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By: Andrew Forrest - November 2025
Alfred Wainwright (1907-1991) is a legendary figure among walkers in Britain - an unassuming accountant-turned-author whose hand-drawn guidebooks have guided generations up the mountains of the Lake District.
Best known for his seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, Wainwright created these books as 'a love letter' to the hills he cherished.
A photograph of Alfred Wainwright - taken from the cover of his Wainwright in Scotland book, which included photographs by Derry Brabbs
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Expert yet passionate in tone, his guides are meticulously detailed works of art that have inspired thousands of fell walkers (including myself) and armchair ramblers for over 60 years. But behind the precise maps and pen-and-ink sketches lay a quiet, shy man with a deep devotion to the landscape.
In this article, we examine Wainwright's life journey from a mill town boy to the renowned 'sage of Kendal', his distinctive works and work habits, the people and places that influenced him, and the legacy he left imprinted across the fells.
Wainwright, who was affectionately known as 'AW', was born in the industrial mill town of Blackburn, Lancashire, on 17 January 1907. He grew up in relative poverty - his father was a stonemason who faced periods of unemployment, and is said to have had issues with alcohol. To make ends meet, his mother took in laundry from neighbours.
Alfred was the youngest of four children, and unlike many of his peers, destined for the cotton mills, he excelled at school, finishing top in nearly every subject. Nonetheless, he left formal education at the age of 13 to earn a wage. His first job was as an office boy at Blackburn Town Hall in the Borough Engineer's Office. Even as a teenager, walking was his refuge; he would roam up to 20 miles on foot and, self-taught, he would draw and sketch maps of his local area for fun.
By attending night school, Wainwright qualified as an accountant in 1936. This milestone opened the door to a new life. Wainwright was an ambitious young man and, importantly, an outdoor enthusiast - he was already dreaming of landscapes beyond the soot and factory chimneys of Blackburn. All it took was one holiday to change the course of his life.
In 1930, aged 23, Alfred Wainwright saved up for a week's walking holiday in the Lake District - his first visit to this renowned corner of England. He travelled by bus with his cousin Eric to Windermere.
On arrival, they immediately headed up a modest hill called Orrest Head (only 780 feet high) for a view of the landscape.
A sign which includes a section on Alfred Wainwright at the start of the footpath to Orrest Head
The footpath sign from Windermere pointing towards Orrest Head, claiming 'Unrivalled Views of the Lake District Fells'
What Wainwright saw from the summit would change him forever. It was, in his own words, 'a moment of magic, a revelation so unexpected that I stood transfixed, unable to believe my eyes'.
The approach to the summit of Orrest Head - Wainwright's life was to change forever once he reached the summit
For the first time, he glimpsed the panorama of Lakeland's fells - 'one after another, the nearer starkly etched, those beyond fading into the blue distance... a glorious panorama that held me enthralled'.
The Lake District Fells from the summit of Orrest Head
The vast scene of shimmering lakes, emerald pastures, and rolling ridges under a heavenly sky moved him deeply: 'God was in his heaven that day and I a humble worshipper' he later wrote of that 'Orrest Head' moment. Wainwright later said that Orrest Head 'cast a spell that changed my life'. It was the day he fell in love with the Lake District.
The many seats now on Orrest Head, from where you can enjoy panoramic views of the Lakeland Fells
From that day onward, Wainwright's greatest goal was to live among those hills. It took 11 years, but he achieved it. In 1941, during wartime, he accepted a significant pay cut to leave Blackburn and move to Kendal, a market town on the edge of the Lake District, for a job in the Borough Treasurer's Office.
A plaque commemorating Wainwright, showing each of the main Lakeland Summits
This move 'closer to the fells' was a dream realised. He would work for Kendal municipal government for the rest of his career - eventually becoming Borough Treasurer in 1948 - but more importantly, Kendal placed him within easy reach of the mountains he loved.
Every weekend, he could now explore the fells, and explore he did. Colleagues recall that despite the often dreary Cumbrian weather, Wainwright headed out alone in his tweed suit and sturdy shoes, pipe clamped in his mouth, striding through wind and rain without complaint. 'He never minded the rain, never moaned. If the weather was awful, he'd turn his pipe upside down to keep the rain out,' one friend noted wryly. Such was his dedication.
