Glenridding car park
NY 386 169
Main Helvellyn east-side gateway. Pay-and-display NPA car park. Bus stop. Café + shops. Steamer pier nearby.
Wainwrights served: Helvellyn · Catstye Cam · Sheffield Pike · Birkhouse Moor · Glenridding Dodd
35 conventional start points — car parks, villages and inns — serving all 214 Wainwright fells from Alfred Wainwright's Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells (1955–66). Organised by Wainwright's own 7-book regional scheme so it matches the books on your shelf.
Ask for Police → "Mountain Rescue". The 999 call activates the local MR team via pager.
What3Words or OS Locate (free apps, work offline). Both pinpoint to ~3 m.
How many people, injury type, kit you have, time you've been there.
If one person stays with the casualty, a spare person can walk down to a start point / village to summon help — but call 999 first.
Full Mountain Rescue info → mrt.html. Shelter / hostels → yha.html.
Main Helvellyn east-side gateway. Pay-and-display NPA car park. Bus stop. Café + shops. Steamer pier nearby.
Village-centre parking + pub-attached. YHA Patterdale + MRT nearby. Bus stop on A592.
Small layby parking south of Rydal village. Walk via Rydal Mount + Coffin Route.
Multiple village car parks. YHA + cafés. 555 bus from Windermere/Keswick stops here.
Small car park at the base of the classic Helvellyn south ridge. Steepest direct ascent of Helvellyn.
Small village above Ullswater. Roadside parking limited. Base for Aira Force walks too.
Pay-and-display NPA car park. Multiple Wainwright clusters from one start. Toilets.
Small layby just south of Brothers Water. Walk into the Hartsop/Dovedale valleys.
Top of Kirkstone Pass on A592. Pub car park (be a customer). Highest pub in the Lakes.
Road-end car park at the southern tip of Haweswater. Remote — no signal · no facilities. Drowned village of Mardale lies under the reservoir here.
Village south of Kirkstone Pass. Roadside parking + small car park. YHA Windermere nearby.
Small village in a quiet valley. Limited parking. Base for the Kentmere Round.
End-of-road parking in quiet Longsleddale valley. Wainwright country's quietest corner.
Hamlet on the road into Longsleddale. Roadside parking. Less-walked southern entry.
Classic Langdale base. Pub-attached car park (be a customer or pay). The "ODG" is the historic heart of Langdale climbing + mountain rescue.
Town-centre or Waterhead car parks. YHA Ambleside. Roman fort Galava. Lake Cruise gateway.
Most famous start in the Lakes. Pub-attached parking (be a customer). NT pay-and-display nearby. NO mobile signal. YHA Wasdale Hall + Mountain Rescue forward post nearby.
Roadside parking limited — arrive early. Wettest inhabited place in England (3,500 mm/year). Holds the UK 24-hour rainfall record.
Boot village. Pub + NT car park. Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway terminus. YHA Eskdale.
Top of Wrynose Pass. Roadside parking. Historic boundary stone of three pre-1974 counties.
Village then track 1¼ miles up to YHA Coppermines. Historic mining valley. Pay-and-display options in village + Walna Scar.
End of rough road south of Coniston. 4×4 helpful — small cars OK if dry. South-west approach to Old Man.
Historic village (Wordsworth's school). Multiple car parks. YHA Hawkshead + Hill Top (Potter) nearby.
Town with multiple car parks. YHA + MRT. Pencil museum + Lake Cruise hub. Bus connections to Borrowdale + Buttermere.
NT car park on A591 by Mirehouse. Café + osprey viewing platform in season.
Village east of Keswick. Roadside + small car parks. Pub-attached. Bus stop on A66 lay-by.
Small hamlet on the eastern flank of the Northern Fells. Roadside parking — be respectful.
Pier + small car park on Derwentwater west shore. Reachable by Keswick Launch — boat in, walk out is the classic.
Hamlet in the Newlands Valley. Limited roadside parking. Quiet starting point.
Village at foot of Whinlatter Pass. Pubs + small car park. Bus stop.
Forestry England visitor centre at top of Whinlatter Pass. Pay-and-display. Café + Go Ape + red squirrel reserve.
Tiny village with 2 pubs + NT car park. King George VI Memorial YHA. Bus 77/77A "Honister Rambler".
Top of Honister Pass · 1,167 ft · YHA Honister + Honister Slate Mine + Via Ferrata Xtreme. NO mobile signal. Pay-and-display.
Layby + small farm car park at foot of Honister, head of Buttermere. Cockermouth MRT's secondary base.
Forestry England car park at head of Ennerdale. Start for Black Sail (6-mile walk in). No road past this point.
Lancastrian council accountant who moved to Kendal in 1941. Wrote and illustrated the seven Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells over 13 years (1955–66), producing every page in his own hand. The books are still in print and the fells he selected are still the canonical list.
Wainwright chose 214 specific summits across the Lake District. Some appear in multiple books (boundary fells). "Doing the Wainwrights" — bagging all 214 — is a multi-year goal for many walkers. Roughly 700 people complete the round each year per Long-Distance Walkers Association estimates.
Start points curated from Wainwright's own books, modern walking guides (Walkhighlands, Striding Edge), and OS data. Each entry shows the most commonly-used start for the listed fells — others exist for every fell.
The Lakes' upland paths are eroded by ~18 million visitors a year. Three charities maintain them, protect the landscape, and run conservation work: Fix the Fells (path repair), Friends of the Lake District (campaigning), Lake District Foundation (project funding). All deserve support.