Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2022 i The Great Outdoors

Backpacking the Lochaber Traverse (p30) “THE DAY I take up jogging is the day I see someone smiling when they do it.” I can’t remember who said that, but this insight often pops into my mind, usually as I’m doing something ridiculous like stepping outside, dressed in minimal clothing, with the aim of running around for several miles in the swirling, frigid darkness of a winter storm. Why am I doing this, I wonder, when instead I could be slumping on the sofa making the most of my Netflix subscription in the centrally heated house that I work hard and pay good money to live in? Why choose suffering over comfort? Running, whilst it has its moments, isn’t something that I unambiguously ‘enjoy’ in the same way I enjoy, say,…

AVIEMORE-BASED Becca Rankine describes herself as a digital designer rather than an artist, with a minimalist, black-and-white approach influenced by her love of the Scandinavian style. “So much of my life revolves around the mountains and inspires my designs – they bring enjoyment, challenge, respite and calm to an otherwise busy world,” she says, billing the mountains as crucial to her daily physical and mental health. Becca sells her prints, which feature mountains and trails in the UK and abroad, online. Sales have grown during the pandemic, as people sought to bring the outdoors inside. “This Cuillin Ridge design is one of my favourites. I’ve grown up looking at Sgurr nan Gillean from the island of Raasay, during holidays as a child. My husband even proposed at sunrise atop this…

THE PEAK DISTRICT is known for its shapely gritstone edges, green valleys and big boggy moors. The Kinder plateau, which dominates the southern part of the Dark Peak, offers a taste of all three whilst being far more than the sum of its parts. Kinder has a certain atmosphere. There’s a feeling of space here, of expansive high ground – and it has history too. It was here that, in 1932, the famous mass trespass took place, eventually leading to greater access rights. More recently, blanket bog restoration has improved mountain habitats. This walk is about more than summits – it’s about encircling a unique landscape, taking in every aspect of its character. There’s also a sense of contrast between the quieter paths on the northern side of Kinder and…

SMARTPHONES are generally fairly fragile creatures, needing care, especially when taken into the hills. For years I kept mine in a protective case, handled it carefully, and kept it away from rain, snow, dust and mud. A cracked screen after I dropped my phone on a long walk – not enough to stop it working, but I had to baby it the rest of the route – had me looking at rugged phones designed for construction sites and other outdoor workplaces. I found plenty of big, heavy, chunky, rubberised clumsy-looking phones. They didn’t look very comfortable to carry or use, and the specs were minimal. I didn’t think any could replace my phone for all uses. Then in 2018 Land Rover launched a phone designed for hillwalking and the outdoors.…

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Hi Chaz. Where are you today? I’m at my home in the north-east of Scotland. I brought an old croft, and the idea is to renovate it. It will take a while but in the meantime I’ve built a small cabin and I’m living in that. You might hear some wind howling! I can see Dunnet Head – the most northerly point of mainland Scotland and Britain – from my land. I’ve always had a dream to live off-grid and I’m surrounded by fields, animals and nature. There’s a real sense of history here too. And when the Northern Lights are kicking off I can see them all around. Tell us about your latest journey, up through the Orkney and Shetland islands? I wanted to prove to myself that it…

A NEW TIKTOK TREND has gone viral – and, bizarrely, it involves teenagers wearing expensive Arc’teryx jackets in the shower and showing off how well the water droplets bead. One video by 18-year-old user @laulauchichi has been viewed 3.1 million times with over 500,000 likes, and hundreds of similar clips are equally as popular. To add to the peculiarity, all of these videos are set to a song by London-based hip-hop artist YT called Arc’teryx – a track that features the lyrics “Arc’teryx on me no we don’t rock no Patagonia, Arc’teryx on me I could go hiking in Snowdonia”. What the hell is going on? But, then again, perhaps it’s not surprising TikTok teens are getting involved. Over the past decade the worlds of hiking clothing and high-end fashion…

WE’VE ALL EXPERIENCED ADVENTURES that are as challenging as they’re thrilling. The kind that leave you limping, blister-covered, even mildly terrified, but still somehow seem to feature in your memory as highlights of your walking career. And, after a week or two of intensive recovery time, you unaccountably begin itching for more of the same. There’s a phrase to describe this sort of thing: ‘Type 2 fun’. It’s not fun in the light and breezy sense of the word, but the thrill of it runs far deeper and stronger than mere effortless enjoyment. That’s the kind of experience that you can expect from these 10 tough (yet terrific) trails. They vary in length, ascent, remoteness and terrain, but they have one thing in common: each offers the opportunity to push…

FOR MANY OF US, smartphones are here to stay in the hills – not only for capturing and sharing our experiences but also for helping us find our way. Modern smartphones are reliable, most are waterproof, and with a few simple tricks (such as activating Airplane Mode and carrying a backup power pack) battery life is more than good enough. But the hardware is only as good as the software you run on it, and this remains an area of fierce debate. Digital mapping and navigation apps occupy various positions along a spectrum of use. Many people prefer to navigate with map and compass, and only want an app as a last-resort backup. Some like the convenience of route planning on an app but still prefer a paper map for…

