All language subtitles for Life.of.a.Mountain.A.Year.on.Helvellyn.2021.1080p.WEBRip.x264-CBFM

DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

BIRDSONG

CYMBALS CLASH

SQUAWKING

BIRD SCREECHES

BIRDSONG

BIRDSONG AND ANIMALS CROAKING

CROAKING

In the far north of England,

in the eastern
Lake District mountains,

stands Helvellyn -
a mighty mountain.

Beautiful, romantic in all her ways.

She's surrounded by buttresses,
crags and screes that fall away.

And she's one of the most-visited
mountains that we have here.

Thousands of people
climb her slopes every year

to admire the views
in all directions.

But below and beyond her,
she's admired and cared for

by a community of people.

Wildlife is abundant -

by the lakes,

in the woods,

and in the skies above us.

This is truly a place

where nature and man work together.

WIND WHISTLES

LAUGHTER

The Lake District Ski Club
was formed in 1936.

That makes us very much a part of
the history of skiing in the UK,

and also of Lake District life.

We're at the head of a remote
valley, the Greenside Valley,

which has been mined for lead
for hundreds of years.

And, as a result, a lot of people
don't even know we're there.

We're not like a ski club resort
because of the remoteness.

The conditions can be very tricky,
very challenging - it can be icy,

the mist can come down,
you can get white-out blizzards.

So you do need to know
what you're doing on a mountain

and be properly prepared
and equipped

for a fairly wild environment.

The thing about our tow there -
it's only a short tow, 360 metres -

but it does give access
to a wide variety of terrain.

You have the opportunity
when the snow is good -

not like today, unfortunately - to
ski right back down to the car park,

which is a big descent
in some fairly wild terrain.

So you can see behind me, you have
Catstye Cam - people have skied

down that gully there and indeed
down the Red Tarn face of Helvellyn.

And that's really not something
for the faint-hearted.

SCRAPING OF SKIS

Whoo!

So the mountains are about
half a billion years old.

They were formed at the edge
of a collision

between two major plates.

But what's happened to actually
create the distinctive shape

of the Lake District
with these radial wheels,

these spokes of the major valleys
coming out, is that the whole

of the mountain range was domed
upwards by the intrusion of a big

lump of granite beneath the whole
of the Lake District, possibly

pushing the whole of the region up
by about 3,000 metres elevation.

And then as you dome up that surface
just like a cake - as it sort of

expands as it gets baked - you start
seeing the cracks that come out

radially through that cake surface.

And that's what creates
these amazing valleys

that have then been sculpted
initially by rivers and streams

and then, more recently,
by the large glaciers

that would have formed here over
the last two million years or so.

But, of course, one of the ironies
about this landscape

that we're seeing today
is that this isn't how

the Lake District should look.

The vegetation's completely
different because of grazing,

but also the deep impact
of human-driven climate change

has changed the way that
this landscape has evolved.

We should be seeing glaciers
sitting within these valleys now.

They should have started forming
a few thousand years ago,

but they haven't
because of our role.

And it's likely that we're not
going to see that for many

tens of thousands of years. This
place will become glaciated again -

it's inevitable that it will happen.

But for us, we've got to enjoy this
landscape, because look at it -

it is just stunning.

You look at Helvellyn up there,
covered in snow.

This is what mountains look like
when we've been children.

This is what we want them to look
like for the next hundred years

or so - certainly in my lifetime.

We're in a very fortunate position

of being able to walk up a mountain

and not have to walk down, thanks
to the beauty of these paragliders.

The simplest form of flight,
really - man's oldest dream.

So for me, personally, this is now
nearly 30 years to the day

when I first flew off this mountain,
when I was 19 years old,

when I first learnt to fly.

I've now taught this sport
for the last 30 years.

Many people are always saying,

"You must be nuts,
chucking yourself off here."

It's a very safe sport to do.
The knowledge is in being

smart about the weather,
understanding the weather.

And here we are now about to jump
off over this beautiful Helvellyn

vista, to harness the power
of the elements and to carry

us down into the valley

and hopefully land right next
to the pub, if all goes well.

SERENE MUSIC

Good!

WIND WHISTLES

RAVENS CAW

Working as a fell-top assessor,
it's very much focusing on mountain

safety, it just takes place in
a slightly different environment.

We're recording the weather
conditions, we're taking photos,

we're blogging about it, trying to
give people good information

so they can go up here and make
the decisions themselves.

Er, we're getting a couple of big
gusts hammering down the mountain,

big downdrafts hitting
Red Tarn below us,

but not as bad as I thought
it was going to be.

We've had a lot of rain, a lot
of snow, a lot of big high winds

in the last few days.

And then, looking into the bowl,
there's a lot of avalanche activity.

Multiple avalanche tracks have come
down, lots of different areas.

I've had quite a wide-ranging
outdoor career,

all around the world, really.

I've been privileged to guide
on the big peaks - 8,000m peaks.

I spent a lot of time in Antarctica
looking after clients down there

climbing things like Mount Vinson,

skiing to the South Pole.

Get that hand over
the bottom spike there...

All the conditions have come good.

And I've got three guests with me
doing their sort of introductory

winter skills day out
with a fell-top assessor,

seeing what we do,

but also learning how to operate
themselves in this environment.

So the focus is very much on them
making their own decisions,

and being able to use crampons, use
ice axes to keep themselves safe

and make their own decisions.

So there's three parts to our
fell-top assessor role, really.

One, being visible, being a ranger
out on the hill, able to chat

to people and steer them and
offer advice and encouragement -

the winter skills side.

And then sort of
the original role, I guess,

if you like, is to come up here
and take some observations.

So we look at wind speed, maximum
wind speed, temperature,

absolute temperature,
the wind chill,

what that will do,
the wind direction.

And they all get fed back
to the Met Office

to sort of validate their models.

And then we have our own sort
of weather line.

We put all our reports on there
on the internet with photos

of the conditions we've experienced
that day. And that goes alongside

the Met Office specialist
mountain forecast.

So, hopefully, people have got
a really good idea

about the environment
they're coming into.

WIND HOWLS

Just in time for a gust.

So it's about 35mph
winds at the moment.

It's about right.

It's just...just buffeting me
around a little bit.

It's not pushing me towards
the edge, which I'm very aware of.

We'll just take a reading for a
couple of minutes, just gives us

a snapshot of what the weather's
doing up here around midday.

Temperature-wise,
down to minus seven.

You'd get very cold very quickly
if you had a problem,

and were forced to sit out in this.

And the only other thing
I need to do

is check the direction of the wind.

Everything's a faff in winter,

with your gloves on
and the wind blowing.

I'll do it the pleasant way -
wind behind me.

Yeah, we've got a west-south-west,
which is what was forecast.

But it's driving through
some big showers and things.

