The centenary dinner may have been cancelled due to lack of interest, but there’s a more appropriate way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Grumpy Old Fellwalker.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has arranged a six-mile walk to mark Alfred Wainwright’s birth centenary. The ramble will take to the hills above the Lancashire town.

The event will be held on the anniversary itself, 17 January, which is a Wednesday, so you’ll either have to bunk off work or be old enough for it not to matter. The walk starts at Witton Park at 1pm and is scheduled to take about three hours. grough advises a torch, since it’ll be starting to get dark by 4pm. The route uses the Witton Weavers’ Way and will be led by Nick Burton. It is due to go via Billinge Hill and the Yellow Hills.

There’s a warning, however, that the walk may be cancelled at short notice if there’s extreme weather, so be warned. The Wainwright Society website claims details are available on the council’s site, but we’re buggered if we can find it. There is a contact number for walk leader Nick on the Wainwright site if you’re interested.

The evening of the same day will see (or hear?) a special peal of the bells of Blackburn Cathedral to celebrate AW’s birth centenary and on Sunday 21 January, there will be a broadcast on BBC Radio Lancashire of Steve Becker's Wainwright programme, starting at 12.30pm. That’s Radio Lancashire, remember, not Chorley FM. For those of us not blessed with airwaves emanating from Radio Lancashire’s transmitters, it can be heard via the Internet on the Beeb website.