category_outlined / Travel & Outdoor
Country Walking
May 2019Country Walking Magazine shows you the best of British walks: the biggest views, the hidden gems, the sea cliffs and the mountain summits. All our features come complete with superb writing, inspiring photography and step-by-step instructions so you can follow every footpath yourself. In every issue, you’ll find: - In-depth stories of amazing walks - A booklet of 25 pull-out walks every issue - with OS maps! - Information about hotels, pubs, cafes, tearooms. - Clear, jargon-free tests of walking kit And... every issue our readers tell their walking stories, help us devise new walks and shape the places we go to. If you love walking, this is the magazine for you.
IN THIS ISSUE
welcome
One of the small pleasures of my month is pictured above. This lane is part of a 3½mile loop I walk most lunchtimes. I feel great for the walk, always, but at times in the past I’ve felt dismayed by the litter I see. So not long ago, I started picking up a bit here and there, and depositing it in a bin about a mile further on.It takes about 30 seconds’ work each time, and I’ve been surprised how good it makes me feel. It’s replaced my feeling of helpless dismay (which wasn’t doing anyone any good) with a small feeling of satisfaction. And as time has gone by, the litter that used to blight this lane has been slower and slower to return, until the other day…
find a great walk near you!
SOUTH WEST Burton Bradstock, DorsetStep out along Dorset’s dramatic coast before turning inland for hilltop views, a rewilded quarry and a country pub. TURN TO WALK 3 EAST Wold Newton, LincolnshireRelish a leisurely loop in the Lincolnshire Wolds, with views across the county’s rolling interior and out to the North Sea. TURN TO WALK 14 WALES Cwm Ysgethin, GwyneddRise through a blissful wooded valley to emerge on a wild, mystical and once lawless Snowdonian mountainside. TURN TO WALK 22 SOUTH EAST Woodingdean, East SussexWalk up and into the South Downs on Brighton’s doorstep, through dry valley bottoms and across airy chalk hilltops. TURN TO WALK 5 NORTH WEST Scafell Pike, CumbriaScramble your way up England’s highest mountain by the spectacular and hands-on Corridor Route from…
the a to z of the lakes
Despite the name, it’s common for walkers to think of the Lake District in terms of the pointy bits in between the lakes, rather than the lakes themselves.Cumbria Tourism wants to change that with a quick-read guide to all 16 major bodies of water in the national park and what they have to offer. (We say ‘bodies of water’ because as plenty of people are already shouting at this page, there is technically only one lake in the Lake District: Bassenthwaite Lake. Everything else is a tarn, a water or a mere.)Each entry clicks or taps through to a dedicated page on the tourism website golakes.com, with information about how to get there, things to do (including walks), events and accommodation.Find the list at bit.ly/azlakesHere are three crackers to…
where the salt path led
THE SALT PATH IS the story of a middle-aged couple – Raynor and Moth – whose happy life in the Welsh hills is sent into sudden reverse by disastrous misfortune. They lose their house and all their money. The day after, Moth is diagnosed with a rare, terminal mental illness. It’s a dizzying crash through a false floor in fate’s rock bottom, that puts you alongside the couple as they cower in an under-stairs cupboard while bailiffs storm their home; inside their tent as the tide threatens to engulf it; and on the trail, hungry, labouring under the weight of the question, what will become of us now?If you haven’t read it, you must. If you have, you must be wondering how Moth and Raynor are now. Which is…
you asked, raynor answered
Have you eaten noodles since? Barbara GreenNot once. Nor will I.Who would you like to to play you in a movie of the book? Sam CourtneyFunnily enough, it has just been optioned for a film! Olivia Colman, because she’d get the irony and humour, but now she has an Oscar I don’t think she will be interested! Moth would have to be played by my all-time film heart-throb, Greg Wise. Will you write any more books? Take my money! Amanda WrightI’ve just started something, and it should be out next year. It moves on from the path and takes the concept of walking forward. There are some walks in it but not any considerable walk – it’s more about moving on with life after the wilds, but still about…
this month
Hiding in plain sight Did you spot the secret location we’ve been slowly revealing for 22 issues?Sharp-eyed readers may notice that there’s a sliver of a photo that appears on the spine of Country Walking every issue. We reached the end of the picture last issue, so it’s time to reveal it in all its glory.It’s features editor Jenny Walters on the path up Stac Pollaidh in the Assynt region of the North West Highlands. The chunky mountain in the background, across Loch an Doire Dhuibh, is 2785ft Cùl Mòr, the highest peak in Inverpollaidh.This of course means we’ve started a new photo on the spine of this issue. There’s a small prize for the first person to identify the location, whenever that may happen. Send your guesses…
