Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i The Great Outdoors

IT BEGAN with mud pies in the back garden and biking the lanes around her Cornish home. As a young girl Beca Trebilcock was encouraged to explore outdoors and, in adulthood, the 33-year-old teacher loves nothing more than lacing up her muddy bootlaces to bag a Dartmoor tor (she’s on 76 out of 160) with a view to be savoured over a delicious vegan meal cooked outdoors, or spending summers solo backpacking long-distance trails including the South West Coast Path, Coast to Coast and West Highland Way. But Beca hasn’t always believed herself to be ‘outdoorsy’. Aged 14, “an insecure teenager with poor skin” who relied on makeup to give her enough confidence to leave the house, Beca attended her school’s DofE sign-up day. She asked if there would be…

FERAL GOAT ADAPTED WELL to the UK’s high places, feral goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) can be spied on their own seemingly gravity-defying scrambles in Eryri/Snowdonia, parts of the Highlands and the Cheviots. These hardy creatures can withstand mountainous conditions thanks to their shaggy coats and agility. Identifiable by their large horns, seeing a male (billy) goat peek from behind rocks is a bucket list delight for many hillwalkers, despite their odd-looking rectangular pupils. You might also see other members of the small family groups in which feral goats typically live. Whilst strong cultural connections have developed to these impressively agile herds, they are classified as a non-native species, according to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Neolithic farmers introduced the first domesticated goats around 5000 years ago, breeding them for…

“Wenlock Edge was umberedAnd bright was Abdon Burf,And warm between them slumberedThe smooth green miles of turf.” AE Housman, A Shropshire Lad HOW CAN YOU not love a hill when you get a day off school to make your first acquaintance with it? “But The Wrekin…?” you say. “Looking down on Wellington and Telford and Coalbrookdale…?” The last point explains how one glorious end-of-summer-term day of my early teens I first came to be climbing aboard a Fingland’s coach that was to take the whole of the third form from my Manchester school into Shropshire hill country for a geography field trip to Ironbridge and The Wrekin. I remember every detail of that day: Abraham Darby’s iron bridge with the red flood of the Severn rushing through the gorge beneath;…

Gear News Jack Wolfskin launches premium trekking collection Tailored for backpackers and trekkers, Jack Wolfskin has released a new performance-orientated collection in an exclusive collaboration with Swiss company Schoeller. The textile specialist has provided a premium recycled fabric selection to Jack Wolfskin’s 100 % recycled or reused PES waterproof breathable membrane. The garments promise maximimum comfort, durability and extended longevity. ■ £60-390 jack-wolfskin.co.uk NEMO introduces the world’s first fully recyclable sleeping bag Hitting the market is the Forte sleeping bag – the first product in NEMO’s ‘Endless Promise’ philosophy, which will keep products out of landfill. This mono-polymer sleeping bag can be recycled at the end of its life. In the meantime, the Classic Spoon shape offers side-sleeping comfort whilst updated Thermo Gills – a multi-stage zip system – gives…

PUTTING THE STOVE on is something of a ritual for me. It can turn an ordinary walk into a picnic, and it’s a massive morale boost at the end of a long, possibly damp day out in the elements if I’m backpacking. At least half the appeal of sleeping out in the mountains is being in nature and enjoying a cuppa or more whilst watching the light, weather and wildlife come and go. At camp, ‘fast and light’ can wait – we should make a meal of our time outdoors! This is a broad test, relatively speaking. I’m concentrating on gas canister stoves, but that includes stoves for summer and winter use, base (static) camping and one multifuel unit that could be used when gas canisters cannot be found locally,…

10 varied routes in Scotland, England and Wales Scrambling serves hill-walkers with a head for heights a slice of spice in the mountains. We’ve devoted this issue’s Wild Walk selection to 10 of the UK’s greatest scrambling routes, up ghylls and along knife-edge ridges, ranging upwards from Grade 1 starter scrambles. It’s important to note that all grades given are for three-season conditions only; in full winter conditions, many of these routes graduate from hillwalking and into mountaineering, and need matching equipment and expertise. Our walks this month 1 Ben Nevis via the CMD Arête West Highlands 3 The Saddle via Forcan Ridge Kintail Highlands 2 Liathach Torridon 4 Blencathra via Sharp Edge Lake District 5 Pillar via the Shamrock Traverse Lake District 6 Crinkle Crags via Crinkle Gill Lake District 7 Yewbarrow Lake District…

