Ten years ago Storm Abigail chased me off this ridge before I ever reached Pavey Ark. This time I climb Jack’s Rake to get there the best way: up through the crowds and the Highland cattle by Stickle Ghyll, a brew stop at Stickle Tarn, then a scramble with a two-hundred-year-old rowan tree rooted halfway up it. Pavey Ark gets summited in style.
I climb the Langdale Pikes with barely any experience, scramble up a gully Wainwright himself suggested, and lose my way on the descent as Storm Abigail rolls in. My phone dies, my map turns to pulp in the rain, and I spend a long hour working out which way is down. It’s the walk that pushed me to get proper training in mountain navigation.
I’ve been coming to the Lake District since before I could walk it, and I’ve now stood on all 214 Wainwrights. This isn’t another “top things to see” list — it’s what 50 years of actually spending time in this place has taught me.
Here’s everything I take wild camping on a standard one-nighter, sorted into five kit categories so you can see exactly where the weight goes. It’s the same sort of list I check my own bag against before every trip, and the same one I hand to clients before a Wild Camping Workshop.