Thankfully the 8 wainwright walks that we’ve completed have simple routes that begin and end close to where you park your car.

I walked the 33 Western Wainwrights over four days in May 2021 starting at the Honister Youth Hostel bus stop at Honister Slate Mine and hiking Grey Knotts first. The route ended with Fleetwith Pike and finished the circular at the same Honister YHA bus stop. The whole Western fells route was 99.5km in length. Orrest Head holds a particularly special place in the repertoire of any Wainwright Bagger. This is the spot where the great man himself is said to have first fallen in love with the area. It also happens to be one of the easiest mountains to climb in the Lake District! Premium Rooms are more spacious en-suite guest rooms. Amenities include free Wi-Fi, tea and coffee-making facilities, toiletries (hand wash, shampoo, body lotion, shower gel), and a 32-inch TV. Extras include bathrobes, slippers, and comfortable mattresses.Basically, there is so much good fell walking within easy reach of Elder Grove B&B that it’s hard to cover it in a blog post. We’ve loved exploring the area and we hope you’ll enjoy finding out more and then exploring the fells using Elder Grove B&B as your base. We’re always interested in our guests’ experiences so, if you bag a Wainwright (or three) during your stay with us, please let us know how you got on so that we can pass on your advice to future visitors. I wish I’d had this book when I first started out! The trouble with not intending to bag wainwrights is the chances are there’s walks done which haven’t been efficient for gaining the most summits, however amazing the routes might have been. Anyone who knows me knows that one of my favourite things to do is plan peak bagging routes. I enjoy it almost as much as the hiking itself! Organised into Wainwright's well-known areas, the routes are all circular, which is convenient and practical given that public transport in the Lake District is limited (the book details what there is!). Whilst not every reader will complete all these walks, not least because many people will already have "bagged" some of these summits already, albeit in a less efficient way, the routes serve as the perfect inspiration, and there are some absolute gems among them for taking in the "less good" Wainwrights and still having a nice walk. The routes are also designed such that most incorporate multiple summits for maximum efficiency, with most including 5 or more. Designed with your comfort in mind, Derwent Bank has 40 well-appointed guest rooms available in three categories: Classic, Premium, and Superior.

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. I walked the 29 North Western Wainwrights over three days in June 2021 starting at the Rosthwaite General Store bus stop in Rosthwaite and hiking Castle Crag first. The route ended with Sale Fell and finished at the Dubwath (Junction with A66) bus stop in Dubwath. The whole North Western fells route was 73.9km in length. These ‘Wainwrights’ have now become the definitive list for anyone wanting to visit the summits of all the fells in the Lake District,” writes endurance athlete Steve Birkinshaw, who ran all of the Wainwrights in 2014, in the introduction to ' Peak Bagging: Wainwrights'. The new guidebook, written by Karen and Dan Parker (sister and brother-in-law of Steve) and published by Vertebrate Publishing is a complete guide to climbing all 214 of Wainwright’s Lake District fells in the most efficient way - with 45 routes included in the book.Superior Rooms are even more spacious en-suite guest rooms offering upgraded views of the surrounds. Amenities include free Wi-Fi, tea and coffee-making facilities, toiletries (hand wash, shampoo, body lotion, shower gel), and a 32-inch TV. Extras include bathrobes, slippers, and comfortable mattresses. The Wainwrights are a collection of 214 fells in the English Lake District. Collected together for no other reason than they were the favourites of Alfred Wainwright, a British walker, illustrator and author. The books fall into seven volumes, each featuring a specific area of the Lake District national park. If you’re starting out, though, you perhaps don’t want to be reaching for the highest heights right away. Wainwrights such as England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, and the infamous ridge of Helvellyn can be left for another day. For now, why not warm up and ease yourself into it with these easy Wainwright walks? They’re the perfect Lake District walks for beginners! Unlike park walks or forest walks, you really have to take into account the possibility of severe weather changes when fell walking. Alfred Wainwright published the first of his seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells in 1955 and he can’t have anticipated the impact these small-format guides would have decades later. His classic books, with their distinctive hand-written typography and sketches, have been incredibly popular. They were revised quite recently but the 214 Wainwrights remain unchanged and Ambleside is surrounded by some of the best!

I could easily fill this with the Langdale Pikes, and nothing else, so will put myself a limit on one from that group. Grange Fell The summit of Grange Fell according to Wainwright. My only issue with the book is the use of the Jones Ross formula for working out the timings, as an inexperienced walker will assume they’re in the ‘walker’ category. This however sets a pace of 5 kmph which is quite fast. There are some great ideas for collecting some of the more obscure summits, those small enough to be potentially rubbish walks. However, ideas like encircling Elterwater will link these up perfectly. Alfred Wainwright documented the 214 ‘official’ peaks, and to summit all 214 fells is considered the ultimate peak bagging of the Lake District.This lovely little Wainwright route up Silver How is very convenient for Grasmere. You start in the centre of the village and pass through the grounds of Allan Bank (once home to William Wordsworth and now a National Trust property). The paths are easy to follow, and the only really steep section is towards the top, after which you’ll be presented with views towards the famous Langdale Pikes. The route down is mostly steps, which makes things a little easier on your knees! I wasn’t specifically setting out to doing the wainwrights but having bagged quite a few over the years it now seems like finishing them is a reasonable challenge, especially since I now fell run. This means you can charge your phone whilst you travel the Lake District by bus which I found very useful. If you choose this route, don’t forget to stop off at the hermit caves where adventurer Millican Dalton lived for many years. Start with the smaller peaks such as Castle Crag, Latrigg and Loughrigg and work you way up to the big ones.

Some will undoubtedly occasionally find the choice of what peaks fit with which route odd, perhaps because that's not they way they did a circuit previously. I know I was a bit like that sometimes but maybe that's why I now have isolated fells still to mop up. I really wish I'd had access to this guide before as I probably won't be left with these problem peaks. Still I've now got some great inspiration for new extended valley rounds, instead of just bagging these missed summits. Alfred Wainwright completed a seven-volume series called A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells , in which he detailed the 214 Lake District Fells now known as The Wainwrights. What is interesting about this selection of Fells is that they were not chosen for their scale or grandeur… they were chosen because they were his favourites. What Are The Wainwrights This beautifully presented, well-researched guide is inspirational and would make a perfect gift (Christmas is fast-approaching!) not only for anyone who is considering the best way to ‘bag’ all 214 Wainwrights in the most efficient way, but for anyone who loves the Lake District and is just wanting to plan an enjoyable day out on the fells. As there are so many Wainwrights to explore, it means there is a real variety of fells in terms of terrain and incline level which is great as it means there really is something for everyone. Some of the more popular fells that people of an average fitness level can enjoy include Catbells, Hallin Fell and High Rigg, Binsey. Latrigg is one of the lowest fells, and so it's a great walk for almost everyone that still boasts beautiful views. The Southern Fells – Walking The Wainwrights Adventurer Nic peeks out of her tent during a wild camp in Eskdale at sunsetHopefully, 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! Three Men In a Boat (To Say Nothing of Another Writer Reading It For Bits He Could Quote In His Own Work)