Four Peaks Sound Walk

Original version

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Sound Walk: Four Peaks Sound Walk: Scafell Pike

Scafell Pike

BBC Radio 3 - Sound Walk, Four Peaks Sound Walk, Scafell Pike

Horatio Clare climbs Scafell Pike in the third of his four Sound Walks across the UK.

Horatio Clare climbs Scafell Pike in the third Sound Walk up the four great peaks of the United Kingdom.

The third of Horatio Clare’s Christmas Sound Walks. It’s the north eastern tip of Wast Water in the Lake District which sees the start of the climb of England’s highest peak, Scafell Pike. 

Joining the Corridor Route to take him up the mountain – one of the most impressive routes in the whole of the Cumbria - this is a journey of extremes. From the warm rolling foothills, across boggy ground and rocky outcrops, the trek takes him to Sty Head, and around Great End whilst passing Skew Gill and what appears to be a roaring and bottomless Piers Gill. 

Passing groups of fell runners whilst surrounded by the splendour of the Lake District’s scenery, the path gets harder and the weather darker. The cloud comes down and the rain saturates. 

At the end of the silence and remoteness of the Corridor Route, the path joins the main drag up the mountain. Looking like an army of ants emerging from the mists, astonishingly, on a day of terrible weather, hundreds of people are still drawn, almost magnetically, to England’s highest spot. In a joyous joint pilgrimage to reach the summit, with the hill walkers seemingly representing almost every corner of Britain’s society, as the rain pours the glee of everyone’s triumph over adversity is clear. 

Part of Horatio Clare's Sound Walk journey to the four highest peaks of the four UK nations. Climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland, Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales, he sets out on an epic journey up the monolithic titans to take the temperature of this particular moment in time and our relationship with the outdoors.

Approaching the dozing giants, not in an athletic spirit of conquest but in a spirit investigation and curiosity, he arrives at the foot of each of them with no preconceptions, but with an open mind in the hope of climbing to the attic of each country and looking through the skylight to see how they talk to each other and how they talk to us. 

Hearing the birds, smelling the fresh air, being shrouded by mist and cloud whilst also soaking up the light, shades and colours, with long periods of carefully recorded atmosphere, interwoven with music and lucid descriptions, this is radio that’s designed to take time to hear. 

Music threaded through the programmes include works from a wide variety of genres by composers and performers including Amiina, Olafur Arnalds, JS Bach, Beoga, Gavin Bryars, Anna Clyne, Laurence Crane, Danish String Quartet, Dalla, Alex Groves, Leos Janacek, John Luther Adams, EJ Moeran, Úna Monaghan, Anne Müller,  Nordic Fiddler’s Bloc, Vikingur Olafsson, Morfydd Owen, Puuluup, Penguin Café, Aidan O’Rourke, Richard Strauss, Ralph Vaughan Williams, A Winged Victory for the Sullen and many more. 


Books and sources used for research include: 

Ben Nevis: Britain's Highest Mountain - Ken Crockett and Simon Richardson

Twenty Years on Ben Nevis - William T Kilgour

The English Lakes: A History - Ian Thompson

Below Scafell - Dudley Hoys

The Pinnacle Club for Women Climbers pinnacleclub.co.uk/journals

On Cambrian and Cumbrian Hills - Henry S Salt

Slieve Donard's Domain - Nicholas Russell

Snowdon: The Story of a Welsh Mountain - Jim Perrin

Portrait of Snowdonia - Cledwyn Hughes 

Mountains and Desire - Margaret Grebowicz

Sound Walk: Four Peaks Sound Walk

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Horatio Clare travels to the four UK nations to climb each of their highest peaks.

Horatio Clare travels to the highest peaks of the four UK nations, climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland, Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales.

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