A Lancashire lad who came late to it
Alfred Wainwright is regarded as the patron saint of Lake District walkers — though he was a Lancashire lad who did not visit the area until he was twenty-three. That walking trip with his cousin was the turning point in his life: within a year he was married and living in Kendal.
Every day he would travel by bus to walk the fells, mainly alone, recording his routes in meticulous detail and making the fine sketches of the mountains that culminated in the seven volumes of his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.
All two hundred and fourteen
There are 214 fells and mountains in the seven volumes. Keswick is an ideal base from which to start your conquest of them: the Northern Fells lie closest, but the Lake District is so compact that any one or more of the 214 could be reached and climbed within a day.
The Wainwright Society holds a Wainwright 214 Completers Register, and badges and certificates are available for those who have finished the challenge.
The Northern Fells, by height
These are the ones within reach of Keswick — Skiddaw and Blencathra at the top of the list, Latrigg at the bottom, and everything between them a day out from the town.
- Skiddaw — 931m
- Blencathra — 868m
- Skiddaw Little Man — 865m
- Carl Side — 746m
- Long Side — 734m
- Lonscale Fell — 715m
- Knott — 710m
- Bowscale Fell — 702m
- Great Calva — 690m
- Ullock Pike — 690m
- Bannerdale Crags — 683m
- Bakestall — 673m
- Carrock Fell — 663m
- High Pike — 658m
- Great Sca Fell — 651m
- Mungrisdale Common — 633m
- Brae Fell — 586m
- Meal Fell — 550m
- Great Cockup — 526m
- Souther Fell — 522m
- Dodd — 502m
- Longlands Fell — 483m
- Binsey — 447m
- Latrigg — 367m
The Coast to Coast
Wainwright also devised a long-distance walk which has become a classic in its own right. Taking about two weeks from St Bees on the west coast to Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire, it explores what he called "the grandest territory in the north of England".
The walk passes close to Keswick. His own version is completed in twelve stages, though others have since broken the trek down to take almost three weeks — a more leisurely way to take in the views.