Maps for Walking The Wainwrights

If you’re working through the Wainwrights, you’ll end up needing more than one kind of map before you’re done — and I mean that literally. There’s the OS map you carry on the hill, the digital tools for planning routes at home, and the kind of overview map you stare at on the wall and get properly absorbed in. Below is what I used across all 214 fells, from first ridge walk to last tick.

Planning routes from the wall

When I was working through the Wainwrights, one of the most useful things I had wasn’t a walking map at all. It was a 3D relief map of the Lake District stuck to the inside wall of my camper van with gaffer tape. My kids called it ‘the bumpy map’. Not sophisticated, but genuinely useful.

The value of an overview map is not navigation — you’d never take one on to the hill. It’s the way it shows you the shape of the whole Lake District in one go: ridgelines, cols, valleys, where one group of fells sits in relation to another. Route planning across multiple tops starts to make a lot more sense when you can actually see the ground.

Linking mountain tops in one hike

Ridge walking makes it possible to cover several Wainwright tops in one continuous walk. Wainwright himself suggested ridge routes in each chapter of his books. The Fairfield Horseshoe is a good example — I did it in summer 2015, including Stone Arthur, nine mountains in a matter of hours.

Linking fells that aren’t on a continuous ridge is trickier. The Pictorial Guides only advise on ascents to neighbouring fells along a ridge — they don’t help you plan a day that jumps between groups. Alfred Wainwright’s Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells is essential company on the hill, but for this kind of planning you need something that shows the bigger picture.

Raven Crag at the top of Thirlmere to Bleaberry Fell is a good example. Looks simple enough until you look at the contours. There’s a significant dip between the two and if you tackle them at the start of a big day, you’ll know about it. I know this because I did exactly that — before I owned a proper overview map. I swore on the way down that I’d get one the following day.

Maps to take on to the mountains

For navigation on the hill, the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer series is the standard. As a Mountain Leader I still use them — the detail is unmatched. Field boundaries, crags, rights of way, boulders big enough to navigate by. Get the Active (waterproof) version; you will at some point need it to be waterproof.

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Some walkers prefer a Harvey’s Superwalker — waterproof as standard and deliberately less cluttered than the OS equivalent. Less detail, fewer distractions on the hill. I understand the appeal; I just prefer to see everything that’s on the ground reflected on the map, so OS is where I always end up.

You’ll need four maps to cover all of the Wainwrights, I recommend the waterproof versions:

Get all four Lake District maps at Ordnance Survey

The OS Maps app

The OS Maps app is the easiest way to plan routes at home and carry your maps in your pocket. A subscription gives you the full 1:25k and 1:50k Explorer mapping across Great Britain, downloadable for offline use so you’re not relying on a signal in the hills. I use it for planning — zoom out to see the broader picture, zoom in to check contours on a particular ridge or look at a path I’ve not walked before.

It’s not a replacement for paper on the hill. Batteries die, screens are hard to read in bright light, and gloves and touchscreens don’t get on well in winter. But for planning at the kitchen table, or a quick check on the way to the car park, it’s excellent. I wrote more about it in this article.

Komoot is also worth knowing about if you’d rather discover routes than build them from scratch yourself. It’s good for finding other people’s recorded walks in the Lake District. I’d always cross-reference with the OS map before following a stranger’s route — not all of them make good decisions.

GPX files and recorded routes

A GPX file is a recorded route you can load directly on to a GPS device or into an app like OS Maps or Komoot. It gives you the line to follow, key waypoints and usually elevation data for the day. Useful as a reference, particularly on complex routes where you’re linking multiple fells and the line through isn’t obvious.

On my Wainwrights route pages I have GPX files available to download for the walks I’ve done and recorded. Load one on to your device before you set off and you have the route ready — a decent backup even if you’re comfortable with map and compass navigation.

Browse my Wainwrights route pages and download GPX files.

GPS devices

A dedicated GPS unit is a useful tool on the fells, particularly in poor visibility. I used one for a couple of years running OS 1:25k maps from an SD card — familiar mapping rather than something proprietary you don’t recognise. It told me where I was, gave me a grid reference and tracked ascent and distance. That covered everything I actually needed.

The GPS market has changed since then. For a dedicated unit, the Garmin eTrex 32x is the solid mid-range choice — runs OS mapping via microSD, reliable battery life, properly robust. If you want a bigger screen and more features, the Garmin GPSMAP 67 is the current top of the range for fell walkers. Both take standard AA batteries, which matters if you’re out for more than a day.

Most walkers now use their phone as a GPS, running the OS Maps app with the relevant area downloaded for offline use. Works well enough in most conditions. The honest limitations: battery life drops fast in cold weather, screens are difficult to read in direct sunlight, and gloves make the whole thing awkward in winter. Fine for summer days. Less reliable when you most need it.

A GPS unit — phone or dedicated — tells you where you are. It won’t tell you what you should be seeing around you, or help you make a decision when things don’t look right on the ground. For that, you need to be able to read a map and use a compass. I’d always recommend learning to navigate properly first. GPS is a useful backup, not a substitute.

In conclusion

You’ll use different maps for different things across 214 fells. An overview map for planning and dreaming, OS Explorer sheets for navigating on the hill, the app for route prep at home, a GPS as a backup when the weather closes in. None of them make the others redundant.

What I’d say firmly: whatever tools you’re using on a clear summer day, make sure they’ll still work for you when the clag comes in and you can’t see ten feet in front of you. Carry a map, carry a compass, and know how to use both. Everything else is a bonus.

Happy adventures.