Lakes - Bob Graham Round - Venture

Summary

A 77 mile route that follows the Bob Graham Round in the Lake District and completed over 10 days. The walk includes summiting 42 fells amounting to 8,828 metres of ascent. Normally the route is attempted as a fell running challenge; the idea to complete it within 24 hours. I’ll leave that particular constraint and challenge to a later date! Officially, the walk starts and finishes at the Moot Hall  in Keswick. Due to personal logistics and convenience, I  started the round at Grasmere. I  also chose to complete the walk in a clockwise direction which is the same direction as the fell runners. My walk was split into 2 backpacking trips: 

• Part 1 - Grasmere To Keswick - 6 days 

• Part 2 - Keswick To Grasmere - 4 days 

Walkers may want to separate the walk into two parts (as above), or just concatenate the two together. Part 1 contains some scrambly sections (see later) and may present difficulties for those who wouldn’t want to attempt them with a heavy backpack. Part 2 is relatively easier and shouldn’t present any problems to a backpacker. There isn’t actually an official route; runners/walkers can use whatever paths they want to tick the peaks. Where possible,  I’ve bypassed some scrambly areas, but note that sometimes they were unavoidable 

Bob Graham Round Short History 

Bob Graham was a Keswick hotelier and completed a round of 42 Lake District peaks in 24 hours on his 42nd birthday. Over 2,500 fell runners have managed to complete the challenge now, although two out of every three attempts fail. The fastest time to complete the challenge is 12 hours 23 minutes, set by Jack Kuenzle in 2022. I can’t really get my head around that time; it seems impossible. 

Itinerary Summary

This particular version of the BGR starts at Grasmere and heads up the first peak, Steel Fell. It then heads westwards and southwards to bag the collection of peaks in the Langdales. Working around the head of the Langdale valley it climbs to the Scafell plateau, ticking the top of the highest peak in England, Scafell Pike. After the tricky traverse to Scafell the route drops into Wasdale, before climbing up to Yewbarrow and starting a spectacular high level round of the peaks surrounding the Mosedale valley. After Great Gable, the route heads north to the top of Honister Pass and makes its way over to the Newlands valley via Robinson. At last, there’s a long flattish section that  heads into Keswick. After Keswick, the route heads northwards to bag mighty Skiddaw. It then ventures eastwards to Great Calva, before turning south to Blencathra. The A66 is crossed to its south and a climb reaches the summit of Clough Head. From here, there’s a wonderful high level ridge walk southwards that takes in the Dodds and Helvellyn range. After dropping down to Grizedale Tarn, the route climbs Seat Sandal and Fairfield before dropping down to Grasmere and the finish. 

Notes

Where To Start...

I started at Grasmere because it was easier to get to than Keswick from Windermere railway station. The fell running challenge starts from the Moot Hall in Keswick. To be honest, from a walking point of view, it doesn’t really matter where you start the trail; choose the most convenient spot. 

Supplies

There aren’t that many places to resupply enroute and so you should prepare to carry supplies of food. Possible resupply points are: 

• Day 1 - Grasmere - Co-Op and cafes. 

• Day 3 - Wasdale NT Campsite shop - open to non-campers. Check opening times. Wasdale Inn (2 mile out-and-back off route). 

• Day 5 - Honister Slate Mine café. 

• Day 6 - Keswick - Booths supermarket, cafes and bakeries. 

Water

The BGR is generally at a high level and there were quite a few places to filter water. The ‘dry’ areas were:

• Day 2 to 3 - Ore Gap to Mickledore 

• Day 4 - Wasdale to Kirk Fell 

• Day 4 to 6 - Kirk Fell  to Keswick. N.B. I bought very expensive bottled water from the Honister Slate Mine café to top-up my supplies. 

Campsites

I stayed at the following campsites: 

• Day 3 - NT Wasdale  - good campsite with great facilities and shop, but very expensive (£19 - 2026). A sign said that the campsite was full, but on enquiry they appeared to let backpackers camp…so always worth asking. 

Wildcamps

I wildcamped at the following locations:

• Day 1 - Greenup Edge - there are plenty of pitching options. 

• Day 2 - Allen Crags -  there are plenty of pitching options. 

• Day 4 - Kirk Fell - stony plateau, but there's a good pitch next to Kirkfell Tarn. 

• Day 5 - Robinson  - plenty of pitches, although rather stony and exposed. If there’s bad weather, potentially you might drop down to pitch in Little Dale to the east of Robinson. 

Transport

I found it easiest to get the train to Windermere and either the Stagecoach 559 or 555 bus to Grasmere. The 555 bus calls at Keswick too. 

Route Finding

It is mostly a high level route, some of it going over remote and difficult terrain, and so very good navigation skills are required. The route generally does use well trodden paths. 

Scrambly Bits

There were a few places that were scrambly. On some occasions I diverted from the ‘official’ route that the fell runners would use. Sometimes the scrambly bits were unavoidable. Note that scrambles are more difficult when carrying a heavy backpack. The following scrambly sections should be noted: 

• Day 2 - Pike O’Stickle summit; unavoidable if you want to go to the summit. You could always leave your backpack at the bottom of the scramble (if you are happy to do that). 

• Day 3 - Foxes Rake; unavoidable hands-on steep scramble up the rake.

•  Day 4 - Yewbarrow northwestern ridge; hands-on steep scramble (debatedly, the most difficult on the whole route). Potentially you could avoid this by walking to the west of Yewbarrow to Dore Head and then completing an out-and-back to the top of Yewbarrow using the ‘descent route’ documented in my route. 

• Day 5 - Great Gable northwest ridge ascent; unavoidable if you want to go to the top of Great Gable. It isn’t that bad (not hands-on). 

• Day 5 - Great Gable northeast ridge descent; unavoidable if you want to go to the top of Great Gable. There is a section that does require a bit of hands-on scrambling, but isn’t too difficult. 

• Day 6 - Robinson northeast ridge descent; no hands-on scrambling required, but great care is needed. The worst scramble section can be avoided by an airy track that bypasses the crag (on the Little Dale side).

Guide Books And Maps

I didn’t use any guide books, but I do recommend ‘Feet In The Clouds’ by Richard Askwith that gives an interesting insight into fell running and the BGR. There is a Harvey's map that covers the route, although  I did not use it.