Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i The Great Outdoors

GROWING UP in Morvern, surrounded by mountains and a stone’s throw from the sea, Lisa Robertson had “the best of both worlds”. She recalls the “challenges and the joys of being freezing cold, tired and wet but exhilarated” by character-building experiences outdoors. Even now, “the outdoors is still where [her] imagination thrives best” especially in Autumn and Winter, during which the “ever-changing quality of the light” over the Sound of Mull is magical. When not exploring the woods and snow-covered peaks or “swimming through gold” at sunrise, Lisa, 31, can be found composing and playing music. The influence of traditional Gaelic music – Lisa picked up a violin aged six, sang at local Mòd competitions and went to village hall ceilidhs as a child – is at the core of…

Getting there: It’s quite straight forward to get to the Vercors from the UK by train: Eurostar to Paris, followed by TGV to Grenoblethetrainline.com. From Grenoble, there are several ways to access the Vercors by public transport carsisere.auvergnerhonealpes.fr/en: buses T64 and T65 go to Villard-de-Lans, T67 goes on to Corrençon-en-Vercors; T95 goes to Clelles-Mens (also accessible by train), a 6km walk or taxi ride from Richardière. Self guided tours: Rudolf arranged accommodation and transfers through Grand Angle grandangle.fr/, a reliable local hiking tour operator, very knowledgeable about the area, and offering self-guided tours with accurate GPX tracks. Where to stay? • Camping is not permitted but discreet bivouacking – sensible wild camping between 5pm and 9am – is allowed. Pitch late, leave early and don’t stay in the same place…

Gear News Columbia’s new Arctic Crest range boasts solar-capture insulation As well as 700 fill power RDS-certified down to keep you warm the Arctic Crest Down Jacket has a solar-capture insulation system called Omni-Heat Arctic. With this, solar energy passes through the translucent outer layer and is transferred to a heat-absorbing performance layer. The jacket comes in men’s and women’s versions with and without hoods at prices of £260 and £300 respectively. It has a “body-skimming fit with end-use mobility in mind”. Omni-Heat Arctic also appears in the Arctic Crest Sherpa Full Zip Fleece Jacket (£135). This garment has a fleece-lined hood, chest and hand pockets, and abrasion-resistant overlays. It’s available in men’s and women’s sizes. ◼ RRP: from £135 columbiasportswear.co.uk New waterproof technology launched by Montane Montane has developed…

Insulation With cold temperatures, higher winds, and snow or ice, winter gloves need to be insulated to keep hands warm, and able to function. Looking for Primaloft or wool insulation, meaning it will retain some warmth even when wet. It’s worthwhile looking at how the insulation is distributed around the hand. Often, more insulation can be found across the back, to retain some dexterity in the fingers and across the palm. Waterproofing Given UK winters are often on the wetter side, having some waterproofing is really useful to keep the cold out. Most winter gloves have a waterproof insert, which might use a brand’s own waterproofing, or Gore-Tex. But all gloves will wet out eventually, mostly due to the number of seams – and the big hole where your hand…

As we welcome Autumn’s pastel dawns, crisp days and softly lit sunsets, the collective sights of hillwalkers are also no doubt set on Britain’s forests. The annual changing of the woodland guard from green to gold is a spectacle not to be missed. But our high places, fellsides and glens often present treeless landscapes due to industrial-scale exploitation. So discover new places for Autumn exploration and natural restoration in our Wild Walks section.…

Alex Roddie checks out a classic forest round including a sneaky ‘hidden’ hill ONE OF THE GREAT THINGS about the Cairngorms is the wealth of walks that straddle two worlds: forest and mountain. Of course, the two were never meant to be separate worlds – in their natural state, tree cover would extend far higher into the hills. In a few places you can see that harmonious blending, and Rothiemurchus is perhaps the best surviving example in Scotland of a largely natural treeline, at least to appearances. Rothiemurchus is a vast expanse of woodland incorporating numerous habitats. There’s plenty of commercial forestry here, but also woodland relatively close to its primordial Caledonian state. Dense pine plantations stand shoulder to shoulder with open moorland, stately granny pines and natural regeneration. This…

