...in which we're defeated by weather, so shelter indoors to hear from one of the UK's great adventurers: Cockermouth-based James Forrest, who has bagged all 1,001 mountains in the UK and Ireland, and broke records walking both the 446 Nuttalls and 214 Wainwrights. An escape from the nine-to-five was, James tells us, the drive for his first challenge – to conquer every mountain in England and Wales in the shortest documented time. But his heart was always in Lakeland, which led to his 2020 self-supported round of the Wainwrights. In a reflective interview, we hear about the highs and lows of an epic walk; we ask whether 'adventure' can be a ruse to escape everyday life; we consider our changing relationship with the fells as we spend more time in them; and we learn why James is "never, ever, ever" returning to the Brecon Beacons.
James' book Mountain Man is published by Bloomsbury. Available from all local bookshops.
James can be found at amesmforrest.co.uk
Countrystride #45: Review of 2020
Countrystride #44: Christmas past - A Wetheral wander
Countrystride #43: Shap & The Postman's Path
Countrystride #42: Cumbria on film
Countrystride #41: Harriet Martineau - The roving Laker
Countrystride #40: Bill Lloyd - Into the woods
Countrystride #39: Thirlmere - and the flooding of a valley
Countrystride #38: James Rebanks - English Pastoral
Countrystride #37: Hardwicke Rawnsley - Lakeland champion
Countrystride #36: A Walney Wander
Countrystride #35: The children's literature of Lakeland
Countrystride #34: Caring for the commons- A view from Newlands
Countrystride #33: A brief history of Cumbria
Countrystride #32: Lady Anne Clifford - First lady of Westmorland
Countrystride #31: Cumbrian folk music and the Back o'Skiddaw
Countrystride #30: Buttermere - Tales from the secret valley
Countrystride #29: Dorothy Wordsworth & women walking pioneers
Countrystride #28: Future farming – Six generations working the land
Countrystride #27: Bill Birkett - Lakeland legend in Langdale
Countrystride #26: Piers Gill - A winter's ascent with Mountain Rescue
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