The 214 fells catalogued by Alfred Wainwright in his hand-drawn Pictorial Guides remain the gold standard of English hillwalking. Completing them all — "doing the Wainwrights" — is a multi-year project for most walkers, and an obsession for a dedicated few. But you don't need to commit to all 214 to enjoy the structure Wainwright gave the Lake District. The most rewarding way into his catalogue, for many visitors, is to plan a long-distance route that strings together the best of them.
The classic ridge routes
Some of the most satisfying Wainwright routes are the ones that follow natural ridge lines, allowing you to bag multiple fells in a single long day without losing serious height between them. The Helvellyn range, traversed end to end from Threlkeld to Grasmere, takes in nine Wainwrights including Striding Edge and Helvellyn itself. The Fairfield Horseshoe, starting and ending in Ambleside, gives you eight summits in a single elegant loop. The Scafell range, from Wasdale, takes in the highest ground in England and a clutch of the most dramatic Wainwrights in the catalogue.
What makes these routes work is the topography. Once you're on the ridge, the hard work is mostly done. The walk becomes about pace, weather, and the slow accumulation of summits rather than relentless climbing and descending.
Long-distance traverses
For walkers who want something more ambitious, a number of long-distance traverses have established themselves over the years. The Coast to Coast — Wainwright's own route — crosses the Lake District west to east and takes in a substantial slice of the catalogue along the way. The Cumbria Way runs north to south, lower but linking the lakes themselves. And for the seriously committed, there are now several recognised routes that attempt to link all 214 Wainwrights in a single continuous walk, taking anywhere from three weeks to two months.
None of these need to be done in one go. The best approach for visiting walkers is to pick a section that suits the time available — three or four days from Borrowdale up through the central fells, say, or a long weekend on the Fairfield range — and then build the trip around a single well-placed rental.
Planning a Wainwright trip
The practical side comes down to three things: maps, weather, and a base. The Ordnance Survey Explorer series at 1:25,000 covers the whole region in four sheets. The mountain weather forecasts from the Mountain Weather Information Service are the standard reference; check them the night before and the morning of every walk. As for the base, the right rental can make or break a Wainwright trip — somewhere with drying space for boots and waterproofs, a proper kitchen for refuelling, and ideally close enough to the trailheads that you're not eating up daylight in the car.
For day-to-day planning of routes, opening times, and access information, the official visitor guide is the most up-to-date source — particularly useful for trails affected by lambing season, conservation work, or temporary closures.
Why the structure works
What makes the Wainwrights so durable as a framework is the variety. Some are little more than gentle walks above a village. Others are full mountain days. The catalogue accommodates the curious weekend walker and the obsessive ticker equally well. Whether you finish all 214 or just a handful, the discipline of approaching the Lake District through Wainwright's eyes gives shape and purpose to a holiday that might otherwise drift between pubs and lakeshore.
