The best of autumn/winter walking

As temperatures drop, don’t assume that you have to forfeit your passion for exploring the outdoors on foot. Winter offers beautiful walking opportunities, when the landscape is transformed by a riot of colour and weather is often crisp, clear and refreshing.

If you've never experienced winter walking, or you think the seasonal chills aren't worth the benefits of exploring the countryside at this time of year, take a look at this guide to the best of cold weather walking:

Colour

Arguably one of the best things about exploring the countryside at this time of year is the changing colours.  Landscapes that you've seen in the past will be unrecognisable, when the trees lose their leaves and the scenery gets covered with white frost or snow.

Weather

A lot of people assume that once the summer months are over, hiking and walking is
out of bounds. However, when you think about it, winter is a great time to explore the outdoors. When temperatures are fresh and crisp, it’s much easier to push yourself and cover larger distances. What’s more, you won’t have to concern yourself with the threat of sunburn.

It’s a good idea to invest in a lightweight waterproof jacket in case of any sudden downpours, but this can be rolled up and packed into you backpack, should you become too hot (Brantano stock some Mountain Peak items that are pretty reasonable).

On, chillier days, it can be the tendency to wrap up in heavy layers to keep warm. This may be a good idea at first, but as you pick up the pace your body temperature will soar and you’ll quickly start to feel hot and sweaty. A much better idea is to wear a base layer beneath your clothes, which traps an insulating layer of air against your skin. These are usually worn by athletes, but they’re perfect for walking in cool conditions.

Events

Walking is so popular at this time of the year that there are lots of great festivals taking place throughout the country. The Enchanted Forest Festival is a light and sound show based in Faskally Wood, which makes for a magical and interesting evening event. The wood lies just outside the popular tourist town of Pitlochry, which is itself considered a centre for hillwalking in Scotland.

You can find more information about the Enchanted Forest, including dates for the 2014 event, at the official website.

Routes

Some locations in the UK just cry out for walking during the winter/autumn months.  Areas like the Lake District and the New Forest experience the biggest transformations at this time of year and make for wonderful walking.  A top spot is Mortimer Forest in Shropshire, which boasts fantastic routes through the woodland and stunning views of the Malvern Mountains and the Cotswolds.

Wildlife

Autumn is a unique time to spot wildlife, as many animals prepare for hibernation and large flocks of birds leave the country to head for sunnier climes.  If you’re heading to a deer park, this is the time of year when stags develop antlers, which can make for a majestic sight against the backdrop of an autumn landscape.
 If you’re heading to a coastal location, keep an eye out for large flocks of geese arriving from Arctic breeding grounds to spend the winter in the UK.

For more great ideas and outdoor activities to do during autumn, take a look at this guide from Wildlife Watch.

Podcast Edition 018 - Show Notes

listen to ‘Edition 018 - Walking along the Caledonian Canal, 100 years of HF Holidays and Jim Dixon on the Peak District National Park’ on Audioboo

Edition 18 of the Walks Around Britain features the great walking along the Caledonian Canal in Scotland; we talk to Steve Backhouse about the centenary of HF Holidays and the Chief Executive of the Peak District National Park Jim Dixon talks about the Monsal Trail and the challenges for the park in the future.

Presented by Andrew White - @AndrewRWhite

Walking along the Caledonian Canal

In May 2013, the Walks Around Britain team spent a week filming some video Scottish Waterways Trust.  Ahead of all the videos being completed, Andrew discovers more about the history of the canal and the area of the Great Glen from the Scottish Waterways Trust's Heritage Office for the Caledonian Canal, Stephen Wiseman.
walks along the majestic Caledonian Canal in Scotland, in association with the

Here's the first walk completed from the series...

To find out more, visit the Scottish Waterways Trust website.



100 years of HF Holidays

2013 saw the centenary of the walking and activity holiday provider HF Holidays. Andrew chatted to Steve Backhouse (right), the company's Head of Holidays (what a title!) about the history and the future of HF Holidays.

