The Patterdale Parish Boundary Challenge is a VERY big day walk.  It starts and ends in Patterdale, a picturesque village next to Ullswater in the Lake District.  But the challenge itself is no walk in the park: it is nearly 30 miles long over 20 summits with 10,200 feet of ascent.  It takes in some of Lakes’ most iconic mountains including Helvellyn, Fairfield and High Street.  Liz, Mein, Anne & Dave decided to tackle it on Saturday 14th September as part of JCM’s Walk With Us Challenge 2019.

With only 14 hours of daylight, the team set off in the dark at 3:30am to climb the mountains to the west of Patterdale.  This meant that they enjoyed a stunning sunrise from Helvellyn Lower Man, with a breathtaking temperature inversion stretching all the way to Lake Windermere.

After such a promising start to the day the cloud came down and the wind picked up, making progress a battle.  It was especially tricky on the steep scree ascents where one step up could lead to being blown back down.  The team took refuge in the snug emergency shelter to down some calories before tackling Fairfield.

Sadly Liz and Mein had to leave at the foot of Red Screes and head back to Patterdale by the Kirkstone Pass.  By this point they had already walked 21 miles and conquered 13 of the summits.  A truly heroic effort, especially considering that Liz’s boots were now held together with sticky plasters and they had had significantly less sleep than Dave and Anne.

So the Bells were left to tackle the remaining 7 mountains.  After a very difficult climb onto Thornthwaite Crag they were able to march on in the evening light, enjoying beautiful views of Angle Tarn and summitting the final peak, Place Fell at dusk.  The descent back into Patterdale was a very tricky piece of navigation through bracken in the dark.  They arrived back at 9:35pm, footsore and weary but with the satisfaction of having completed the challenge.