My challenge to take 'Selfies' on every Wainwright
I have set myself the challenge of completing all 214 'Wainwrights'. These are a specific set of Lake District fells listed by Alfred Wainwright in his famous and still very popular seven volume "Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'. This isn't unusual, as thousands of people each year set out with the same challenge.
Perhaps a little less common is the decision to take 'Selfies' on top of every Wainwright, although I suspect quite a few people do this also. What is unusual is for me to set this challenge for myself, as having 214 photos of me isn't something high on my list of things to achieve or indeed to look at. It does, however, provide me with lasting memories of each climb, and evidence that I have actually managed to do the challenge.
So I started this challenge last year and so far I am loving it. I am getting to see the Lake District with new eyes as every new fell provides different views of this fantastic part of the world. I am up to around 50 Wainwrights to date, so quite a way to go still. Some of the 'Selfies' to date are included below (don't worry, not many!).
I am carrying a decent amount of photography gear with me each time, so depending on the weather conditions I have a chance to take some nice photos (i.e. without me blotting the landscape), some of which will appear in the Lake District collection on this site. It is also great exercise, and at times great company when friends and family take part.
The other main benefit of the challenge is that I will have to plan visits to parts of the Lake District which are less familiar; either further away from my home or less well known outlying fells. This has already been a brilliant experience getting to see and photograph new places and landscapes. I would thoroughly recommend giving the Wainwright challenge a go.
One last thing for this post. I have been repeatedly reminded by someone much younger than me and more 'in the know' that I am not actually taking 'Selfies'. That is correct, as I am not taking photos of me using a phone on a stick. I am either taking 10 second self timer photos with a camera on a tripod, or one of my friends on the same walk take the photo (thanks to all who have helped). However, 'My challenge to take 10 second self timers or get a friend to photo me on every Wainwright' doesn't sound quite as snappy a title for the blog, so I have stuck to "Selfie'. Apologies to the young out there...
Please let me know if you are interested in how I am progressing on the challenge via the contact page. If there is some interest I will post regular updates.