Maymana Arefin (she/they) is a London-based writer, community organiser and facilitator who founded @fungi.futures, a space to map radical alternative futures guided by her joy and passion for fungi. Through her research on how mycelium networks of fungi may be a metaphor for mutual aid and leading nature immersions, plant and fungi walks, her work focuses on deep rest and restoring communion with non-human kin. In this issue, she guides us through ethical foraging (page 60). Alex Nail is a photographer, Mountain Leader and Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. He shoots for conservation and tourism organisations, and runs backpacking photography workshops. In this issue, he has contributed a photographic essay of his multiyear project in The Great Wilderness of North-West Scotland, which culminated in a coffee-table book of 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. Double figures A proud father recently wrote to us to ask if we here at TGO might be able to make a young fan of the magazine very happy by printing a photo taken on a walk to celebrate her tenth birthday. Supporting a new generation of hillwalkers is a great privilege – keep rambling! My 10-year-old daughter loves hiking with me and is a fan of The Great Outdoors. It was her birthday a few weeks ago and we went for a hilltop ramble up Conwy Mountain (Mynydd y Dref) in…

THE OTHER DAY I came across a ‘frothy’ conversation on social media, about a video of a group who’d climbed to the summit of Ben Nevis for a rave. With their mobile decks, jolly bucket hats and happy faces, they were evidently having a lot of fun. They were the Council of Bens – a bunch of ravers all called Ben – who were there to drop the highest set in the UK. The ‘Bens Up Nevis’ were raising money for two mental health charities, whilst getting down to slick beats. As you might expect from social media, the criticism was swift and harsh. Inflicting their DJing on everyone else was selfish. Narcissistic. Numpties. Morons. Clowns. It shows horrific disregard. A reason to never go there again. Then there were…

What is the TGO Challenge? It’s a question that can be remarkably difficult to answer. Andrew Wilson, one of TGOC24’s participants, describes it as “bafflingly pleasing”, which will strike a chord with many Challengers but doesn’t give much away to the uninitiated. On a basic level is it a non-competitive, self-supported backpacking event in which you have up to 15 days to walk across Scotland from west to east on your own self-planned route through the Highlands, benefiting from Scotland’s unique access code, which allows you to camp in wonderfully remote places. The TGO Challenge isn’t a race. The focus is on savouring your environment, exploring places you can only reach by foot and enjoying rather than enduring the experience. There are no accolades for high or fast routes. If…

◼ A Man In Assynt by Norman MacCaig, from Collected Poems (London, 1993) – MacCaig’s longform meditation on the landscape he loved. ◼ Adequate Steps by Eamonn Wall, in Writing the Irish West: Ecologies and Traditions (Notre Dame, 2011), 1-49 – an essay about the late artist Tim Robinson’s map-making with Irish placenames. ◼ Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache by Keith Basso (Albuquerque, 1996) – Basso’s seminal study of the significance of indigenous placenames. ◼ Reading the Gaelic Landscape: Leughadh Aghaidh na Tìre by John Murray (Dunbeath, 2014) – an excellent introduction to Gaelic placenames for newcomers to the language. ◼ National Library of Scotland Maps – maps.nls.uk – early toponymic sources and records of pre-Clearances settlement. ◼ Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba – ainmean-aite.scot –…

Hello THE GREAT OUTDOORS is the UK’s original mountain magazine. We have been inspiring people to explore high places and equipping them with the knowledge and inspiration they need to do so for almost 45 years. As your companion in the mountains, we’re here to help you make the most of your time in the outdoors. Through compelling writing and beautifully illustrated stories, you will find the joy of adventure, the thrill of mountainous and wild environments, and the wonder of the natural world in these pages – for those occasionally necessary indoor days. As well as stunning photography and top-class writing, our gear reviewers are the country’s most experienced team – by a country mile – and we always ensure all clothing and equipment is independently put through its…

