Catbells Wainwright Walks

Nestled in the far Northwest of England, this is the Lake District.

A land defined by its natural beauty.

And known to millions who loved the Lakes was the late Alfred Wainwright,

author, guide writer and talented artist.

But above all, he was the greatest fell walker.

Wainwright's guides have inspired generations of walkers to roam these glorious fells.

And now, a century after his birth,

it's my turn to go in search of the real Wainwright experience.

I'm starting today's walk down there,

in the bustling tourist town of Keswick in the heart of the Northern Lakes.

It's where Wainwright famously enjoyed his favourite fish and chips.

I'm heading over Derwentwater and up Catbells to discover

why Wainwright thought this was the perfect family fell.

The perfect walk for grandparents and little 'uns alike.

Keswick is a popular base for travelling across the Lake District,

and so it's no surprise that it plays host

to over a million visitors of all ages every year.

Catbells is one of the most photographed viewpoints in the Lake District.

Wainwright recommends that you sail across the lake here.

He says it makes the expedition "rewarding out of all proportion

"to the small effort needed".

"Even the name has a magic challenge."

With such popularity, Catbells is one fell where you're guaranteed

the company of other walkers along the way,

which wouldn't have been to Wainwright's taste elsewhere in the Lakes.

That's the profile of Catbells,

and Wainwright says in his opening page for this fell,

"Words cannot adequately describe the rare charm of Catbells,

"nor its ravishing view.

"But no publicity is necessary.

"Its mere presence in the Derwentwater scene is enough."

"It has a bold, 'come-hither' look that compels one's steps,

"and no suitor ever returns disappointed."

"It is only to be seen from Friar's Crag and a spell is cast.

"No Keswick holiday is consummated without a trip to Catbells."

I'm taking Wainwright's advice and travelling across the lake.

But before I do, let's take a look at the route ahead.

Taking the launch, I'll travel across Derwentwater,

passing a number of small islands,

each with their own histories and individual beauties.

My walk begins at the lakeside jetty at Hawse End.

The path here takes me through woodland

before reaching the foot of Catbells.

Here the path splits in two,

and I'll follow the route up the engineered zigzag path,

up the north breast of the fell.

The path is interrupted by a short scramble up a polished rock face...

..before reaching a stony plateau.

From here, I'll walk along the top of the distinctive steady ridge

which gives Catbells its famous profile.

It has three distinct impressions

before reaching a heavily eroded tower of rock,

which takes me on a steep climb to reach the rugged and exposed summit.

Frank Harrison, a local guide, has agreed to join me on my trip across Derwentwater.

Frank, you've been a guide in these parts for nearly 50 years.

Things must have changed an awful lot in that time.

Well, I started in the '50s.

There were no tracks as today, where they have deliberately gone out,

the National Trust, and made paths.

-You made your own path.

-As Wainwright did.

-Yes.

I was a guide at the time.

15 to 2,000 miles a year, I walked.

-So, I was...

-You're giving me a run for my money.

I would have done then.

Here we are on the beautiful Derwentwater.

Everything is working in our favour. The weather's good.

Tell me some of the stories as we move through this stretch of water.

Through this stretch of water here,

comes to Friar's Crag.

And Friar's Crag, it was regarded by Ruskin

as the most beautiful view down the lake in the Lake District.

Two famous people from these parts, Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth.

There's a nice Beatrix Potter story in connection with Catbells.

Beatrix Potter, of course, Fawe Park, which is over there.

They came and stayed at Fawe Park a number of times...

..and of course it has a walled garden.

And the story of Peter Rabbit and the walled garden

started over in that spot.

When you climb Catbells

and you look down,

you will see Little Town,

and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle lived above Little Town.

-Mrs Tiggy-Winkle?

-Yes.

The island, which is Herbert's Island,

that is also where Squirrel Nutkin used to go to collect the nuts.

If you believe that, you'll believe anything.

The Cumbrian mountains are older than the Alps

and older than the Himalayan mountains.

Not only that, they were as high as the Alps.

Possibly to the height of Everest.

They have lost, if charges are correct, they have lost up to 27,000 feet.

There's a book out already saying that they are still coming down.

Eventually, there will be no Lake District.

They will level out and fill all the lakes.

Let's hope that's long, long, long after our time.

We won't be around when it happens.

That's what they claim is likely to happen.

If you consider that this is only 17 feet at the best,

that's a very shallow lake.

There you have Castle Crag, looking down there.

Looking gorgeous.

Frank, that, so far, is one of my favourite walks, Castle Crag. It's a little gem, isn't it?

Yes, it is a very good one.

Catbells coming up behind us.

Described as a family walk, would you agree with that?

Difficult, really. Although it is a family mountain,

at 1,500ft, just under, not too high,

you've got to be careful where you put your feet on it.

They've made, again, vast differences over the last 30 years.

From the day when you walked on Rock Ridge, in order to get down,

they've moved stuff and it's better for the family today

than it was 30 to 40 years ago.

What else about Catbells do you think

is so alluring to people?

I think, it's close to Keswick.

It's under 1,500 feet.

You think, as you said earlier, that it's just a family walk.

