A Pictorial Guide To The Lakeland Fells: The Southern Fells

Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells #4

by Alfred Wainwright

The original Pictorial Guide to the Southern Fells of Lakeland - freshly reproduced from Wainwright's original pages.

Genres: Walking, Nonfiction, Reference, Travel

150 pages, Paperback

First published August 8, 2005

About the author

Alfred Wainwright was born in Blackburn, Lancashire to Thomas Wainwright and Elizabeth Nixon.[citation needed] His family was relatively poor, mostly due to his stonemason father's alcoholism. He did very well at school (first in nearly every subject)[1] although he left at the age of 13. While most of his classmates were obliged to find employment in the local mills, Wainwright started work as an office boy in Blackburn Borough Engineer's Department. He spent several further years studying at night school, gaining qualifications in accountancy which enabled him to further his career at Blackburn Borough Council. Even when a child Wainwright walked a great deal, up to 20 miles at a time; he also showed a great interest in drawing and cartography, producing his own maps of England and his local area.
In 1930, at the age of 23, Wainwright saved up enough money for a week's walking holiday in the Lake District with his cousin Eric Beardsall. They arrived in Windermere and climbed the nearby hill Orrest Head, where Wainwright saw his first view of the Lakeland fells. This moment marked the start of what he would later describe as his love affair with the Lake District. In 1931 he married his first wife, Ruth Holden, a local mill worker, with whom he had a son Peter. In 1941 Wainwright was able to move closer to the fells when he took a job (and with it a pay cut) at the Borough Treasurer's office in Kendal, Westmorland. He lived and worked in the town for the rest of his life, serving as Borough Treasurer from 1948 until he retired in 1967. His first marriage ended when Ruth walked out three weeks before he retired. They later divorced. In 1970 he married Betty McNally (1922–2008), also a divorcee, who became his walking companion and who eventually carried his ashes to Innominate Tarn at the top of Haystacks.

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a reading book, but a really practical guide for walkers covering routes, history, elevations and landmarks (of the Lake District, obviously).

[Nick Towers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wainwright's pictorial guides are the most authoritative guides to walking in the Lake District ever written, or ever likely to be written. The author's depth of knowledge, thoroughness and attention to detail is stunning, and what's more he writes with humour and wit and a love of the Lakes which comes through vividly in each passage and in every illustration. These books are invaluable in the field, where Wainwright is the perfect walking companion, and just as good on a winter's evening when one can enjoy the virtual pleasure of following his routes from one summit to the next.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just a guidebook but a perfect little package of drawings, anecdotes and whimsy. Bought my first copy on a school camping trip to the Lakes in 1971. Still have it, along with all the others purchased on subsequent visits. (Tip: footpaths change so look for the updated editions - still based on AW's drawings and notes but each route has been reviewed and new ones overprinted in red.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a beautiful book, and very informative. The skill and the elegance that has gone into the handwriting and drawings on each page is astounding. It is more a work of art than a guide.