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Páramo Alta Trek Trousers £125 465g (men’s L short) pockets, vents, waist, 3 leg lengths, Fair Trade manufacture, recyclable they’re ‘Limited Edition’, so Páramo might run out Materials: Nikwax Wind Resistor fabric 4-way stretch polyester Features: zipped thigh vents, braces loops, high back yoke Pockets: 2 zipped hand, 2 zipped thigh Hem: adjustable stud fastening Sizes: men: S-XXL, 3 leg lengths; women: XS-XXL, 3 leg lengths paramo-clothing.com The latest trousers from Páramo are made from a four-way stretch polyester fabric with a smooth outer and a textured inner. Although Páramo doesn’t describe them as softshell, they fit into that category. The Wind Resistor fabric has a PFC-free water repellency treatment and will keep out showers, though not heavy or prolonged rain. Wind resistance is good but the trousers…

TESTING CONDITIONS Kirsty has small hands with wider palms and short fingers. The gloves were tested in a wet winter and spring season working as an instructor, and winter climbing and mountaineering in the Scottish Highlands, both on snow and rock. Kirsty often wears liner gloves in winter under her main gloves, and these were tested both with and without. All weights are from Kirsty’s own scales. BEST IN TEST Salewa Ortles Powertex Tirolwool Responsive Gloves £110 140g (pair, women’s size S) low volume, smooth lining that helps with wet hands no connecting clips, palm not reinforced Materials: nylon outer, merino wool and polyamide lining, goat leather palm Insulation: polyester and wool Waterproof: PTX Performance insert Features: wrist elastic, Velcro cuff, carabiner loop, pull on loop Sizes: XS-L Men’s version: yes…

Batteries Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries are now the standard for head torches. Most have proprietary batteries that can be changed for one the same, though some are sealed units. With some, standard batteries can also be used. A few head torches still just run on those, usually AAA size. LEDs LEDs come in different sizes with different light outputs. Large LEDs are very bright but also use battery power more quickly than smaller, weaker LEDs. The first are good for night hiking, the second for map reading, pitching tents, cooking and other camp chores. Red LEDs are good for use without spoiling your night vision. Straps Head straps need to be soft, comfortable, easily adjustable and non-slip. The design should be adequate to support the weight of the head torch. Buttons…

If you want mystery, acres of pines will do the trick, says Craig Weldon IF YOU ARE used to the simplicity of navigating wide open spaces, the vast Culbin Forest is a tricky place. Miles of forest track with subtle bends, side paths and tall pines, all seem designed to beguile you into getting lost. We found fingerposts with their bolts loosened so the signs could point in any direction; the map we held tightly to had a duplicated junction number. The forest, if disorientating, is at least benign: it is the haunt of roe deer, red squirrels, glorious autumn fungi and locals on bicycles offering directions to lost walkers. And no matter how lost you become, you won’t get as lost as the estate of Culbin, engulfed in sand…

Ian Battersby takes in the sights and sounds of a secluded forest open to all THERE ARE HIKERS who vigorously avoid forestry plantation, for these woodlands tend towards a monoculture of sitka spruce fervently crowded together. They shut down the light, the sight and nature’s right to be there, leaving miles of monotonous bulldozed track hemmed in by dark and silent borders; trees without birdsong – like burns without the babble. Thankfully, enlightened thinking is now forging more biodiverse ways into some of our forestry, with a range of tree species at the fore, welcoming more wildlife, but also making these woodlands more resistant to storms. Progressive management may have been at play in Kidland Forest, but its geography also makes it a prime target for an all-day saunter. Elevated…