During the work week, he would spend his evenings studying maps to plan the following weekend's excursion, often preferring maps to books for entertainment. If Wainwright spotted other hikers approaching on the trail, the painfully shy man might even hide behind a rock to avoid conversation. Solitude on the hills was a joy to him - he once mused that 'walking alone is poetry; walking in a group is only prose'.
Settled in Kendal with the fells on his doorstep, Wainwright's passion only deepened. Throughout the 1940s, he methodically explored the Lakeland mountains, collecting countless notes, sketches, and memories of each summit and valley. An idea had been forming in his mind for years: to produce a comprehensive guide to every fell in Lakeland.
On 9 November 1952, he finally put pen to paper on the project that would define his life's work. The very first page he drew that evening depicted the ascent of Dove Crag, a peak above Ambleside. Wainwright was neither a professional writer nor a cartographer - this was a wholly personal endeavour, undertaken after long days at the office.
A photograph of the first Dove Crag page from Book One - The Eastern Fells
He later admitted, 'I was working for my own pleasure… gathering together all my notes and drawings and a host of recollections, and putting them in a book so that when I became an old man I could... recall all my memories, and go on fell walking in spirit long after my legs had given up'. In effect, the project began as a scrapbook of his life in the hills, never truly intended as a commercial publication. Little did he realise it would become everybody's scrapbook of the Lake District.
Wainwright approached the guidebook task with near-military precision. He divided Lakeland into seven regions, utilising natural boundaries (lakes, valleys, and passes) to group the fells. He estimated that there were 214 distinct summits worth including (these 214 would later simply be known as 'the Wainwrights' by walkers). He set himself a timetable to produce seven volumes and followed it with remarkable discipline.
For thirteen years, Wainwright dedicated nearly every evening to hand-lettering and illustrating pages for his guides, typically completing about one page a day. Each page was produced with careful attention to detail and artistry. Using solely pen and ink, he created beautiful maps, sweeping diagrams of the views from each summit, sketches of crags and landmarks, and even small vignette illustrations of farmhouses or churches seen along the way.
Every line of text was written in his own neat handwriting - he famously said nobody since the medieval monks had created an entirely hand-written and hand-drawn book, and he was reviving that art. The result was a unique achievement: the Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, published in seven volumes between 1955 and 1966.
These guides are as much works of art as practical route descriptions. The pages feel intimate and personal, sprinkled with Wainwright's understated humour and reverence for the landscape. His love of the hills shines through every page - sometimes poetic, sometimes crotchety, always honest. Even his stepdaughter Jane remarked that his love for the landscape 'shines off every page' and said that his writing, often ironic or teasing, was 'always wonderfully Northern and packed with wit'.
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When the first volume (The Eastern Fells) was finished in 1955, Wainwright couldn't face the usual publishing world. He privately organised to have 500 copies printed by a local printer in Kendal, with the help of a colleague and friend, Henry Marshall, who acted as an unofficial publisher.
Wainwright refused any publicity or author appearances - in fact, the early editions didn't even display his first name on the cover, just 'A. Wainwright', because he desired anonymity. Initially, the books sold slowly, mostly through word of mouth amongst walkers. However, as subsequent volumes were released, a loyal following began to develop.
This was something entirely different from typical guidebooks - a man's heartfelt homage to each fell, drawn and described as if he were guiding you by the hand up the mountain. Walkers eagerly bought them, and by the time the seventh volume (The Western Fells) was published in 1966, Wainwright's Pictorial Guides had become a sensation.
They have remained continuously in print ever since, ultimately selling over two million copies. And true to Wainwright's quiet nature, this success all happened without any splashy marketing campaigns - he let the quality of the work speak for itself. He always drew one image of himself somewhere in each book.
Wainwright always included one sketch of himself in each book - this is a photograph of the image from book 7, 'The Western Fells', looking up at Yewbarrow from Gatherstone Head
Since 2005, Wainwright's original Pictorial Guides have been carefully revised and updated to reflect changes on the ground - first by Chris Jesty, who revised all seven volumes between 2005 and 2014, and then by Clive Hutchby, who continued the work from 2015 onwards with the Second Edition series, ensuring Wainwright's hand-drawn style and spirit were preserved while modernising route details and access information. Whilst I now own those versions, I still also like the old originals. I pick up most of my original versions of these books from eBay.
