There are some great walking books around at the moment and one of my favourites is Great Scottish Walks by Helen & Paul Webster. As mentioned on the front cover, this guide spotlights the country’s best long-distance trails.
In total, 26 walks are detailed within the 170-plus glossy pages. For me, this tome has everything. Each walk is beautifully illustrated with dramatic photos and a detailed account of the trail. But that’s not all. For each trek, there is an OS map illustrating the route plus lots of additional information, such as distance, how to reach the start of the walk, pros/cons, walking itineraries (what you could achieve each day) and a Good to Know box.
This beautiful book will interest not only those wanting to embark on one or more of these long-distance trails, but the armchair traveller, too, who’ll be able to imagine themselves on one of these fine walking routes. Highly recommended.
Great Scottish Walks by Helen & Paul Webster is published in paperback by Vertebrate Publishing (www.adventurebooks.com).
Three other books I had the pleasure of reading were penned by Cameron McNeish, an accomplished mountaineer, walker, editor, TV presenter, climber and writer. For over four decades, he’s chronicled Scotland’s majestic landscapes and the communities who inhabit them.
His list of books is lengthy and I’ve had the opportunity to review three titles recently: There’s Always the Hills, Come By the Hills and An Eye to the Hills.
I enjoyed each of them, largely because McNeish’s colourful writing brought the landscapes alive, so important considering I live hundreds of miles from the dramatic peaks the author was writing about.
As the journalist at the Great Outdoors Magazine mentioned when reviewing There’s Always the Hills, the text “flows like a friendly conversation” and I couldn’t agree more. All three books are a great read and, again, highly recommended.
All are published by Sandstone Press Limited (www.sandstonepress.com).
[Reviewed: January 2024]
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