The Buttermere loop was where some of the first ticks went on one Wainwrights list — the other list in the party was already well past bragging. It was also, more or less, where Paws & Peaks started making sense. Long before the beach conversation, this was the walk that kept coming up: sunshine the whole way round, then a wind at the top that did everything it could, and nobody much minded.
There is a particular stretch on the way back — fells done, car still a long way off — where the talking stops and the walking just happens. Most gear is designed for the photograph at the top. We kept thinking about that stretch instead.
The fleece got designed for the miles in between. This is where the phrase comes from. It is a real place, and on a wet Tuesday you will likely have it to yourself.
