When we're planning walks these are some of the books we like to read, and some other books we love which have a connection with the Lake District.
Walk Planning
A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells and The Outlying Fells of Lakeland by Alfred Wainwright are of course the seminal books on walking in the Lake District. Many walkers like to "bag" all of Wainwright's fells. Although the original, first edition books are still available we use the modern versions, either in the 2nd edition revised by Chris Jesty or, where available, the Wainwright Walkers edition which have been revised by Clive Hutchby (at the time of writing he still has the The Outlying Fells of Lakeland to complete).
Complete Lakeland Fells by Bill Birkett. This book, first published in 1994, describes 120 walks taking in every one of the 541 hills in the Lake District over 1000 feet.
The Lakeland Peaks by W.A. "Walter" Poucher. Poucher was another of the pioneers in guide book writing from the same era as Wainwright but covering a far wider area with several books on the Lake District, Snowdonia, the Scottish Highlands, the Surrey hills, Ireland, the West Country and even the Dolomites.
All the routes he describes in the books are ones he explored himself and they are illustrated with his own photographs, usually in black and white.
His first book, also about the Lakes, was published in 1940, but this particular book was first published in 1960 so it's quite late for a Poucher. It's been revised since, this is the twelfth edition published in 2005, we still find it a useful source of information as things change very slowly in the Lake District.
Guide Books
The Rough Guide to the Lake District was described by the Cumbria Tourist Board as "your definitive handbook to the area". It's loaded with practical information from family ticket prices and opening times to advice on travelling around the region using the clearest maps of any guide.
Ransome's fictional geography combines real features to fit his stories but you can pick out many of them from the stories. For example the lake appears to a combination of Windermere and Coniston.
WalkLakes recognises that hill walking, or walking in the mountains, is an activity with a danger of personal injury or death.
Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own actions.