IT IS 60 years since legendary fellwalker, writer and artist Alfred Wainwright published the first of seven volumes that made up his Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

To mark the milestone anniversary, his iconic books are being revised and updated by Clive Hutchby, of Ambleside, author of The Wainwright Companion, published in 2012.

This first one covers 35 fells in the eastern Lake District - an area north of Ambleside, between Ullswater and Thirlmere - and includes one of the national park's highest peaks, Helvellyn.

For the new Walkers' Editions of the guides, Wainwright's meticulous maps, diagrams and route descriptions have all been checked and corrected. But this is not the first time Wainright has been updated. Clive Hutchby is also following in the footsteps of Chris Jesty, who updated the great AW's books to mark their golden anniversary.

Clive says in his introduction: "The full extent of Chris Jesty's updates might surprise many people but to revise books that were half a century old was really a monumental task.

"A lot had happened in the previous fifty years, and almost as much has followed in the ten years since."

Perhaps the changes will continue and another successor, who is perhaps yet to be born, will take up the challenge of updating Wainwright when the centenary of his guides comes around in 2055.

ALLAN TUNNINGLEY