Peak Bagging: Wainwrights: 45 routes designed to complete all 214 of Wainwright's Lake District fells in the most efficient way

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I live in the Lake District and enjoy running on the fells. I also enjoy days out walking on the fells with my family. The children really enjoy the walks, but we have always been careful to do walks that are within their capabilities and have made sure we have never been out on the top of the fells in awful weather.

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. The book provides fascinating route choices for areas with awkwardly, scattered peaks where planning your route without local knowledge would certainly not be as efficient. I really loved the clarity with which the authors highlight the location of the Wainwright summit which is often not the fell's true high point. Not really seen that as clear in any Wainwright guide before. 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.Karen and Dan Parker's 'Peak Bagging Wainwrights' provides clear, concise route descriptions with brilliant accompanying maps, route profile and timing table (plus transport, parking and refreshment stop advice) for each of their 45 selected routes, which as they say have been 'designed to complete all 214 of Wainwright's Lake District Fells in the most efficient way'. We usually take the route straight from our house,” says Dan. “That's from the east side; the Askham/Bampton side. There are several ridges that lead up. The central ridge is nice and gentle and it takes you to the top. There's a trig point at the top, but actually the trig point wasn't there when Wainwright wrote his books, so the Wainwright summit is about 50 metres south of there. Then to come down we would normally go north to Bonscale Pike. That's another interesting hill. There are some cairns, and towers, and good views out over Ullswater.” Wainwright Four: Fairfield (873m) Always a welcome sight; sunshine breaking through the clouds and shining on the fells of the Lake District. Photo: Getty

Look after the planet. Use buses or boats to make linear walks (Wainwright did most of his walks using public transport). Or if that doesn’t work for you, car share if you can and make sure you park your car considerately. With this problem in mind, Peak Bagging: Wainwrights by Karen and Dan Parker features forty-five routes designed to link up these iconic fells so you can enjoy the challenge of completing them at your own pace – over years, months or even just a few weeks.

Blencathra is obviously a very popular hill,” Dan says. “It's very accessible from the motorway, so a lot of people stop there en route to somewhere else, or go there because it's easy to get to. But it's also got so much variety. There's the standard five tongues leading off it, each of which you can go up, and there's the excitement of Sharp Edge and Hall's Fell. There's a bit of scrambling, too. Then there's the sort of northern routes; with a mix of smooth and bobbly terrain."

Also included are overview details of Steve Birkinshaw’s then-record-breaking sub-seven-day Wainwrights run in 2014 – current record holder Sabrina Verjee completed the round in under six days.North-Western Fells32 Wythop Wanderings 19.9km33 Grasmoor & More 15.7km 34 Dale Head Horseshoe 15.4km 35 Coledale Horseshoe 14.5km 36 A Newlands Round 15.9km An enticing challenge among avid hikers and trail runners is to conquer all 214 summits—a feat known as peak-bagging—within their lifetime. Each fell, varying in height, shape, and size, offers a different experience. Each Wainwright Fell, ranging from the highest, Scafell Pike, at 3,210 feet, to the smallest, Castle Crag, at 985 feet, presents a unique journey for walkers to explore the Lake District's diverse landscapes. All but one of these fells exceed 1,000 feet in height, lying within the boundary of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria​. The routes are split into seven sections, reflecting Wainwright’s seven Pictorial Guides, and to simplify logistics, all of the featured routes are circular with an emphasis on making practical links between the summits.