APPROACHING HEAVEN AT 57. Does that sound like a reasonable proposition for an irreverent rambler?
It’s this book’s fault. For me to get one of those ideas that just won’t go away, which happens quite often, admittedly, a few key factors are required:
It should be a challenge
It should be something new
It should include physical effort
It should have huge creative potential
It should spread connection & love
It should inspire a new website 
It should be passion-driven & fun
Surely not…
More concretely, I should be able to link it to writing 
, photography 
, painting 
, nature 
, walking 
, local curiosities 
and interesting encounters 
.
Now, that’s a lot of emojis to get getting on with! But when all of these are in place, in whatever proportions that may be, strange things happen. Often wonderful things.
It’s my hope that The Lakeland Chronicles will be a wonderful thing, and for me. great things are happening already. I say that with extreme modesty. It’s neither good nor bad. It simply is what it is. Some will like it and some won’t. That’s perfectly normal and just as it should be.
What’s wonderful’ to my eyes is that a few weeks ago I hadn’t been to the Lake District to see my folks for three years because of Covid. Before that, I hadn’t been there for decades.
I had no intention of ‘walking the Wainwrights’. I’d never heard of Barry Holmes or his book ‘Over The Hill At 60 Something?’ And I certainly had no plans to radically change the direction of my life from now on in a highly symbolic way.
Then, when escaping screaming kids and other concerned kin by browsing the hill-walking section of Bookends in Keswick, my eyes fell upon this strange beast!
I was looking for something hilly and rambly, but not just another boring walking guide, even something quirky, and this fit the description perfectly.
Over The Hill… isn’t a guide, as such, but it’s clearly a passion project. It was done by a less-young gent like myself, who had nevertheless set himself a formidable physical challenge, and an artistic one too. Mmm… like myself!
What’s more – and something I really admire – he’d pursued his dual dreams through to completion. That’s no small feat.
He finished all his runs – because he didn’t walk the Wainwrights, he ran them – and he wrote, designed and illustrated his record of it all too.
Now, here’s someone who can greatly inspire me to… something, I thought! I just didn’t yet know what.
The idea didn’t take long to rear its unruly head, though:
Doing the 214 Wainwrights, despite being far from rambling ready, living in France with dodgy knees: not so original but still a huge personal challenge.
Creating a blog, nay, a full-blown website to record my endeavours: still not too groundbreaking but, hey, that’s what I do every time I get a crazy new idea!
Photographing and writing about my adventures and encounters the way only I know how: it’s one of my favourite things.
As for the rest, I have no idea what will happen next, but things most surely will.
What’s wonderful is that soon after a long-overdue visit to my parents, perusing their dedicated Wainwright shelf, a burning feeling of ‘wanting to do something stirred. A chance encounter with Barry Holmes’ highly inspiring book followed quickly after.
Now, as I type, there exists a fresh new sweet-smelling website, a lively Facebook group, an Instagram page and a Twitter account, all under the banner of The Lakeland Chronicles, and you’re reading it!
You never know what’s going happen when you pop in to your local bookshop, and I reckon brave Bookends in Keswick is a mighty fine place to start!
Happy browsing!
The Laggard of Lakeland 
(Lakeland Chronicles No.19)
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Wainwright Log: 2 of 214 Fells Felled / 0 Books Bashed / Visit Log
