Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2025 i The Great Outdoors

IF YOU TAKE the swift ascent, Mam Tor is a straightforward walk in the High Peak. Ascending via the ramparts of the Neolithic hill fort from Mam Nick, five minutes should suffice for all but the most determined dawdlers and snappers. I used to come this way often when I worked at Birchfield Lodge – the former Wood Street Mission’s outdoor centre in Hope – below Lose Hill at the eastern end of the ridge. A fine walk that should be on everyone’s Peakland itinerary. Come to think of it, it is on everyone’s itinerary. As the state of the paths testify, crowds gather on fine and not-so-fine days. They are more numerous than they were when I walked this ridge almost daily in the 1960s, after Bill Bowker phoned…

7 varied routes in England, Scotland and Wales Some have an aversion to sharing trails with other beings, preferring solitude over fellowship. But it’d take an especially antisocial hillwalker to turn up their noses if they crossed paths with these outdoor inhabitants on their travels. From mountain hares in the Cairngorms to stoats on the Yorkshire coast by way of feral goats on the South West Coast Path, these nature walks will make you grateful for company should you be lucky enough to encounter the animals that call these places home. Our walks this month 1 Ben Macdui Cairngorms 2 Haycock Lake District 4 Bempton Cliffs & Flamborough Head East Yorkshire 3 Great Whernside Yorkshire Dales 5 St Davids Head Pembrokeshire 6 Brockenhurst New Forest 7 Widemouth Bay to Boscastle…

15.1km/9.4 miles/5-5.5 hours Ascent 584m/1914ft Vivienne Crow greets the new season with some noisy companions IT’S SPRING, AND the moorland of northern England is coming back to life with the return of ground-nesting waders and other noisy birds. On this walk above Wharfedale, you’re likely to hear the bubbling trill of the curlew, the lapwing’s ‘pee-wit’ and, if you’re lucky on the higher ground, the plaintive, high-pitched call of golden plover. Skylarks too will be singing their tiny hearts out by now, rising vertically from the ground in a jubilant greeting of the new season; and there’s the ‘chacking’ of the wheatears, back from spending winter in Africa. The walk starts from Kettlewell, making a long, steady ascent of open, mostly grassy slopes to reach the 704m summit of Great…

Michaela Hrdá and Martina Merisi are the first people to complete the traverse of Tajikistan’s Pamir Trail – 1300km of shepherds’ tracks, remote river crossings and high mountain passes (page 52). Both women are seasoned backpackers who spend their free time hiking, surfing and ski touring. They can also be found performing standup, writing… and establishing an NGO. Follow them on @misketravels and @dusenacestach Lee Caple joins The Great Outdoors this month as our new art editor. A freelancer with over 20 years of experience in the print and magazine industry, Lee has worked on a wide range of titles during his design career. He lives on the outskirts of Bath – so when he’s not pondering font choices, playing vinyl or spending time with his kids, he likes to…

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. Climbing ‘The Kents’ Last October Jeff Kent, 73, became the first known person to climb 1000 summits in England measuring 1000 feet, with his ascent of Roseberry Topping in North Yorkshire. The criteria for qualification he set were that the peaks must be natural features between 1000 and 1999.99 feet above mean sea level, having a name or a relative height of fifty feet. Jeff wrote to us about his mammoth journey up these hills, which he has unofficially named ‘The Kents’ after his countryside-loving parents… When I started identifying 1000-foot peaks in 2012, my aim was to climb the 62 in…

by Magnus Lindbom Moments in the Wilderness was released on 25 December 2024, and can be purchased (£13) for viewing online via the following link: magnuslindbom.com/shop/moments/film-moments MOMENTS IN the Wilderness is the debut feature-length film by Swedish landscape photographer Magnus Lindbom. For 20 years, Lindbom has explored northern Sweden, honing his photography and capturing remote mountain landscapes bathed in ethereal, dramatic light. This recently self-shot film documents a year of Lindbom’s journeys, as he hikes, skis and kayaks through the mountains of Sarek and Muddus National Parks and the forests and lakes of Tjeggelvas Nature Reserve. The opening scenes unfurl slowly, featuring backlit fog rising gently from a lake, accompanied by the dawn chorus from deep within dense surrounding forest. The 59-minute documentary maintains this slow pace throughout, reflecting Lindbom’s…

The Great Outdoors is Britain’s original outdoors magazine, inspiring exploration from sea to summit, valley to mountain top for more than four decades. We’re here to help you make the most of your time outside. Be it with skills advice, ideas for new walks or activities, fresh points of view on nature or with breathtaking adventure stories near and far, our focus is on you – the outdoors community. It is a family affair. Our small team works with emerging writers and photographers alongside those with many decades of experience, allowing all to speak in their own voice and share the ups and downs of real, life-enhancing tales from the trail. Making room for everyone remains the heart and soul of Th e Great Outdoors. We are also proud to…

16.3km/10.1 miles/5-8 hours Ascent 2805ft/855m James Roddie follows wonderful wildlife in disguise up to our second highest peak BEN MACDUI IS the UK’s second highest mountain, situated on the remarkable Cairngorm plateau. Its location overlooking the Lairig Ghru and into the corries of Braeriach makes it one of the best viewpoints in Scotland. This is a deservedly popular mountain amongst walkers and backcountry skiers, and it can feel surprisingly busy on weekends and during periods of fine weather. Despite this it is a remote place, and its sprawling mass is home to a variety of wildlife. Mountain hares and ptarmigan – especially pleasing to spot during Winter in their white camouflaged plumage – can be seen here. This is also one of a few locations where hardy little snow buntings…

