Alfred Wainwright MBE, who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells, published between 1955 and 1966 and consisting entirely of reproductions of his manuscript, has become the standard reference work to 214 of the fells of the English Lake District. Among his 40-odd other books is the first guide to the Coast to Coast Walk, a 182-mile (293-kilometre) long-distance footpath devised by Wainwright which remains popular today.
Plaque to Alfred Wainwright in Buttermere parish church
Book One of the Pictorial Guide
Innominate Tarn on Haystacks, Wainwright's favourite fell, where his ashes were scattered.
Plaque in Wainwright's Yard, Kendal
Walking in the United Kingdom
Walking is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in the United Kingdom, and within England and Wales there is a comprehensive network of rights of way that permits access to the countryside. Furthermore, access to much uncultivated and unenclosed land has opened up since the enactment of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. In Scotland the ancient tradition of universal access to land was formally codified under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. In Northern Ireland, however, there are few rights of way, or other access to land.
Ivinghoe Beacon, Buckinghamshire, England (the eastern trailhead) seen looking north from the Ridgeway
Skiddaw mountain, the town of Keswick, Cumbria and Derwent Water seen from Walla Crag, Lake District, England
Claife Station, built at one of Thomas West's "viewing stations", to allow visiting tourists and artists to better appreciate the picturesque Lake District
Commemorative plaque of the Mass trespass of Kinder Scout in 1932, an event that led to great expansion of the public right of access to the British countryside