But we've got a bit
of sunshine at the moment.

People always say, "Do you get bored
going up the same mountain?"

But it's never the same.

So I've had everything from crawling

to the summit in sort of
70, 80mph winds to...

..yeah, sort of trotting
around in my T-shirt

on nice, hard, packed-up, icy snow.

So, yeah, we see
everybody up there -

the well-equipped, the ill-equipped,

people with eyes out on stalks.

Striding and Swirral Edge is one of
the classic mountaineering rounds

across the country, really.

And I never get bored of
that circuit.

I have been coming to the Lakes
for about ten or 12 years,

and at first it was just like,

what I guess
normal people did - just walked.

Then I really got into wild camping.

I did my first solo wild camp,
and I just saw everything

in a completely new way.

It's the most pure sense
of freedom that you can get.

And you see the wildlife, you know -
the wildlife that comes out

is less afraid of you because
you almost go one step further -

you're no longer just
in the landscape,

you're actually part of it.

You always need to be considerate of
where you pitch -

well away from roads
and people's houses.

There is a wild campers' etiquette,
which is arrive late, leave early,

take out all your rubbish with you.
Go to the toilet responsibly.

Don't light a campfire.

And above all, I have a rule where
I say leave a place in a better

state than when you found it,
because if I see someone else's

rubbish, I'll pick that up, too,
because I think if we all did that,

imagine what an amazing place
the fells would be!

RAIN PATTERS

Well, they said it was
going to snow.

It's actually raining and my tent's

just flapping around and I'm wet.

But it's so nice to be inside.

I think some people might think I'm
mad to come out when the forecast

is like that.

But it's the best time,
because there's no-one else here.

So I get the fells all to myself.

RAIN PATTERS ON TENT

There's something
lovely about hearing that.

And being in here.

A lot of people ask me how safe it
is to go wild camping in the fells.

And I always say it's about having
the right equipment with you.

So, you know, a good tent, a good
sleeping bag, a good sleeping mat.

Have warm food, hot drinks -
more drinks than you think

you'll need - something
to be able to collect water.

And then I think the other thing
which actually weighs nothing

is knowledge and experience.

Weather conditions - as well as
camping restrictions - can change,

so checking locally for
guidelines is advisable.

You never stop learning
in the fells -

it's the ultimate place
to teach you anything.

And you learn a lot about
yourself, as well.

So the wind is blowing my tent
around quite a bit.

I've been having it really pushed
close to my nose.

Some people feel exposed or unsafe
in the dark, but I feel...

..almost protected by it.

And I like to go wild camping
on my own.

And there are people who think that
maybe means I'm antisocial,

but it's not that. It's... There's
just something in me that clicks

when I'm in the mountains
and everything that I'm worried

about or stressed about or thinking
about even, just kind of gets

shifted completely into perspective.

So it's like...

..I'm disconnecting from my busy
normal life, but I'm actually truly

reconnecting with everything that
actually is really important.

Well, it's really windy out here.
SHE LAUGHS

But, erm... It's windy and cold,
but it's certainly worth it.

The stars are just incredible.

And to just know that there's just
no-one else around for miles.

You know, Helvellyn's this way,

we've got some of the villages
behind me but...

..it's just me and the stars,

and there's something really quite
magical about that.

I'm fortunate enough to live
and work locally to the area,

and Helvellyn happens to be one
of my favourite mountains.

I've spent a huge amount of time up
there, whether it's surveying,

mountain biking, walking, climbing -
it all happens up there.

It's a fantastic mountain.

The Ordnance Survey was originally
set up in 1791

to map part of Scotland for the
Jacobite rising when the Scots

were approaching on England.

The OS historically has had some
quite hard challenges to overcome

in mapping the UK, and especially
areas like the Lake District

and in particular Helvellyn.

Now back in the day,
they had to create trig pillars.

Now, from this triangulation,
they could start drawing up maps

of the UK and continue mapping any
new features that started.

Now, due to the fact that each trig
needed to be seen from another trig

point, it involved good weather
to be able to do that.

Now, that might be the reason why
it took 26 years, up until 1961,

to finally finish up the trig
pillar network.

Now the trig on the top
of Helvellyn behind me isn't

actually on the summit -
it's just off to the side.

Now that may be because they
needed to get a line of sight

through to another trig. And the
trig on Helvellyn is very memorable

for a lot of people around the UK.

It's probably featured
in thousands of group photographs,

thousands of individual photographs,

and people see it as a real
focal point of their walk.

As they see it looming
through the mist, as they come

up by the Swirral or Striding Edge,
they realise they're reaching

the final point of their outing
for the day.

On the top of the old trig pillars,

you might often see a bracket placed
into the top.

Now this is where, back in 1936,

many of the OS surveyors used to
screw in their theodolite

that started the original
triangulation of the UK.

You may often also find an
OS benchmark plate found further

down on the trig points
around the country.

Now these were used as

levelling points to level to,
back in the day.

The technology we're using today is

an absolute world apart from
what was used back in 1936.

So currently we're just checking
a couple of levels

with my GNSS receiver.

Now this is giving me an accuracy
of about one to two centimetres.

Now, I could just check the levels
from our data

from the past and update it
with any further levels

I'm picking up today.

Now, with this kit, the OS makes
around 20,000 changes every day

to our master map of Great Britain.

A lot of our data can also be used
to create 3D models, and that's

really helpful for people to get
a better understanding of the area,

especially in places like Helvellyn.

Helvellyn's a really memorable
mountain for me, it actually

helped me get my degrees,
it's where I did my dissertation

and it's also one of the first
mountains that my dad took me

up as a kid. So it really has
a special place in my heart.

Welcome to spring in Cumbria.

Silliest thing is I brought
the sun cream today.

Here we go.

It's officially spring.

This is what I came for.

Purple saxifrage.

And once you see it,
you see it here,

there, there.

You're in a part of the
mountain no-one comes to.

For me at least, I think flowers -
or wildlife in general -

is a personal thing.

These flowers, to me,
are determination, resilience,

coping, making do.

And I love to aspire
to feel that way.

You should be able to find at least
a dozen plants up here soon.

But purple saxifrage
is the first and, for me,

it's always going to be the best.

It's coping with the worst.

It's the best-looking thing
up here - myself included.

Fantastic little flower.

I think the key for me with mountain
flowers is these are places people

know, but they're not places
they necessarily know a lot

about - they certainly don't know
everything about.

So looking for the smaller detail,
looking for the fine detail

of an area, that's
what we're looking for,

because these are indicators of
what's special about this place.

But in terms of the mountain flora
of Lakeland,

I can start in spring just as the
snow is melting.

Helvellyn is a fantastic place
for that. Come the summertime

you're more likely to find me
somewhere around Kirkstone Pass and

Red Screes. Also
around down towards Honister.