But there's no question about it, there's a lot of rock there.

Wainwright - I come back to Wainwright -

he didn't envisage that anyone would take any book

and make it into

a directory for all of the mountains.

Do you think he didn't? I think this is his legacy. I think he knew.

Well, the point is, people do use the book without a map,

then they get stuck.

If you're going to use Wainwright's book, you have got to use a map at the same time.

-Take your OS map with you as well.

-You must.

What advice do you have for me when I tackle Catbells?

I think you should set yourself a pace

that is the same pace

when you're going up, on the level and coming down.

Frank, thank you very much.

-The pleasure is all mine.

-And I know where to come

if I need to know anything about the Lake District.

-I hope so. I hope you enjoy the walk.

-I certainly will.

-See you, Frank!

-Bye!

Well, this is Hawse End, which is my stop.

And through those trees should be the beginning of the walk.

The one thing everybody seems to know about Wainwright is he liked to walk alone.

He didn't like to be disturbed or approached.

He wanted to focus all his energies on getting every detail to put into these.

But Catbells was the one walk

where he actively encouraged families to follow in his footsteps.

"Catbells is one of the great favourites,

"a family fell where grandmothers and infants can climb the fell together,

"a place beloved."

Here there are two paths both marked in the guide, but Wainwright says the zigzag route is exquisite,

a much more enjoyable start to the ascent.

So that's got to be the way.

This specially laid-out route is known as Woodford's Path

after its creator, Sir John Woodford.

He was an army major-general and veteran of Waterloo

who had a summer home at Derwent Bay near the launch landing.

He used his experience of digging trenches and making defences

to engineer this impressive path,

purely to use on excursions from his home.

His efforts paid off. More than 130 years later, people are still enjoying it.

Wainwright even went on to describe it as an enchanted stairway.

There are so many ways to enjoy the Lakeland fells.

Some people aren't happy with views from the summits.

It's not as easy as you might expect.

And...it's gone a little bit windy.

Despite being a family walk, Wainwright detailed the crags and caverns on this fell side.

A reminder of centuries of mining, and a warning to walkers.

"This fell is not quite so innocuous as is usually thought,

"and grandmothers and infants should take care as they romp around."

That looks like a bit of a scramble up ahead.

Time to get the hands dirty.

The rock here has become really polished, actually.

All the walkers over the years doing exactly what I'm doing.

There's a plaque here.

"Thomas Arthur Leonard, father of the Open Air Movement".

Leonard is known as "the father of hiking", responsible for getting

the Ramblers' Association under way in 1891.

He pioneered country holidays for families

from the industrial centres of 19th century Britain.

These were for families from similar backgrounds to Wainwright's own humble origins in Blackburn.

And there...

..is the first view of the summit.

It's amazing you can be so close

to all the creature comforts of Keswick

and yet, within about half an hour, you get to a viewpoint like this.

In one direction, there are fine views across Derwentwater to Blencathra,

or Saddleback, as it's sometimes known.

Standing behind Keswick is the giant peak of Skiddaw,

and looking north towards Bassenthwaite Lake,

the valley looks straight down to the Solway Firth

and the Scottish hills beyond.

The name "Catbells" has got people divided, but Wainwright commits to his view here.

He says it might well be a corruption of "catbeales"

- that means "shelter" - "the shelter of the wild cat,

"although this has been disputed by authorities of repute."

"Scenes of great beauty unfold on all sides,

"and they are scenes in depth to a degree not usual.

"On this side the hamlet of Little Town is well seen down below,

"a charming picture.

"But it is to Derwentwater and mid Borrowdale

"that the captivated gaze returns again and again."

Gets a bit steep here,

and it's a bit disconcerting that you lose the summit behind this outcrop.

This area was once home to a booming mining industry.

Today, almost all mining has ceased,

but its legacy is still visible on the landscape.

-Hi, Ian.

-Hi. You all right?

-Good to see you.

Ian Tyler is the curator of Keswick's mining museum,

and is here to tell me a bit more about the history that lies beneath the fells.

It's a history that dates back to the 16th century and this very fell,

when Queen Elizabeth imported her miners from Germany.

This is where the Germans actually started to mine in Cumbria.

The reason why they were here was because of Queen Elizabeth.

She desperately needed copper, she desperately needed lead,

and the Germans had the expertise.

They were the finest.

They were about 150 years ahead of us,

and they had the ability to not only dig and prospect,

they also had the ability to smelt the ore.

Anybody can dig things out the ground, but you've got to be able to smelt it.

And they built, in fact, the biggest smelt mill in Europe,

just over in Keswick at Brigham.

Wainwright's made a few references to the mining history of Cumbria.

Now, this is a relatively small fell compared to most,

but there are many mines along here, aren't there?

There certainly are. There's about four different veins

coursing through the fell, but lower down here we've got Old Brandley,

and then further on we've got Brandlehow.

But the biggest mine on the fell, right under the summit of Catbells,

is Yewthwaite Mine, which is round about 1,000 feet in vertical height.

So, when we get up to the summit, there's 1,000 feet underneath us of mineshaft?

Yes, a hole, a great big gash, wider than this and much deeper.

