In philately, “gap fillers” are stamps of an inferior quality that you keep in your collection pending the acquisition of a fine version. The stamps may have clipped perforations, they may have a tear, or have a heavy cancellation. They are authentic versions of the stamp, but just not the one you aim to keep long-term.

I have taken the same approach with my collection of summit photos for the Wainwright tops. I always photograph the summit even if conditions are not ideal. Usually this means the top was “clagged in” when I visited and there were no views out. I have plenty of photographs of cairns whose ghostly forms sit, disembodied in a sea of mist. Those photos are my gap fillers. I was there and I did take a photograph, but it’s not a “keeper”.

Since starting on my second round of the Wainwrights, I’ve been prioritising those tops where the original photo was of poor quality with the aim of completing a full set of 214 photographs taken in good conditions and showing the full context of each summit. To date, I’d managed to rephotograph all the poorest images except for Slight Side and Scafell. So that was my objective on this walk. If I could achieve that, all future photos would simply be improved versions of already acceptable images.