These are real hot spots
for these incredibly rare plants.

I think, for me, it's the fact
that whoever I bring up here -

whether they're the national
experts in their field -

they look at these things
and they've never seen them

here before and they're amazed
to find out that they're here.

And it may be something
they've been looking for for years,

or it maybe something
they've never heard of.

And that's the future
of conservation.

I still think we're suffering loss,
we're suffering conflict

because we're still finding our way.

We succeed by learning
from mistakes.

It's OK to make the mistakes -

it's what you do after
that really, really counts.

And that's where I think the
National Park is now. Around here,

they've got to look at what we're
going to do for the next 50

years because the rest
of it isn't going to matter.

It's the future that really,
really matters.

BIRD SCREECHES

SQUAWKING

SHEEP BLEAT

BIRDS TWEET

BLEATING

So my family's been on this farm
since the '70s,

when my grandad bought the farm.

He was farming in west Cumbria
before moving here.

He retired.

None of my parents' generation
wanted to take on farming

because they were really encouraged
not to, because there wasn't...

..we were told no real money in it.

So we're aiming to get as much
biodiversity as we can on the farm.

One of the real goals that we were
looking to get was for our cows

to be pasture-fed, which
were pasture-fed certified.

And that means that our cows purely
eat grass and pasture or things

that we grow on the farm ourselves
that are non-human edible.

It's definitely not easy,
what we're doing.

Erm...

One of the main reasons is
because what we're doing

is relatively unpractised
in the Lake District.

There are other farmers
who are doing it and we've got

a young daughter, as well.

So it's juggling that whole
lifestyle of keeping the family

going and keeping the farm
going and keeping our animals

going as well as we can, as well.

So one of the issues we found
with our sheep enterprise

was, firstly,
around the economic side of things.

In a year of farming sheep under
a set stocked system, we made

around £600 profit from
the sheep enterprise alone.

So it didn't really contribute much
to the overall running of the farm.

That meant that we... When we were
looking at that enterprise,

we decided, you know, we didn't
really need to focus on that.

And we thought the cattle
had more opportunity.

With the cattle, we can let
the grass grow a lot longer,

which is much better for the cows,
but also for wildlife, soil,

everything.
We can then bunch them up as...

..they would have been in nature.

You know, when we had predators,

wolves...they would have kept cattle

bunched up and moving frequently,
which is kind of what we're trying

to do with the electric fencing.

We took on some fell ponies
from Libby Robinson recently,

and we've... They're still up
in the winter block.

The idea is, later in the year
when things get a bit longer

and drier, we're going
to introduce the ponies

behind the cows.

So if there's anything that's left
behind, like little bits of rushes

or dock or something, the ponies
will come in and just clear

it up and then we'll keep
moving them behind the cows.

The fell pony goes back into the
mists of time in the Lake District.

The fell pony has not
had the publicity.

It's not had the kudos of other
native breeds of domestic animal

like the Herdwick sheep.

We know that Beatrix Potter
certainly used them and obviously

had them for carriage work and using
them probably on some of her farms

for shepherding,
which was before the quad bike.

Most shepherds would use a pony
to go and see their sheep

up on the top of the fells.

The fell pony eats on the move,

er, it is a... It's not a ruminant

like cattle and sheep and deer,
who will go in a group.

Ponies have small stomachs
and very large intestines,

which means that they are eating
all the time for about 18 hours

of the day, small amounts, and they
can walk up to 15 miles a day.

The fell pony has
been here for so long,

it has actually acclimatised itself

to be able to live and survive

in quite hostile upland conditions,

constantly picking all the
vegetation that they will enjoy

eating. They'll eat gorse,
they'll eat rushes.

These then with their droppings
and dung create the soil

that's so important
to keep up on the fell.

So it's important as they use up
these wonderful round feet

that they have, to trample
the vegetation for the spring

so that the new grasses
and germination of plants

and wild flowers will be created.

We need to be able to see
more of them being used

for conservation grazing.

And the fell the pony will give
that and make it a workable

environment for other species.

But there are not that many.

Doing some research,
there's probably only about

200 actual breeding mares

that are up on these areas.

So there's very few and they need
to be encouraged - that we know

more about them, know more about
what they can do in helping

the conservation of the
Lake District and giving back

that wonderful capacity that

they have as part of wildlife.

And so to be seen more
and appreciated more.

OWL HOOTS

CROAKING

OWL HOOTING CONTINUES

BIRDS CHEEP

BIRDSONG

BIRDS TWEET

BIRD SCREECHES

I absolutely love the Lake District.

It's a place that never fails
to inspire me and excite me.

Possibly one of the things that
many people don't realise

is that when they look at these
amazing landscapes, they're not

just looking at a phenomenal
natural landscape -

they're also looking at
a human landscape.

You come into Pooley Bridge and
Dunmallard Hill, and on the top

of that is an Iron Age enclosure.

So it dates from about..

..2,000 years ago, possibly 3,000
years ago, and obviously

if you're at the top of that hill,

then you're saying something
about yourselves, as well.

It's not just about fighting
with the tribe next door.

What an amazing place to command!

I'd live there.

So, for example, over there, you've
got Askham Fell and that's got

more than a hundred
Bronze Age monuments -

stone circles, alignments,
trackways, evidence of hut circles -

but it's just an indicator for us

of how important
and how busy a place this was.

This is a place that says
as much about history as it does

about geology or the natural world.

Glenridding now is obviously mostly
a tourist town, it's catering

for the tourist trade, and most
of these little cottages here

are holiday cottages
that you can rent.

But the origins of this village are
actually in pretty heavy industry

because just further up the
valley is the Greenside Mine.

It was a lead ore mine, one of the
biggest and most important

in the country.

And it was really extensively
worked from about 1825.

These cottages -

lovely and picturesque
holiday lets that they are now -

started off as workers' cottages.
These ones were built in 1890,

and they only got fresh water
and an inside loo in the 1950s.

After you, Eddie. Right.

So we're here now at the Greenside
Mine, up the Glenridding Valley,

and I'm joined by Eddie Pool,
who was one of the last workers to

work here while it was
still an active mine.

Eddie, what was it like?

Well, very similar
to what it is now.

This was the joiner's shop, here.

Yeah. See that further bit there?

Yeah. All that was a furnace.

So how many people were
working here? 80 or 90.

It's funny, isn't it?

Because I think people walking up
this footpath to get up to

Helvellyn, they might just walk
straight past this and not really

pay too much attention.
Well, they wouldn't really know.

All this now is going to be turned
into sort of accommodation.

The blacksmith shops were in those.

I think there was about 13
blacksmiths here at one time.

For tool sharpening? Yeah, yeah.

Well, tools, sharpening drills
and goodness knows what.

Wow.

What was it like working
down the mine?

Well, actually,
I don't know, nothing.

