A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells

Alfred Wainwright

1: The Eastern Fells

This is the first volume of the most famous series of guides to the Lake District. It covers the area between Ullswater and Thirlmere, which includes the Helvellyn range. I used this volume to plan an ascent of Helvellyn in 2005, and found nothing of any importance had changed at all.

I don't know of any other series of guide books that capture the spirit of an area as well as Wainwright's Pictorial Guides. The combination of his sketches of the fells and the hand drawn maps give a better feel of the hills than a dozen photographs, and the panoramic guides to the views are the clearest I know of.

This fiftieth anniversary edition is Wainwright's unmodified work, so some details are no longer accurate, especially in the valley bottoms, but the vast majority of changes are not significant - you aren't going to get lost because a gate has been repainted. As Wainwright suggested, use these books as your notebook, correct things as you go along, and always take an OS map with you.