Wainwrighting: an introduction

And a New Year's climb up Arthur's Pike

My new hometown of Sedbergh is a few miles east from the famed Lake District — England’s premier hiking destination and arguably its most beautiful, and certainly most sublime, landscape. Smooth humpbacked fells, rugged crags, and towering peaks and pikes are a plenty, offering a veritable feast for the ardent fell walker, who can enjoy from their summit’s spectacular views of the many glacial lakes and reservoirs that the region is renowned for.

It is a good job then that I greatly enjoy rambling up a fell or two.

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There is one name associated with the Lake District that towers high above the rest. So high in fact that the most popular mountain classification system in these parts is named after him, partly because he himself devised it. I am of course, referring to the laudable Mr. Alfred Wainwright.

He really was a national treasure (died 1991). His ‘Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells’ series are essential companions to any journey up a fell (along with an OS Map — another treasured creation of Britain). What is most astounding is that these guides are completely hand drawn with birds-eye view maps drawn before the widespread availability of satellite imagery AND completely handwritten in a flawless and now iconic script. It is an utter masterpiece of bookmanship and I regard it as one of the most astounding creations of the 20th Century, especially when one considers how many hours out in the field climbing the fells Mr Wainwright had to do in order to accomplish this feat. A future essay on The Village Green will delve deeper into this national treasure as well as shedding light on his somewhat eccentric personality.

It is most extraordinary that everything you see on this page is handwritten. And there are seven c.200 page books worth of this!

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The seven books cover a series of 214 mountains (or fells as they are called up here). These are the peaks most coveted to climb by seasoned fell walkers and those select few who have climbed all 214 have some serious bragging rights. I know of at least one reader of Over the Field/The Village Green who is numbered amongst this prestigious group.

It is a group I endeavour to join, and I will be documenting my pursuit of the 214 here on The Village Green, complete with a photographic guide and insights into the fells, their heritage, and wildlife along the way.

So, to begin, a New Year’s walk up Arthur’s Pike.