For more details about HF Holidays, visit their website - www.hfholidays.co.uk.



Jim Dixon and the Peak District National Park

Andrew travelled to Buxton to talk to the Chief Executive of the Peak District National Park, Jim Dixon (left), outside the headquarters on the authority.  Jim talks about the history of the park, the successful Monsal Trail and the challenges facing the National Park in the future.

If you'd like to sample some of the Monsal Trail, you can see what it is like on our video walk.  Andrew walked from Hassop Station with local born skier Ellie Koyander.

That's another podcast finished - we do hope you are enjoying them,  Remember you can also find them on iTunes, on AudioBoo, on our YouTube channel and on our website.

Please let us know what you think about our podcasts - what do you like, and what would you like to hear? Leave us a comment below, or send us a voice message on our blog.

Book Review – Lakeland Fellranger : The Far Eastern Fells by Mark Richards

With the gorgeous Upper Kentmere Valley inviting you on the front cover, you know there’s something special about this book.  The 332 pages also tell you this isn't a book done by halves.  Then you spot who it is written by – and you know you’re in for a good read.  And I mean that from the point of view that Mark Richards' text has a poetic flow to it which almost demands to be given more time to.  Many walking guide books only really work when you are using them on the fell – this works as well when you’re sitting at home using it to plan your next journey.  And that’s rare.  To highlight this is the inclusion of a fabric page marker – you don’t get that in a standard walking guide book.  This is a book intended to be read.

This book is the combination of an odyssey which began in 1989 when Mark Richards was still living in his native Oxfordshire.  Inspired by the great Alfred Wainwright to jump into writing, Mark launched himself into being a full-time preparer of walking guides – at the age of 40.  Strange, as in 2014 I turn that age too…  Is there something about that age…?

Anyway, as I mentioned, this book is the last in a series of eight books dedicated to walking the fells of the Lake District – with each of the eight books focusing on a different area.  After 14 years, Mark has walked the 227 fells mentioned in those books many times in all weathers and seasons – the result is a most complete set of walking guides for the Lakeland area, if you are lucky enough to possess all eight.


Now here’s where I have to tackle the inevitable comparisons to Wainwright.  Firstly, is seems wrong to call Mark “Richards” in the same way as we all use “Wainwright” so I’ll use MR and AW.  Ok.  MR has eight books in his series, whereas AW had seven (MR includes the Mid-Western Fells in a separate volume).  AW’s list of fells total the famous number of 214, whereas MR’s total 227 as I’ve mentioned.  It took MR 14 years to complete the eight books and Wainwright took 14 years to write his seven.

There are similarities too.  Like AW, MR – oh that’s enough, Mark – is quite the master at pen and ink drawings, and the products of this talent are liberally used throughout the book – both as pictorial guides to the different routes up fells, and as piece of art in their own right.  In this age of iPads and digital imagery, it’s so pleasing to see good traditional ways of illustrating in a major guide book.

The photos are from the author too – and this gives you a greater sense of trust in the words.  Here, you know that Mark has actually done these walks he is suggesting – a fact you can’t really be sure of if the photos are credited to a stock photographic library.  The photos might not be the atmospheric “I've wild camped for 3 days on this spot to get this moody sunrise” types of shots, but I can tell you I’d be proud to call any of them my own.  Especially Castle Crag on page 142 – which actually does qualify as a moody Lake District shot…

Great attention has been place in the design too.  The aforementioned line drawings and photographs are well spaced out, and indeed there isn't a page which doesn't contain a photo, a line drawing or a map.  And of the maps, there are two notable points.  Firstly, they are the Harvey versions – which provide a welcome change of style to the omni-present Ordnance Survey ones.  Secondly, the maps aren't constrained within boxes here, they are allowed to flow out and live on the page.  So much so, the maps often take over a full page – and on my favourite pages (102-103), the map almost covers the whole double page spread.  (yes I have favourite pages…  The panoramas are also well-made and very useful – laying out on a double page spread what exactly you can see from the summit of each fell.

