Guest Contributor – Tim Synge

 

Introduction 

If readers would like to contribute an article for the Guest Contributor page heading please contact me, my email address appears on the About Me page heading.  The 0nly two things I ask is that the article should be hill related and importantly I should not end up in court through its publication!  Otherwise the choice of subject matter is down to the Guest Contributor. 

 

About the Author; Tim Synge

Tim Synge on Maiden Moor

Tim is the first to admit that he expected his 1995 book, The Lakeland Summits, to fade into obscurity; he had compiled his list of 646 Lake District summits very much as a personal study and its publication by Sigma Leisure was never part of his original plan.  Some years after its publication, and unknown to him, it attracted the attention of a handful of walkers who maintained online records of their peak bagging exploits and this led to the recognition of “the Synges” by Phil Newby at Haroldstreet and, shortly after this, by the DoBIH team. Now, 30 years after its publication, Tim has undertaken a comprehensive review of his earlier work.  The result of this is a new and updated book: The Synges.  

 

 

The Synges

By Tim Synge

I find it hard to believe that it is now over five years since I wrote my previous article for Myrddyn’s fantastic site, but there it is in black and white: Saturday 25 April 2020.  It was entirely true that I was “investigating the possibility of a short print run for what would be a twenty-fifth anniversary second edition”, but, as the evidence shows, that print run never saw the light of day.  What is more, the undertaking I made, to the effect that “if it does not work out, I will release a list in the next twelve months” did not come to fruition.

My apologies to any reader who has been waiting patiently for the promised second edition. I am pleased to report that it is being published this summer, albeit as a thirtieth-anniversary second edition.  This is very satisfying for me personally; as I intimated in my previous blog, there were some aspects of the presentation of the first edition which I felt could have been treated in a different way and I have addressed these. There are also many substantive changes, both to take account of the extensions to the LDNP in 2016 and to reflect various other changes that I have decided to make with the benefit of 30 years of insights and feedback.  I should like to take this opportunity to describe and explain the key changes.

Regarding additional summits, and as I indicated in my previous article, I had already compiled a list of summits in the new area (or, granted, no longer quite so new!) of the LDNP east of the A6.  This covers a lot of ground above 300 metres in altitude.  These summits have made it into the new edition and include Tumps and (my term) subsidiary tops.  I have created two new sections, which are respectively north and south of Borrowdale, to cover this area: the first covers Bretherdale and the second encompasses Whinfell Common and Grayrigg Common.  The map extract below shows partial coverage of the Bretherdale area.

© Crown copyright 2025 Ordnance Survey AC0000868938

Image: Extract from the map covering the Bretherdale area in Tim’s book

Alongside these new summits, I have added a small number of summits in areas already covered in the first edition.  Several of these are derived from the work of Ronnie Bowron and others who have highlighted differences between the true summit, or highest point of a fell, and the described Wainwright summit.  I have taken the opportunity to double up and include both summits in selected locations.  I have also included the three Crinkle Crags which were not in my original list, as the ridge makes a great area to explore if time is not pressing.

After some deliberation, I have also removed a handful of summits from the list.  I apologise to those baggers who have completed the original 646 or 648 Synges and who may feel that deletions will detract from the list or possibly from their achievement.  In the course of my work on the new edition, I identified summits in two distinct groups which, with the benefit of hindsight, would not have made it into the original survey today.  The first group comprises summits on private land.  I have referred to my “youthful enthusiasm” in including these in the first edition and I hope that I have not been the cause of any friction between walkers and landowners.  I do not wish to encourage trespass and so they have gone.  The second group contains a few summits which are generally agreed to be of very little merit.  Identifying these has been an interesting exercise!

My research for the second edition included a review of many of the comments left by walkers in the logs on www.hill-bagging.co.uk.  I am grateful to everyone who has left feedback alongside their username and the date of ascent as, in addition to typical diary-type records, these often contain practical advice on matters such as parking and routes of ascent and - source of fascination for me - opinions on the summit reached.  It is pleasing to be able to report that many baggers appreciate some of the idiosyncrasies of my list and report that a trudge to what may seem like an unassuming and slightly dull little subsidiary point on a ridge can lead to a delightful new view being revealed, or a location on an unexpected crag or edge which gives a sense of achievement.  The comments are invariably thoughtful and well made.  In a very small minority of cases, there has been almost universal agreement that my choice was a poor one and I have therefore removed a handful of summits.  I am pleased to say that these number less than a dozen.  An appendix to the book lists them.

