Welcome to the OFC
 The Online Fellwalking Club was founded on the 9th April 2001 at the height of the Foot and Mouth Epidemic to give fell and hillwalkers the chance to pacify their inaction during that sorry time. With the passing of the crisis the club continued to flourish. Although much of the action takes place on the Yahoo! Message Board this site will benefit strongly with input from the membership.
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 Scott Anderson of Enlightened Traveller wrote to me recently asking for his url to be placed on the OFC's links page. As I usually do, I asked if he wanted to place something a little more informative on the site which would not only profile his walking-related site but also provide us with an interesting article for the OFC. I've seen majectic railways in France myself and unlike our own scenic lines closed by Beeching, this stunning route is still in use. Read on to find out more about this fantastic part of rural France. |
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 I was reading The Wainwright Memorial Walk a while since and it dawned on me that 2010 would be the 80th anniversary of AW's ascent of Orrest Head. Before 1967, the Whitsuntide (Pentecost) holiday was not static in the calendar as it is today and as I thought, finding the exact date Alfred climbed Orrest Head would be reasonably straight forward with all the available information online. Many of us take a holiday round the May half term, but Whitsuntide is still obviously regulated by the church. With a bit of 'Googling' it was apparent that AW ascended his first fell on 5th June 1930. As many of us know, this was somewhat of a revelation for Wainwright, his inspiration on the road to Damascus. In recognition of this landmark would you like to join us for a walk to recognise this momentous occasion?.... |
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 A New Year's Day ascent of Ill Bell started with a walk up valley past Kentmere Reservoir. The ascent, in worsening winter conditions, included the ascent of the mountain's north-east ridge. A second ascent the day after included carrying my downhill skis to the summit of Yoke. The resulting descent from the mountain was one of those classic memories that will live with me forever, or until the next time I do it!.... |
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 Robbie via the OFC Yahoo! message board has proposed that during 2010 a gathering be arranged somewhere in Lakeland. His initial proposal is for a camp during August 2010 where people could congregate and of course walk, talk and socialise together. Although Wasdale is Robbie's favoured location, it seems feasable in the first instance to gather interest in this idea wherever the location turns out to be. What do you think? Please read on and give your opinions... |
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 This article is certainly not fellwalking, but after overnight snow, London awoke to some snow on 18th December 2009. After a pre-Christmas errand in Leyton, a drive with a friend into Epping Forest saw a photo opportunity metamorphose into a full blown walk. With the snow on the ground and good boots on the feet, Steve and I set off into the winter wonderland of Epping Forest. |
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 COMPETITION: Since the centenary of Alfred Wainwright's birth in 2007, there has been a massive resurgence in interest in the man himself. With the revival of the Pictorial Guides as a result of being saved by Frances Lincoln Publisher, the recent televising of Wainwright's Walks with Julia Bradbury and the formation of the Society in his name, there has been renewed enthusiasm for anything AW. Along with Hunter Davies biography of Wainwright, this new book also announces itself as the biography of Alfred Wainwright. This review (with competition) focuses on Wainwright, His life from Milltown to Mountain by W.R.Mitchell. |
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 The OFC ascent of Great Gable for the 2009 service of Remembrance performed by the Fell and Rock Climbing Club. This year the weather held and the party ascended from Honister Hause, meeting with Richard Ratcliffe and Ben Hammond. After the service, the group retired to the Westmorland Cairn to take lunch before descending via Green Gable and Grey Knotts to Honister Hause. |
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 Roger and Ann Hiley were honoured on 8th November by the Online Fellwalking Club for all their Lakeland related activities and positive contributions in their 9 years with the OFC. As Helmut Hudler once put it, "Peter might be the brains of the OFC, but it's the Hileys who are its heart." Undoubtedly there are many fantastic members within the OFC but from the time of their subscription the energetic couple have contributed much to the camaraderie within the club. |
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 On a recent visit to Cumbria I had the fine company of Mark Richards, guidebook author and illustrator. With about 48 hours in which to travel north to Carlisle, I was welcomed as guest into the Richards' home. Although brought up in rural Oxfordshire and later a farmer himself, it as author of many outdoors' guides that Mark is best known. In later years Mark became a regular house-guest of Alfred Wainwright. To find out a little more about Mark and a walk taken together read on... |
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| FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS |
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 Thursday's weather was to be mixed so we went up in the hope we would get a window in the weather. The drive up was horrible with snow, sleet and strong winds and the road alongside Loch Rannoch snowy and icy, but passable.
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 The North-western Fells divide neatly upon New-lands Hause, from where the shapely mass of Robinson handsomely dominates, enhanced by the fuming presence of Moss Force. The road wending up the Newlands valley draws over the considerable slope of Rowling End bound for Keskadale and catches a glimpse right of an impressive razor edge looming over Rigg Beck. This ridge, which includes the summits Knott Rigg and Ard Crags combines beautifully with Robinson to make an entertaining skyline horseshoe.
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Visitors to the site will be familiar with surfing the world wide web, but to get the most out of the new site you might want to know a few useful pieces of information. Please read on here to get some tips for getting the most out of the new OFC site...
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"If you dear readers should get a bit of grit in your boots as you are crossing Hay Stacks in the years to come, please treat it with respect. It might be me." A Wainwright 1907-1991
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