Although a fan of the film Withnail And I, I've never tried the true enthusiast's loyalty test, which is, I believe, to watch the movie and take a swig of the alcoholic beverage of your choice every time a character in the film does so. Apparently, few people make it to the credits without collapsing.
So, as I plodded up to the dark walls of the dilapidated Sleddale Hall in the Lake District - which in the film takes on the role of Crow Cragg wherein Withnail (Richard E Grant) and I (Paul McGann) take a break from the rigours of life as unemployed thespians in London - I was impressed to come across evidence of even more committed fans of the film, who don't just emulate their idols in front of the TV screen, but are prepared to make a long pilgrimage in order to play the part for real.
Outside the thick stone walls of the isolated moorland farm lay several bent and empty cans of lager, no doubt transported here by fans of the film who are keen to take a drink on location. Wandering into the hall's gloomy, overgrown courtyard, I startled a few recently shorn sheep and a rabbit relaxing in the shelter of the building's crumbling foundations before noticing that, besides there being a few more empty cans here, the lower half of the hall's boarded up door had been torn away.
I scrambled through the hole to find that some considerate soul had actually left a candle jammed into the neck of an empty lager bottle, and even a lighter beside it. So here I was, all alone on the seldom-visited Shap Fells in a crumbling old farmhouse, and for all I knew I could be joined at any minute by a group of Withnail And I fanatics.
Sleddale Hall looked bad enough in the film, but today it really is on its last legs, which is something of a mystery in many ways. A local shopkeeper told me that quite a bit of money had been spent on refurbishing the building for the film back in 1987, but since then it's been left to take the full brunt of the Lake District's weather. Bearing in mind the hall's location within easy drive - and hike - of the M6 and just inside the eastern boundary of the Lake District National Park, it seems strange that rather than being left to rot like this, it's never been put on the market.
But I digress. Withnail And I fanatics may weave their inebriated way here from time to time, but is it worth the effort for the more sane and sober among us? Well, when you look at a map and see the evocative names of grand peaks such as Blencathra, Skiddaw and Helvellyn within spitting distance, it's hard not to sweep past Wet Sleddale, lost, lonely and low (you don't ascend much above 1,200ft on this walk) and continue west towards the stars of the Lake District mountain scene. On the other hand, the same weekend as my visit to Wet Sleddale, I also walked up Blencathra and had to queue to scramble along the exhilarating ridge of Sharp Edge. While on my five-mile jaunt around Withnail And I country, I encountered just one group of elderly hikers and a bloke with two small dogs. And, at the end of the walk, I still had plenty of time to visit the excellent National Mountaineering Exhibition just a few miles up the road.
Indeed, I found that the fact that the Shap Fells are almost untrodden by Lake District walkers is their most endearing feature. To start with, the stroll along the south side of Wet Sleddale reservoir is pleasant enough (although this is not the lake featured in Withnail And I, which I believe is Tarn Hows, near Coniston) - ducks and geese made a hullabaloo on the peat-brown water of the reservoir and mountain ponies stood their ground as I approached until eventually making the inevitable bolt for safer ground.
Over the western horizon were the big hills with walkers scattered across their backs like a rash, yet here I was with an attractive wall of rugged low fells virtually all to myself. It was tempting to keep on hiking west, to see what was over that horizon, but then I knew what to expect - queues of hikers sporting Gore-Tex and hi-tech rucksacks.
I was quite happy to saunter across the footbridge over Sleddale Beck, plod up the walk's only climb (a mere 350ft), and then take a leisurely picnic lunch on White Crag while looking out across the beginnings of the Lake District to the west and the broad-backed Howgill Fells to the south-east.
The only fly in the ointment is a large, smoking granite processing works at Shap, although some might say the M6 and the west coast railway line which together crawl across the fells a couple of miles away are equally ugly. However, I find a certain romance in the latter two - the highest road and rail line in England may not be that pretty, but they have plenty of history and atmosphere attached to them.
The location manager for Withnail And I did a fine job in finding Sleddale Hall, and while the local walks clearly didn't appeal to the film's main characters as much as getting pie-eyed, it's worth a visit if you want an afternoon away from the madding crowds of the Lake District's main fells and hills. But if you decide to take along a few cans of lager, please bring the empties back.
Way to go
Getting there: You can see Wet Sleddale from the M6. Turn off at Junction 39 on to the B6261, turn right on to the A6 after a mile, then 300 yards along here turn left and drive 1.5 miles to a car park above Wet Sleddale Reservoir (OS Outdoor Leisure map 5, The English Lakes, North Eastern Area).
Where to stay: The rambling three-star Shap Wells Hotel (01931 716628, shapwells.com) is within five minute's drive of Junction 39 and you can walk to Wet Sleddale from here. B&B costs £86 per night based on twin share.
Where to eat: The Shap Wells Hotel has a decent dining room. Alternatively, drive four miles into Shap, where the Greyhound Hotel on the A6 has a good, varied menu and decent beer.
Further information: The absorbing National Mountaineering Exhibition (01768 868000, mountain-exhibition.co.uk, adults £5.50, children £4) is about 12 minutes north of Wet Sleddale, just off Junction 40 on the M6. Cumbria Tourist Board, Ashleigh, Holly Road, Windermere, Cumbria LA23 2AQ (015394 44444, gocumbria.co.uk).
