Bannerdale and down to River Glenderamackin via quite a long steep, grassy descent which I had been looking forward to. There was a bridge here so we didn’t need to wade through the river this time. I was feeling really good at this point and we were making great time, around 4mph for the first 15 or so miles.

 We then had an out and back to Souther fell,  We then had the second biggest climb of the day onto Blencathra via scales Fell. This was the first tough climb of the day where I had to put my big boy pants on. Mylo was leaving after Blencathra after running around 21 Miles. Callum Norris then met us just before the summit of Blencathra. We descended down towards Mungrisedale common where I soon realised I had lost my phone. Luckily my Garmin watch has “find my phone” and it took me back to where my phone was located. Very lucky , I had however forgot to zip my pouch up where I had my Voom bars which were now missing somewhere on the fell. Home made Flapjack it was from then on.

The sun was out and we made good time down  Mungrisedale, heading North then North West from Blencathra summit. I lost most of my right leg in a bog and got stuck for a little while, I got cramp in my groin trying to pull myself out. We ran down Glendaterra with Lonscale fell on our right. We met Sean and Hughie Pollen before the ascent up Latrigg. We had a gentle jog up onto Latrigg where we then met my Dad and Brother at the carpark who were bringing Winston, my Border Terrier who is a monster on the fells. He has completed all the Wainwrights bar 3 and he has destroyed 16 Munro’s with the recent being the Ben Lawers 7, a 24 mile beasting.

After a quick re supply of water and a wrap, we set on up Jenkin Hill. With 26 mile in the legs this felt like a slog. We were coming upto the hardest section of the day with lots of big climbs and descents in a short distance. From Lonscale we ascended Little man , Almost upto the summit of Skiddaw and had a fast descent down to Carl Side via the scree from Skiddaw.

We then lost even  more height as we had to summit Dodd. We had to then regain all the lost height to summit the ridge of Long side and Ullock Pike, then back up onto Skiddaw which took us to the highest point of the day. 

We summited Skiddaw at 15.00 after being on the go for 11 hours. This felt like it was now in the bag as we now had to gradually lose height with a few more climbs. We didn’t have much daylight left. We headed down towards Bakestall and then east along Cumbria Way to start the boggy climb up Great Calva. It was really windy on the top and you could instantly feel the chill. I was pleased I had my running pants on at this point. This is where the head torch came back out, which was a bit of a downer as I was hoping to finish in the light. But never mind, we plow on. Callum Norris left us here after a total of 27M ran by the time he got back to the Blencathra centre.

That was now 22 Wainwrights completed , with 2 left to go. The last 2 Wainwrights , Meal Fell and GreatCockup felt like a slog with having 40 plus miles in the legs and almost 15,000 ft of climbing.  The last few miles from Great Calva was mainly bog and grass. The descent off Great Cockup was great and if the legs were fresh this could be walloped at some speed.

I found the day excellent and it was even better due to the weather, which is rare for December. But the day was made more memorable with the fellow runners I spent it with : Mylo, for the first 20 miles needs extra kudos for setting off at 4am and also in the rain. He’s joined me now on some pretty good slogs and it’s exciting to see what the future has in store for him.

Thanks to Calum for coming out again on one of the long slogs. I need to repay him back , perhaps a Bob Graham leg support in the future.?

Thanks to Sean and Hughie Pollen for coming out for the last 20 miles, was good crack and the last 5 or 6 miles or so in the dark would definitely have been torture if I was alone.

I also got to spend another 6 or 7 hours with the High Altitude Border Terrier , Winston. He joins me on most of my adventures and he really is my best friend. Also big thanks to Johnny , my brother and my Dad for road supporting at Latrigg.

Until the next one, but for now I think a rest has been earned some Christmas Beers.