Just talking to you now,

met me mate one day,
he couldn't recognise who I was.

The dust was just so bad.

But they all died
when they were 50.

Do you think because
of the conditions?

Oh, without any doubt whatsoever.

Uh, and they had a terrible
bloody death, you know,

gasping, gasping.

They even had to ask their wives
to take the windows out

so's they could get more air.

It was really
a horrible bloody death.

Wow. That was where a lot
of the work of pushing

the ore took place, just in there.

Here where the beck is coming down?

Yeah. Where...
Where that concrete is.

Wow. So all that scree, that's
all cast-offs from the mining?

That's right, right from here, right
down to the end of there, look.

Wow. Eddie, what level
are we at now?

Lucy, Lucy level. Right.

This is where the mines come,

you know, they always brought out.

You went into there about a mile
and a half

and then you went down the shaft,
huge shaft,

which was about, if I remember
right, it was 90 fathom. Wow.

And then you went on again to
another shaft to 220 fathom.

And that was at
the bottom of the mine.

So you are deep in the mountain
massif at that point.

Oh, aye, aye.
Did it scare you, going that deep?

Well, you never thought about it.
I mean, other folk had done it

most of their lives,
you know, and our ancestors

did it and everybody did it.
And that was it.

But there was certainly, every now
and again, there was somebody badly

hurt, you know, some killed,
unfortunately, you know.

And as the mine became sort
of less commercially viable,

did you chaps all know that
the writing was on the wall,

that things were going to
have to change? Yeah.

Yeah, we knew,
we knew the ledge seam,

that had all run out up there.

And this one had started, but we
knew it was just a matter of time.

I read somewhere that the school
in Patterdale went from having 100

children to having 20,
basically overnight because

all the families were moving away.

When I was at that
school during the war,

there was 100 of us,

there was 100 South Shields evacuees

and there was
50 Czechoslovakian refugees.

That was 250.

But mind, with what they called

the parish rooms,
they used them as well.

You know. It's funny, isn't it?

You kind of look at Glenridding as
this little picturesque village

in the heart of Lakeland and never
changing in this timeless landscape.

But, actually, it was
a cosmopolitan hub, wasn't it?

Well, absolutely. Aye.

I think sometimes it's quite easy
to dismiss the industrial heritage

of the area as being a bit dirty,
a bit grubby, something

that we should probably cover up
in order to let the natural

beauty back through.

But I think that's absolutely wrong.

This is part of the story
of this landscape.

This mine is part of the story
of Helvellyn as a mountain.

And, actually, the next time you
go to Helvellyn, if you're walking

in from the east side,
you're stepping over traces

of the hidden histories
of this place.

So walking up along
towards Red Tarn,

you step over the pipelines that fed

hydroelectric power to this place,
or if you walk

over towards Keppel Cove,
that was the site of a disaster

in 1927 where a dam broke
and released a huge flood of water

all the way down the valley
into the village of Glenridding.

All around us in this landscape are
the traces of the people who've

come before - whether that's farmers
or miners or tourists - and every

single one of those people have made
a mark on this incredible landscape.

And what you see today is the sum

total of thousands of years
of human endeavour.

And that's just one of the reasons
that I love this place.

BIRDSONG

CATTLE LOWING

Helvellyn and the rest
of the fells have inspired

countless artists and storytellers.

And in the late 1700s,
tourists decided they wanted

to come and experience this wild
landscape for themselves.

There were plenty of guidebooks
to meet their demand.

But most of these were little more

than holiday journals describing

the same few routes up
a limited number of hills.

Some of the books even instructed
the tourists on how they should

admire the scenery.

But then came AW, the man who burst
the bubble, who started a whole

new tradition.

Alfred Wainwright focused on
the fells and the routes up them.

That's not to say that
he didn't have similarities

with the picturesque movement.

And his notes have an air
of romanticism, especially

when he describes his first book
as a love letter to the fells,

born out of years
of inarticulate worship.

But Wainwright alone brought
a clarity to the 214 fells

that he documented.

He didn't do it for money. He didn't
even want his name on the book -

the first copies of which were sold

at the post office
here in Patterdale.

Wainwright was born in Blackburn
on 17th January, in 1907.

Like most children back in
those days, he was destined

for the mills. But Wainwright

was a clever boy and did
really well at school.

He came top in all the subjects.

He also loved art and used to
do doodling and do cartoons.

And he loved reading maps, as well -
he'd pore over maps most evenings.

So when Wainwright was aged 23, he
decided to go to the Lake District

for a week's holiday.
He'd never seen anything like it -

these mountains,
and overlooking Windermere

and seeing all this greenery.

And it changed his life.

And that day started his love affair
with the Lake District.

What makes the Wainwright book so
special for me is everything's

been done by hand or by pen and ink,

that the mountains, you know,
just brought to life on the page

in 3D on this piece of paper.

The amount of attention
to detail he put in.

And not only that - it's not only
that it made the mountains

accessible to everybody - it's
his philosophical outlook on life

and the way he describes things
in a poetic way. As you progress

through the books, you learn
more about Wainwright, his life

and his appreciation
for the environment

and the animals and nature.

These are the three
holiday at home leaflets -

these are very, very rare,
these are Wainwright's very own.

And I've only seen
two sets of these.

Maybe someone's got a set
in the loft, who knows?

But these are very, very rare.

There's a Desert Island Discs tape
from the BBC, the original tape.

Wainwright's photographs.

Erm, I've got absolutely
piles of newspaper cuttings.

Yeah, it's hard to pin down
Wainwright's character.

He was... He was very
obsessed with his work.

Whatever he set his task to,
he was obsessed.

But you've got to also appreciate
he was a man of his times.

What people also kind of forget
is...is how generous he was.

There was many acts of generosity
throughout his life.

He even sold his copyright
to the Westmoreland Gazette

so he could build a shelter for
animal rescue in Cumbria in 1984.

It was a man who came from
very humble beginnings,

who followed a dream and has
created these amazing guide books

that are his legacy,
that all walkers around the world

have enjoyed, and will continue
to do so for decades to come.

I was writing all my notes and
descriptions and so on, for the time

when I was too old
to go on the fells.

I found it so wonderful.

Never dreamt that there
could be a landscape like that,

giving pleasure to other people,

and quite happy about it.

When I first came, if you walked
along the street with a rucksack

on your back in
Keswick or Ambleside,

you were an object of curiosity.

But of course, once you're
out of the valleys,

then it's just as it used to be.

You can be on your own
all day long on the fells.

I've got memories now.
I live on memories now -

not on what I've written
in the past.

Oh, no!

We've done this sort
of thing before.

You'll manage. You've never
lied to me before, David.

Why should I start now? Except all
those times you lied to me!

THEY LAUGH

I'm going to do this on four
or five points of contact,

is that all right?
Five points... Is that acceptable?

