Each month in TGO Magazine we announce the latest outdoor book releases, whether it be trail guides and almanacs or epic accounts of gnarly adventures. Here we take a look back at some of the notable publications over the last year…
Risking Life and Limb by Judy Whiteside
£18.99
Winner of Book of the Year at our annual Great Outdoors Awards. The author charts the history of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team based in Bryn-Poeth, North Wales.
Available from the Ogwen Valley website.
Out on the Land by Ray Mears and Lars Falt
£22.50
Two of the world’s most renowned experts on bushcraft take the reader on a journey through the history and culture of the northern wilderness. Along the way they share the age old traditions and techniques that they have learnt. It contains some breathtaking photography.
The Bond by Simon McCartney
£24 (hardback)
Winner of this year’s Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. Our columnist Jim Perrin has called it the “finest mountaineering book ever written.”
Walking in Andalucía by Guy Hunter-Watts
£14.95
Something warmer to think about during the winter months. The guidebook describes 36 mostly circular walks, in total taking in six of the Spanish region’s beautiful Natural Parks. Each route is mapped and has recommendations for accommodation and sites to see along the way.
Reviewed Feb 2016
Scottish and Manx Lighthouses: A Photographic Journey in the Footsteps of the Stevensons by Ian Cowe
£20
A photographic exploration of the hardy lighthouses that line the storm-battered coastlines of Scotland and the Isle of Man. Alongside dramatic images, Ian Cowe describes his adventures by foot, car, boat and even helicopter to catch these wonders of engineering in all their glory.
Reviewed Feb 2016
The Gathering Tide: A Journey Around the Edgelands of Morecambe Bay by Karen Lloyd
£12.99
The TGO contributor shares her memories of Morecambe Bay through a series of walks. It’s a moving account of the people, wildlife, history and sense of place found on the enchanting coastline.
Reviewed Feb 2016
The Hills of Wales by Jim Perrin
£14.99
Long-term contributor Jim Perrin describes a lifetime’s forays into both famed an forgotten upland in his inimitable and elegant style.
Gomer
Up and About: The Hard Road to Everest by Doug Scott
£24 (hardback)
Legendary mountaineer Doug Scott has published the first part of his long-awaited memoirs. In this initial volume he charts his childhood and early mountaineering career through to his incredible achievement on Everest with Dougal Haston and Chris Bonington back in 1975.
Reviewed March 2016
Out There: A Voice from the Wild by Chris Townsend
£8.99
A collection of writings by this magazine’s equipment editor and backpacking expert, Chris Townsend, drawing from more than 40 years walking and camping in the hills. Chris describes the landscapes and wildlife, the walkers and climbers, and the authors who have influenced him. He also discusses the wild, its important and how we cannot do without it.
Sandstone Press
Reviewed May 2016
The Knot Tying Bible by Colin Jarman
£16.95
From the Cow hitch to the Transom, this guide covers a wide spectrum of useful knots for the outdoor enthusiast, each one demonstrated through step-by-step written and pictorial instructions.
Reviewed March 2016
Grand Adventures by Alastair Humphreys
£13.60 (signed)
The king of the ‘microadventure’ goes big this time. It’s a careful curation of the on-a-shoestring adventurers around at the moment who Alastair believes will set off that sudden itch for escape in anyone.
alastairhumphreys.com
£12.99
This new guidebook delights in the varied scenery that is encountered along the Tyne – from both its sources all the way down to the sea. The 217km trail described is broken into 12 stages based on ease of access and should enable both day and long-distance walkers to create their own itinerary. Thirty percent of the proceeds from sales will go to cancer patient care charity Daft as a Brush.
Reviewed March 2016
Wild Guide Lake District & Yorkshire Dales
£15.99
A new addition to this series of attractively produced guidebooks with a focus on out-of-theway adventures in the outdoors, this Wild Guide encourages you to swim, scramble, canoe, cave and camp in interesting and wild places in Cumbria and the Dales. Divided into logical geographic sections, itineraries are suggested but with over 750 sites listed there’s plenty to help you plan your perfect trip, with or without the family.
Reviewed June 2016
Space For Wonder: A guide to trekking the mountain frontier of the Pyrenees by Gordon Wilson
£15.50
A guide to the high and low traverses of the Pyrenees, written with the aim of making the trip accessible to as many people as possible, no matter how old they are. The author and his partner have spent several summers in the range including two complete traverses, and he uses his book to pass on the things he wished he’d known before he first went.
