Innominate tarn wild camp

Innominate Tarn is a small body of water situated 520 meters above sea level in between Haystacks and Great gable in the English lake district. It is the final resting place of Alfred wainwright. Mr Wainwright was a British fell walker, guidebook author and illustrator who devised the long-distance walks like the coast to coast walk.

Alfred wainwright depicted in one of his books
“Fell wanderer” that he wanted this tarn to be his final resting place. That day will come when there is nothing left but memories. And afterwards, a last long resting place by the side of Innominate Tarn, on Haystacks, where the water gently laps the gravelly shore and the heather blooms and Pillar and Gable keep unfailing watch. A quiet place, a lonely place. I shall go to it, for the last time, and be carried: someone who knew me in life will take me and empty me out of a little box and leave me there alone.

And if you, dear reader, should get a bit of grit in your boot as you are crossing Haystacks in the years to come, please treat it with respect. It might be me

I’ve always wanted to visit Innominate tarn and pay my respects to A,W so I decided to go with a few friends. We parked at the old Honister slate mine and started our gentle climb up to bell crags and arrived at dubs hut. Dubbs hut is a single-roomed bothy with sleeping platforms for the tired fell walker who can stay for the night and have shelter from the elements. Before it became a bothy it was used as shelter for the mineworkers and had an extra room but has since fell to ruins.

After a short break, we carried on past dubbs bottom and up to green crag passing blackbeck tarn and finally to the tarn itself. The place was eerily quiet as A.w mentions….not one breeze…… There was five of us on this trip and we were all scouting for a place to pitch our tents as there were limited spaces. I managed to get pitched next to rob. I was really surprised to see there was no memorial or some sort of plaque in memory of the famous walker even though he has been on tv and wrote many books. It was not till after the walk I did some research and discovered that A,W did not want such a thing as a memorial…..in fact there was talk about a statue being erected of Alfred wainwright but his family objected and the plan was scrapped.

It wasn’t long before it was dark. I got the kettle on and made a brew. A Vesta beef curry was for supper with some brown rice and for desert some cake and custard. The plan for tomorrow was to walk up haystacks and have a look around, just so we could tick another wainwright fell off the list.

Morning came and we explored some crags surrounding our camp. I brought my new GoPro Hero 7 black and wanted to try out some different settings and lapses. We found some cracking little places tucked away where you could have a peaceful solo bivi camp. After a bite to eat we set off for haystacks leaving our tent and gear at our pitched site. The tents were out of view so it would be very unlikely anyone would find them unless they strayed from the track. Haystacks stands at a height of 597 meters so gave us a stunning view of Buttermere and Ennerdale waters. The views were astronomical. Sadly we had to return to our tents, pack up and make our way down back to the cars.

You can watch this adventure by clicking on the video below. Join me so i can share the magnificent views and scenery of our beautiful lake district. Thanks watching

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