Random Reviews

I had a bit of a ‘melt the credit card’ session at the weekend. I really don’t do shops very much but the internet does tempt at times. My purchases were, not surprisingly, walking related. Three new OS maps, Yorkshire Dales OL2 and Howgill Fells OL19, both adjacent to my home map, then Nidderdale OS 298, a frequent weekend stop-over.

To match the maps I bought some books. My blog has frequently referred to South Lakeland, which covers: the central fells, around Coniston Water and Windermere, the eastern fells and dales and the limestone fringe. This is one of a set of three books by Aileen and Brian Evans. The southern one has served me well while I have been rediscovering my childhood territory. But now I have pretty much exhausted it, along with the Arnside and Silverdale guide. The longer days are also only just around the corner so it will be feasible to walk further from home without the risk of running out of daylight. So, on the recommendation of book 1, I now possess the other two in the series. The walks are all half a day or a short winter’s day and mainly on low fell. Eight miles is about the maximum length. So they are ideal if time is limited. Some of them cover well know walks but others take the follower to areas I certainly don’t know.

As well as something for shorter days I wanted some ideas for the higher routes and longer days. After my ‘navigation course’ last year and some winter walking experience, I feel much more confident at tackling the peaks. Great Mountain Days  in the Lake District fits this requirement perfectly. The book is packed full of beautiful photographs and useful information. There are colour OS map extracts and 3 D sketches to show the topography of the routes. There are 50 circular routes between 4 and 14 miles in length. The summary at the end of the book not only gives the distance but the height gain and expected time to take. There are three grades: strenuous, energetic and arduous, so I don’t expect a quiet afternoon stroll and look forward to experiencing the difference!

Out of the 50 in the book, I have only walked three. Walks: 38 Helm Crag and Gibson Knott, 44 Dollywaggon Pike, 43, Fairfield and St Sunday Crag. I have done parts of others but not the routes described. So there are 47 boxes all waiting to be ticked. A new challenge for 2012!

Talking of challenges – I have a 10% off OS ‘get a map’,  for the first person to identify which peak I was walking up when I took the photos in this post.