Last updated at 14:35, Thursday, 08 January 2009

It is 18 years since his death, but Alfred Wainwright and his works are more popular than ever.

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Interest in the famous author and the walks he devised through the Lake District have grown massively during the last 12 months – and look set to continue growing during 2009.

Much of this new interest came from the TV series Wainwright’s Walks, presented by Julia Bradbury. It was repeated over Christmas and the final episode, broadcast last Friday, attracted 1.2 million viewers.

Next month sees the reissue, with a new set of photos, of his 1987 book Coast to Coast With Wainwright, in which he describes a journey from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, starting in St Bees near Whitehaven and ending at Robin Hood’s Bay near Whitby. It is to be followed by another TV series in which Julia Bradbury retraces the same route.

Tourism bosses and members of the Wainwright Society are thrilled at the new level of interest in the man, and put it down to last year’s TV series.

And with Wainwright and Bradbury teaming up again on the Coast to Coast route, the area’s economy is almost certainly set for another boost.

Keswick Tourism Association has a website featuring different fell-walking routes, and Linda Furniss of the association said: “We could always tell which walk had been on the programme, because the next day it would have been downloaded a huge number of times.

“I ran a guesthouse during the summer and the number of guests had increased so much.We called it the ‘Julia Bradbury effect’.”

John Burland of the Wainwright Society also reported an increase in membership enquiries since Wainwright’s walks were televised.

“Last Friday, when the last episode was on, we had 37,000 hits on our website. That’s the biggest number we’ve ever had in one day.”

Will that record number of visitors to the website now translate into a record number of visitors to the Lake District, spending their money here and helping jobs and business?

Or could a massive influx of walkers, encouraged by the TV series, actually do more harm than good?

Tourism is going to become ever more important to the Cumbrian economy as recession bites. If British holidaymakers decide to stay at home this year rather than travel overseas, then efforts will be stepped up to lure them to Cumbria.

The Lake District was one of Britain’s first National Parks and to many it is still the most valuable and unspoilt.

It already receives 12 million visitors per year. And if it gets ever more popular with walkers, then some of the paths which Wainwright lovingly drew and described might well be lost under too many feet.

The national park is managed on behalf of the National Parks Authority by the National Trust – and Jane Watson of the trust said they had real worries about the impact extra visitors could have.

The trust and the NPA are running a joint campaign called “Fix the Fells”, aimed at repairing 176 footpaths through the Lake District which have already been badly damaged underfoot.

“Repairing the paths is a full-time job and it could cost £10million over five years,” Mrs Watson said. “It’s a real concern for us.”

Five years ago a coast-to-coast walk was established following the course of Hadrian’s Wall. But it attracted so many walkers that it soon had to be closed for repairs – having become a victim of its own success.

“It buckled under the weight of the people walking on it,” Mrs Watson said. “What we don’t want is for the same to happen to the Lake District.”

She added: “It’s great that people are coming and enjoying the countryside.

“We are an access organisation as well as a conservation organisation, and the last thing we want is to have this lovely landscape that no-one is allowed to visit.

“But there has to be a balance between access and protection.”

Mrs Watson said the trust and NPA had met with the TV company making Coast to Coast with Wainwright, asking them to include a warning to viewers inspired to visit the Lake District not to damage it while they are here.

“We have given them a big message about Fix the Fells, so we hope that they accept our concerns about erosion,” she said.

But Mr Burland said: “It’s not just Wainwright’s guidebooks and the television programmes that have caused erosion.

“People have more leisure time now and at the moment more of them are planning to stay at home.

“Wainwright’s whole philosophy was that we shouldn’t damage the hills, and I think the programme has been quite conservation-minded.

“He wouldn’t have wanted to see them eroded.”

SBlease@cngroup.co.uk

First published at 11:27, Thursday, 08 January 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk