Wainwright’s Walking Guide to the Lake District Fells – The Central Fells – New Walkers Edition revised by Clive Hutchby – Published by Frances Lincoln – ISBN 9780711236561

WAINWRIGHT’S Central Fells, Book 3 in the series of seven, was the first of the series I owned and was bought for me by my Aunt and Uncle from Ilkley for my 18th birthday.

It has remained one of my favourite guides as it contains a group of fells that one first sees on the left after leaving Windermere to take the A591 to Ambleside – The Langdale Pikes. These were the first fells from the book that I climbed shortly after receiving the book.

The central Fells is one of the most popular areas of the Lake District nestling as it does adjacent to four main areas of population – Ambleside, Borrowdale, Grasmere and Keswick all of which all have an abundance of Hotels and B&Bs to accommodate visitors and walkers.

This new Walkers Edition of the guide has been revised by Clive Hutchby and follows on from Wainwright’s original published in 1958 and the first revision by Chris Jesty in 2006. Although only 10 years have passed since Chris’s revision, there have been many changes on the fells during the last decade. New paths have appeared, gates have replaced stiles, new footbridges have been constructed, and some routes of ascent of the fells have changed as paths have been repaired or diverted to combat erosion. Clive has also added quite a number of new routes up the twenty seven fells in the book that he had discovered during his exploration of this area in 2015.

Clive is now busy tackling the mighty fells of the Coniston and Scafell ranges including Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England, whilst updating the next guide covering the Southern Fells of the Lake District.

For walkers visiting the Lake District Central Fells this is the most up to date guide available and as such is worth every penny of the £13.99 price tag. It is available in bookshops from 3 March, or can be ordered from the Frances Lincoln website.

by John Burland