If he’s not up a hill and not giving a talk, chances are Terry Abraham will be having a quiet pint in the Dog and Gun in Keswick town centre.

Along with the pints and the famous goulash, his new film Life Of A Mountain: Blencathra is also for sale over the bar. All money raised goes to the Macmillan Cancer Fund.

We meet in the pub, but it’s not quiet, it’s a busy Friday night. Terry has had a quiet six hours on the hills and wants an early night to prepare for an appearance at Rheged the next day.

He has been presenting his latest documentary on the life of one of Cumbria’s iconic fells at halls and venues across the country since its release in May.

Like his acclaimed film Life of a Mountain: A Year on Scafell Pike, it will be shown by BBC4, though it is not due to be broadcast until February.

Terry wasn’t happy about his first film. It still makes him wince. What does he know? It has been seen by millions and has been life-changing for him and wife Sue. There was a point where he ran out of money and feared he would never get Scafell finished.

Broadcaster Eric Robson, who lives in the shadow of the mountain, learned of his plight promised the money needed and the film was released through his Striding Edge production company.

It was Eric who persuaded Terry to make Blencathra the subject of his next film. It was always going to be part of the trilogy, but Helvellyn was planned in next.

“Eric said ‘I don’t think you realise how life-changing this is going to be for you.’

“He said it was topical, with the stories about the sale of the mountain and that I didn’t realise how popular the fell is.

“I wanted something dramatic to complement Scafell. I went for a camp on Souther Fell, got some nice shots and that was it. I was going to spend some time off but put word out on social media that I was going to do Blencathra next and it all went nuts. It was a total curve ball to me.”

The subtitle of the film is ‘The People’s Mountain’ and as well as the pressure of making a film good enough to stand next to Scafell, Terry also felt extra pressure from all those who feel an association or affection for the landmark.

An artist and photographer, there’s also a touch of the romantic poet about the film-maker.


Terry Abraham He says: “Within a couple of months I became very aware of the sheer amount of affection for the mountain from locals and visitors. She is iconic. I say she, because Scafell is the ugly prince to King Ben Nevis and Queen Snowdon. Blencathra is smooth and rounded and very pretty to look at. But she is a strong lady, she has a tough side to her, she has those claws reaching down to the A66 and you can get on the wrong side of her, depending on the season.”

The description of a tiger with claws comes from local schoolchildren and there’s no doubt this insignificant-looking mountain has got under his skin.

He has always said he must have been a shepherd, or better still, a Herdwick, in an earlier life.

He’s followed enough sheep trods up and down the hills to qualify.

He admits he’s had some close calls on the fells and grins as he remembers getting cragfast when coming off Blencathra. He says: “I always make the promise to my wife that I will be all right and won’t get injured and so far, so good.

“I’ve had a couple of hairy moments, like when I was descending Sharp Edge with a big, heavy pack.

“It would have been dangerous to try and go back up. It was like ice to walk on. My only option was to go down the gully, which everyone falls down, and follow a sheep trod. I took my boots off because I had a better grip in my socks.”

As a child he would camp out with his grandad in Sherwood Forest. He first came to the Lake District with a friend when he was 13, He burst into tears at the view from Fairfield and remembers thinking “What’s up with you? you’re a 13-year-old boy, everyone will laugh at you.”

He was set to study fine art at university but decided against it. Instead he trained as a chef, and worked in IT for a security firm. When he was made redundant from that, he turned his hobby of walking and filming on the fells into a business. His 2013 film, The Cairngorms in Winter with Chris Townsend, beat other climbing films to become the most popular download of all time on outdoor film website Steep Edge. That led to the Scafell documentary.

There is nowhere the 39-year-old would rather be than Cumbria. The worse the weather, the better.

“I adapt to deal with the seasons. I thrive on it, that is why winter is my favourite time of year,” he says. “Partly because of the challenge and the frisson of danger, but more than the danger, the aesthetics are completely different. With snow on the fells there is more detail. It may be more arduous, but the returns are greater.”

He loves to wild camp. That way he gets to see what most other walkers miss, the sunrise and the sunset from the mountain tops.

He might live in Newark but he spends most of his time on the fells. Camping wild, taking photos and films. He and Sue are now looking to move up here to live.

Filming on Helvellyn won’t start until this time next year. Terry already has all the permissions and permits needed.

In the meantime, he is making a biopic of another adopted son of Cumbria, mountaineer Alan Hinkes. The Yorkshireman has conquered most of the toughest and best known peaks around the world and is a regular visitor to the Lake District. The two men are great friends and the film is slated to be premiered at Rheged in October next year.

More than 100 years ago, the Abraham brothers captured the beauty of the Lake District, the raw appeal of rock climbing and the skills of those who tackled the iconic faces of Napes Needle, Dow Crag and more.

Terry is not related to and hasn’t seen a connection until now. He says he has been called the “new Alfred Wainwright” and “the Wainwright of the 21st century” after the man whose guides have inspired so many to walk the fells.

He says he often doesn’t realise what he’s captured on film until the edit.

“It is very weird and humbling,” he says seriously. “It is scary as well because it puts pressure on me to make sure the next one is better.

“I’m really going to have to pull something out for Helvellyn.”

And with that he’s off into the night, artist, film-maker, herdwick.