Hi.
Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures and travel with a focus on getting into the mountains. If there is snow I am going to go.
Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures and travel with a focus on getting into the mountains. If there is snow I am going to go.
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.
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.
The seven volumes are as follows;
The Wainwrights have become a right of passage for many Lake District locals, as well as being a draw for ramblers all over the UK. This collection of Fells offer an incredible variety with the Wainwrights walks encompassing some of the best views in the Lakes. Walking the Wainwrights has become a challenge for many with walkers using the Wainwrights list to ‘bag’ as many as possible.
‘Peak Bagging’ is a term that describes walkers trying to summit as many hills or mountains on a list as possible. Therefore Wainwright Bagging is trying to summit all 214 Wainwrights. For some people, completing the Wainwrights can take a matter of weeks whereas other people will take years.
The best way to begin your Wainwright Bagging Adventure is to find a list of all the Wainwrights. Print it off or save it to your computer and then you can start recording your walks. If you prefer an online log of your Wainwrights, I log mine on Go4aWalk.com
I purchased a copy of Wainwrights A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, at the beginning of my Wainwrights journey. I found these guidebooks an excellent resource before completing walks, although I did not use them whilst walking.
My method of Wainwright Bagging is being methodical and geographical. I aim to complete my Wainwrights a book at a time, focussing on an area. You can find all my walks below.
Easy answer, anyone with a passion for being outside in the hills. It is possible that if you live local or have visited the Lake District over the years you may find yourself frequenting the same areas. With the aim of walking all of the Wainwrights, you will find yourself visiting new places or even hiking miles out of the way just to tick off a neglected fell.
The hills were not just made for walkers, runners are also fascinated by the Wainwrights. The challenge of summiting all 214 peaks as quickly as possible has been competitive and the record was recently broken by Sabrina Verjee. The first attempt as this round in 1985 saw Alan Heaton complete the Wainwrights in nine days, 16 hours and 42 minutes. Since Alan’s attempt there have been various record holders but as recently as June 17th 2021 Sabrina Verjee smashed the previous record by 6 hours to be the first male or female to complete the Wainwright challenge in under six days!
Far Eastern Fells