So onto the routes and the descriptions thereof.  Well, here is Mark’s triumph with this book.  The words really describe in great detail what, where, how you can achieve your goal for reaching the summit of the fells.  To prepare this review, I followed Mark’s descriptions to 3 different fells, and found the detail to be astonishing – with a clever balance between direction and information.  I would never advocate anyone to go out walking in the Lake District without a map – but if my map was taken away from me, I’d want this book instead.  And Mark describes alternative routes to each of the summits – where possible – giving you additional walks in the future by taking the many different variations.

This book completes the eight-volume series.  So, is it possible to suggest the unthinkable?  Could this body of work become the definitive Lake District multi-volume walking guide?  Can the student topple his mentor?  Well, certainly, if a series of this quality and standing had been written about the Peak District say, it would easily be classed as the walking guide for the Peak.  The problem in the Lakes is that AW has got there before anyone else – and that makes it so tricky for anyone else to make their mark (a pun worthy of MR himself there)…

But – and I’m possibly going to lose some friends here – I think Mark’s have the edge.  Sure I enjoy reading AW’s guides and I respect and revere his writing and description – but Mark has the benefit of being around now.  He has the benefit also of the sum total of all the knowledge assembled since AW’s time too.  His guides are easier-to-read but still have an immaculate turn of phrase – which are modern and current.  And phrases will stick in your memory – just like with AW’s books.  It all leads me to prefer Mark’s books to AW’s…

Whether people will be doing the “Richards”, I’m not sure.  Again, perhaps if the series had been about a different area – yes.  But the “Wainwrights” are such a part of British walking culture now, it’s difficult to see that ever changing.  What will change, though, is people will be quoting from Mark’s books in years to come as readily as they do now from AW’s…

You mark my words… (I did it again)

 Lakeland Fellranger : The Far Eastern Fells by Mark Richards

published by Cicerone, priced £14.99

Walks Around Britain rating 9/10

Order it now online from Amazon here 

Podcast Edition 017 - Show Notes

listen to ‘Edition 017 - The Ramblers' Kate Ashbrook, Dave Mycroft & Gareth Jones' Peak District and Chris Townsend on long-distance trails’ on Audioboo

Edition 17 of the Walks Around Britain podcast features Kate Ashbrook - the president of the Ramblers' on their latest campaign; Dave Mycroft and Gareth Jones talk about walks in the Peak District and Chris Townsend ventures further afield on his long-distance walks.

Presented by Andrew White - @AndrewRWhite


Kate Ashbrook and The Rambler's "Go All Out" campaign

The president of The Ramblers' Kate Ashbrook talks to Andrew at the launch in Edale of the groups' latest campaign "Go All Out" - which is designed to start a conversation about what walkers would from The Ramblers' - whether they are members or not.

For can find out more on The Ramblers website here.


Dave Mycroft and Gareth Jones on Peak District walks

Long time friends of Walks Around Britain, Dave Mycroft - the editor of My Outdoors - and Gareth Jones - serious hillwalker - join Andrew to talk about the Peak District.  Which are their favourite bits and where is their favourite walk?

Perhaps one of them will mention Coombs Dale - where the pair walked for a Walks Around Britain video walk with Andrew...

Chris Townsend on long-distance trails

Chris Townsend is possibly the world's most prolific long-distance walker and the author of some 19 books about the outdoors, and he joins Andrew from his home in the Cairngorms.  If you'd like more information about Chris' writing and future long-distance walks, visit his website and follow him on Twitter.


That's another podcast finished - we do hope you are enjoying them,  Remember you can also find them on iTunes, on AudioBoo, on our YouTube channel and on our website.

Please let us know what you think about our podcasts - what do you like, and what would you like to hear? Leave us a comment below, or send us a tweet.