Rucksack Club Journal Vol. II, No. 1, 61-65 (1911)

Original Optical Character Read with corrections, not necessarily complete. Names of mountains (for example Tryfaen) have not been corrected.

TWENTY - FIVES.

During the last few years there has arisen among some of the members of the Rucksack Club a new craze or hobby, which may be looked upon as a special form of the old passion for “peakbagging” which has long been known to mountaineers. This hobby consists in visiting as many as possible of the English and Welsh summits which are more than 2,500 feet above sea level. The twenty-fiver is distinguished from the ordinary peak-bagger by the thoroughness of his work. The latter, for example, on going for the Cheviot is content when he has reached the triangle of stakes which marks the highest point of Northumberland. Not so the twenty-fiver. To him the triangle aforesaid only represents one of the several points of the Cheviot which require his attention. Cairn Hill and Bellyside Crag must also be visited, and there is, moreover, a point to which the ordnance surveyors have attached a bench-mark, but for which they have not been able to find any name. And if, as usually happens, the twenty-fiver is also collecting the highest points of counties, a short detour to the Scotch border will add the highest point in Roxburghshire to his list. Even in such a popular holiday ground as the Lake district there are summits which are scarcely visited, except by those guided by some such principle as the search for “twenty-fives.” Consider the Haycock, for instance. Last Easter two enthusiastic twenty-fivers bagged this peak from Dungeon Ghyll, but both of them had neglected it when staying in Wasdale, before the lust for twenty-fives had come upon them. And how many members of the Rucksack Club can declare, upon their honour, that they have ascended Slight Side, Stony Cove, Stybarrow Dod, and the Grey Friar?

But when a party of twentyfivers begin to compare notes, it is not the unconsidered corners of the Lake district or of Carnarvonshire that form the principal topics of conversation. They turn rather to the isolated peaks which offer no attraction to the rock-climbing fraternity, and whose distance from the nearest possible base of operations, forms the chief obstacle to be overcome. It is the northern Pennines, and the Brecknockshire mountains which hold the first places in the esteem of the true twenty-fiver, and he who fails to visit these hills misses what is in its way some of the grandest scenery in Great Britain. A list of the “twenty-fives” is appended, with a short description of each group.

THE CHEVIOT, a round-topped granite hill, is best approached from Wooler, from which station it may be reached within a day; but if it is proposed to traverse the mountain, two days should be allowed. The summits above 2,500 feet are :—

The Cheviot 2676 feet

Cairn Hill 2545

Bellyside Crag 2656

(Nameless) 2547

THE CROSS FELL, or Northern Pennine group, consists of a high escarpment of carboniferous rocks, dipping to the east, and cut off on the west by the Pennine Faults. The summits are all capped with millstone grit, and bear a close resemblance to the highest points of Cheshire and Derbyshire. On the east side good accommodation may be had at Forest-in-Teesdale, over 1,250 feet above sea level; on the west the villages are lower, but nearer to the summits. The easiest approach is up Knock Ore Gill from Dufton. From the top of this gill a high level track traverses the Dun Fell or Milburn Forest group, about 2,300 feet above sea level, to Tees Head. The Peaks are :—

Skirwith Fell 2562 feet

Cross Fell 2930

do 2893

do 2739

Fallow Hill 2563

Little Dun Fell 2761 otherwise called

Great Dun Fell 2780 Milburn Forest.

Knock Fell 2604

do 2582

Mickle Fell 2591

Mickle Fell is the highest point in Yorkshire. The highest point in Durham (Burnhope Seat 2,400 feet), is separated from Cross Fell by the Tees and South Tyne valleys.

THE LAKE DISTRICT may be divided into several groups of mountains. Two of these groups consist of. sedimentary rocks of the Skiddaw slate series, and have comparatively easy slops; while the remainder, consisting of the Borrowdale series of volcanic. rocks, are more rugged. The summits in the Skiddaw slate area are

Skiddaw 3054 feet

Low Man 2837

Saddleback 2847

and to the West of Bassenthwaite Lake :—

Grisedale Pike 2593 feet

Sand Hill 2525

Eel Crag 2649

Grassmoor 2791

(Nameless) 2533

do 2749

Sail 2500

The summits in the volcanic area to the West of Sty Head are :—

High Stile 2643 feet

Green Gable 2643

Great Gable 2949

Kirk Fell 2631

Pillar Fell 2927

Steeple 2681

do 2746

Haycock 2619

Red Pike 2707

do 2629

Between Sty Head and Esk Hause, we have :—

Slight Side 2501 feet

Sca Fell 3162

Sca Fell Pike 3210

Broad Crag

Ill Crag

Ling Mell 2649

Great End 2984

Allen Crags 2572

Glanmara (sic) 2562

Scafell Pike is of course the highest point in Cumberland. Between Esk Hause and Dunmail Raise, are:—

Dow Crag 2559 feet

Coniston Old Man 2633

Fairfield 2611

Great How Crags 2625

Wetherlam 2502

Carrs 2525

Grey Friar 2537

Crinkle Crags 2733

Long Top 2816

Shelter Crags 2631

Bow Fell 2960

Hanging Knott

(Nameless) near Esk Hause 2903

High White Stones..

