I climbed a mountain in the Lake District – to mark a two-minute silence with strangers

Every year, walkers from all over the north join members of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club on a trek up Great Gable in remembrance of those who have lost their lives in conflict

On the mountaintop, everyone is insisting the weather is fine. It’s at least fabulously clear up here, as it has been all morning on 11 November 2021. At dawn, I had wiped the frost from the inside of my windscreen to see Windermere silvered with a filigree of mist. Around the valleys a few lights were on, and not just farmhouses. No doubt hardy souls were pulling on their walking boots, stuffing a bag with a flask and packs of nuts, readying themselves for the pilgrimage.

It’s a 45-minute drive from where I’m staying in Troutbeck to the graphite mine at Honister Pass – which holds the UK record for the greatest amount of rainfall in 24 hours . It’s then a steep climb to Great Gable, roughly two and a half hours of well-kept steps, then sheep paths, then rivers of rocks. Along the way is a view from Honister Crag to Buttermere and Crummock Water, twinkling side by side in a valley of rusty bracken and green slopes.