Over fifty years ago, renowned British hillwalker and guidebook
author Alfred Wainwright described 214 peaks in the English Lake
District in his seven-volume illustrated Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.
Like the Munros in Scotland, bagging all the Wainwrights has become a
popular and significant challenge for walkers and runners, often taking
many years in fits and starts because of the absence of a clear plan for
how to link them together.
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.
It presents
not only the most efficient routes for completing the Wainwrights as
quickly as possible, but does so in such a way that each route is a
fantastic walk or run in its own right. The featured routes include a
round of the Scafells, and the Glenridding Horseshoe, taking in
Helvellyn and Catstycam.
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.
In addition, the book is
packed with useful information, including 1:40,000-scale maps, elevation
profiles, public transport and parking details, refreshments,
downloadable GPX files for each route and custom timings for walkers,
trekkers, fastpackers and runners.
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.
Whatever your timescale for completing the 214
Wainwrights, Peak Bagging: Wainwrights is the indispensable guide to this British hill challenge.
The Authors:
Karen and Dan Parker have been regularly running and walking in the Lake
District fells for the last 30 years and have been keen orienteers for
the last 40 years. Karen is the current British age-group champion and a
former international orienteer, and in his twenties and thirties Dan
has ran the elite class in many mountain marathons, winning the LAMM
elite course in 1996. They also design mountain marathon courses and had
a hand in creating the most efficient Wainwrights route which Steve
Birkinshaw used to great effect in 2014 when he broke Joss Naylor's
long-standing record. Karen and Dan have both done the renowned Bob
Graham Round, visiting 42 fells in the Lake District in under 24 hours,
and they have also completed all of the Munros in Scotland. Karen has
also completed the 67-kilometre Joss Naylor Challenge. They live in the
Lowther Valley near Penrith.