Your First 50 Fells: A Beginner's Guide to Hill Bagging in the UK

There is something deeply satisfying about standing on a summit you have never visited before, catching your breath, and looking out across a landscape that feels entirely yours for a moment. That feeling is at the heart of hill bagging, and once you get a taste of it, you will want more.

If you have heard terms like Wainwrights, Munros, or Hewitts thrown around and wondered what they mean, or if you have been walking in the hills casually and want to give your adventures a bit more structure, this guide is for you. We will walk through what hill bagging actually involves, how to get started, and how Trailwise can help you track every summit along the way.

What is hill bagging?

Hill bagging (sometimes called peak bagging or fell collecting) is the practice of systematically walking to the summits on a recognised list. In the UK, the most well-known lists include the 214 Wainwright fells of the Lake District, the 282 Munros in Scotland (mountains over 3,000 feet), and the Hewitts, which cover hills above 2,000 feet across England, Wales, and Ireland.

The beauty of it is that there are no rules about how fast or slow you go. Some people complete a list over decades, fitting in a few walks each year around family and work. Others set themselves a target season and go all in. Either way, the list gives you a reason to explore new valleys, ridges, and routes you might never have considered otherwise.

Why it hooks people

Apps like AllTrails and Strava have done brilliant things for outdoor activity. AllTrails helps people discover trails, and Strava lets you record and share your efforts with a community. But neither of them was built specifically for the UK hill bagging tradition. They will track your hike, sure, but they will not tell you which Wainwrights you have left, or automatically tick off a Hewitt when your GPS trace passes over the summit.

That is the gap that draws people in. Once you start keeping a tally, you notice how the numbers creep up. Ten fells become twenty. Twenty becomes thirty-five after a long weekend in the Dales. Before you know it, you are planning trips specifically to fill gaps on the map rather than revisiting the same familiar routes. It turns every walk into a small achievement, and every region of the country into an invitation.

Getting started: picking your first list

If you are based in the north of England, the Wainwrights are the natural starting point. Alfred Wainwright's original seven guidebooks to the Lake District fells remain some of the finest walking literature ever written, and the 214 summits they cover range from gentle half-day outings like Loughrigg Fell to serious mountain days on Helvellyn or Great Gable.

In Scotland, the Munros are the big prize, though many walkers start with the Corbetts or Grahams, which tend to be quieter and just as rewarding. In Wales, the Hewitts offer a mix of grassy ridges and rocky scrambles across Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons. The point is not to pick the "best" list. Pick the one that matches where you live and how far you want to drive on a Saturday morning.

How Trailwise fits into your routine

We built Trailwise specifically for people who love this kind of walking. Here is how it works in practice.

If you already use Strava to record your hikes, Trailwise syncs with your account and automatically detects which fells you have summited. No manual logging, no spreadsheets, no checking grid references against a paper map. Your completions just appear. If you prefer not to use Strava, you can log fells manually within the Trailwise app instead.

Beyond fell tracking, Trailwise helps you plan your next trips with route planning tools, manage your gear with a built-in kit list (complete with weight tracking so you know exactly how heavy your pack is before you set off), and earn awards as you hit milestones. Completed your first 10 Wainwrights? There is an award for that. Logged a wild camp above 600 metres? That too.

There is also a social side. You can share your trip reports and gear lists with other Trailwise users, which is genuinely useful when you are trying to decide whether a particular tent is worth the weight or which approach to a remote summit works best in winter conditions.

Practical tips for your first 50

Start local and start small. Your first few walks should be about building confidence with navigation and understanding how your body handles sustained uphill effort. A 500-metre summit in good weather is a perfectly respectable day out.

Invest in decent footwear before anything else. You do not need the most expensive boots on the shelf, but you do need something with ankle support and a sole that grips on wet rock. Waterproof layers are non-negotiable in the UK, even in summer. The weather changes fast in the hills, and being caught in a downpour on an exposed ridge with only a cotton t-shirt is miserable and potentially dangerous.

Learn to read a map and use a compass. GPS is fantastic, but batteries die, screens crack, and signal drops out in valleys. A 1:25,000 OS map and a basic understanding of bearings will always get you home.

Finally, do not compare your pace to anyone else. Hill bagging is personal. Whether you reach your fiftieth fell in six months or six years, the view from the top is the same.

Ready to start ticking off summits?

Trailwise is free to get started. Download the app, connect your Strava account if you have one, and you will see your existing completions populate straight away. From there, use the trip planning tools to pick your next walk, build a gear list so nothing gets left behind, and watch your progress grow.

For the full experience, including advanced route planning, detailed gear weight tracking, and all available awards, the premium tier is just 99p a month.