GRADE 2 17km/10.5 miles/7-8 hours Ascent 1500m/4900ft Emily Woodhouse takes on a fantastic scramble as part of a big day out THE FORCAN RIDGE is a fantastic Grade 2 scramble in Glen Shiel, with small buttresses, a knife-edge ridge and a famously long awkward step. Plus, it takes in The Saddle, a 1011m Munro. Whilst you’re at it, it would be rude not to walk the whole horseshoe. This route was known affectionately by my university hillwalking group as ‘Straddling The Saddle’. This is a big day out and it’s best enjoyed in good weather – the sort of endless summer day that Scotland can occasionally provide. The main appeal of this ridge is really the views, so save it for a day when you’re not clinging to damp rock in…

GRADE 1 10.3km/6.4 miles/4 hours or more if splashing about in the ghyll! Ascent 790m/2590ft Norman Hadley offers this warm-weather route up Crinkle Crags THIS ADVENTUROUS ravine will make you feel like a Victorian explorer discovering the source of a jungle river, or a salmon fighting upstream on the ceaseless quest (but with significantly less risk from poison darts or grizzly bears). Like many other great religions and philosophies, the key teaching in ghyll-scrambling is acceptance: your day truly begins when you commit to the first knee-deep wade. Technically, you could walk parallel to the ghyll and stay dry; but you’d be missing out a whole heap of immersive fun. In hot weather, the cooling presence of water to three-quarters height makes attaining the ridge a lot more enjoyable. Difficulties are…

GRADE 1 6.7km/4.2 miles/5-6 hours 8 Ascent 869m/2851ft Classic scrambles don’t come much better this, says Alex Roddie THERE ARE MANY scrambling opportunities in North Wales, and especially around the Ogwen Valley, but nothing has the cachet of Tryfan. This blade of rock, with a summit at 917m (3009ft), rises in a sheer stepped ridge from the valley, and it’s this prominent north ridge that offers one of the finest easy scrambling experiences in Britain. At Grade 1, it’s exposed enough to be exciting, but easy enough to be within the capabilities of most fit and experienced hillwalkers. The logical continuation over Bristly Ridge to Glyder Fach (994m/3261ft) and down to Cwm Bochlwyd via Y Gribin also involves plenty of easy Grade 1 scrambling for some hands-on-rock excitement. It’s a…

GRADE 1 (EASY) 17km/10.5 miles/6 hours Ascent 522m/1713ft Try this low-stakes family-friendly fun, says Francesca Donovan THE PEAK DISTRICT isn’t well-known for scrambling. The gritstone edges are favoured instead by boulderers and climbers, and scrambling the cloughs up to Kinder can be tricky in wet weather. But there’s another spot where you can cut your teeth: Alport Castles. Here sits The Tower, the geologically impressive consequence of a huge landslide, the causes of which are still debated. Here, you can spend some time with hands on rock. The scrambling is very easy Grade 1 (a Grade 0.5, if you like) if you stick to the obvious east route up The Tower. Or pick your own route, tackling it straight on for a vertical ascent from Little Moor. Keep an eye…

Francesca Donovan has been feeling grateful for the influx of gloves she’s been gear testing for this scrambling special issue of The Great Outdoors, especially as the head-high snow drifts came thick and fast through her Peak District home. She’s also had the pleasure of interviewing inspirational women in the outdoors including wild camper Beca Trebilcock of ‘Muddy Bootlaces’ and Keri Wallace, who recently broke the winter female Tranter’s Round record. John Fleetwood has lived in the Lake District for over 25 years and, over that time, has developed an intimate knowledge of the area. A keen runner, photographer, backpacker and mountaineer, he has a particular penchant for dreaming up long hill challenges, especially in the Scottish Highlands. He has climbed and walked in South America, China, Iceland, Norway and the…

Share your views, your experiences and your favourite photos tgo.ed@kelsey.co.uk 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. Connemara is on the map(s) I always enjoy Jim Perrin’s articles, so I was pleased to read his Mountain Portrait on The Twelve Bens [The Great Outdoors, April 2023], with which I am familiar. It was good to see Joss Lynam mentioned. He signed my Mountain Leadership Certificate in 1972! At the end of his article Jim discusses maps for the area and concludes “Otherwise, make do with Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) Discovery 37, which is more or less adequate.” We have moved on considerably in the last 30 years! Harvey produces…

