WAINWRIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS

Alfred Wainwright was born in Blackburn in 1907. As a lad, he walked in the Pennines and Bowland fells. But in 1930 he took a trip to Windermere and fell in love with the Lake District (the big moment happened on the modest height of Orrest Head).

In 1941 he moved to Kendal to be nearer the fells, eventually taking a job as Borough Treasurer, and

resolved to begin work on a comprehensive guide to the fells. In 1952 he started work on the first page of his Pictorial Guide to

the Lakeland Fells, and continued the seven-volume compendium over the next 13 years, at a rate of one page per evening.

As Chris puts it: “These weren’t like any other guidebooks. They didn’t just say ‘turn left, cross stile’.

“They brought the hills to life, made them almost like people – like friends.”

Wainwright’s later books included guides to the Pennine Way, the Howgill Fells and his own creation, the Coast to Coast (or as he called it, A Coast to Coast Walk).

He was dismayed by erosion, disliked sprawling conifer plantations and large groups of walkers, got around using buses, and almost always walked alone. He died in 1991, and had his ashes scattered on the shore of Innominate Tarn on Hay Stacks, his favourite fell. In his 1966 book

Fellwanderer he wrote: “And if you, dear reader, should get a bit of grit in your boot as you are crossing Hay Stacks in the years to come, please treat it with respect. It might be me.”