These underappreciated hills are well worth a visit says Norman Hadley MANY PEOPLE have a blind spot around the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and it’s risibly easy to just blast past it on your way to the Lake District or Yorkshire Dales. Induct yourself into the Lancashire cognoscenti with this tour of the area’s highest height and its next-door neighbour Grit Fell, a worthy contender for England’s Most Northern-Sounding Hill. These are wild moors with huge expanses of heather. You’d be forgiven to be reminded of the Dark Peak, but there are markedly fewer visitors to this part of Lancashire. Also, the gritstone outcrops here have a striking cleanliness, retaining a pale sparkle unlike the carboniferous blacks and algal greens you often find on Pennine…

Roger Butler strides across a trio of tops before dropping into a jumble of forestry SOMETIMES, IT’S HARD to ignore the lure of those higher tops to the north of Beddgelert; but the views from Moel Hebog, which almost rises from the heart of the village, will stick with you for many months to come. The bumpy ridge beyond the summit forms part of the classic Cwm Pennant horseshoe and, if further inspiration is required, this circuit over rough tops and through shady forestry clocks up a total ascent of almost exactly 1000 metres. Moel Hebog translates as ‘The Bare Hill of the Hawk’ and if you like local folklore there’s more to come. Moel yr Ogof – the Hill of the Cave – is said to have gained its…

Ian Battersby mixes managed woodland with a mild taste of the wild THE STACKPOLE ESTATE National Nature Reserve is managed by the National Trust, which has pushed through a forward-thinking agenda in the woods since the storms of 2014, when a thousand mature conifers were toppled. A rich variety of broadleaf species have been established in the wake of the pines, with a welcome surge in biodiversity within Castle Dock and Cheriton Bottom Woods. This walk tours both, before heading for a spring-fed flooded valley with arboreal lily ponds, whose crystal waters are eminent jewels in the estate’s crown and a prime site for otters. Less than a mile away at Stackpole Quay 400 million years’ worth of Welsh sandstone collides with younger limestone. The limestone leads south over headlands…

Check out the New Forest’s autumn foliage and fungi says Fiona Barltrop NO DIEHARD hillwalker is likely to be drawn to the New Forest, whose highest point is a mere 129m/423 feet. But what it lacks in contours it makes up for in other ways, not least the charm of its free-roaming animals. As well as the ubiquitous ponies, donkeys, cattle and pigs are also to be seen grazing the land, the last group in the autumn when they are allowed onto the forest to feed on the fallen acorns, which can be poisonous to ponies and cattle if eaten to excess. Autumn is also the time to visit for the colourful foliage and variety of fungi to be found – with about 2700 species, the New Forest is one…

SCOTTISH WILDCAT ‘THE HIGHLAND TIGER’ VERY FEW PEOPLE will ever encounter a Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris). Thought to be the inspiration for the folkloric creature Cat Sith (a witch or fairy disguised as a large cat to prowl the Highlands) in Scottish mythology, this is not your average moggy. In fact, after centuries of persecution to near-extinction – once common across mainland Britain, numbers steadily declined until, by World War One, it was only found in the north-west of Scotland – now the biggest threat to the Scottish wildcat is hybridisation: cross-breeding with domesticated cats. Fondly known as the ‘Highland tiger’, it is stockier than its kept counterparts, with a larger, flatter head and ears that stick out to the side, all the better for the carnivore to stalk its…

A STRANGE, evocative name for a hill on the margins of the region from which my mother’s family originated in the Cheshire/Staffordshire borderland. Mow Cop is an interesting, rugged little hill, too, with an early Primitive Methodist chapel in the village that sprawls round the hill. There’s a fine 18th-Century folly on its summit – a summit that rises to 1099ft (335m) above the Cheshire Plain and is one of the most widely visible landmarks in the flatlands stretching for miles to the south of Manchester. My first foray into this area, apart from visits by bus or train to relatives in Congleton, took place on a bright spring day in the Easter holidays of 1959. I don’t know how the idea rooted in my febrile adolescent brain, but I…