In 1967, after completing the series and coincidentally reaching retirement age, Wainwright retired from his position as Borough Treasurer in Kendal. His 'hobby' of writing guidebooks had by then made him somewhat of a celebrity - a label he would have despised. The media (and many admiring readers) often depicted him as a somewhat reclusive curmudgeon living in the hills. There was some truth to that image, but also much that was misunderstood.
While the Lakeland Pictorial Guides are Wainwright's greatest achievement, he didn't stop at seven books - far from it. Over the next two decades, he went on to write dozens of other guidebooks and sketchbooks (eventually totalling around 50 titles by the end of his life). Wainwright had a restless creative energy and a drive to document other walking areas and topics that interested him. Here is a look at his major works beyond the original Pictorial Guides.
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Wainwright's sketch of York Minster, taken from his Dales Sketchbook
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This list is not comprehensive. Wainwright even contributed forewords and drawings to other people's books, but it offers a sense of his prolific output. Remarkably, every single one of these publications was hand-drawn or handwritten in Wainwright's distinctive style. He never adopted the typewriter or modern printing techniques for his own work - he was stubbornly old-fashioned in that regard, and that was part of their charm.
As biographer Hunter Davies noted, the incredible achievement of producing so many completely handwritten books alone is comparable to 'the days of the monks... works of genius comparable to great paintings, symphonies, or novels'.
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Many would agree that Wainwright's guides, born of passion and dedication, are indeed creations of love and brilliance. This is confirmed by another book by Hunter Davies, The Wainwright Letters, which is a selection of letters from the thousands he wrote during his lifetime, which are 'business-like and comic, wonderfully well-informed and remarkably innocent, deeply moving and yet tough-minded. For younger readers, before texts, emails, and WhatsApp, people used to write letters by hand with pen and paper.
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The letters offer a vivid and unforgettable portrait of one of the great but eccentric creative geniuses of the twentieth century.
Alfred Wainwright was utterly methodical. His work habits bordered on obsession - in a productive, if sometimes unusual, way. To create his guides, he adhered to a strict routine. He would spend all day at his office job, return home for tea, and then lock himself away in his study each evening with pens, ink, and drafting tools to draw that day's page by hand.
He demanded total silence for this work - not even music was allowed to disrupt his concentration. When Wainwright was later invited on the BBC's Desert Island Discs, he famously told interviewer Sue Lawley that he didn't really like music at all, preferring silence, which must have made choosing his desert island records quite difficult. His second wife, Betty, recalled that he worked in complete silence, hunched over his drawing board for hours, painstakingly crafting each line and letter.
Never one to waste time, Wainwright kept a steady pace of about one page a day when working on the Pictorial Guides. He joked that this was his nightly 'penance' (though it's obvious he enjoyed it). In total, he produced over 2,000 pages of neatly hand-lettered text and drawings for the seven guides - all without once using a ruler to draw straight lines, and without any assistants.
One can imagine him at his desk with ruler and compass cast aside, carefully sketching a fell's silhouette from memory and notes, guided by sheer dedication. He even included small self-portraits in each of the Pictorial Guides - usually a tiny ink drawing of a portly man with a rucksack (himself) viewed from behind, often accompanied by his trusty walking companion, an old black spaniel named Cindy. It was a quiet little signature hidden in the landscape of each book.
Out on the fells, Wainwright's habits were uniquely his own. As mentioned, he almost always walked alone. He believed the hills were a place for reflection and escape. 'For a man trying to forget a persistent worry, the top of Haystacks is a complete cure', he once wrote, showing how healing he found the high places. His gear was straightforward and no-nonsense - no fancy waterproofs or technical boots for him. The image of Wainwright trudging through rain in a tweed jacket, flat cap, and with his pipe lit, remains a well-known one.
He didn't drive, so he used public transport to reach his walks, memorably writing that the Western Fells were accessible by a 'little yellow bus' (a reference to the once-frequent local bus services). Despite creating guidebooks that thousands follow, Wainwright was known to be directionally stubborn at times: if he lost the path, he'd prefer to forge his own way rather than admit the map (his own map!) was correct. His friends learned that trying to correct him on a route was futile - Alfred did things his way.
