Five ways into the Lake District, depending on why you’re going
There are 26 guides on this site and no obvious order to them. Here are five ways in, depending on what you are actually here for.
Never walked a Lakeland fell
Start here if the whole thing feels like a lot.
If you're new to hiking, or this is your first time in what can be a challenging environment, it's important to choose straightforward fells for your first time in the Lake District. Most first fells go fine, and the ones that do not usually go wrong on the way down rather than the way up. Pick something short that still has a real summit, go on a clear day, and carry more layers than the forecast suggests. These are the parts nobody tells you before you set off.
- Starting out what nobody tells you before your first fell
- Easy walks low-level and family-friendly
- Finding your way map, compass, and what a phone cannot do
- The descent is the dangerous half the bit people underestimate
- First aid on the fells the field guide
- Calling for help with no signal satellite SOS, honestly assessed
Working through the 214
For anyone keeping a list.
You know there are 214 Wainwrights, and once you have a handful you will start counting. The Birkett list overlaps the others more than most people expect, so one walk often credits three of them at once. We have also worked out what the shortest possible round looks like, if you ever want to know.
- The 214 Wainwrights every one, with a tick-list
- How the lists overlap Wainwright, Birkett, Synge and the rest
- Cross-list credit calculator one walk, several lists
- The perfect Wainwright round all 214, solved by computer
- The most-searched Wainwrights where everyone else is going
- The path beneath your boots who built the ground you walk on
You go out when it is rough
The Lakes are not a fair-weather hobby.
The Lakes are wet, and only going out in good weather means not going out much. The real question is rarely whether it will rain - it is whether you could still navigate off the top if the cloud came down. These pages help you decide honestly, and pick a hill that still works when the tops are gone.
- Go, go lower, or no-go deciding honestly
- Navigating in cloud the clag index, per fell
- Today's conditions scored for every fell
- Good in poor weather fells that still work
- Save for a bad day when the tops are out
You are there for the photograph or Instagram
Light first, summit second.
Light first, summit second - the wow-factor always. The sun does not arrive when it rises: on most fells you are waiting a good while longer, and how much longer depends on what is in the way to the east. We compute that for every summit, along with what you can actually see once you are up there.
- Sunrise from the summits when the sun actually clears the skyline
- The View Report what you can see from where
- How we compute the view the method, and its limits
- Viewpoints the ones worth the walk
Dog, buggy, kids, dodgy knees, or no car
Getting there and getting round.
Whether a walk works often turns on things most guides skip - how many stiles, whether the gates take a buggy, how punishing the descent is on bad knees, and whether a bus goes anywhere near. We have surveyed the barriers on every route and mapped where you may legally walk.
- Terrain and access ground underfoot, per fell
- Where you may actually walk the access mapping
- Dog-friendly walks stiles, gates and livestock
- Pushchair walks genuinely pushable
- Fells you can climb by bus no car needed
Last updated 31 July 2026.