REWILDING is about restoring the ecosystems on which life depends; it’s about having a healthier environment, greater biodiversity and wilder landscapes. This benefits everybody, not just those of us who love nature and wild places. Study after study has shown just how important the natural world is to people’s wellbeing and health. Yet at the same time nature is being destroyed at an ever faster rate. Rewilding is an essential and major part of slowing and reversing this. Rewilding has become a controversial term though. The mass media likes to sensationalise it by saying it’s just about the reintroduction of wolves and closing off the countryside. This is encouraged by landowners and developers whose profits require a managed, industrialised countryside. Every suggestion of reintroducing any once-native animals such as lynx…

5.30AM. Sunrise was still over an hour away, and there was no sign of it yet in the car park at Pen-y-Pass. I was here to meet photographer Ben Cannon, my scrambling pal for the day, but there was a small problem: I had no idea what he looked like. And trying to find a stranger in a pitch black yet surprisingly busy car park was proving to be a tad difficult. I spent a few minutes hovering by the parking meter, peering expectantly through the darkness at anyone vaguely male-looking and getting some pretty odd looks in return. Finally, a shadowy figure stepped forward uncertainly. “Hanna?” “Ben!” “Good to meet you.” “You too. Get any sleep?” “Nah.” “Me neither.” “Ah well. Let’s go catch that sunrise.” A ROUTE LESS…

IN THE SUNSHINE, the hot grass smelled like new-mown hay. A couple of butterflies flitted around the bottom ends of my walking poles. I stopped at the low pass and looked down on an extremely odd landscape. Mountain ground ought to be cliffy, and vertical, and pointy all along the top. But this was almost flat. A bowl of wrinkled grey limestone, like porridge left to go cold. A little path that vanished as it wandered over the bare rock. And somewhere down over the edge of it all, a distant grey-green valley. A fortnight later, a strange sense of déja vu. The same wrinkly limestone landscape hemmed in by little hills. The same small yellow flowers; the same blue valley far away below. But this time I wasn’t in…

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GRADE 1 16.2km/10 miles/10 hours Ascent 1500m/4900ft Emily Woodhouse leads us through a Grade 1 ridge scramble IT IS A TRUTH universally acknowledged that a hillwalker, who has climbed Ben Nevis at least twice, must be in want of a scramble. As impressive as it is to stand on top of the highest point in the UK, there are only so many times you can walk the Pony Track. The Carn Mor Dearg Arête – the CMD to its friends – is a sweeping arc of a ridge that swoops up to the east side of Ben Nevis. It’s a slightly quieter side of The Ben – although the north face car park will be full of climbers by 8:30am most of the year round. But you’ll get a much more…

GRADE 1 7.7km/4.8 miles/4.5 hours Ascent 750m/2460ft Ian Battersby waits for good weather to tackle Blencathra BLENCATHRA is an awe-inspiring peak, much-loved amongst many – not least because it is home to not one but two of Lakeland’s most sought-after Grade 1 scrambles. This popularity brings additional problems for the scrambler. Firstly, you may not be alone – and therefore if having the pressure of more confident scramblers behind you is not to your liking an early start is recommended. Secondly, the rock has been polished smooth by the passage of countless boots (and bums) in the narrowest and therefore most hazardous areas. This affects both scrambles, but Sharp Edge in particular is best avoided in the wet. Rough weather also presents a danger on these exposed ridges, and Blencathra is…

GRADE 1 6.4km/4 miles/3-4 hours Ascent 601m/1972ft Francesca Donovan finds a simple slice of starter spice YEWBARROW is your best bet for a taste of starter spice above Wast Water. Sandwiched between adrenaline-pumping Pillar to the north and lofty Lord’s Rake to the east, this fell offers easier navigation and docile rambling to bookend your short but sweet time on rock. Yet Dropping Crag and the optional Bell Rig jaunt offer good Grade 1 scrambling before you plod along the plateau of Yewbarrow, so called for its resemblance to an upturned boat hull, saying hello to Herdwicks who found their own route up. After the nursery slopes, the excitement begins at Great Door. Put the poles away and push yourself up. If this ascent is plenty, the route gives an…

