Fellrunner Joss Naylor

A fellrunning legend will make a fundraising journey recalling his father’s move across Cumbria more than 90 years ago.

Joss Naylor, who for many years held the record for summiting all 214 Wainwright peaks, will run from Caldbeck to Wasdale to mark his 80th birthday year.

Naylor, who established himself as a top ultrarunner before the term had been coined, will undertake the challenge in memory of his father Joe, who moved from Caldbeck to Wasdale in 1927, nine years before Joss’s birth.

His 48km (30-mile) route will begin in the village on the north-eastern fringe of the Lake District national park and end, after 2,140m (7,020ft) of ascent at Low Greendale, his home in Wasdale.

On the way the veteran runner, shepherd and farmer, who turned 80 in February, will pass his former homes at Middle Row and Bowderdale. He hopes to raise £5,000 for the Brathay Trust through his efforts.

On his justgiving site, he said: “I will follow a route across the fells from Caldbeck to Wasdale.

“I’m running in memory of my father, Joe Naylor, who was born in Caldbeck and moved to Wasdale in 1927. This run also marks my 80th birthday and is raising funds to help some of the most disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.”

Joss Naylor climbs the fell above Wasdale with another Cumbrian resident Sir Chris Bonington in 2008

The run, on 25 June, will see Joss Naylor leave his father’s former home village of Caldbeck and traverse the Lake District north-east to south-west, via Park Head, Fell Side and Branthwaite, Little Sca Fell, Knott, Great Calva, Skiddaw House, Little Town, Dale Head Tarn, Honister, Grey Knotts, Gillercombe, Base Brown, Sty Head, into Wasdale calling at St Olaf’s Church, Middle Row, the packhorse bridge and Bowderdale before ending at Low Greendale.

The fellrunner, who was appointed an MBE for his services to sport and charity, has posted numerous long-distance records including running 72 Lake District peaks in less than 24 hours in 1975. When he was 50 he completed the 214 Wainwright fells in seven days, a feat only bettered 28 years later by another Cumbrian runner, Steve Birkinshaw.

Naylor completed 60 Lake District peaks for his 60th birthday and went 10 better with a 50-mile route in less than 21 hours to celebrate his seven decades.