M. J. B. Baddeley (1843–1906)

[Review of 1920s edition] Slightly unfairly pilloried in a recent television tribute to Alfred Wainwright, this was a good guidebook in its day. It is not a walker's guide to the fells, but a general tourist handbook, and offers guidance on low level walks and motor tours as well as climbs. Some of its comments can seem almost Wainwrightian in tone: "Gate Gill Fell (Broad Edge), farther west, is perhaps the most tedious descent in the district". It has a splendid little rant against "the deplorable cutting of timber which is steadily defacing the District" and a delightfully scathing denigration of the glacial scenery of Europe:

"Glaciers, intrinsically beautiful though they be, can hardly be called ornamental as component parts of a landscape, when we take into consideration the dirty pepper-and-salty appearance of their lower parts. The worst feature, however, attendant on them is the inevitable mud-stream to which they give birth."

However, it must be admitted that its section on the fells is entirely superseded by Wainwright, its maps (pretty multicoloured extracts from the Bartholomew series) are suitable only for the casual motorist who has a modern road atlas or OS map to hand, its instructions on motor and railway tours are almost wholly outdated, and even some of its low level walks are probably less practical with the increase of traffic on Lakeland's roads. If you are heading for the Lakes, do take this book to dip into, in the comfort of a guesthouse armchair; but don't go up the fells with it. MB 24-vii-2007… (més)