Cumbria
275 km / 171 miles
This 'pilgrimage' offers the walker a varied experience of the English Lake District. Starting and finishing at the creator?s home in Long Sleddale the route meanders around the district over a variety of terrain, taking in popular mountain summits as well as unfrequented corners, and visiting many of its iconic locations. The creator would like to hear from anyone planning to do the route - search for Supplier ?John Fleetwood?.
This is a demanding route with around 60,000 ft (over 18,000 metres) of ascent and requires good navigational skills. It takes an exploratory approach, combining rough, pathless terrain with well trodden paths over major summits. There are 20 rock scrambles, although all these can be circumvented. You will need to use your own judgement. Rock climbing experience is necessary for the harder scrambles and most will prefer the comfort of a rope, but all scrambles can be bypassed and alternatives are described. There are suggestions of how it can be done in stages over 7 or 12 days or over 3 weekends, but many walkers may want to take longer than that.
This is not a typical well-trodden 'Pilgrims Route'. A pilgrim is someone who goes on a long journey to a sacred place. For a mountain pilgrim, that sacred place is the mountains. The Lakeland Pilgrimage is an initiative of Mountain Pilgrims, which is an emerging community of people that share a sense of awe in the mountains. The Lake District doesn't boast any official cathedrals but it does lay claim to several natural cathedrals that inspire awe and crown the fells. The Pilgrimage visits seven of these 'cathedrals'. A quote from John Muir perhaps sums it up: "We?d rather be in the mountains thinking of God, than in church thinking about the mountains."
Information on the route is on the website below that includes background information, free downloads, an inspirational film, and links to associated social media pages. There are also trackfiles available.
Details:
| Path Type: |
Anytime Challenges |
| Attributes: |
Anytime Challenges
Very Challenging
Mountain
National Park
Pilgrimage
|
| Start and Finish: |
SD523992 -
Garnett Bridge, Cumbria
|
| Open Date: |
2016 |
| Web Sites: |
A Lakeland Pilgrimage
|
