A fell is a hill or mountain, from the Old Norse fjall — another word the Vikings left in northern England. Fell walking is the tradition of walking them, and it is a distinct British pursuit with its own vocabulary, literature and etiquette.
The vocabulary
Northern English hill country runs on Norse and Cumbrian words, and reading a map without them is hard work:
- Fell — hill or mountain. Pike — a peak. Crag — a rock face.
- Tarn — a small mountain lake. Beck — a stream. Force — a waterfall.
- Gill or ghyll — a narrow ravine with a stream in it.
- Hause — a pass between two fells. Scree — loose stone on a slope.
- Dale — a valley. Cairn — a pile of stones marking a route or summit.
Wainwright
Alfred Wainwright was a Blackburn-born borough treasurer who between 1952 and 1966 wrote seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells covering 214 fells.
What makes them extraordinary is that he did the entire thing by hand. Every map, every panorama, every ascent diagram and every word of text was drawn and hand-lettered in ink, one page a night after work. There is no typeset text in them at all, and they are still published exactly as he made them.
Completing all 214 — “bagging the Wainwrights” — is a lifetime project for thousands of British walkers, with a register kept by the Wainwright Society. It sits alongside Scotland’s Munros in the national habit of converting landscape into a list to be completed.
Where it is done
- The Lake District — the heartland, and the highest ground in England.
- The Yorkshire Dales — including the Three Peaks.
- The Peak District — gritstone edges and peat moor.
- The North Pennines, the Cheviots and the Howgills — quieter, and the Howgills in particular are wonderful and almost empty.
What it actually involves
Fell walking is not mountaineering — no ropes, no technical climbing — but it is not a stroll either. The hazards are weather, navigation and ground conditions rather than altitude.
The essentials:
- Waterproofs, top and bottom. It will rain.
- Boots with ankle support, because the ground is rough, wet and loose.
- Map and compass, and the ability to use them in cloud. Phones fail, and batteries die in cold.
- Extra layers, food and a head torch, even for a short day.
- The Mountain Weather Information Service forecast, not the general one.
The etiquette
Say hello to people you pass — this is near-universal on British fells and its absence is noticed. Close gates. Keep dogs on leads near sheep, particularly in spring. Stick to paths where erosion is being repaired. And do not build unnecessary cairns, which confuse navigation in poor visibility and are a genuine hazard.
Afterwards
The walk finishes in a pub with a fire, wet boots by the door, and a pint. This is not optional and is widely regarded as the point of the whole exercise.