Five points of contact, is
that acceptable? Yeah, yeah.

You can jump across
there if you want. Me?

Yes. OK.

Uh, yeah.
I'll go this way, I think. OK.

Did you jump? Yes.

Oh, OK. David, you're showing me up.

No, no, no.
Showing me up now. Right.

There's that memorial. Where are
we going now, down there? Yeah.

Is this... This is the memorial
to the huntsman who fell.

Oh, wow. Yeah.

You know what? I'm never terribly
keen on seeing memorials

when I'm on walks
to people who've fallen off.

Disconcerting, yeah.

It just kind of sets with the wrong
kind of vibe for me, David.

Oh.

Is this the best ridge path in
the Lake District, do you think?

Oh, it's certainly one of them.

Yeah.

I know Wainwright goes on
about it being the grandest.

Yeah. The grandest descent
of any mountain.

The thing is, it's sustained -
it's quite long.

Do you find that people -
when you guide people up here,

do you find people
lose their nerve?

They do, they do.

I've had people just take one look
at it and turn tail and that was it.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yes. Well, we have done Sharp Edge
together. We have.

And I can't pre...

I have to say, thus far,
I'm liking this better.

Yes. I'm liking the sense...

I don't know whether
I'm liking the...

It's an interesting route.

You have to... You've got to have
your wits about you for the route.

Whereas Sharp Edge, there was
some times when I felt I was just

teetering above the abyss. Yes.

We used to come to the Lake District
every year for our family holiday.

Yeah. And I was always fascinated
by picture postcards

of Striding Edge. Yeah. Fantastic.

No, it's the...

"Iconic" is an overused
word these days,

but this genuinely is,
isn't it? Yes.

I mean, in the setting with the
dark, brooding waters of the tarn.

The occasional falling fell walker.

He said!

Now, this is magnificent.
You've got to take it in.

This is really magnificent
mountain scenery, isn't it?

We're lucky. And you've got to,

like a lot of the Lake District,
you need...

You can see a lot of it from a
car, but you have to make this

effort to really get...to really
get the proper sense of it.

Right. So this is...
This is the bad step. OK.

Keep three points
of contact at all times. OK.

Five if you've got them.

Well, let's hope it
stays at just five.

OK.

So... OK.

There are plenty of footholds

and there are plenty of handholds.

OK, you... Yeah.

You go down a little
and then I can...

A few handholds, there's good
ones everywhere. Got one.

Yeah. That's literally
the Bad Step, isn't it?

That is it, yes.

Whoa. We're not quite down yet,
but that was the worst of it.

There was a certain...

There was a certain frisson of
stretching my legs over that gap.

I don't mind telling you.

A certain...
I won't say erotic frisson.

That's no offence, Dave, but...

That's it - done. Is that it?
That's it. Striding Edge - done.

Really? Yeah. Well done.

Hang on. Thank you.

Well, thank you, er... Thank you
for being such an able guy. Wow!

Oh, wow!
Hey, that looks worse from below.

I feel quite pleased
with myself. Good.

Oh, man. Yes!

Another memorial? Yep.

This is the first mountain
I was brought up. Really?

Yep, my father brought me
up here and stood me on top

of the trig point -

the trig point being 3,118 feet
above sea level. Yeah.

And with me stood on the top,

3,121 feet above sea level.

You topped out at three... Yes.

Are you going to do it again?
I will try. Come on.

I think you can do it.
It's, er... It's a bit windy.

It was only 20 years ago.

BOTH CHUCKLE

Come on.

It's my turn to show you the
footholds now. Come on. OK?

DAVID GROANS

Right, I'm going to stand here.

Yeah. Try that. Right.

Oh. Can you stand up? Yay!
Well done. Yay! Cheers.

Oh! You all right?

Right. Oh, that's a long time
since I last did this. Wow!

That's good.

Are you all right? Yeah.

Well, I'm glad I didn't fall off it.
No, I'm glad. That would have...

We don't want the
David Powell-Thompson

memorial up here, as well.

But it's wild, it's kind of
other-worldly today.

It's like the surface of
the moon, isn't it? Yeah.

And it's just getting worse,
isn't it? It is, isn't it? Yeah.

That's Swirral Edge. Swirral Edge.

In 2014, I was diagnosed with

high-functioning bipolar disorder.

It was all triggered by
my mother passing away.

She'd spent about ten years or so
being very mentally ill.

It sort of triggered this whole
series of events that led me

to being diagnosed.

And for a few years after, I really
struggled and I needed to find

another way to cope -
to cope with being bipolar,

with all the ups and downs
that come not only with life,

but with having
a mental illness like that.

I got active in the outdoors
and I realised

that being in the mountains
especially

just really helped calm me down,
because when you're outside,

when you're on the summit,
everything just seems to fade away.

Nothing else matters.

For me, it's moments like that
that the Lake District, you just...

..you can't get anywhere else
and it's really special

in the sense that those moments
do stay with you forever.

Coming to the mountains has
definitely improved my mental health

and well-being, as well as my
physical health and well-being.

And for sure, it's a form
of medication for me.

I've always been an active person,
and being outdoors

is where I find my battery
recharge, as it were.

And in 2006, it all came to a head

when a truck ran into the back
of my car

and my life changed dramatically.

Housebound for around two years,

struggling to see any...any light.

Your mind starts playing very,
very dark tricks with you.

I was clinically diagnosed
with severe depression

and I was on the verge of
suicide and...

..I met this chap

and this old man
lived around the corner from me,

and it was basically as far
as I could walk to go and see him.

And Max is my miracle dog.

He gave me a reason to get

out of the house to go and see him.

And from that day on,
my life changed dramatically.

We started cataloguing photographs
of Max, and it was more, I suppose,

for me to show where I'd been
and where I got to.

So I could say to people, "Oh,
this is how far I walked today,"

or, "This is where we went today."

And it was suggested that Max
should have his own Facebook page.

I think we're just over
the 100,000 followers mark

in about three and a half years,
four years.

And it's incredible because
you don't realise the reach

that your photograph
of the Lake District,

where that goes in the world
and how it makes people feel.

And that's the miracle
of them, really,

is that they make people smile
and they make people happy.

This one came along - Paddy.

Paddy's been brilliant.

He's just a live wire - he's full
of fun and full of energy.

And he's been superseded
by our rather quiet puppy

called Harry -
Prince Harry of Winterfells.

We put Max through a therapy-dog
training programme.

So he's a registered therapy dog.

And we decided that we had
something here

and we had a vessel for
promoting the area,

but also for doing valuable work
for various charities,

including the Search and Rescue
Dogs, Mountain Rescue.

And from that, we received an invite
to the Queen's Garden Party

in Buckingham Palace in May.

And Max came along with us.

