Alfred Wainwright - Fell walker of the lakes

While exploring the lakes it is almost impossible not to hear something of Alfred Wainwright. But who was he?

Alfred Wainwright was born on 17th January 1907 in the mill town of Blackburn. Despite having a troubled childhood Wainwright qualified as an accountant in 1941and worked in the village of Kendal. During his time off Alfred would go for long walks amongst the surrounding landscape of the lakes.

Alfred Wainwright

In 1930 at the age of 23 Wainwright visited The Lake District for the first time. Travelling by bus from Blackburn he travelled to Windermere with his cousin Eric Beardsall. On arrival they climbed the hill at Orrest Head which is situated on the northern edge of Windermere. Shortly after climbing the hill Wainwright wrote about his adventure “Orrest Head cast a spell that changed my life’. This was the start of many adventures to come.

View from the tope of Orrest Head

Over the years Wainwright wrote many books describing the summits and views of the Lakeland Fells. One of his best - known volumes ‘Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells’, is a series of books describing the natural features, and views from the summits of 214 Lakeland fells. Consisting of seven volumes the books describe the eastern fells, the central fells, the southern fells and the northern fells. The books were very popular and still are today with many walkers. More books followed including guides to other areas of Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales.

Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells - Alfred Wainwright

One of the most popular is the “Coast to Coast” walk from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire. This was a walk designed by Wainwright himself and set out in his pictorial guide in 1973. The 190 - mile walk was voted the second best walk in the world in 2003 by a panel of experts and was featured by Julia Bradbury in her 2009 series for the BBC. The walk has since become very popular with more and more people taking on Wainwrights popular route.

To find out more about the ‘Coast to Coast’ walk visit:

https://www.wainwright.org.uk/coasttocoast.html

During his time Wainwright recorded and illustrated over 214 fells in the lakes. To see all 214 fells listed by Alfred Wainwright visit

https://www.thewhitespider.com/info/wainwrights

Alfred Wainwright died in 1991 and his ashes were scattered on his favourite mountain Haystacks by the quiet waters of Innominate Tarn. This was Alfred’s wish described in his book ‘Fellwanderer’.

To find out more about Alfred Wainwright visit

https://www.wainwright.org.uk/about_aw.html