There are many different ways to choose a new walking route these days, such as walking route websites and apps, plus hill bagging lists and recommendations of friends or people you follow on social media. I make use of all of the above but I do still love a book of walking routes. I enjoy flicking through the pages of a new walking routes book, seeing what photos catch my eye and then considering the range of different walks, maps and grades of routes. Here are my thoughts of about the book, Best Walks in the Lake District: 50 Great Mountain Days.
Details of Best Walks in the Lake District: 50 Great Mountain Days
Routes: 50 great mountain days across the Lake District fells
Distance per walk: 6km to 23km (4 to 14 miles)
Typical duration: 5 to 10 hours
Difficulty: Moderate to challenging – suitable for walkers with hillwalking experience and a good level of fitness
Navigation: 1:40,000 Harvey maps and GPX downloads
Clear step-by-step route descriptions, with hand-drawn fellscape diagrams
Highlights: Classic summits including Scafell Pike, Helvellyn, Blencathra, Great Gable and the Langdale Pikes, plus classic horseshoe routes, such as Fairfield, Mosedale, Newlands and Coledale. Also some lesser known fells.
Base locations: Walks accessible from centres including Ambleside, Keswick, Patterdale, Boot and Wasdale Head.
Practical information: Parking, public transport and refreshments
Best season: Late spring to autumn for the most reliable conditions, while winter walking requires appropriate skills and equipment.
About the author: Mark Richards
A former farmer, Mark’s transition to full-time outdoor writer has been a gradual. In 1973, with the direct encouragement of the (now late) British fell walker, author and illustrator Alfred Wainwright, he wrote his first walking guide to the Cotswold Way. Since then, Mark has indulged his pleasure in exploring rural Britain by creating a range of walking guides.
In 1980, he began his three-part guide to the Peak District for Cicerone Press, and in 1987, with Chris Wright, he wrote a guide to walking around the former county of Westmorland.
This book sowed the seeds of a dream and, 14 years later, Mark and his wife moved to Cumbria. As well as 50 Great Mountain Days in the Lake District, he also completed his Lakeland Fellranger series of eight guides covering the entire region in 2013.
My thoughts: Best Walks in the Lake District: 50 Great Mountain Days
I really like the size and look of the book. It is a great coffee table style book and feels weighty. The photography is excellent and the book is packed with inspiring pictures taken by Greg O’Dwyer, which make me want to find out more about the routes.
Mark Richards clearly knows the Lake District well and has picked a great range of routes. His compilation of walks includes some more iconic and famous routes, as well as some lesser-known fells.
The detail and information included for each walk is fantastic. There are at-a-glance bullet points, such as distance, ascent, time and grade (from 1 to 3 to indicate the level of effort and the hill craft required).
There if further information about the terrain, where to start and finish, getting there, food and drink and toilets.
Mark has given a description and overview of each walk and there are excellent maps created by Harvey, as well as a fellscape diagram of further detail of what to expect when walking the routes.
Route finding is also aided by the addition of GPX downloads, which can be used on mapping apps while you are on the fells.
If you are struggling to chose a route to walk – this is highly likely since there are so many great looking routes – you can consider a section at the start of the book that suggests “best for…” walks, including best for first felling adventures, best for car-free capers, best for sublime summits and best for wonderful wild camps.
The book also includes information that walkers should think about before starting a walk, such as weather, clothing, what to do in an emergency. There is additional detail about maintenance of the fell paths and also an interesting section on how to take photos when walking.
I can’t think if anything negative to say about this guidebook, except perhaps a small point about the spine of these types of books. The spine doesn’t allow the book to fall open and lie flat when you look through the pages but I am presuming that the book would need to be hardback and a more expensive if it was to have an improved spine.
I highly recommend this guidebook to walking in the Lake District. You can buy from Cicerone in various formats, book, e-book and in-app. The price for the book is £19.95, currently reduced to £16.96. It is also avialable on Amazon.