In our readers’ photography series, we invite you to send in your best picturesonaspecifictheme. Nextis‘myfavouriteview’ by 01.03.22. Next month: ‘my favourite view’ Send your pics to tgo.ed@kelsey.co.uk or The Editor, The Great Outdoors, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent ME18 6AL Tag your Instagram shots with #TGO #TheGreatOutdoors and we’ll share them!…

“The summit of 1296m-high Braeriach in the Cairngorms is a wild, special place, where winter lingers long after spring has arrived elsewhere. “The long approach in warm sunshine, stripped back to my t-shirt, felt like a distant memory when I got above the snowline. Here, ice still coated every rock, and immense cornices lingered on the cliff edges. “As a distant group of mountaineers approached the summit, it was hard not to be captivated by how tiny they appeared – dwarfed by the vastness of the sub-arctic Cairngorm plateau.” jamesroddie.com…

Postal address The Editor, The Great Outdoors, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent ME18 6AL. Please include a phone number and postal address. An article that sparked a life-changing transformation Back in January 2019, The Great Outdoors published an online article (Interview: Harrison Ward, the ‘Fell Foodie’, on how the mountains transformed his life) about my struggle to overcome alcoholism. To cut a long story short, I used to be vastly overweight, a smoker and an alcoholic, suffering from poor mental health and suicidal thoughts; but walking up (and cooking in) the mountains of the Lake District helped me conquer my demons. The article by TGO was the very first time I’d been featured in the mainstream media and, as I look back now, it…

WANTING TO IMMERSE himself in nature, and escape the anxiety and pressure of the online world, Alex Roddie set out to walk the Cape Wrath Trail in northwest Scotland in winter. This unofficial trail is tough at any time – there are no signposts or waymarks and sometimes no path at all – so in winter it was a serious undertaking. There’s no fixed route either and Alex chose to start at Ardnamurchan Point, close enough the westernmost point on the British mainland, so he could link the lighthouse there with the one at Cape Wrath, the north-westernmost point. Passing through some of the roughest, wildest terrain in Britain the Cape Wrath Trail is a real test of backpacking and navigation skills, whichever route you decide to take. The Farthest…

Irishman Eoin Keith won the race in 92 HOURS 40 MINUTES AND 30 SECONDS 40% of the participants failed to finish the brutal race 24th April 1965 – the official opening of the Pennine Way, England’s first National Trail FINISHERS CLIMBED ALMOST 40,000 FT ON THE MOUNTAINOUS COURSE The overall course record is still held by Jasmin Paris, with a time of 83 HOURS 12MINUTES 23 SECONDS ARCHIVE “People walk for quiet recreation, to be part of something living and eternal, to lose themselves in something bigger, something that we all came from. Before there were cities there was land, and somewhere in our DNA we have a deep understanding of that.”Mike Harding The Great Outdoors, June 2004 THE View FROM HERE High Stile MOUNTAIN Culture Foundation supports the next generation…

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I CONFESS that I’m intimidated to write about the Cape Wrath Trail for The Great Outdoors. There’s so much baggage attached – my own as well as others’. The 240-mile trail has a fearsome reputation, but before May last year I’d never really considered it 'my' walk. Over a dozen years ago, Kathleen Jamie wrote persuasively and provocatively about the cult of ‘the lone enraptured male’, as a criticism of much outdoor and nature literature. Jamie satirises white middle-class men boldly venturing forth to conquer the wilderness, an endless succession of rugged-and-well-educated individuals taming nature and challenging themselves in the colonies. Jamie’s modern Aryan knights wield pens, not swords, but her critique is equally true of the hyperbole surrounding the Cape Wrath Trail, almost to a fault. Nearly every one…

AS THE PLANE from Helsinki descends to Ivalo, I spy thousands of golden birch trees blazing sun-bright across miles of fell and feel a jolt of pure joy. In a few hours, I have jumped a season. Back in England, September is still summer-warm. But high above the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland it is late autumn, and a promise of the first snows hangs in the air. I take a bus for the last hour of my long journey north, around the shores of vast Lake Inari to the small town of Ivalo. I was last here three years ago. The events of 2020 put paid to an idea to return for a snowshoeing trip; but after an enforced hiatus, I’m excited to slot more pieces of my Lapland…

Finisterre launches its first fully circular, biodegradable jacket The new Biosmock insulated jacket from Finisterre has a shell made from recycled PrimaLoft Bio synthetic yarn and a fill of HDWool wadding. Instead of zips, the smock has poppers made from biodegradable, recycled plastic whilst the stitching is organic cotton throughout. This means the whole jacket can be recycled back into the manufacturing process or returned to the earth to biodegrade. The Biosmock is designed to be practical outerwear and is warm and water-resistant. It costs £250. finisterre.com Timberland’s Retro Hiker boots feature eco-innovation The Retro Hiker boots in Timberland’s Earthkeepers by Raeburn collection have uppers made from leather sourced from farms that use regenerative agriculture practices and ReBOTL fabric containing at least 50% recycled plastic. The latter is also used…