Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2026 i The Great Outdoors

Hello 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 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 The Great Outdoors. We are also proud to host…

10.4km/6.5 miles/4-6 hours Ascent 772m/2533ft James Roddie guides you into Quiraing on a lesser-trodden path QUIRAING IS UNIQUE: a bizarre collection of rocky pinnacles, escarpments and other formations formed by prehistoric landslides. It is a popular destination for visitors – and understandably so, since it is a singularly impressive place. The most common walking route starts from a large car park on the Staffin to Uig road. This is usually extremely busy, and a recent increase in visitor numbers has resulted in increasing path erosion problems. The route described here instead starts from the small village of Flodigarry, and passes lesserknown parts of Quiraing such as Fingal’s Pinnacles and Fingal’s Tomb. It continues on to visit The Needle (a spectacular rock pinnacle), before taking the high route around the cliff…

IN THIS ISSUE Zoe Tehrani has been hiking across Britain for nearly 10 years. She set out on foot as a way to help with her mental health, and this developed into a passion for the outdoors. Based in London, Zoe uses her spare time getting out of the city for solo day walks and writing walking guides to help others. Her first guidebook, published in collaboration with AllTrails, showcases train-themed walks across southern Britain. She joins the Wild Walks team this month, exploring Durdle Door on page 111. Rosee Woodland developed a taste for adventure at a young age, thanks to plenty of family camping and bikepacking holidays. She discovered a love of wild water 15 years ago, and has since swum the Dart 10k three times, qualified as a swim…

IF YOU’RE AN OLDER HIKER or someone with limited mobility, the rise of AI exoskeletons may well already be on your radar. While they are not yet a common sight on the mountain, exoskeletons aimed at adventurers are now available to buy in Europe, and have been trialled on a wider scale in China. I’ve been curious about exoskeletons from the get-go, despite my wider concerns about AI. I love to be outdoors in nature, but most hiking is a challenge for me. Thanks to early-onset arthritis in my knees, probably brought on by my years as a child gymnast, my mobility is just not what it should be. At the age of 30 I had the first of several surgeries designed to stave off the need for a joint…

I’VE HAD MY Lowe Alpine Mountain Attack ND 35:45 since spring 2014, and since then it’s been my main rucksack for work and play in the mountains, in all seasons and weathers. It’s still nearly always my first pick for carrying my equipment on the hill. I’m a Mountain Leader (Summer and Winter), and I need a pack that’s big enough to carry my personal gear, spare kit for my group, emergency equipment such as a rope, and in winter, crampons, ice axe and mountaineering helmet. It’s unusual to find a women’s walking and climbing rucksack that will comfortably carry up to 45 litres of gear. It’s all usable capacity, with a main compartment that is wide enough to pack easily without creating dead space. It just seems to swallow…

15.3km/9.5 miles/8 hours Ascent 1719m/5640ft James Forrest climbs a most eyecatching, tripletopped Corbett THE ARROCHAR ALPS lack the lofty glaciers and permanent snows of their European namesakes, but earn the title with their steep slopes, jagged skylines and dramatic silhouettes. Rising above Loch Long, this compact cluster of Trossachs peaks offers exciting terrain. Ambitious hikers set their sights on a single epic – linking the four Munros (Ben Vorlich, Ben Vane, Beinn Narnain and Beinn Ime) in a punishing day. But for most, a more rewarding outing is a loop combining Beinn Narnain and Beinn Ime with the undisputed star of the show – The Cobbler. Not a Munro but a Corbett, The Cobbler (Ben Arthur) is one of Scotland’s true rock stars. Its striking, otherworldly summit bristles with improbable…

10.7km/6.7 miles/2.5 hours Ascent 255m/837ft Norman Hadley takes his time in ‘zoom through’ Lakeland territory WHEN WE THINK OF Lake District rock, we probably picture the shattered volcanics of Bow Fell and Crinkle Crags, or maybe the smooth ancient slate of Skiddaw. Certainly, limestone isn’t what immediately comes to mind. Yet there’s a sizable chunk of it in the south-eastern quadrant of the National Park, including a sawtooth of escarpments facing west: Cunswick Scar, Scout Scar and Whitbarrow Scar. In terms of visitor numbers, this is ‘zoom through’ country, with the higher, spikier volcanic peaks of Langdale and Coniston clustering on the western horizon. But there is much to explore and love in this quiet corner. For one, limestone produces its own special flora, to which humans have added our…

11.5 km/7 miles/4 hours Ascent 350m/1140ft Andrew Galloway walks a rocky ridge through time in Staffordshire WEATHERED OVER thousands of years by wind and rain, the tall column of millstone grit known as Hanging Stone overlooks Swythamley Hall in the valley of the River Dane. Originally a Tudor manor, the hall became the seat of the Brocklehurst family in the early 19th century until the death of Sir Philip Lee Brocklehurst in 1975. Sir Philip’s father, Philip Lancaster Brocklehurst, was a keen hunter, and he would often stride about the Swythamley deer park with a shotgun over his arm and his faithful mastiff named Burke by his side. When in 1874 the dog died, he was buried beneath Hanging Stone, upon which Sir Philip erected a plaque in his honour,…

