Tubular Fells map

© Peter Burgess

A unique new map of the Wainwrights is due out later this month. The Tubular Fells Lake District map is modelled on the iconic London Underground map, a classic of 1930s schematic design.

Tubular Fells  © Peter Burgess
Tubular Fells
© Peter Burgess

Tubular Fells arranges the Lakeland summits in the groups used by Wainwright in his famous pictorial guides, each fell shown as a station on a colour-coded line; the Northern Fells stand in for the Northern Line, the Central Fells for the Central Line and so on. Dotted lines weave across the map to mark the routes of long distance paths like the Coast to Coast, instead of representing overland railways.

East End geography teacher and founder of the Online Fellwalking Club Peter Burgess dreamed up the idea for his quirky new map while travelling to work on the tube.

'As I am a geographer by trade and a keen fellwalker with an appreciation of the work of both Harry Beck (the tube map designer) and Alfred Wainwright, the idea seemed a good one' he explains. 'I've drawn lots of maps down the years, and this one took a few hundred hours to develop.'

'I started walking from an early age' recalls Burgess, originally from Lancashire. 'As I grew older I took up fellrunning. I love being out on the fells whatever the weather and enjoy nothing better than scrambling. You just can't beat being out on the tops after a month or two down in the city of London. But I'm not a peakbagger per se and I have yet to complete all the Wainwright summits.'

'There are bigger mountains and wider open spaces, but having visited mountain massifs around the world I have to say that the Lake District is the most gorgeous place on earth. I might be biased, but the unique geology over such a small area, linked with the lakes and its relative close proximity really makes it the ideal hillwalking venue.

The new A2-size map will be available later this month from the National Trust shop in Grasmere, priced £8.99; one pound from every sale will go to Cumbrian path repair project Fix the Fells,

'Depending on the success of the map I am eager to increase the donation if appropriate' says Burgess. 'It's a way of giving something back after all the years of my footfalls causing erosion as a runner, a fellwalker and a scrambler. One person's walking might not cause erosion, but when multiplied by many thousands the damage just has to be kept in check.'


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