One charming (or exasperating) quirk was his dislike of socialising while walking. If he saw other hikers approaching, Wainwright often literally hid to avoid having to exchange pleasantries. A true introvert, he regarded the fells as a sacred personal sanctuary, free from the chatter of 'civilisation'.
This antisocial tendency earned him a reputation as a grouch, but those who knew him understood it was simply shyness. His wife, Betty, once explained that Alfred was 'a sensitive, shy man who sought anonymity, hiding himself behind a gruff exterior'. That gruffness could manifest as brusqueness if a stranger hailed him on a summit - but inside, he was quietly amused and pleased that people were enjoying 'his' fells.
Wainwright's personal life was marked by a stark contrast between an unhappy first marriage and a blissfully happy second one. In 1931, back in Blackburn, 24-year-old Alfred married his first wife, Ruth Holden, a mill worker. It's said that one reason for the marriage was to escape his difficult home life with his father.
Sadly, Alfred and Ruth were poorly matched; their relationship quickly deteriorated and led to decades of domestic hardship for both of them. They had one son, Peter, but Alfred was an emotionally distant husband and father, spending as much time as possible away on the fells or immersed in his drawings.
In a poignant twist, Wainwright once wrote a short story (in 1939, kept secret in a drawer) about a man in a loveless marriage who dreams of an ideal 'fantasy woman' who comes to comfort him. He later showed this story to someone special, with a note that said 'You are this girl' - that someone was Betty.
Betty (born Betty Hayes in 1922) met Wainwright in the 1960s and became the great love of his life. She was a petite, well-spoken nurse and a divorcée with two daughters, living in Kendal. Their first proper encounter was quite prosaic - he, as Borough Treasurer, had to reprimand her over an unpaid town hall bill for a charity event.
A photograph of Betty and Alfred Wainwright at home, taken from the Ex-Fellwanderer book - the photo in the book was courtesy of the Lancashire Evening Post
But a few years later, in 1965, they met again and a romance blossomed - discreetly, since Alfred was still married to Ruth at the time. By then, Wainwright was 58 and had published six of his seven pictorial guides; outwardly, he was a respected (if curmudgeonly) pillar of the community, while inwardly, he yearned for companionship and understanding. Betty proved to be his soulmate.
They started seeing each other secretly, stealing moments together on walks or over coffee in out-of-town cafés to avoid local gossip. Alfred even devised a farcical ruse to include Betty on a walking trip by inviting an American fan (who had written asking to meet Wainwright) to join them as a 'cover' - a plan that nearly backfired when the American gentleman took a fancy to Betty, not realising she was with Alfred!
Eventually, Alfred's first wife, Ruth, left him - she reportedly suspected his infidelity and had endured enough. They divorced, and in 1970 Alfred Wainwright married Betty McNally, finally finding personal happiness. He was 63, she 48, and they would have 21 years of, as Betty described it, 'marital bliss'.
The contrast with his first marriage could not have been greater. Betty became not just his wife but his closest friend, walking companion (though he still mostly made her wait at the base of the hill while he went off solo to 'do' the summit!), and even an unofficial editor and secretary for his work. From the time Betty entered his life, Wainwright's productivity actually increased - the majority of his 50-odd books were written after 1970, and many carry warm dedications to her or acknowledgements of her contributions (for example, Betty typed some of his manuscripts when his handwriting became difficult due to fading eyesight).
Betty also shared Alfred's love of animals and helped guide him into charitable work for animal welfare. They were a dedicated dog-and-cat family (his self-portrait sketches often depict him with his dog). In 1974, the couple became involved in establishing Animal Rescue Cumbria, a charity and animal shelter in Kendal. Alfred served as its chairman, and this cause became very important to them.
In fact, as Wainwright's guidebooks started earning serious royalties, he quietly began donating almost all of his royalties to animal charities - chiefly the Kapellan shelter (Animal Rescue Cumbria's home). This was never publicised during his lifetime; it only came to light later that for years he insisted on book payments being made out directly to the animal shelter's account.
He and Betty were not wealthy despite their book success because Alfred prioritised caring for animals over earning money (he joked that he cared much more for animals than for most humans). When he died, he left almost all his estate to Betty and animal charities - his son Peter received nothing, which sadly showed how distant their relationship had become.
