... the one with the wa-ger-ly trail?
Come on, sing along, you all know the tune...
... but what about the numbers?
The path to High Street
I've been doing some rough sums, trying to work out how much the quest to do the 214 has cost so far and how much more it'll cost me to finish them during the next 18 months (I aim to get them all done before I turn 50)...
The total so far is 192 but the actual count is 200, as some tops have been revisited.
Of these 200:
- 35 were during 8 wildcamping trips
- 106 were during 25 mildcamping trips, a total of 61 nights
- 53 were during 24 YHA stays, a total of 50 nights
- 4 were during 2 undergrad fieldtrips
- 2 were during 1 B&B weekend
For this costing, I've made the following assumptions:
- Food and beer costs aren't included - I'd have bought the stuff anyway if I'd stayed at home
- I'm estimating that I've spent £1000.00 on gear that I wouldn't otherwise have bought
- Car maintenance, tax and insurance etc. aren't included - again, I'd have paid for them anyway
- Wildcamping costs were fuel only
- Mildcamping costs were fuel and site-fees
- YHA costs were fuel and YHA fees
- Fieldtrip costs were £20.00 each
- B&B costs were £50.00 and fuel
- I'm not including trips when I walked but didn't bag any Wainwrights
- Calculations cover trips during the last 30 years, so I'm estimating an average mildcamping pitch at £5.00 a night and YHA stays at £10.00 a night
- Usually I've been getting there, around and back by car, so I'm estimating an average fuel price of £3.30 a gallon, an average of 42 mpg and an average mileage of 450 per visit, giving an average fuel cost of £35.36 per return trip
So...
- Wildcamping costs were 8 x £35.36 = £282.88
- Mildcamping costs were (25 x £35.36) + (61 x £5.00) = £884.00 + £305.00 = £1189.00
- YHA costs were (24 x £35.36) + (50 x £10.00) = £848.64 + £500.00 = £1348.64
- Fieldtrips costs were 2 x £20.00 = £40.00
- B&B cost was £35.36 + £50.00 = £85.36
- Gear cost was £1000.00
Tot up that lot and it comes to £3945.88 which works out at an average of about £19.73 for each of the 200 times I've topped-out.
Mickleden and Great Langdale
So, what of the other 22 Wainwrights that I've yet to knock off the list?
I've looked at the map and I reckon that at the very least I'm looking at 4 YHA visits (a total of 9 nights), 2 wildcamping weekends and 2 mildcamping weekends. For this costing, I've made the following assumptions:
- Food and beer costs aren't included - I'll probably buy the stuff anyway if I stay at home
- I'm estimating no spend for gear - barring unforeseen events, I have all that I will need
- Car maintenance, tax and insurance etc. aren't included - again, I'll be paying for them anyway
- Wildcamping costs will be fuel only
- Mildcamping costs will be fuel and site-fees
- YHA costs will be fuel and YHA fees
- Calculations cover trips during the next 18 months, so I'm estimating an average mildcamping pitch at £7.50 a night and YHA stays at £15.00 a night, and for the car I'm estimating an average fuel price of £5.50 a gallon, an average of 42 mpg and an average mileage of 450 per visit, giving an average fuel cost of £58.93 per return trip
So...
- Wildcamping costs will be 2 x £58.93 = £117.86
- Mildcamping costs will be (2 x £58.93) + (4 x £7.50) = £117.86 + £30.00 = £147.86
- YHA costs will be (4 x £58.93) + (9 x £15.00) = £235.72 + £135.00 = £370.72
Tot up that lot and it comes to £636.44 which works out at an average of about £28.93 for each of the 22 tops still to do.
OK, so it's gone up a lot, but I reckon it's not too much to pay for being in places like this:
Angle Tarn
I trust that somebody out there will check my maths 😉