One of my objectives as I drew up my list of summits for inclusion was to recognise every Tump in the National Park.  Early drafts achieved this, but I have in the course of my work removed two.  The first is Dacre Bank, which, despite its proximity to the A66, is difficult to reach.  The effort required to find a safe start point for a very short expedition outweighs the benefits of reaching the top and so it has gone.  The second is Long Fell.  A number of baggers have reported difficulties in reaching the summit on account of the neighbouring quarry works and this is a situation which is unlikely to improve.  Again, my pragmatic solution has been to remove the summit from my list.  On the other side of the coin, Martin Roberts will, I hope, be pleased to know that his recommendation for the inclusion of High Rigg South East Top has paid off.

Image: the summit of High Rigg South East Top

The www.hill-bagging.co.uk site will be known to most readers.  I have consulted with the marvellous team behind the Database of British and Irish Hills on several matters and one corollary of our communication is that I have included the DoBIH hill number for every summit on my list.  Although my second edition retains a full alphabetical checklist (which is now sorted into the seven regions, hopefully more useful than producing a single list with 670 entries), I appreciate that many baggers prefer to maintain online completion logs and this will make that process more straightforward. 

Another enhancement is the replacement of my hand-drawn maps with licensed Ordnance Survey mapping.  This will facilitate identification of the location of each summit.

Image:  Extract from the book's coverage of Region 3A which includes High Rigg

I think that is enough about the revisions and the reasons for them.  There are fuller explanations in the book.  I must add at this point that I am satisfied that there is no change to the overall character of the Synges.  This remains a subjective list with many “hidden gems”.  Working on this project anew has also reassured me that I am not supporting the sometimes criticised practice of Wainwright bagging.  While there are few of us who would not admit to being Wainwright baggers at some point in our walking career, it is important to note that fewer than one in three of the Synges is also a Wainwright.  Setting out on this endeavour will take walkers and runners off the beaten track and, from time to time, onto seemingly untrodden terrain.

Reflecting on the last five years, one thing that has changed is that I have become aware of the interest in the Synges from fellrunners.  I first realised this after a flurry of new orders for my book materialised earlier this year (surely half a dozen rates as a flurry for a 30-year old book?!)  This could hardly be coincidence and I deduced that there must have been some specific coverage which had prompted this renewed interest.  A brief search revealed a series of YouTube videos made by fellrunner John Miles who was embarking on a series of reports on his Synge-bagging exploits.  (Yes, I have told him that “Synge” is pronounced “Sing”!)  Shortly after this, my attention was drawn to an article in the Westmorland Gazette reporting on the achievement of leading Ambleside AC fellrunner Will Barton in completing the Synges with his dog.

When I started walking in the Lake District over 40 years ago, fell running struck me as an unusual activity; how could these strange runners possibly venture out without a 20-litre pack laden with extra layers, Kendal Mint Cake and map and compass?  How could they cope without leather boots and Vibram soles?  Now, fell running is seen by most as a perfectly normal and accessible activity and I am delighted that my list is already offering new challenges for runners.

As Myrddyn as given me a very generous word allowance, I would like to round off this blog by touching on another aspect of the preparation of the new book.  It may interest readers to know that I am self publishing it.  I contacted Sigma Leisure (who have relocated from Wilmslow, Cheshire to Ammanford, Carmarthenshire) to see whether they might be interested in a new edition.  They replied saying “we are uncertain as to whether it would have a wide enough appeal to be financially viable”.  Time will tell whether they are right or wrong and it is probably unnecessary to add that I am not doing this to fund my retirement.  (It would of course be nice to cover my costs, but even that is by no means certain!)

Once I decided that ad hoc revisions were no longer going to suffice, I contemplated the best way of publishing an update.  I suppose that I could have simply sent my revised list to the DoBIH team and to Phil Newby at Haroldstreet and let the changes gradually find their way to anyone who may be interested, maybe reinforced by an article here.  However, it seemed to me that the book required revision and that a printed volume was still of interest to a few, so the choice was never really in any doubt.

I set to work revising spreadsheets and determining how best to work with OS mapping, and the “manuscript” soon took shape.  It will be clear that it is a redevelopment of The Lakeland Summits rather than a completely different offering.  I have retained a number of characteristics of the earlier book including my own summit referencing system and the map symbols denoting each category of summit.

With no need to persuade a publisher of the merits of the book, ultimately, getting a book printed is remarkably easy.  As for the selling of the book, this is very much a work in progress.  At the time of writing, it is available on Amazon and I am working on getting it into bookshops and outdoor shops in Cumbria.

I hope it will bring pleasure to many for another 30 years.

Tim Synge

 

Tim has asked whether he may take this opportunity to offer copies of The Synges to readers.  If you would like a copy sent post-free to a UK address, please email thesynges@gmail.com for payment details quoting Mapping Mountains.  (The post-free offer will remain valid until the end of 2025.)