Wainwright was a man of intriguing contradictions. He was painfully shy and avoided publicity, yet in his later years, he agreed to make a few television programmes that showcased his beloved fells. In 1982, the BBC aired a documentary about him, and he was persuaded to appear, wandering the hills on camera (the narrator read out Wainwright's evocative prose about his 'last resting place' on Haystacks as the finale).
Viewers heard his dry Lancashire voice describing the mountains. He even, eventually, appeared on Desert Island Discs - but only on his own terms. He refused to be interviewed by the original host, Roy Plomley, or his successor, Michael Parkinson, but agreed when the BBC sent Sue Lawley, 'because he liked her legs', as Hunter Davies wryly recounts.
He also refused to travel to London for the recording - Lawley had to come up to Manchester to meet him. Such stories reveal Wainwright's ornery side, but also a hint of impish humour behind the gruff exterior. In the Desert Island interview, when asked about his religious views, Wainwright delivered one of his classic lines: 'I'd rather be in the mountains thinking of God, than in church thinking of the mountains'. That summed him up - spiritually connected to nature, indifferent (or even hostile) to organised religion and formalities.
He could be blunt and curmudgeonly - an old-fashioned, ultra-conservative chap in some ways (Davies notes he was a 'hang 'em and flog 'em' believer in harsh punishments, and had little love for progressive politics). Yet, this was the same man who moved readers to tears with the beauty of his writing about a sunset over the fells, or who would quietly pay for a stranger's bus fare home if they'd missed the last bus from a walk (anecdotes abound of his quiet kindnesses).
One moment, he might grumble about 'officialdom' or tourists littering the fells, and the next, he'd wax lyrical about a 'dancing beck' or a shy deer on the path. His wife and close friends saw the whole Wainwright: a complex, deeply feeling individual who found his greatest peace on a lonely mountaintop.
Wainwright's life ended in 1991. He passed away on 20 January 1991 at 84, after a heart attack. True to his wishes, there was no fuss - no grand funeral (he would have hated that). Instead, in a private and simple gesture, Betty took his ashes up to Haystacks, his favourite fell, and scattered them by the shores of Innominate Tarn on 22 March 1991.
A stone plaque commemorating Wainwright in the church at Buttermere. Through the window on the horizon is Haystacks.
This 'nameless' mountain pool high in the rough hills was the spot he had chosen long before. As he once poignantly wrote, all he asked for at the end was 'a last long resting place by the side of Innominate Tarn, on Haystacks, where the water gently laps the gravelly shore and the heather blooms... A quiet place, a lonely place... If you, dear reader, should get a bit of grit in your boot as you are crossing Haystacks in the years to come, please treat it with respect. It might be me'.
And so it was - he became part of the very landscape he loved.
More than thirty years after his death, Alfred Wainwright's impact on the outdoor community remains as strong as ever. In the Lake District, the 214 fells he documented have become a collective challenge known simply as 'The Wainwrights'.
To 'complete the Wainwrights' is to follow in the footsteps of the master, exploring every corner of Lakeland, from well-known giants like Scafell Pike to the small, hidden humps in the Outlying Fells. We've created an interactive map of all 214 Wainwrights, colour-coded by book.
Wainwright's guidebooks are still in print and widely used; as mentioned, they have been updated over the years to reflect changes in routes and landscapes, with editors like Chris Jesty and Clive Hutchby carefully maintaining Wainwright's original style while incorporating new information.
The author's collection of the Chris Jesty revised version of Wainwright's Seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells
Many walkers prefer carrying Wainwright's small black books to any modern glossy guide - there's a certain comfort in hearing A.W.'s voice in your rucksack as you climb. It's been said that 'Wainwright's guides are like having an old friend at your side on the fells'. They inspire not just route-finding but a mindset: an appreciation for the journey, an eye for detail, and the encouragement to 'sit and look and truly see' once you reach the top.
Climbing all 214 Wainwright summits is a rite of passage for many walkers - a challenge that can take years of weekends or, for the very keen and fit, just a matter of days.
Completing the Wainwrights involves covering roughly 320-325 miles (~515 km) on foot and climbing about 36,000 metres of total elevation - more than four times the height of Mount Everest. Simply finishing this route in one go is an extraordinary endurance achievement, and like nearly all feats, people aim to be the fastest. For record attempts, as with the Bob Graham Round, Keswick's historic Moot Hall traditionally serves as the start and finish point.
