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Over fifty years ago, renowned British hillwalker and guidebook author Alfred Wainwright described 214 peaks in the English Lake District in his seven-volume illustrated Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. You've also got Aira Force at the bottom, which is one of the most popular waterfalls in the Lake District. So it's a great place to go, both as a short walk, or as part of a longer trek. In the book we do Gowbarrow and then a couple of the other, adjacent lower hills - Great Mell Fell and Little Mell Fell. But Gowbarrow is the nicest in the area. The book provides fascinating route choices for areas with awkwardly, scattered peaks where planning your route without local knowledge would certainly not be as efficient. I really loved the clarity with which the authors highlight the location of the Wainwright summit which is often not the fell's true high point. Not really seen that as clear in any Wainwright guide before. I love this book, both to see I’ve not made too many strategic errors in former peak bagging resulting in lone summits requiring a revisit, but also for the inspiration, beautiful photos and route ideas.
We usually take the route straight from our house,” says Dan. “That's from the east side; the Askham/Bampton side. There are several ridges that lead up. The central ridge is nice and gentle and it takes you to the top. There's a trig point at the top, but actually the trig point wasn't there when Wainwright wrote his books, so the Wainwright summit is about 50 metres south of there. Then to come down we would normally go north to Bonscale Pike. That's another interesting hill. There are some cairns, and towers, and good views out over Ullswater.” Wainwright Four: Fairfield (873m) Always a welcome sight; sunshine breaking through the clouds and shining on the fells of the Lake District. Photo: Getty I have been drawn to the work of The acclaimed Lake District walker and writer Alfred Wainwright for as long as I have been visiting the Lake District. His 'Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells' are the most famous walking guide books ever written and they were an early reference point for me when planning my first walks in the National Park during the early 1990's. I use the Pictorial Guides to this day, the 50th anniversary edition of the original works. Start with the smaller peaks such as Castle Crag, Latrigg and Loughrigg and work you way up to the big ones. Hopefully, now you have a good understanding of the Wainwrights, their history and whether you’ve got the determination and fitness to climb them or not. It’s a magical feeling to even conquer just one of the beautiful fells; your journey will certainly inspire you and make you even more keen to climb the others. Please feel free to leave a comment below of what your favourite Wainwrights are!
Important Note: I provide maps, statistics and route files in .gpx and Google Earth .kmz data forms for each walk in the compilation. Presently the 'Walking the Wainwright's' book is not available. Listed below are two alternative Wainwright's completion books, the first to be done in 45 walks and the second in 64 walks. Blencathra is obviously a very popular hill,” Dan says. “It's very accessible from the motorway, so a lot of people stop there en route to somewhere else, or go there because it's easy to get to. But it's also got so much variety. There's the standard five tongues leading off it, each of which you can go up, and there's the excitement of Sharp Edge and Hall's Fell. There's a bit of scrambling, too. Then there's the sort of northern routes; with a mix of smooth and bobbly terrain." Walk the Wainwrights in 59 Walks - The huge cairn on Bleaberry Fell in the Lake District Central Fells That round from Patterdale is a wonderful route. It's not the standard route either, so it's slightly quieter than certain other routes, even in the summer.” Wainwright Five: Glaramara (783m) Rosthwaite Fell as seen from Glaramara. Photo: Getty
I printed and laminated all the walks and used them for each fell. The grid references were particularly useful as I mainly use my Satmap GPS on the walks. (I also take a map). Central Fells14 The Langdale Pikes 11.6km15 Above Thirlmere 21.4km16 Grasmere Common 17.2km17 Stonethwaite Fells 17.9km Some might think that there were enough Wainwright books out there - but they'd be wrong, because this is possibly the best I've seen - expertly written, with a beautifully clean presentation, and some really lovely photos for inspiration. And that would be a real shame because the 59 Walk the Wainwrights walks we have selected visit some of the truly loveliest spots in the Lake District. Places where you should take time to linger and take in the stunning scenery. Places where perhaps you will get a little insight into what drew Alfred Wainwright himself to the area over and over again.
Emily Woodhouse
Southern Fells18 The Coniston Fells 17.8km19 Langdale West 17.5km20 The Scafells 13.1km21 Langdale South 13.8km22 Borrowdale Fells 16.3km23 Hardknott Round 17.6km24 Encircling Elter Water 20.0km25 Tilberthwaite Round 13.6km26 Above & Below Wasdale Screes 17.1km We also have available a series of Seven Area Maps showing the locations of all 214 Wainwright fells with an outline of the 59 Walk the Wainwrights walks. The inclusion of what three words locations is a shame, as it detracts from an otherwise very clean and concise layout. Usually decimal lat long is given as well, but in the introductions to the areas, grid references and whatthreewords are all that is given, neither of which can be entered into googlemaps for directions to the parking, for example. I must, however, put in a brief mention of the map on the inside front cover flap and the one of the all-in-one round - these are particularly attractive maps, and I hope a poster will be forthcoming! Though not easy, bagging the Wainwrights is a popular pastime in part because the majority of the peaks are relatively accessible. If you want to get started, here’s what we recommend:
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