It’s also available as an e-book: see www.trekthepyrenees.com for details.
Reviewed June 2016
Hidden Landscapes of the South West Coast Path by Ruth Luckhurst
£16.99
Illustrated throughout with well-captioned photos, this fascinating book explores the geology, paleontology, ecology and human history of the areas traversed by the South West Coast Path. Britain’s longest National Trail covers a huge variety of landscapes, many of which are well represented here; readers will find inspiration for many interesting walks in the South West.
Reviewed June 2016
4000m by Dave Wynne-Jones
£25
This book is a vivid account of the author’s ultimately successful quest to climb all the 4000m peaks in the Alps. It gives a very clear impression of what Alpine climbing is all about, showing the technical nature of much of the climbing, supported by dramatic photographs. One highlight was a moonlight traverse of Mont Blanc. The climbing chapters are cleverly interspersed with sections giving fascinating detail on the development of maps, the hut system (a benefit but often at a cost!), Alpine weather, equipment etc.
An excellent read, even for non-climbers.
Reviewed Spring 2016
Walking through Spring by Graham Hoyland
£16.99
Spring travels up the UK at roughly the same speed as a person walking. Last year, Graham Hoyland spent his Spring journeying north through the country, starting from Dorset, on a labyrinth of ancient footpaths, along the way creating a new National Trail, the Oak Route. This is his account of that walk.
Reviewed Spring 2016
Souvenirs Pittoresques des Glaciers de Chamouny by Gabriel Charton
£35
First published in Geneva in 1821, only a few copies of the original Souvenirs Pittoresques des Glaciers de Chamouny were printed. Now mountaineering book dealer Tony Astill has produced a beautiful hardback facsimile edition, available via www.mountaineeringbooks.org
Reviewed Spring 2016
Footprints of the mountains: the news from the Pyrenees by Steve Cracknell
£9.88
A self-published account of a traverse of La Senda – the GR11 trail through the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Cracknell runs two websites dedicated to walking in the Pyrenees (lasenda.net and pyreneanway. com) and his deep knowledge is obvious and a valuable addition to the book, as he talks to locals about reintroducing bears and ibex, and explores the history of the mountains from the Basque culture to the effects of the Spanish Civil War.
Reviewed September 2016
House of Snow: An anthology of the greatest writing about Nepal Introduction by Ed Douglas
£25
A new anthology of essays, poems, short stories and extracts from longer works about the mountain kingdom of Nepal. Ed Douglas provides an introduction and contributions come from many Nepali, Indian and Western writers including Bill Tilman and Edmund Hillary. All profits from the book will go to the Pahar Trust Nepal to fund earthquake relief projects.
Reviewed September 2016
On Trails: An exploration by Robert Moore
£16.99
Journalist Robert Moore explores the history, geography and sociology of trails of all kinds, inspired by his thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. From the fossilised tracks made by prehistoric sea creatures, through the Native American trails exploited by European colonisers to modern engineered and waymarked recreational trails, Moore not only recounts his experiences of exploring these places but investigates the relationships between land, people, and the growing homogenisation of global society.
Reviewed September 2016
Cols and Passes of the British Isles by Graham Robb
£20
Better known as a prize-winning literary biographer and historian, Graham Robb has produced a charmingly esoteric gazetteer of the kind more usually associated with obsessive hill-baggers than biographers of Balzac. A keen cyclist, he has spent three years digging through old maps, journals, ballads and travellers’ tales to produce a comprehensive list of every col and pass in the British Isles accompanied by a series of short essays describing some of the most notable in each region of these islands. His gentle, evocative writing is accompanied by hand-drawn maps and sketches, and a lovely prologue which manages to convey both the painstaking nature of the detective work needed to locate the names of cols from historical records and the joys of discovering on two wheels or feet one of these magical portals through the hills.
Reviewed July 2016
Walking the Plato: A philosophical hike through the British Isles by Gary Hayden
£12.99
This small hardback volume contains an account of Gary Hayden’s walk with his wife Wendy from John O’Groats to Lands End. Thankfully, there’s somewhat more to it than that: Hayden is a writer of popular philosophy and the simple description of the walk is interleaved with reflections on themes from philosophy and culture that the acts of long-distance walking stir in him. From the positive effects of walking on the mental health of Kierkegaard and Rousseau to the artistry of the teen-pop love songs of The Shirelles and what songwriting has in common with the Japanese kado art of flower arranging, Hayden’s trains of thought are fascinating, informative and often surprising.
Reviewed July 2016
