Probably one of the most exhausting walks I have done certainly whilst I was carrying forty five ponds on my back.

A small group of us from the rambling club decided that the Ennerdale Horseshoe was quite a test of character and endurance. It was a walk of about twenty miles including the assent of fifteen peaks, all but two over 2,000ft.

We drove over to the Lake District and parked our cars in the small hamlet of Seathwaite deep in the Borrowdale Valley on Friday, arriving around lunch time. After loading our rucksacks onto our backs we had a steady walk up the valley over Stockley Bridge following the Styhead Gill to our overnight wild camp on the shores of Sty head Tarn. After a restless sleep we set off on route to climb Great Gable 2,238ft via Windy Gap, we left Green Gable 2.238ft till our return leg on Sunday afternoon. It was a tough climb up the gulley of ‘Aaron Slack’ and one that got the heart rate pumping. There were some stunning views from the summit of ‘Great Gable’, but with the strengthening wind we didn’t hang around for too long. Our next peak was ‘Kirk Fell 2631ft’, it was a steep decent crossing the trail to the Black Sail Youth Hostel. It was an equally steep climb up to ‘Looking Stead’ passing ‘Robinson Cairn’, It was another haul along the high level route passing ‘Robinson Cairn’ on to the summit of ‘Pillar 2,927ft’. After a break for a drink of water and some salt tablets we continued downhill to windy gap and the rough steep climb up to the summit of ‘Steeple 2759ft’. The ground underfoot was quite unstable in places and lots of care needed to be taken. From ‘Steeple’ it was another steep decent and a tough assent up to the summit of ‘Haycock 2615ft’. From the summit it was a steady gently walk descending in height till we reached the shore of Ennerdale Water. It was another four miles before we reached Ennerdale Bridge and our camp for the night. I remember drinking copious amounts of water supplemented with salt tablets to replace the fluids I had sweated out of my system during the day.

After an evening meal in the local hostelry we had an early and restless night sleep, my whole body ached, especially my back, knees and shoulders.  I was up the following morning and had a light breakfast supplemented with a couple of cups of tea. Sunday was going to be a tough day with the majority of the climbing towards the end of the walk.

It was a long and pleasant walk up to the summit of ‘Great Bourne 2021ft’, the views looking back over towards Ennerdale Bridge and across Ennerdale Lake were breath-taking. After a breather on the summit of ‘Great Bourne’ we had a slight descent and long haul up to the summit of ‘Starling Dodd 2815ft’, from ‘Starling Dodd’ it was a steady walk following the contours past ‘Little Dodd’ before the steep climb to the summit of ‘Red Pike 2477ft’. From the summit of ‘Red Pike’ we continued along the high level route passing ‘Chapel Crags’ and ‘High Stile 2648ft ’ skirting past the ‘Burtness Comb’ to ‘High Crag 2441ft’. From ‘High Crag’ we maintained our height to ‘Seat’ before the steep descent to Scarth Gap Pass’. By now I and the rest of our team were feeling quite exhausted and it was a tough climb up to the summit of ‘Haystacks 1959ft’. It was a steady descent from ‘Haystacks’ before the climb up to the summit of ‘Brandreth 2346ft’. The view from the summit looking over ‘Sour Milk Gill’ was breath-taking.  Our final summit was now well within view, but it was a long drawn out descent before a steep climb to the summit of ‘Green Gable 2628ft’. The views from the summit were amazing, as were the number of other walkers on the summit. We rested for about twenty minutes before the trek down from ‘Green Gable’, following the trail around the back of ‘Base Brown’ and eventually our cars which we had left parked in Seathwaite.

An amazing weekend, my body has never been through such discomfort since, fortunately within a few days we were planning our next expedition.