American ultrarunner John Kelly currently holds the overall record for a continuous Wainwrights round. In May 2022, he completed all 214 fells in 5 days, 12 hours, and 14 minutes - an astonishing run that broke Sabrina Verjee's 2021 record. Sabrina Verjee, a British ultrarunner (and the first woman to hold the Wainwrights record), had logged a time of 5 days, 23 hours, and 49 minutes in 2021.
For some context, legendary fell runner Joss Naylor set an early benchmark in 1986 by completing the round in 7 days, 1 hour, and 25 minutes - a record that stood untouched for almost 28 years, despite not having the same support crew, mapping software, and structure that modern attempts benefit from.
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It was finally beaten in 2014 when Steve Birkinshaw established a modern route and completed the Wainwrights in 6 days, 12 hours, 58 minutes. The record continued to be beaten as Paul Tierney lowered it to 6 days, 6 hours, 5 minutes in 2019, before Verjee's sub-6-day performance in 2021 and Kelly's even faster sub-5½-day achievement in 2022.
Slideshow attended by the author, given by Steve Birkenshaw, talking through the preparation that went into completing the Wainwrights in seven days
Steve Birkenshaw running through how he completed the Wainwrights in 7 days
If you want to know what's involved in one of these attempts, Steve's book is well worth a read:
There is No Map in Hell: The Record-Breaking Run Across the Lake District Fells
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Beyond the outright supported speed record, athletes have also achieved impressive Wainwrights Round records in various styles and conditions.
Each of these achievements highlights a different way to tackle the Wainwrights, emphasising how challenging and inspiring this Lake District undertaking can be. From Joss Naylor's pioneering 1980s run to John Kelly's modern record, the Wainwrights Round continues to challenge the limits of mountain endurance.
Besides Alfred Wainwright's books on the 'Wainwrights', quite a few other authors have written walking books, in which the walks take in all 214 summits; a selection of these is below:
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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Walking the Wainwrights: 64 Walks to Climb the 214 Wainwrights of Lakeland
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Lake District 214 Wainwright Challenge Logbook: Hiking In The Lakes With OS Grid References, Tick Off Maps, Fell Finder, 6' x 9' Backpack Size
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Beyond his books, Wainwright's life and works have inspired television series, charities, and even literary prizes. In the early 1980s, broadcaster Eric Robson persuaded the hesitant author to take part in a series of TV walks. Later, in the 2000s, the BBC produced popular programmes following Wainwright's routes, with presenters like Julia Bradbury introducing a new generation to his fells.
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These programmes sparked a surge in Wainwright Society membership and revived interest in his books. Established in November 2002, the Wainwright Society now thrives as a community of enthusiasts who celebrate his legacy. They organise walks, conservation projects, and charitable fundraisers - often supporting the animal charities Wainwright endorsed. Notably, one of the Society's key causes has been Animal Rescue Cumbria - The Wainwright Shelter, which was renamed in his honour after his death. They also donate to such worthwhile causes as 'Fix The Fells' and the 'Great North Air Ambulance Service', amongst many others.
In 2014, Wainwright's name was given to a prestigious award in nature and conservation writing. The Wainwright Prize is now an annual award, preserving Wainwright's ethos of celebrating the natural world in the literary realm. It's a lovely nod to how his handwritten guides transcended mere route descriptions to become literature about landscape.
In September 2025, the two winning books were selected for the 2025 edition of the prize. The overall winners are: Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (Canongate Books) for the '2025 Wainwright Prize Book of the Year', and Flower Block by Lanisha Butterfield & illustrated by Hoang Giang (Puffin Books) for the '2025 Wainwright Children's Prize Book of the Year'. Both winners are debut authors who have drawn on their personal experiences to reveal unexpected connections with nature.
At one award ceremony, Wainwright's step-daughter Jane recalled how his love of nature permeated everything he wrote, saying that the prize was a fitting way to keep his name associated with that genre.
Wainwright has inspired countless outdoor writers and artists. Many modern guidebook authors cite him as the gold standard. The trend of personal, narrative-driven walking guides (as opposed to dry instructions) can largely be traced to Wainwright's influence. He demonstrated that a guidebook could possess personality and passion. Even the illustrated map in this very article - if you've ever seen hand-drawn trail maps in magazines or online blogs - owes a debt to AW's style.