We have a lot of military people
who will follow us, who have served

in Afghanistan or Iraq,
and they were coming up to me

and telling us what it meant
to be reminded of home and...

VOICE BREAKING: ..how much our
little dog had helped them.

And I can't repay him for that.

Not ever.

Helvellyn's just one of them places

to me, it's like a...
It's like a big playground.

It's got a real mixture of
everything, you know.

Striding Edge, Swirral Edge
is quite a tough scramble,

but it's a little exposed, you know,
and running fast along it,

it gives you that
little bit of thrill.

I like to think of myself

as being pretty tough, to be honest.

Sometimes the harder it is,
I tend to think, the better I do.

But I'll prefer it to be

a horrible day, to be honest,

and I think I'll fare a lot better.

I think fell running started for me

when I was, you know, 14, 15,
and I went from racing

on the West Coast or racing
around Cumbria, you know,

to racing all over the world.

Although trail running
and mountain running

in Europe and all over
the world's taken off,

in my eyes, it'll never
match fell running.

Fell running's got a different
atmosphere and a camaraderie

what isn't in any other sport or
fashion of the sport, you know.

And I think it's real
personal to the Lakes.

You know, these are classic

races what you'll never get

anywhere else in the world.

And the Lake District
has always sort of bred

sort of top-class fell runners.

Not that I'm calling myself
a top-class fell runner,

you know, but you just
have to look at the likes

of Billy Bland and Joss Naylor
and, er, Rob Jebb,

you know, that are akin to,
you know, Olympic athletes.

I have a mini adventure every day.

and that keeps me enticed to try
different places, different routes,

up routes what possibly nobody's
ever been on before.

I'll maybe never find some,
but I can always keep trying.

# On the cliff near my home

# There's a forest still unknown

# I have seen words
when I was a child

# And inside there's a tree

# That gives life to those who seek

# But to heal the world
I'd give it all away

# And I know

# I have been searching all my life

# Though I haven't found it yet

# Until now

# I can see it's still there

# In the mystic air

# When it will be rediscovered
one more time... #

CHATTER

Well, it's not bad
for a little village show.

Look at the people
who are here today.

CHATTER

Generally speaking, they're
people who may be on holiday,

but they've come and they're
recognising the importance.

And everything that
you're seeing here

is about what we say
is normal life round here.

Farming's changed.

And the tragedy is that the local
people who know how to run

and look after sheep on these fells,

they're the ones
who are disappearing.

Now, a stick like this,
it should catch your sheep,

but you should also be able to give
your dog a twank up the backside.

But if you broke your stick
on your dog, now that was...

That was... That was not done.

I dare say that over the time
that farmers have been shepherds

and using them, one or two
will have been broken.

Well, I started as a young boy.

In those days, there wasn't the
things going on in the valleys

and the country that there is now.

And when it was Patterdale Dog Day

was a big day in Patterdale.

And I think when I was a young boy,

there was only three cars
in the village.

Now there's three cars outside
some of the houses!

It's all changed -

not everything for the better,
but a lot of it is.

As I said before, working up here,
I've worked dogs all my life.

It's going along, taking part.

and you meet a lot of friends
that you have a craic with.

You maybe never see them for months.

What we're looking for with a...

These are fell foxhounds,

and what we're looking for -
good deep chest,

which is the engine, basically,

and just a nice confirmation,
an athletic-looking animal

that can cover the ground
like a racehorse.

The Ullswater Foxhounds were
originally started in 1873

and have been here ever since.

It's a part of natural life,
country life, these shows.

It isn't just about what people
think - we follow trails now,

so we're all trying
to do everything 100% legal

in order to get people out on
the fells to see the hounds,

and just think
it's a marvellous sight.

And as you can see, we've got the
most wonderful scenery around us,

that you couldn't
wish to live or work

in a more beautiful place
in the country.

Well, Cumbrian dialect
originated from the Vikings.

The Vikings came over,
they went over to the Isle of Man,

they went over to Ireland,
they looked at Scotland,

but a lot of them
settled in Cumbria.

It was kind of a mixture between
the Anglo Saxon language

and a lot of Viking words
came into it.

A few years ago,
if you went to a village school,

you would hear
kids talking in dialect.

Other words, such as,
a gate is a yat.

Er, to bake something is to byak,
or a cake is a cyak.

A ladder's a stee.

We don't say water, we say watter,

Ulls-watter.
We talk about Ulls-watter.

Years ago, a paper never went
out of the valley,

never mind out of the county.

As you probably know,
a lot of young people nowadays

they don't even converse by tongue.

They converse with their thumbs,
with their own language.

So we don't want to see
the Cumbrian dialect die out,

but another dialect
might take over in its place,

but it is getting
more and more difficult

to get people to join
in the society,

because a lot of people
don't understand it.

# Whilst the gimmers bleat and bay

# And the lambkins skip and play

# Tarry woo, and Tarry woo

# Tarry woo is ill to spin

# Card it well, oh, card it well

# Card it well e're ye begin. #

Our hobby, our passion together
was hill walking.

And then when my spine decided

that it wasn't going to
hold me up any more, erm...

..I honestly thought I'd
never reach another summit,

I thought that that was it.

It was down...down there in
the car park in my wheelchair,

watching other people
don their hiking boots

and throwing on their rucksacks and
setting off for a day in the hills.

I mean, when we, er... When we come
out on any kind of adventure

that brings us out into the fells,

our first port of call is
an Ordnance Survey map -

we look for bridleways.

And the vehicle that we use
is a class 3 mobility vehicle,

er...and so it's allowed
to go where any boot goes.

But everything's based on safety.

That's why we always have
Jonathan with us.

And, you know, it's not
about sanitising routes either.

If Mother Nature's
put those stones there,

the stones are there for a reason

and I haven't been able
to get to the top.

We're looking at the technology
that's out there now

to be able to get people with
disabilities out into the fells

and into the mountains.

I always talk about my wheelchairs

as being my shoes.

And this here - I've got my
four-season boots on today.

To be out here in the fells, it's...

SHE EXHALES

It's an emotion, it's...

You've got the views - that feeling
inside that is just...

Oh.

A word hasn't yet been invented...

..to express how I feel today

with all this in front of me.

I'm above...
I'm above some of the summits.

But there isn't a word
that just...just goes.

Flight attendant Nigel Wharmby -

I've been on 100 Squadron
now for three years.

It's probably my last tour of duty,
having been doing this for 40 years.

I happen to be operating
out of Leeming in North Yorkshire,

but I actually live at the base
of Helvellyn.

I live in the little village
of Patterdale.

So Helvellyn to me
is my local mountain

that I'll climb not
every weekend of the year -

but certainly half
the weekends of the year

I'll be seen on Striding Edge.