DATE FOR THE DIARY: TGOC and TGOC East entries close on February 28 South Downs Dark Skies Festival 12-22 February Next year the South Downs celebrate ten years as an International Dark Sky Reserve. And while reducing light pollution and protecting our dark skies might not seem the most pressing issue, there is increasing evidence that supporting darkness and encouraging responsible lighting has an impact on nature and biodiversity, decarbonisation and climate action, human health and wellbeing. So, this festival will focus on awe and wonder, and the simple steps we can each take to support the darkness. This might include closing our curtains at night, doing an inventory of our outside lighting, or planting a moon or night garden to support night-time pollinators and bats. There will be lots…

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. In memory of Sam One reader curated a new take on the National 3 Peaks Challenge to honour his late brother-in-law. Here’s his report on an emotional epic… When my brother-in-law, Sam Bridgstock, passed away in September 2025 after a five-year battle with cancer, I felt helpless. He left behind my sister Anna, and their five children, and I wanted to do something that would honour his strength and raise funds for Kirkwood Hospice, who had cared for him with such compassion. That’s how the National 3 Peaks Scrambling Challenge was born – a twist on the classic 24-hour challenge. Instead of taking…

TGO CO-EDITOR DAVID LINTERN tells me he arrived on top of Mont Canigou (2784m) at the end of his traverse of the Haute Route Pyrenees – a notional line that runs from Hendaye to Banyul-sur-Mer along the length of the ridge and is one of Europe’s finest adventures – and promptly burst into tears behind his sunglasses. I can relate to that. When Boris Johnson’s blinkered inanity bullied Britain out of Europe, I had to leave my Ariègeois home of 15 years in Senesse de Senabugue and return crestfallen and dejected to a country the drift of which towards the political right I’d come to view with alarm and even dislike. I could have moved to Scotland, of course, a country for which I have a long affection, but on…

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7 varied routes in England, Scotland and Wales Whether you’re a petrology pro or not – and I’d argue the more you know about the rocks underneath your feet, the more wonder you’ll uncover – it’s hard to avoid geology on any ramble through the British landscape. But there are some walks on which these thousand-millennia-old formations demand to take centre stage. From the sandstone and chalk that record 185 million years of Earth’s history on the Jurassic Coast to the ancient Lewisian gneiss foundations and dramatic volcanic peaks on Skye, our experts map routes to their favourite rock stars. 1 Quiraing Isle of Skye 2 The Cobbler Loch Lomond and the Trossachs 3 Whernside & Twisleton Scars Yorkshire Dales 4 Whitbarrow Scar Lake District 5 Conistone Pie & Conistone Dib Yorkshire…

16.4km/10.2 miles/6 hours Ascent 580m/1902ft Ian Battersby uncovers some of the Dales’ most prized limestone LIMESTONE SURELY CREATES one of the most hiking-friendly landscapes. The soluble rock is scattered with cracks worn through time by rain and grinding, prising ice. These flaws sanction the swift escape of fresh drizzle and deluge, handing down well-drained grassland where we can wander at will. In places the rock breaks the surface, bringing crags and pavements of dazzling rock, and mysterious entrances to caves. The glaciokarst landscape of Twisleton Scars delivers all of this and is well worth hours of exploration alone. Set above the valley of the Doe, which trundles between two of the region’s famous Three Peaks, the scars look out to Ingleborough from the southern slopes of Whernside. Ingleborough’s profile shines…

16.3km/10.1 miles/4.5 hours Ascent 483m/1584ft Vivienne Crow negotiates the wonders of limestone country CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE gives rise to weird and wonderful landscape features: the clints and grikes of limestone pavement, valleys and gorges minus their rivers, streams that suddenly vanish, caves, subterranean passages… and there’s nowhere better in the UK to explore these geological quirks than in the Yorkshire Dales. From Kettlewell in Wharfedale, this easy-going route heads up on to calcareous grassland, past the distinctive limestone outcrop known as Conistone Pie. Dropping back into the valley, it visits the hamlet of Conistone before heading up through Conistone Dib. This is the highlight of the walk, the walls of Gurling Trough – the lower part of this glacial meltwater channel – being less than a metre apart in one place.…

17.8km/11 miles/5-6 hours Ascent 646m/2119ft Zoe Tehrani enjoys ups and downs on the celebrated Jurassic Coast DURDLE DOOR IS an impressive limestone arch, formed by the power of the waves crashing into the rock and eroding it away thousands of years ago. Located on the Jurassic Coast – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – this walk follows the South West Coast Path trail to get there, so it’s well signposted most of the way. The route takes you up and down the rugged chalk cliffs, with tales of smuggling, a timber church, beach coves, and views that take your breath away, to reach a charming fishing village where you can spend the night in a cosy pub. Durdle Door isn’t the only impressive rock formation on this coastline, with Stair…

Jiüs Stodel, MBA Trustee, TGO advice columnist and graduate of Leims School of Food and Wine (2012) shares some food for thought with one reader looking to elevate their bothy nights Dear Juls, I want to elevate my bothy experience with acheese board. Do you have any recommendations and pairings? Kris Dear Kris, There are few things more memorable than aboujie bothy night. I've known companions bring in everything from a family-sized tiramisu to their leopard print sofa cushions, because where there is awill there is definitely away. And there is always will and away for cheese. A traditional cheese board usually includes asoft, ahard and ablue cheese, and Highland Fine Cheeses presents a tantalising trio. Its Fat Cow hard cheese is delicate and nutty, while Blue Murder delivers an…