Artists continue to emulate his precise line work and captivating compositions. Original copies of his maps and sketches are regarded as treasured pieces of Lake District heritage, sometimes exhibited in museums or galleries. He was initially shy about displaying his work, but a few of his drawings now hang in Kendal's museum, along with some of his old boots, a cap and a jacket.
Perhaps Wainwright's most significant legacy is the countless ordinary people who developed a love for walking because of him, myself included. He had a talent for demystifying the mountains and encouraging everyone to share the joy he found there. His guides often speak directly to the reader as a friend.
He famously dedicated one of his books to 'All who travel slowly, peering at flowers, and are sometimes late in reaching their destinations' - a gentle encouragement to enjoy the journey. A generation of walkers in the 1960s and 70s, and many more since then, took to the hills with his books in hand, and many say Wainwright changed their lives as much as Orrest Head changed his.
The Commemorative Wainwright plaque on Orrest Head showing the main Lakeland Fells
Even today, it's not uncommon to meet people on a fell who will quote a line of Wainwright to you, 'There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing', is one popular Wainwright quip from his 1973 Coast to Coast book that you might hear when the rain starts - a typically pragmatic bit of Lakeland wisdom.
Wainwright's influence also extends to conservation. Although he was not a modern-day activist, his writings cultivated a respect for the landscape among his readers. He frequently urged walkers to care for the fells, lamenting any 'wanton damage' he observed. By fostering love, he indirectly promoted protection.
Many who admired his guides vecame involved in organisations such as the National Trust, Friends of the Lake District, or local footpath repair groups - quietly ensuring the fells remained unspoiled, which was exactly what Wainwright wanted.
He was opposed to any efforts to commercialise or spoil the Lake District. In his era, he spoke out against proposals he believed would damage the scenery. It's fair to say that the preserved wild character of the fells owes much to Wainwright's role as an unofficial guardian in print.
I'm not claiming that Wainwright could predict the future, but for me, some - but not all - of his writings from over 40 years ago (before the arrival of most personal computers, mobiles, email, the internet, streaming, and AI) remain as meaningful - or more so - today than when he originally wrote them.
As an example, in the 'Ex-Fellwanderer' he wrote in 1987: The present century has witnessed the most amazing advances in science and technology. There have been miracles of inventiveness. I marvel every time I switch on the television. I see men flying to the moon; robots making motorcars. Computers supply instant information at the touch of a button. Machines intended to become our slaves have become our masters. They contribute to a fuller life, not a better one. Improved standards of education have done nothing to improve character. So many people today are stupid, pompous, greedy, hypocritical; so many have chips on their shoulders. For the old qualities of honesty, loyalty and dignity, we have to look to the abused and uncomplaining animals. Talents have withered under modern pressures. We have to go back centuries in time to find the great artists and craftsmen, the creators of art in all its forms: their like is not seen today. We are going downhill.
Finally, Wainwright left us not just routes on a map, but a philosophy of appreciating nature. He demonstrated that communing with the hills can heal the soul.
In the final lines of his last Pictorial Guide, The Western Fells in 1966, he wrote poignantly, 'The fleeting hour of life of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal. Always there will be the lonely ridge, the dancing beck, the silent forest; always there will be the exhilaration of the summits. These are for the seeking, and those who seek and find while there is yet time will be blessed both in mind and body.'
It's an encouragement to all of us to get out there and savour the mountains while we can.
A few years ago, I was walking with my two walking companions, Jim and Mick. Very sadly, just short of the summit of Skiddaw, Jim passed away despite the best efforts of the air ambulance, two passing A&E doctors, and ourselves. These 'fleeting hour' words from Wainwright were read out at Jim's funeral.
Wainwright's own 'fleeting hour' may have passed, but the hills are indeed eternal - and thanks to his life's work, so too is Alfred Wainwright's presence among them. His spirit strides on every ridge, pauses at every summit cairn, and gazes over every valley in Lakeland with love and a touch of that old northern wit. As long as people walk the fells with Wainwright in their rucksack (or in their hearts), his legacy lives on.
Animal Rescue Cumbria - The Wainwright Shelter
Wainwright Society
The Wainwright Prizes
Kendal Museum
A New Found Compendium
Fastest Known Time
Wainwright: The Biography, by Hunter Davies
The many Wainwright books that I own...
November 2025
