Lakeland Fellranger Walking the Southern Fells

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Reviews

The purpose of this guide is to show the fullest complement of walking routes on each fell. The pressure of boots down the years has taken its toll and ‘official’ advice on your choice of routes has always been strict, limiting route information to the modern variations of traditional paths and thus concentrating walkers on limited routes. In contrast, the Lakeland Fellranger series provides a solid reference to the fullest range of reliable contemporary options, a valuable by-product being to spread the load more widely over the path network.

For ease of reference the 23 fell chapters are arranged in alphabetical order. Each chapter begins with a customised HARVEY map that illustrates the routes of ascent described in the guide, and shows ridge connections to neighbouring fells to assist in the planning of extended walks. The corresponding text describes routes up the fell from given valley starting points, identified on the map by a number (shown in a blue box). The starting points are listed in the ‘Starting Points’ table on page 16, and are also given in blue (in brackets) after the ascent route headings in the walks. In many instances there is also a diagram that shows the routes from a given perspective to assist visualisation.

The primary routes are described to the summit, with optional variations described to their natural point of connection with the more common route. Where a route follows a defined path this is shown in red dashes, and where the recommended route follows an intermittent path (or there is no path on the ground at all) this is shown in green dashes. Where a route follows a road it is not picked out by dashed lines.

There are many more paths on the fells than are shown on a conventional HARVEY map, and for clarity this guide only shows the paths/routes that are specifically described in a particular chapter. When undertaking these walks, you are advised to take a map and compass with you (and know how to use them). The map can enhance your day by showing additional landscape features and setting your walk in its wider context, as well as being useful for your own safety. This is a guide not a hard and fast rulebook. The aim is to nurture free spirit and adventure.

As a good guide should also be a revelation, a full panorama is provided for each fell summit or better nearby viewpoint. This names the principal fells and picks out key features in their midst, including some more distant features beyond the national park to intrigue. Being aware of the safest lines of descent is important, and these are also carefully described. No two walkers follow exactly the same route, neither do they explore in the same way, so this guide is necessarily a very personal expression of the potential route structure for this area of fells. Nonetheless it is fundamentally reliable, and for fellwalkers who love to explore, it will provide a rich source of entertaining route-planning ideas.