WalkSOS / Routes

Five routes, and what makes each one hard to be found on.

Two national parks, one Roman wall, and about 180 kilometres of ground between them. Each plan below is drawn to scale along its length: every tick is a kilometre, and the line darkens as it climbs. The note under each one is the part nobody else writes down.

These are not maps Each drawing is to scale along its length and in no other way. What is true: the distance, the shape of the day — out and back, a loop, a line across — and the height and position along the route of every marked point. All of it is published, and sourced under each route. The line is tinted by height in hundred-metre bands, and barred where it passes each of those levels. Read those as crossings, not as contours: they say how high the route is at that point, and nothing about where ground of that height lies. What is not on this page at all: a bearing, a grid reference, or a surveyed line. Nothing here will tell you which way to walk. Take OS Explorer mapping, know how to use it, and follow the links to the authority that publishes each route properly.

Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head

Cumbria · Lake District

978 mSummit 9.7 kmRound trip 989 mAscent

Why it is hard to be found here The summit plateau is a boulder field. In cloud it has almost no landmark to describe over the phone, and a person sitting among the rocks is the same size and tone as the rocks. Wasdale MRT took about 4% of every Mountain Rescue call-out in England and Wales in 2024.

Figures via Three Peaks Challenge. Start: Lake Head car park, NY 182 074.

Helvellyn by Striding Edge

Cumbria · Lake District

950 mSummit 12.9 kmLoop 925 mAscent

Why it is hard to be found here Striding Edge is a Grade 1 scramble on an arête two to three metres wide in places, with drops on both sides. Anyone who comes off it is below the skyline and out of sight of the path, which is the worst combination for a search: people are looking along the ridge, not down the side of it.

Figures via the Ramblers. Start: Glenridding.

Catbells from Hawse End

Cumbria · Lake District

451 mSummit 5.5 kmRound trip 2–3 hrTypical

Why it is hard to be found here Short, popular and full of people on their first fell, which is exactly the profile that gets caught out — in 2024 the 18-to-24 age group needed rescuing more than any other. The Derwentwater flank is steeper than it looks from the ridge, and an afternoon start runs into the dark.

Figures via Countryfile. Start: Hawse End, near Keswick.

The Cheviot from Langleeford

Northumberland · Cheviot Hills

815 mSummit 14.5 kmRound trip 639 mAscent

Why it is hard to be found here The worst of the five. The summit is a wide peat plateau with very little to fix a position against, and Northumberland National Park's own description of the valley warns of bog, marsh and stream crossings. Far fewer walkers than the Lake District, which means fewer people to notice you are in trouble.

Route context via Northumberland National Park. Start: Langleeford, Harthope Valley.

Hadrian's Wall Path

Northumberland & Cumbria · National Trail

135 kmCoast to coast 84 miIn old money 345 mWinshields Crag

Why it is hard to be found here Not height — exposure and distance from a road. The central crags between Chollerford and Gilsland are the highest, emptiest part of the trail, walked in long single-day stages by people carrying everything. If you stop moving out there in November, very little comes past.

Distance via National Trails; Winshields Crag height via English Heritage.

What to carry on any of them

OS Explorer mapping and a compass, and the ability to use both when the phone is dead. A charged phone with what3words installed. Something to be seen with, because at the point a team is in your valley looking for you, everything else has already done its job.

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