There are some villages that wouldn't be here if it wasn't for mining.

Absolutely. Right throughout the Lake District. You've got Coniston,

which was one of the first haunts of the German miners -

they were there for 50 years and set up an incredible industry

and, of course, that brought people in,

cos the farmers have got to come in to feed the people.

You've got Caldbeck likewise in the Northern Fells, Threlkeld

and indeed Keswick itself.

Because when you walk across the Fells,

you see hints of the mining industry that was,

but you'd never know it was so prolific.

Absolutely. I mean, we mined 20 different commercial minerals here,

and through 400 years, we created and dug out these minerals,

created fabulous wealth and employment.

In 1900, half the male population was working in mining.

It's incredible, isn't it?

It is. It just so happens

I have a very good sample of what was here, and it was lead.

You carried lead in your backpack, Ian?

Yeah, just specially for you!

Blimey! Well, thank you, because the one thing I do know is it's going to be heavy.

There we are. This is the lead here.

Whoa!

Lead was used for

many different things - windows, church roofs,

lead piping,

but most important of all, probably, musket balls and bullets.

How much lead was mined?

Well, literally thousands of tonnes.

Probably round about 50,000 to 70,000 tonnes in the 1850s.

Within the lead there was silver.

-Mm-hm.

-And the silver belonged to Queen Elizabeth I,

and all the silver went down to the Royal Mint.

I'm going to let you hold that! It's heavy.

And the silver went down to the Royal Mint and was turned into coin.

Another valuable mineral - copper.

Absolutely, and that is really why the German miners were here.

Mmm...

This is the copper that the Germans came to mine.

-It just looks like gold.

-It does, doesn't it?

Sadly, it isn't.

And what we were going to do with it was to de-silver our coinage.

Queen Elizabeth desperately needed more money,

and the problem was that our little rogues and vagabonds

were nicking, literally, our silver coinage.

They were clipping it so it was getting smaller and smaller.

The idea was to take some copper, 15%, put it in the coinage

and that would give her the 10 or the 15% silver back into the coffers,

and that would then go into armaments and defence of the realm.

So it was very, very important.

She could recoup her losses.

Ian, thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Can I keep that as a memento?

-Of course you can.

-It's beautiful.

Nowhere in the whole of the Lakes is there a better example

of how the old industry of mining has been replaced by the new industry of tourism.

Where once we'd have been looking at filthy miners

trudging their way up to the various shafts and workings,

we now see similar hordes of people walking the fells for fun.

No wonder the paths and the stones are so worn.

Catbells has been witness to the full onslaught of Lake District industry for centuries.

"Silence is always more profound in places where there was once noise."

Oh, look.

When you're up on the top of this fell, you don't expect to see the sheep,

but there they are.

It just doesn't seem wild enough for them.

I'll follow them.

The path along this ridge is straight and uncomplicated.

You've got terrific views of the valleys on one side.

Look out across the water on the other side,

and straight ahead, the path goes all the way to the summit.

And sometimes that's really satisfying, especially when you've got a tired body and aching legs.

It's possible to find quiet anywhere in the Lakes,

even on a fell as popular as this and so close to the busy town of Keswick.

This is the valley that houses Little Town which, as Frank told us,

is where Mrs Tiggy-Winkle lives.

Beatrix Potter, rabbits, that kind of thing.

The profile of Catbells even featured as an illustration

in one of Beatrix Potter's children's books.

But with the summit back in sight,

I'm almost at the end and it's the final push to reach the top.

The summit cone is reached by a final rocky stairway,

which is heavily eroded

where walkers have sought out easier routes up,

almost mirroring the internal scars of this old industrial landscape.

As you get closer to the top, you begin to understand

what Wainwright meant

when he said it isn't as innocuous as it first looks.

Oh.

Last scramble for the top.

Catbells is so appealing and offers so much

that its reputation predates even AW.

He was powerless to make much of an impact here,

simply because this fell's popularity was already well-established.

Hey, hey!

Wow, the summit's not what you expect at all.

I thought it would be grassy, and it's all rugged rock underfoot.

And it's small. I think this is the smallest summit I've been on.

Small summit, big views.

"The summit, which has no cairn, is a small platform of naked rock,

"light brown in colour and seamed and pitted

"with many tiny hollows and crevices that collect and hold rainwater,

"so that, long after the skies have cleared,

"glittering diamonds adorn the crown."

"Almost all of the native vegetation has been scoured away

"by the varied footgear of countless visitors

"that often it is difficult to find a vacant perch.

"In the summer, it is not a place to seek quietness."

It's a very different sense of achievement from conquering one of the big Lakeland fells.

You can get to the top of Catbells in under an hour,

or it can be the pinnacle of a grand family day out.

Either way, when you are here,

you get the full flavour of the Lake District,

for young and old.

The joy of Catbells is in its accessibility,

a simple fell that offers it all - lake, town,

nearby fells, impressive views with distant panoramas,

a great walk and an occasional scramble.

Catbells has been a favourite in Keswick

since the dawn of fell-walking, and today it's easy to see why.

So now I'm going to head down in the sunshine, the perfect ending

to what Wainwright called "a truly lovely walk".

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.