#158: Haystacks – How Wainwright changed our lives

#158: Haystacks – How Wainwright changed our lives

From Countrystride by Countrystride

December 31, 2025 · 1h 6m · Episode 158

About this episode

The episode explores the profound impact of Alfred Wainwright on the lives of various guests during a memorial walk to Innominate Tarn on Haystacks.

...in which we embark on a memorial walk to Innominate Tarn on Haystacks to ask the question: How did fell-walker Alfred Wainwright impact on so many lives? Closing a year of AW anniversaries – including the 70th anniversary of the publication of his first Pictorial Guide – we set out from Honister in the company of a string of guests whose lives have been touched or changed by the Blackburn-born rambler, artist and guidebook writer. Chatting as we wander – through dense clag and worsening rain – we meet walker Richard Jennings, who completed his 214 at 2:14 on the 21st of the fourth, 2014 (definitely not an obsessive!), and who credits AW with his move to the Lakes. We catch up with geographer-legend Chris Jesty – the only person authorised by AW to update his Guides – who chats about camping on Scafell Pike for six months "waiting for clear weather", about the 10-year three-month update odyssey, and why the Howgills and Outlying Fells are his backwater favourites. Arriving at Dubs Hut, we are joined by brothers Mike and Paul Duff from Kendal. who accompanied dad Percy and Betty Wainwright onto Haystacks in March '91 to scatter AW's ashes, and who recall their old family friend…

People in this episode

Host: Dave

Guests: Richard Jennings, Chris Jesty, Paul Duff, Anna Nolan, Clive Barnard, Mike Duff

Topics covered

  • Wainwright
  • walking
  • memorial walk
  • impact on lives
  • Lake District

Keywords

  • Alfred Wainwright
  • fells
  • guides
  • Lake District walking

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Pictorial Guide

Books & works: Pictorial Guide, The Lakeland Way

Places: Blackburn, Lakes, Howgills, Outlying Fells, Kendal, Westmorland, Keswick, Florida, the Lake District, Honister

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