A mammoth effort is needed to complete just one round of the 214 fells that feature in the seven Lake District walking guidebooks written and illustrated by Alfred Wainwright.
But last weekend Stephen Moore, a super-fit 75-year-old, entered the world record books by completing his 60th circuit of the hills and mountains described in the detailed hikers’ handbooks, which equates to a remarkable 12,800 ascents.
His first completion was achieved in 1971 and by the time he retired to his beloved Newlands Valley in 2000 he had eight rounds under his belt although further progress was initially stalled by the foot and mouth disease outbreak.
Last Saturday afternoon he walked up Latrigg, the final summit of his 60th round, with his wife Kathy, his brother John, Elizabeth Norton (who has 31 completions to her name), Nicky Wood (official recorder with The Long Distance Walkers’ Association), her partner Ian and Tony Martin.
They celebrated enjoying champagne and home-made cake in the sunshine on the summit.
“It was joyous,” said Stephen, who has also completed a Bob Graham Round in 18 hours and 53 minutes. “Everybody who was there and came along wanted to celebrate with me. It was just a wonderful spirit within the Lakes. I really felt great.
“I have been so lucky to have so many days out on the hills enjoying the beauty of Lakeland. It was a reminder of all the good days out and enjoyment I have had. You could say I felt on top of the world!”
Stephen’s fastest round took him 23 days and the most rounds completed in a year was four.
His 60 completions mark the pinnacle of his fell walking achievements which include climbing 34 Lakeland tops more than 100 times each, three summits more than 200 times each and he has climbed Catbells an incredible 456 times, taking his total mountain ascents in the Lake District to a whopping 17,804!
One of his highlights was meeting movie megastar Tom Cruise on the top of Dale Head during filming for Mission: Impossible – Day of Reckoning, although he did not know who he was at the time. He had just got to the cairn when the mist came down and two men dressed in black emerged from the murk and Stephen got chatting to one of them.
“I turned to one of them and said we have had all this wonderful weather and all the wonderful views have now been lost in the mist,” said Stephen. “He said: ‘That is exactly what I was thinking’ and we started chatting and talking about the route I had taken.
“This guy had no idea about where he was and asked me about fell running. After about 10 minutes of chatting he stuck his hand out and said: ‘I am Tom Cruise’.
“I had not seen any of his films and just sort of ignored it. After another five minutes I got onto Hindscarth and a helicopter landed on Robinson and three men jumped out with air wings and were jumping off the crags and I thought something funny was happening.
“When I got home I told Kath the story and she asked if I had an autograph and if I had got a selfie. I said that he had never asked for one!”
Stephen is also an accomplished athlete having initially run on the fells for Horwich RMI in the early 80s before switching to road racing in 1987 after a move to London.
He subsequently ran for Great Britain and England in long distance races (mainly 100km) and was honoured to be invited and ran for a European team against South Africa in 1993 to celebrate the lifting of Apartheid.
Stephen still holds six world veteran records and has won the South Downs 80-mile race three times, the 53-mile London to Brighton road race four times and other marathons such as Luton and St Albans. He regularly finished in the top 100 of the London Marathon with his fastest time being two hours and 27 minutes and his slowest time being two hours and 34 minutes.
He joined Keswick Athletic Club in 2000 and says that the Wainwrights have enabled him to see all of the Lake District.
He admits that on the basis of reward for effort and fantastic views, his favourite mountain is Catbells. When he lived in the Newlands Valley, it became his regular run.
Stephen is now looking forward to enjoying some shorter days out on the hills via different routes.