GRADE 1 13.6km/8.5 miles/7 hours Ascent 983m/3225ft Andrew Galloway hires a taxi to facilitate a roller coaster route FOR MANY YEARS Mynydd Graig Goch languished in obscurity at the far western end of one of the finest ridge walks in Parc Eryri. Popular guidebooks recommended an about-turn on Garnedd-goch, the ‘final’ summit of the Nantlle Ridge, to avoid the dilemma of having to arrange return transport. This all changed in 2008 when a group of enthusiast hillwalkers carried out a detailed GPS survey of the hill. The official height was recorded as 609.75 metres, thus confirming the craggy eminence not merely as a mountain, but the most westerly mountain in Wales. Having successfully negotiated the roller coaster challenge of the Nantlle Ridge, it was a pleasure to sit amongst the frost-shattered…

WHAT A TIME to get back into the long walk. I’ve been treated to all kinds of weather in the space of a few weeks, like Mother Nature is saying welcome back to the outdoors – look at all the weather I can do: I can do snowstorms, howling wind and glorious sunshine all in the space of a few hours. Aren’t I clever? Despite the cold, it feels good to be back outside. Before I left my little supermarket job and cosy flat, my wall was covered in Post-It note reminders, constantly fluttering down. One of them said: ‘Learn how to make Post-It notes stay on the wall’. Now, the to-do list in my head is refreshingly small: Walk, get water, find a camp spot. Nothing will bring you…

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For personalised prints see jeremyashcroftmaps.etsy.com WEST HIGHLAND WAY: AT A GLANCE DISTANCE: 154km / 96 miles ASCENT: 3500m approx / 11,500ft approx START: Milngavie FINISH: Fort William DURATION: usually 5-8 days From the isle-dotted expanse of Loch Lomond to the towering peaks of Glen Coe, this iconic walk from Milngavie (near Glasgow) to Fort William is a wonderful introduction to the grandeur of the Scottish Highlands. More than 100,000 people walk the trail each year, but apparently only 36,000 reach the finish line; the others fall victim to blisters, midges, brutal Scottish weather and energy-sapping terrain. In other words, the West Highland Way is not for the faint-hearted. But those who persevere are rewarded with superlative walking. Conic Hill serves up eye-watering panoramas across Loch Lomond, the hamlets of Crianlarich…

Scottish Wild Country Backpacking by Peter Edwards, David Lintern and Stefan Durkacz Published by Cicerone, £25, paperback THIS GUIDE to backpacking routes in the Highlands and Islands is an excellent introduction to the possibilities for overnight and multi-day walks in this glorious landscape. I’ve done most of the routes, either as described or as part of other walks, and this is a good selection. At the same time it is only a selection. There are dozens more routes that could be added. Those familiar with the area can enjoy thinking of favourites that have been omitted. If you’ve not backpacked in the Highlands before, poring over the book deciding which walk to start with would be very enjoyable; meanwhile those with a little experience will find many mouth-watering ideas for…

GRADE 2 11.3km/7 miles/8 hours Ascent 1370m/4500ft Find thrills amidst giants and airy ledges 1km up, says Craig Weldon YOU MAY have ‘ooh’ed and ‘aah’ed as you travelled up the north-west of Scotland for the first time, the long ridges of Affric and Kintail impressive enough. But then the road rounds Loch Torridon from Shieldaig, and you can’t help but stop the car to get out and gawp. Torridon possesses star quality. And in this landscape of individual giants, Liathach stands out as the most exciting and intimidating of them all. Its massive wall above Glen Torridon shows few weaknesses, and the traverse between its two Munros over the Am Fasarinen pinnacles is famed – and feared – in hillwalking circles. But closer inspection reveals a route to thrill rather than…

GRADE 1 13.9km/8.6 miles/6 hours Ascent 1395m/4577ft James Forrest picks the finest way to experience Pillar Rock ALFRED WAINWRIGHT described this adrenaline-inducing scramble up Pillar from Buttermere as a “glorious walk…for strong walkers only”. A trio of passes – twice up Scarth Gap and once up Black Sail Pass – are to blame for the exertion, but the reward is worth the graft. You’ll get up close and personal with Pillar Rock – a seemingly impenetrable tower of rock that juts out of Pillar’s north face like a dark, craggy cathedral. Pillar Rock summit is the preserve of rock climbers, but this route enables hillwalkers to get close to the action. From its start, west of Looking Stead, the High Level Route is a rough trod over rugged terrain via Robinson’s…