Trash Free Trails Purposeful Adventure: Running the least visited Wainwrights

Trash Free Trails' Purposeful Adventure campaign is all about leaving a positive trace on the wild places we love. In line with Cumbria Tourism's 'attract and disperse' approach to visitor management, I wondered if perhaps one of the most positive things we can do is to spread out a little, whenever we have the means and the time. Often, it's the sheer number of visitors to places which simply can't support the volume that has the most devastating impact.

Tasked by Sidetracked magazine with heading off on my own purposeful adventure, I wanted to explore the idea that perhaps we can simultaneously reduce our environmental impact and find an even bigger adventure, if only we look a little further down the list of must-sees. To test this theory, I found some data on the number of visitors each of the Wainwrights receives each year and used Komoot to plot out a route around 8 of the 10 least visited peaks. Keen to tread as lightly as possible, both ends were accessible by public transport (which also made this a super affordable adventure with the £2 bus fare cap currently in place).

Over the course of two days, I made my way around 40 miles of Lakeland trails, stopping off for a sleepover at YHA Ennerdale en route. From the solitude of those quiet western peaks to the bustle of the Keswick finish line, check out the individual routes to see how the adventure unfolded…

All in all, it was a fantastic couple of days exploring some new-to-me places that I wouldn't have otherwise venture to. I can highly recommend planning your own ‘bottom of the list’ adventure. You never know what hidden gems you might find.