23.3km/14.5 miles/8 hours Ascent 380m / 1247ft Ian Battersby combines ‘gannet planet’ with some more clandestine characters SPRING AND SUMMER are the focus of the year at Bempton Cliffs, with comical puffins and raucous gannets combining with kittiwake calls. Managed by the RSPB, these unstable, white chalk cliffs are made more accessible with sturdy viewing platforms poised over the brink. Up this close, the birds offer a swooping, smelly cacophony for all the senses. Binoculars will deliver more intimate insights into their nesting behaviours. These crowd-gathering superstars are supplemented with razorbills, guillemots, shags, cormorants and fulmars in graceful flight. Close observation and patience may be further rewarded. Owls hunt the grasslands, competing with stoats that may put on a fleeting show. Transient silhouettes could be dolphins or wandering whales, though…

21.3km/13.3 miles/6 hours Ascent 174m/570ft Stride out along forest trails on this scenic loop via Lyndhurst, suggests Fiona Barltrop SURROUNDED BY BEAUTIFUL woodland, heath and grassland, the attractive village of Brockenhurst, with its free-roaming ponies and donkeys, makes an ideal walking base. Plus, since it’s on the mainline railway from London Waterloo to Weymouth (journeys from the former take just 90 minutes), you can leave the car behind and enjoy a traffic-free trip into the heart of the New Forest. As well as its scenic surroundings, the village has a picturesque ford, known as the Watersplash, and there’s a second, lesser-known ford, as well. There’s much of historic interest too, including St Nicholas’ Church, the oldest church in the New Forest with its ancient yew tree and war graves. In…

ELLI SCHNEIDER grew up in Germany, spending Summers in the mountains. But it wasn’t until adopting her dog Otto, during a difficult lockdown, that she truly discovered the magic of the trail. Otto is a stray who had been shot before being taken in by a shelter to spend his days in a cage. This is all Elli knows of his past, but their shared present on the trail is special: “On the move feels like a ‘natural’ way to live for both of us.” Exploring, eating, sleeping and spending all day together helped form a bond that is preserved, Elli says, by ensuring she hikes her dog’s hike, prioritising Otto’s pace over her own. As Elli started venturing further on longer multi-day walks in order to spend more time…

Gear News Garmin’s new GPS has InReach technology Garmin has announced a new series of hand-held GPS: the Montana 710, 710i and 760i. The latter two have InReach technology and can be used as satellite communicators with two-way text messaging, location tracking and, in an emergency, interactive SOS messaging. The 760i also has a built-in 8Mp camera that automatically geotags photos with coordinates. Built to handle weather and rugged outdoor conditions, the Montana series has an IPX7 rating for water resistance. All three hand-helds feature durable, easy-to-view, glove-friendly 5in colour touchscreen displays. To use the InReach satellite communicator a separate subscription is needed. ■ RRP: from £550 garmin.com/outdoor Innovative trail shoes from Merrell Merrell’s Speed ARC Surge BOA is an athletic fast hiking shoe with a new sole construction that…

19.2km/11.9 miles/6.5 hours Ascent 1007m/3303ft Ian Battersby visits the home of England’s only migratory arctic charr MANAGED CHIEFLY FOR the conservation of nature, Wild Ennerdale became a National Nature Reserve in November 2022. Its new designation helps to maintain the presence of rare wildlife within this lush valley of lively river and yawning lake, whose dense and mixed forest and woods are corralled by soaring peaks. Below the wind-driven ripples lie pearl mussels and arctic charr – a salmon relative established here when the last ice retreated over 10,000 years ago. At the surface the bobbing calls of waterfowl reach the banks, where a diverse understory offers assorted niches exploited by pearl-bordered and marsh fritillary butterflies. Skittish roe deer find refuge amongst resolute trunks, whose boughs deliver a haven for…

24.8km/15.4 miles/8 hours Ascent 650m/2132ft Andrew Galloway gives this delightful Welsh coastal walk the seal of approval ACCORDING TO LEGEND, the novitiate Nonnita was defiled by a prince of Ceredigion by the name of Sanctus. Before long Nonnita found she was with child. When the time of her labours came she took herself away to the clifftops above Porth Coch Mawr where, during a mighty storm, she gave birth. She gathered up the child and fled to Henfeynyw near Aberaeron, where she named him David. A studious child, he grew up to be a great preacher and teacher. He established many monastic settlements throughout Wales, most notably in the Vale of Glyn Rhosyn. After his death David was venerated as a saint: the patron saint of Wales. A cathedral was…

22km/13.7 miles/8 hours Ascent 1240m/4065ft Fiona Barltrop recommends a cracking walk along the spectacular Cornwall coast SOME OF THE very best – and most strenuous – sections of the South West Coast Path are to be found along north Cornwall’s magnificent rugged coastline. And the finest of these is the stretch from Widemouth Bay to Boscastle via Crackington Haven, which takes in the highest point on the coast path in Cornwall. Tucked between the impressive headlands of Pencannow Point to the north and Cambeak to the south, and with a couple of tea rooms and a pub on offer, Crackington Haven makes an ideal midway refreshment stop. It’s a fine walk for wildlife sightings, too: feral goats roam the cliff tops south of Crackington Haven, whilst further south, at the…