Review: Wainwright’s Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells – Book 5 – The Northern Fells – Walker’s Edition, revised by Clive Hutchby. Published by Frances Lincoln £14.99 ISBN:9780711236585

FOR anyone wishing to get away from the crowds in the Lake District, The Northern Fells, north of the A66 from Penrith to Keswick, is the ideal place to do so.

When Wainwright was carrying out his research for the original book published in 1962 he mentioned that he only saw other walkers on three out of the twenty-four fells he included in the book – Blencathra, Skiddaw and Carrock Fell. Nowadays, you are more likely to see fellow walkers on many more of these Northern Fells but it will still be very low in comparison to the numbers to be on the fells above Ambleside, Langdale, Grasmere, Borrowdale or Wasdale.

In 2008 Chris Jesty first revised Wainwright’s original Book 5, and a decade late on this has received a further update by Clive Hutchby who has produced what is now called the “Walker’s Edition”. Clive produced The Wainwright Companion in 2012 and was then asked by Frances Lincoln publishers in 2014 to set about updating the seven Pictorial Guides that has been revised ten years earlier by Chris Jesty. Clive is a retired newspaper editor and moved to Cumbria to undertake this second revision.

During his work over the last year on the Northern Fells, Clive has checked hundreds of paths including the unofficial “off piste” routes that Wainwright included but which did not feature until now as marked paths on maps.

Changes have been made in every single one of the twenty-four chapters in the book. There are 62 changes to paths on ascents of the 24 fells, eight amendments to maps, six changes to summit diagrams and two changes to ridge routes.

This is in addition to the 183 changes made by Chris Jesty in 2008. The floods of 2015 caused quite a number of these changes. Some routes shown in the Chris Jesty revision are no longer passable due to erosion caused by the tremendous rainfall that year whilst in other area work by Fix the Fells has changed certain routes to again combat erosion. Some bridges were destroyed and Clive has made reference to these in a number of chapters.

Therefore, for anyone heading into this area of Cumbria this year, this most up to date guidebook is the one to take with you. Up to date, factual, and a good read both at home and whilst out on the fells themselves. I would highly recommend this new revised edition.

The book is being launched at Love the Lakes in Keswick on Saturday, April 7 from 10 am to 2 pm and will be available in all good bookshops at the same time.

John Burland