Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Climbing Loft Beck
Black Sail was mobbed by coasters and by sheep! Any illusions of the walk as a remote
idyll away from society were mocked! These were the people we would meet again and
again as our journey progressed, walking lockstep with us on the way. I savored my lunch
anyway; Chris more generously shared his with a four footed friend whose wild eye was, at
once, endearing and menacing. We were inclined to linger at Black Sail, set as it is amidst
breathtaking scenery with views of some of the Lake District's most famous peaks: Great
Gable, Red Pike, Pillar and Steeple, but Pete urged us on, guessing perhaps that we had
reservations about the ascent of Loft Beck under darkening clouds. Back in America when
I was cajoling Chris into embracing this strange British idea of a walking holiday, I had
reassured him that the paths would wind around the hills in a manageable zigzag pattern.
Well things had changed since I last walked here; the paths had been restored to allay the
trespass of erosion. Loft Beck went straight up to the sky! My heart and lungs were pump-
ing hard at the top, and though the weather was closing in, I had a moment of relief and
deep satisfaction. I had made it and made it well. I was amongst the first group of hikers
to reach the summit. The pre-trip training was paying off. On the top the weather was fast
drawing in; the air was moist with the threat or rain, and so I didn't think of all those other
summits, of Helvellyn, of Pen-y ghent, or the head of the U-shaped valley, or of the meta-
phorical peaks of my life, all I thought was,
“ Maybe, maybe if I could keep the blisters at bay, I could indeed walk the Coast to Coast.
“
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