Members of the Wainwright Society on Helm Crag

An outdoors charity is £2,000 better off thanks to aficionados of the late author Alfred Wainwright, after they recreated one of his early ventures into the Lake District.

Members of the Wainwright Society retraced the route of the curmudgeonly guidebook writer’s 1931 Whitsuntide tour of Lakeland for their annual charity challenge.

The 164km (102-mile) effort culminated in a gathering on Saturday on Helm Crag, the precipitous top of which the author baulked at climbing.

Representatives of the Lake District Calvert Trust joined Wainwright Society walkers for the descent into Grasmere, where they handed over the £2,000 cheque to the charity, which helps people with disabilities enjoy the great outdoors.

Derek Cockell, press and publicity officer for the society, explained: “It was 80 years ago that Wainwright and three of his pals from the treasurer’s office in Blackburn set out on a six-day marathon, described by Wainwright as ‘arduous, but the reward will be well worth the work’.

“For the past three weeks, members of the Wainwright Society have been re-walking the 102-mile route visiting every summit and landmark on Wainwright’s itinerary as part of their annual charity challenge.”

Wainwright Society members hand over £2,000 from their annual charity challenge to representatives of the Lake District Calvert Trust

The 1931 trip came to light due to a copy of his hand-drawn itinerary and map emerging after his death in 1991, having been kept for 60 years by the only surviving member of the party Eric Maudsley.

The Lake District Calvert Trust residential activity centre is at Little Crosthwaite, near Keswick.  The trust’s ethos is to challenging disability through outdoor adventure and it offers a varied programme of activities climbing and abseiling, water-based activities, horse riding and hill walking.