Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells: Being an Illustrated Account of a Study and Exploration of the Mountains in the English Lake District [Hardcover]

Alfred Wainwright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1968

The legendary A. Wainwright provides information for walkers following Britain's first continuous long-distance footpath, the Pennine Way, which runs for 268 miles along the length of the Pennines from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm in southern Scotland. Inaugurated in 1965, the Pennine Way has become one of the most popular long-distance footpaths in Britain, and this guide by Wainwright has become a classic.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The master at his grim, pessimistic, tongue-in-cheek best. The original and still the best guide to every long-distance walker's favourite purgatory. -- Christopher Somerville Geographical --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Born in Blackburn in 1907, Alfred Wainwright left school at the age of 13. A holiday at the age of 23 kindled a life-long love affair with the Lake District. Following a move to Kendal in 1941 he began to devote every spare moment he had to researching and compiling the original seven Pictorial Guides. He described these as his 'love letters' to the Lakeland Fells and at the end of the first, The Eastern Fells, he wrote about what the mountains had come to mean to him: "I suppose it might be said, to add impressiveness to the whole thing, that this book has been twenty years in the making, for it is so long, and more, since I first came from a smoky mill-town (forgive me, Blackburn!) and beheld, from Orrest Head, a scene of great beauty, a fascinating paradise, Lakeland's mountains and trees and water. That was the first time I had looked upon beauty, or imagined it, even. Afterwards I went often, whenever I could, and always my eyes were lifted to the hills. I was to find then, and it has been so ever since, a spiritual and physical satisfaction in climbing mountains -- and a tranquil mind upon reaching their summits, as though I had escaped from the disappointments and unkindnesses of life and emerged above them into a new world, a better world. In due course I came to live within sight of the hills, and I was well content. If I could not be climbing, I was happy to sit idly and dream of them, serenely. Then came a restlessness and the feeling that it was not enough to take their gifts and do nothing in return. I must dedicate something of myself, the best part of me, to them. I started to write about them, and to draw pictures of them. Doing these things, I found they were still giving and I still receiving, for a great pleasure filled me when I was so engaged -- I had found a new way of escape to them and from all else less worth while. Thus it comes about that I have written this book. Not for material gain, welcome though that would be (you see I have not escaped entirely!); not for the benefit of my contemporaries, though if it brings them also to the hills I shall be well pleased; certainly not for posterity, about which I can work up no enthusiasm at all. No, this book has been written, carefully and with infinite patience, for my own pleasure and because it has seemed to bring the hills to my own fireside. If it has merit, it is because the hills have merit." A. Wainwright died in 1991 at the age of 84. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Westmorland Gazette (April 1968)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0902272063
• ISBN-13: 978-0902272064
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,519,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pennines pictorial guide., July 18, 2001

By 

stuart saunders (Witham, Essex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells: Being an Illustrated Account of a Study and Exploration of the Mountains in the English Lake District (Hardcover)

This book was first created over 30 years ago from one man's dedication towards the longest footpath in Britain. It's style is unique in the fact that it is actually hand written! This guide is a perfect work of art in itself, with beautifully hand crafted drawings of the sites, and perfectly created maps of the route. To top it all, it fits neatly into ones pocket. The detail to the history and sites view along this wonderful path is astounding, especially as Mr Wainwright did not even enjoy his walk along the path! For me this book is a work of art and a useful guide to this walk. Other books have better mapping and modern telephone help numbers but this one is for the collector of fine things.