Where to base yourself
23 villages and towns across the four British mountain regions, each one listed with what you can reach from it on foot rather than with a photograph and a postcode. 11 of them work without a car.
The station named under each base is the nearest one on the national network and the distance is by road, which is not the same as walking distance. Ambleside's nearest is Windermere, 7.8km away, so the train gets you to a bus rather than to the village. Where the figure is under a kilometre, the platform really is in the town.
The Lake District
6 bases
Ambleside
Windermere's head, and the easiest Lakeland base without a car.
Windermere station, 7.8km by road
Buttermere
Two lakes, one village, and Honister at the top of the pass.
Workington station, 29km by road
Coniston
Slate, copper, and the Old Man rising straight from the village.
Windermere station, 19.4km by road
Eskdale
The one Lakeland valley you can reach by two trains.
Ravenglass station, 11.3km by road
Glenridding
Ullswater's steamer pier, and Helvellyn straight up the valley.
Penrith station, 20.9km by road
Keswick
Derwentwater, Skiddaw, and the busiest bus links in the north.
Penrith station, 27.4km by road
Eryri (Snowdonia)
6 bases
Barmouth
The beach, the viaduct, and a flat path to Cadair Idris.
Barmouth station, in the village
Beddgelert
A quieter route onto Yr Wyddfa, with Moel Hebog at the door.
Porthmadog station, 12.5km by road
Betws-y-Coed
The one Eryri base you can reach without a car.
Betws-y-Coed station, in the village
Conwy
A UNESCO castle and an easy summit, both a walk from the station.
Conwy station, in the village
Dolgellau
Cadair Idris at the door, the Mawddach Trail running from the town.
Morfa Mawddach station, 13km by road
Llanberis
Wales's main gateway onto Yr Wyddfa, on foot or by rail.
Bangor station, 14.5km by road
The Peak District
5 bases
Bakewell
A market town at one end of an old railway.
Castleton
Caves, a castle, and the ridge that closed a road.
Hope station, 3km by road
Edale
The end of the road, and the start of the Pennine Way.
Edale station
Hartington
Duck pond, cheese shop, three limestone dales on the doorstep.
Hathersage
A station, a pool, and Britain's best-known gritstone edge.
Hathersage station
Scotland
6 bases
Aviemore
The Cairngorms' main railhead, walking distance from pine forest.
Aviemore station
Callander
The Trossachs' front door, an hour from Glasgow.
None; the town's own station closed in 1965. Stirling is the nearest mainline station station
Fort William
Below Britain's highest mountain, at the line's end from Glasgow.
Fort William station
Glencoe
The classic Highland glen, with a village at its foot.
None; Fort William, about 16 miles north, is the nearest railway station station
Portree
Skye's only town, and the base for the Trotternish peninsula.
None; Skye has no railway. Kyle of Lochalsh, across the Skye Bridge, is the nearest station station
Ullapool
The North-West Highlands' one town of any size, ferry port for Lewis.
None; Garve, on the A835 towards Inverness, is the nearest railway station station