Coniston Old Man is the highest mountain in Lancashire. Further East again between Dunmail Raise and the Kirkstone Pass, are :—-

Red Screes 2541 feet

Dove Crag 2541

Hart Crag 2698

Fairfield 2863

Great Rigg 2513

St. Sunday Crag 2756

Gavel Pike 2577

Dollywaggon Pike 2810

Helvellyn 3118

Striding Edge

Cachedicam

Low Man 3033

White Dodd 2832

Raise 2889

Styharrow Dodd 2756

Watson’s Dodd 2584

Great Dodd 2807

The summit of Helvellyn is the highest point in Westmoreland. The final ridge to the east of the Kirkstone Pass contains:—

Stony Cove 2502 feet

Thornthwaite Crag...

Harter Fell

High Street 2663

Kidsty Pike 2560

High Raise 2634

making altogether eighty summits in England which reach the required level.

In Wales the first ridge to be considered is the Berwyn, an escarpment of volcanic ash facing south-west, and dipping north. east to the Dee Valley. It may conveniently be ascended up the dip slope from any station between Corwen and Bala. The summits are:—

Cader Fronwen 2568 feet

Moe! Sych 2713

The summit of Moel Sych is in three counties: Merioneth, Denbigh and Montgomery, and is the highest point of the latter two.

The principal mountain mass of Wales is in Carnarvonshire, and is of a very complicated geological structure. Sedimentary, volcanic, and plutonic rocks mingle in almost inextricable confusion, and exhibit every variety of mountain from the smooth felsite dome of Foel Grach to the sharp escarpment of Tryfaen. The range is divided into several parts by road passes. The peaks to the north of Ogwen Lake are:—

Drum 2528 feet

Liwydnor Mawr 2745

Yr Aryg 2875

Bera Mawr 2587

Bera Bach

Foel Grach 3195

Foel Fras 3091

Carnedd Llewel!vn. 3484

Yr Elen 3151

Carnedd Dafvdd 3426

Braich Du 3184

Craig Du 3169

Pen Helig 2731

Pen Llithing yr Wrach 2621

Between the Ogwen and Llanberis passes are:-

Carnedd y Filiast . 2694 feet

Mod Perfedd 2750

Foel Goch 2726

Elidyr Fawr 3029

Elidyr Fach 2564

Y Garn 3104

Trvfaen 3010

Glyder Fawr 3278

Glyder Fach 3261

Caseg Ffraith

Esgair Felen

while the mass to the south of Llanberis Pass, known collectively as Snowdon, contains four summits:—

Crib Goch 3023 feet

Crib y Ddysgyll

Y Wyddfa 3560

Lliwedd 2947

Further west is the solitary peak of Moel Hebog, 2,566 feet; and on the other side of the district, and separated from the other mountains by Nant Gwynant, are:-

Moe! Siabod 2880 feet

Moelwyn 2527

Moelwyn forms a connecting link between the mountainous groups of Carnarvonshire and Merioneth. The latter consists of a single escarpment of lava, running in a large circle round the county, with the dip always away from Harlech, but the dip is so steep that on the Arans the best crags are to be found on that side, and not on the face of the escarpment. Besides Moelwyn, this bed of rock is responsible for the following peaks:-

Arenig Fawr 2860 feet

Aran Benl!yn 2901

Aran Mawddwy 2970

Craig y Ffynon 2557

(Cowarch)

Mynydd Moel 2804

Cader Idris 2927

Mynydd Pencoed

Cyfrwy

Of the above, Cowarch is the only one which cannot be reached in an easy day from either Llanuwchllyn or Dolgelly.

The only mountains in South Wales which reach 2,500 feet in height lie on the great ridge of old red sandstone which separates Brecknockshire from Glamorgan. This is undoubtedly the finest escarpment in Great Britain, and the rich colour of the rock gives a further charm to the scenery, which is not to be equalled elsewhere in this island. There is ample opportunity of approaching within easy reach of the peaks of this series either by road or rail from Brecon; but as accommodation is scarce, and good accommodation scarcer, the scrupulous pedestrian who insists on covering the whole distance on foot may meet with some difficulty. The peaks are:—

Carmarthen Fan 2632 feet

Cairn Du 2863

Brecon Beacon 2907

2704

Bryn Teg 2608

Gwaun Rhvdd 2509

2502

Gader Fawr 2624

Waun Fach 2660

Plynlimmon, which has been described by writers who should know better as the third highest mountain in Wales, only reaches 2,468 feet above sea level.

J.ROOKE CORBETT.