We've actually had an aeroplane land
on Helvellyn - not in my time,

I hasten to add, I'm not that old -
but back on 22nd of December 1926,

a light aircraft intentionally
landed on the summit of Helvellyn,

and then, more importantly, managed
to get airborne safely again.

Fortunately for 100 Squadron,
because we fly the Hawk,

unlike my previous aeroplane,
which was the Harrier,

which could vertically take
off and land,

I'm afraid we won't be landing
on Helvellyn any time soon.

All of our flights require quite
a lot of planning and briefing

before we go, so for an hour
in the air, I'm probably

going to spend an hour and a half,
maybe two hours planning,

and then another hour briefing.

The demands of low-level flying

depend very much on the weather
on the day.

On a day like today,
weather is really good,

then accurate navigation
is a lot easier

than in a difficult weather day
where there's a lot of low cloud.

Obviously, there are set limits
in which we're allowed to low fly,

and as the weather comes down,
the pressure on her to navigate

accurately becomes more difficult,
particularly when you're in terrain

that maybe you're not familiar with

or where there are no margins
for error - so, for instance,

when we're mountain flying or going
through the mountains, there aren't

many areas in the country
where we can actually do that.

Obviously there's
the Highlands of Scotland,

there's the mountains of North Wales
and there's obviously Cumbria.

For us here at Leeming,

Cumbria is literally only ten
minutes' flying time away,

and so we're going to use
that as often as we can

when the weather is fit.

We set up the times on target,

so we try to be over a particular
spot on the ground

within plus or minus five seconds.

And again, depending on the weather,
we might have to deviate for weather

and get ourselves back on track.

What's it like to low fly 450 miles
an hour through the Lake District?

It's pretty exhilarating,
I have to say,

and I've been doing this
for 40 years.

The low-level flying is something
that's a very perishable skill.

Low flying over level terrain
is one skill,

but low flying through
mountainous terrain,

where you're manoeuvring
the aircraft at high G

around some fairly steep corners
is a completely separate skill,

and particularly when you're
flying in formation.

100 Squadron's role
in the Air Force -

we're the RAF's aggressor squadron,

so we provide operational support
to the front line,

primarily to our Typhoons
and to our F-35 Lightnings,

where we act as
an adversary aircraft -

a highly agile fighter -
to conduct their training.

THUNDER RUMBLES

The scenery is diverse.

It doesn't matter where you go,
you've got a different view

to have to contend with - the
colours, the different seasons,

everything is different.

I've spent 20 years going
around the Lake District

just loving
every part of it, really.

It's really special.

Well, of course, once the colours
come out, as they're just about

to emerge now, I think, and trying
to get them down on the painting

is the challenge, of course.

And sometimes you get it -
sometimes you don't, really.

I've painted the sky
three or four times now

cos it keeps getting
splattered on by the rain.

Actually, it makes some quite
interesting patterns.

It's a bit difficult to keep
having to hold on to your easel

to stop it blowing away,
but we're OK.

We're persevering.

We're hardy people
here in the north.

We do the dawn cruise twice a year.

We do one in spring
and one in autumn.

They asked if I would run
a photography cruise and I said,

"Yeah, OK, I'll do a photography
cruise, but I'll do it at dawn."

And I suppose it was for selfish
reasons as well because I wanted

to be out on the lake at dawn.

We're going to circle round
and do that again,

so if you do want to swap...

In a previous life, I was a
detective with Cumbria Police

for 26 years, police officer for 30.

And to de-stress from that,
I started doing more walking,

fell in love with
the scenery all over again.

I'd always wanted to take pictures,
but I suppose life, kids,

and whatever else
have got in the way.

So I bought a digital camera
just to record my walks.

Then 2014,
three years after I retired,

I won the UK Landscape
Photographer of the Year,

Charlie Waite's competition.

I suppose, from thinking,
when I retired after 30 years

in the police, that, "What am
I going to do? My life's over."

And all of a sudden,
I've had a second life.

You're going to lose the focus
of what you're shooting at.

What I find with photography - I
find that photography almost makes

you see the countryside again,
see it through different eyes.

You appreciate the beauty more.

And I'm not one of these that
goes from honeypot location

to honeypot location.

I just love the outdoors. It's
not about a love of photography,

it's about a love of the outdoors
and appreciate what we've got

and how important it is,
what we've got.

And it's really... You know, it's
about photographing with the heart.

If you feel no emotion
for your subject,

then there's no emotion
going to be in the picture.

Anybody who views the image isn't
going to feel any emotion, erm...

So it's really about trying
to get people to fall in love.

It's not thinking
about leading lines.

It's not thinking
about rule of thirds.

It's not thinking about any of
these technical compositional aids.

It's about seeing something that you
love that makes you shout and swear

and makes you want to photograph it.

Well, I still like to think
of the Lake District as home,

even though I moved away at the age
of 18, having grown up in Kendal.

So these trips,
when I can manage to get up here

are really quite precious.

As I say, I grew up in Kendal,
went to school there.

I think that's probably where I
first sort of got the inspiration

to get involved in weather.

I mean, for one thing,

you experience an awful lot of
weather in the Lake District!

You can't get away from it.

But we actually had
a weather station at school -

I used to do the daily readings
there - and from there,

that kind of developed the weather
interest a little bit more.

First job - British Antarctic Survey
as a meteorologist - I actually went

down and spent two years in
Antarctica back in the 1980s,

which was an amazing experience,
and definitely drew, I think,

on my days in
the Lake District fells, as well.

After that, joined the Met Office
as a weather forecaster

back in the mid '80s.

And, well, that was my career
for over 30 years -

20 years of that as a weather
presenter on the BBC,

doing things like the Countryfile
forecast, for example.

Which, of course, is of big interest
to people getting out and about

in the hills, like this.

It's a really, really difficult
place to predict for.

The weather just changes so much.

Mountains have a really
big effect on the weather.

They actually create their own.

You often hear people say, um...

..in the mountains,
the weather's completely different

in one valley to the next.

Um...and that's absolutely true.

And we can actually
see it here today.

Er...Helvellyn, covered in cloud.

Looking out over there,
to the Eden Valley,

the sun's actually
shining out there.

I can see patches of blue sky.

You know, mountains are to weather

what a boulder is to a river.

It blocks the flow.

It's forced to go around it.

So just like water has to
go over, around a boulder,

then the weather has to go
around these mountains.

And that's what makes these sort
of landscapes so fascinating.

On a day like today,
even with all this cloud cover,

I'm seeing breaks in the cloud

as the wind just becomes
that bit more turbulent.

We're seeing lovely light effects

just drifting across
Ullswater there.

And I can see shafts of rain as the
showers are beginning to come in.

It just... It's what makes
it just so beautiful,

particularly in this soft
autumn light.

I mean, if you just go a few
miles that way to Ambleside,

the annual rainfall there
is something like

2,000 millimetres of rain -

so about two metres of rain a year.