WHEN I TEACH people how to identify mushrooms and forage, I explain how I spent more than a year learning about mushrooms before I ever actually picked any to consume. For me, foraging is about cultivating a deep respect for nature and fungi. It’s about moving with intention and practising being with the natural world without defaulting to what can be taken. In cultures like the UK and other parts of Europe where humans have long, violent histories of colonisation – both of lands and of their peoples – we too often slip into the habit of seeing the natural world as something for us, or worse, as an infinite resource to extract from. This capitalist framing has contributed to the multiple crises humankind is living through today, including genocides…

TESTING CONDITIONS James tested these gloves in a variety of conditions during winter in the Scottish Highlands. Weather included 40mph+ winds, heavy rain, wet snow, dry snow and clear/frosty days. James usually wears size Medium gloves. Weights were measured on his own scales. BEST IN TEST Black Diamond Glissade £75 172g (pair, size M) very warm and breathable, good value for performance leather palm does not extend over fingertips Materials: outer 100% recycled polyester, goat leather palm Insulation: Thinsulate Waterproof: Pertex Shield and BD.Dry insert Features: drawcord cuff, nose wipe, pairing clip, carabiner loop Sizes: XS-XL Unisex fit blackdiamondequipment.com This is an impressive glove, which I found very well-suited to the rigours of harsh Scottish winter conditions. A size Medium pair weighs 172g – marginally less than other gloves providing…

1 Culbin Forest & Hill 99 Moray 2 Creag Bheag Monadhliath 3 Rothiemurchus & Ord Ban Cairngorms 4 Kidland Forest & Bloodybush Edge Northumberland 9 Stackpole Woods & Stackpole Head Pembrokeshire 5 Borrowdale & Castle Crag Lake District 6 Ward’s Stone & Grit Fell Forest of Bowland 7 Ysgyryd Fach & Ysgyryd Fawr Monmouthshire 8 Moel Hebog Eryri/Snowdonia 10 Fritham New Forest…

Alex Roddie takes an autumnal wander on a very accessible mini mountain I’M A HUGE FAN of the Cairngorms and Monadhliath mountains, and have enjoyed countless adventures there over the years. However, it’s got to be said that most of the mountain routes require hefty walk-ins – and that means a big chunk of your day. If you find yourself in Strathspey and are looking for something a bit shorter but still offering a ton of value for lovers of woodland (as well as a modest summit with excellent views), then Creag Bheag is a must-do choice. It’s short enough to be family-friendly and highly accessible – in fact, the walk begins almost directly from the public car park in Kingussie. Although it lacks the tickability of a Munro or…

Vivienne Crow stays low to take in the Lakes at its autumnal best DEBATE HAS LONG RAGED as to whether or not the Lake District is ‘sheepwrecked’. Whilst it’s hard to deny the paucity of wildlife above a certain altitude on the fells, there are still places in the National Park where biodiversity compares reasonably well with many parts of our heavily exploited isles. Borrowdale is one of those. Here, fragments of the temperate rainforest that once cloaked much of western Europe survive. Oak, birch and yew – species that have grown here for centuries – drip with bryophytes and lichens, while pied flycatchers, owls, peregrine falcons, cuckoos, roe deer and red squirrels all find food and shelter amidst the trees. For a taste of this Atlantic oakwood, probably best…

Phillipa Cherryson visits two wooded siblings above Abergavenny LET THE TRAIN take the strain with a circular walk from the station linking a well-known hill with its lesser-trodden sibling. Ysgyryd Fawr (Skirrid) is synonymous with Abergavenny. It is one of the area’s three peaks, and its spiny ridge is visible to the north-east of the town on most days. Scientists say that the distinctive jagged shape was caused by an ice age landslip. It’s sometimes known as the Holy Mountain, and you will find religious history here too in the foundations of a mediaeval chapel. Ysgyryd Fach (Little Skirrid) is a locals’ secret at just 270m high, and its summit is covered in forestry through which views are glimpsed. This is a great autumn walk when the weather may not…