Wainwright Memorial Walk
A 107-mile long-distance path in the Lake District following a route taken by Alfred Wainwright and friends in the late spring of 1931. With map, statistics, and GPX route file.
Statistics and Files
Grid Ref: SD 409 988
Distance: 107 miles (173 km)
Time: 45–60 hours
Duration: 7–10 days
Ordnance Survey Explorer Maps (1:25,000):
OL4 The English Lakes – North Western Area
OL5 The English Lakes – North Eastern Area
OL6 The English Lakes – South Western Area
OL7 The English Lakes – South Eastern Area
Summary
The Wainwright Memorial Walk is the 107-mile route through the Lake District that A. Wainwright—legendary author, artist, and fell-walker—set out to walk with three friends over the Whitsunday holiday of 1931. The route the friends took, recorded in sketch maps at the time, is now a challenging long-distance walking route featuring an arduous 107 miles with over 12,000 metres of climbing along the way.
Along the way, Wainwright promises to lead the walker everywhere worth mentioning in the Lake District, on a route devised to make sure that “every lake, every valley, every mountain, will be seen if not actually visited”. Significantly, the route begins in Bowness-on-Windermere and meanders around the best of the Lake District, including Applethwaite Common, Stony Cove Pike, High Street, Patterdale, Striding Edge, Helvellyn, the Dodds, Threlkeld Common, Sharp Edge, Blencathra, Keswick, Derwent Water, Catbells, Dale Head, Crag Hill, Grasmoor, Buttermere, High Stile, Great Gable, Wasdale Head, Scafell Pike, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags, the Langdale Pikes, Helm Crag, Grasmere, and Rydal Water, before finishing in Ambleside.