But then a few miles out
that way, in the Eden Valley,

it's well below a metre.

So much less than half the amount
of rain you get over in Ambleside.

And the reason for that is that most
of the rain-bearing weather systems

that we get in the Lakes come in
from the west, from the Atlantic.

That rain-bearing cloud
comes up against

the western side of the fells.

The air is forced to rise as it
comes up against the mountains.

As it rises, it cools, it condenses.

That thickens the cloud,

if you like, as it's rising up
the mountains.

And then rain falling
from higher clouds

actually strips out the moisture
of the lower-level clouds

as it falls through.

And those two things combine -

and particularly combine here
in the Lake District -

to provide some huge rainfalls.

So having dropped all
that rain over that side,

there's not much left then to fall
over this side, in the Eden Valley.

That's why the Eden Valley sits in
what we call a rain-shadow effect.

Now, of course,
the temperature drops

with altitude in the atmosphere.

Um...on average, it's something
like a three-degree Celsius drop

in temperature for every
thousand feet that you go up.

So, er...what's that in metric?

Around about one degree Celsius
for every 100 metres of elevation.

Actually, we can see
that happening today

with that flat base of cloud
sitting across the fell tops.

Um...as you go up through the
atmosphere, temperature's dropping,

you're getting to
the cloud-base level,

the temperature has dropped enough

so that the moisture that's in
the air is condensing into cloud.

But that also means, of course,
if you set off in the valleys -

where, today, the temperature's
around about ten degrees -

by the time you get to the top of
Helvellyn, which is 3,000 feet,

you've seen a nine-degree drop
in temperature.

So it's not that much above freezing
by the time you get to the top.

Add in the effect of the wind-chill,
with this wind today

being accelerated over the top
of the fells, as well,

and you've got such a different
environment up there.

And that's why it is easy,
if you're not prepared,

to, er...to get caught out.

The conditions are so different
on top of the fells

compared to the valleys.

So I've said a lot about how
mountains shape the weather,

but, you know, to some extent,

the weather has shaped that
mountain over there, Helvellyn.

The effect of the prevailing winds,
the prevailing weather systems,

leave us with
the shape of the mountain

that I can actually see, looking
across Ullswater even today.

BIRDSONG

STAG ROARS

BIRDSONG

This is Gowbarrow Park,

and it is a lovely site
that is located

on the northern shores of Ullswater,

just to the east of the National
Trust's Aira Force woodland.

It's a fantastic example of one
of the Lake District's

pasture woodlands, which is one
of Britain's priority habitats.

This tree is a pollarded wych elm.

It is easily the crown jewel
of the Lake District.

It's so special.

It really is an antique
that sits in the landscape.

But it isn't its antiquity
that makes it so special,

it's all of the life
that this tree supports.

In particular, its lichen interest.

This here is known as
the lungs of the forest,

or Lobaria pulmonaria.

And it is a species that you find

on very, very old trees
in old woods,

and is characteristic of clean air.

This species is one that we have
an international responsibility for,

which means that the UK has over 10%
of the global population

of this species in these woods.

And over the years, we have seen
significant declines of this species

across the Lake District

due to pollution,
such as that coming from cars,

from agriculture and from industry.

Now, lichens inhabit every type
of environment -

you can see them from the lakeshores
to the tops of the mountains -

and they add so much
colour and texture

and biological integrity
to the world around us.

I feel hugely concerned in terms of

the increased number of visitor
pressures within the Lake District.

These habitats are so
incredibly sensitive

to environmental pollution.

However, these habitats,
and the species within them,

are there for people to see
and for people to enjoy.

So I'm such an advocate for people
visiting these environments,

but it all just needs to be done
so incredibly sensitively.

This species here is known
as the sunburst lichen,

or Xanthoria parietina.

And when you start to see this
one creeping into the environment,

you start thinking what's going on
in terms of its quality.

Because this species here is very
tolerant of nitrogen pollution.

And you also tend to find it
in massive abundance

along trees that border the roads.

From the life that grows
on these trees

to the trees that are situated
in the landscape,

all of these elements
of the natural world

have a really important
story to tell.

But, unfortunately, most people

don't even know
about their existence.

And how are they meant to care

and want to protect something

if they don't even know
that it exists?

CATTLE LOW

Well, we're in a tenancy here
with the National Trust,

and, er...obviously, this is a park

that they're wanting to
supposedly re-germinate

into, you know, a bit more, you
know, a little bit more woodland.

And cattle seem to keep
the grass down, you know,

better than sheep, really.

You know, put traditional
breeds on, which we have,

which is a Blue-Grey cow, so...

And then the Charolais calf.

I've just fetched a little bit of
supplementary feed for the cows.

You know, it's just getting

that time of year now where
there's not a lot in the grass,

so a little bit of feed there gets
them content and keeps them going.

So it's just a nice morning to come
and check on the...on the cattle.

So, yeah, that's what, er...we're
doing this morning.

And then we're going to obviously go
and put a wall up while we're here!

HE LAUGHS

Where we're at today
is an old deer park.

Back in the 1600s,
originally grazed by deer.

Up until the latter 100 years,
it's been grazed by

the more domestic farm animals -
sheep and cows.

Important sites like this,

Glenamara Park,
is full of veteran trees.

We've removed the sheep,
working with our tenant,

to try and get
some more regeneration.

And it's farming and conservation
working in harmony.

I'd say the National Trust
is very important

to maintain the landscape,
the cultural landscape.

The National Trust
has 90 farms in the Lakes.

Not every day is like today.

We do get a lot of wind and rain,
which makes the job harder.

Being out, you know, all day

putting walls up, fencing.

It does get a bit
monotonous at times,

but it's days like this
make up for it.

And, er...being outside in the
countryside, it's... It's great.

# A distant glow, a timeless flow

# Of secret whispers and evermore

# A sight to breathe if you believe

# Through all his wonders
there's time to live

# An open meadow, a distant glow

# It is your calling before the show

# It stands alone there

# Observing life

# Tall as his shadow

# Warm as his light

# The mountain sings
His voice is bright

# A perfect sunrise to end the night

# A perfect day to find our way

# Towards the mountain

# Where I shall stay

# The top is nearly
beyond this stone

# I'll soon be standing
yet not alone

# I'll stand with him now
We'll watch the sky

# We'll watch the birds
as they fly by

# Up high... #

These fells are so special,

they simply take your breath away.

And they give unconditionally
to us all.

This is a working landscape,
full of traditions and old ways.

And if we don't keep them, we lose
everything that Lakeland is -

a place where we work with nature
and not against her.

This is a place of land
and lives interwoven.

Its future is,
quite simply, in our hands.

SHEEP BLEAT

BIRDSONG

WIND WHISTLES