Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2025 i Country Walking

YOU MAY HAVE have noticed that in his columns, Stuart Maconie includes a little nugget called ‘Found on Foot’. The things he has flagged up as a ‘FOF’ over the years are wonderful and varied, and it was his FOF last issue that led us to the very wonderful Sasha Dugdale. Stuart had come across Ten Poems About Walking, part of Candlestick Press’ gorgeous range of mini-anthologies which are billed as an alternative to boring old greetings cards. For £5.95 you get a card plus a carefully selected set of poems on any of a gazillion topics from cows to cricket; from knitting to baking. The walking tome includes poems from a remarkable range of voices, chosen by acclaimed poet Sasha – who for good measure also provides a new…

Learn about the history of the town at Salcombe Maritime Museum (01548 843080, salcombemuseum.org.uk), complete with boatbuilding tools, paintings, models and a ‘young sailors’ corner’ with pirate treasure. Fresh seafood is a key Salcombe attraction. Try Crab Shed (01548 844280, crabshed.com), or a dining pod with sea views at Lobster Pod Bistro in Hope Cove (01548 802137, lobster-pod.co.uk; re-opens Feb). Salcombe's climate is warm enough to house a subtropical garden. Overbeck's Garden (01548 842893, nationaltrust.org.uk; re-opens March) has rare plants, plus fine views over the estuary. There are plenty of ways to explore the water here. Salcombe Cruises (pictured; 07951 669273, salcombecruises.co.uk) offer fishing, wildlife, family and romantic excursions. Sea-n-Shore, meanwhile, have leisure cruises, plus RIB powerboat rides for thrillseekers (07713 745609, sea-n-shore.com). For a luxury stay overlooking the sea,…

SEND THIS DIARY to my wife the note said. But Captain Robert Falcon Scott had crossed out wife and written widow. The diary was found beside his body in the Antarctic, in a tent on the Great Ice Barrier in 1912. Beside him lay the bodies of Henry Bowers and Edward Wilson; out in the white land to their south lay Lawrence Oates and Edgar Evans. All five men had perished on their way back from the South Pole, after losing the race to the bottom of the world. Retrace the line of their journey to Antarctica though, back through the pack ice and seas so rough they almost sank the Terra Nova to New Zealand, then Australia, South Africa and Madeira to Cardiff, where they departed Britain to joyous…

DISCOVER Winter greens PUCKERING UP UNDER the mistletoe is a festive tradition, but this plant is poisonous, parasitic and its name means dung stick. Spot it in the wild and you may think it's the work of black magic, as it grows high in trees far from any nourishing soil and flourishes greenly right through winter. The plant forms pom-poms that can stretch three feet across, fed mostly by moisture and minerals sucked from the tree – and a bit by the mistletoe's own photosynthesis. Its leathery leaves and pearly white berries are both toxic, and the seeds inside are covered with sticky goo. As birds wipe their beaks on a branch, or take a poop, the seeds glue to the tree, soon pushing roots through the bark to tap…

DISCOVER Winter coats A MAN WAS WALKING in Wiltshire one day when he saw two stoats sitting in the path. He hurled a stone and hit one. The other shrieked ‘murder’ and a gang of them sprang from the verge, trying to bite his neck. A thick scarf kept the stoats from his ‘large blood-vessels’ but arriving home four miles later, five were still hanging on to him by their teeth. Or so the story in a 19th-century natural history book goes. In fact stoats are elusive and mostly glimpsed as a streak across a path, their thin, foot-long bodies able to hit speeds up to 20mph. It's true they are ferocious hunters, doggedly tracking prey for miles and felling rabbits up to five times their weight with a bite…

DISCOVER Winter fungus THERE'S A FUNGUS that looks like a hand clawing up from a grave (dead man's fingers), another that looks like grey matter (crystal brain fungus) and then there's jelly ear. Its fruiting bodies start as rubbery brown cups on dead and dying wood, later wrinkling and growing lobes until they look so eerily like human ears you wonder if they're listening as you walk past. It's also known as Judas’ ear because it mostly grows on elder, the tree from which Judas Iscariot is said to have hanged himself after betraying Jesus Christ. The fungus appears on beech, sycamore and ash too, likes damp, shady conditions, and the ears shrivel and swell with dry and rain. Abundant in winter, it is seemingly resistant to frostbite and can…

IN 1793, THE curator of National Curiosities at the British Museum smashed one of the exhibits to pieces. It was a butterfly with blue and black markings on its yellow wings, classified by the great taxonomist Carl Linnaeus as Papilio ecclipsis. But Dr Gray had just discovered it was a hoax. Someone – probably a collector called William Charlton – had painted spots on a brimstone butterfly, whether as a joke or for the credit of discovering a new species, nobody knows. That may have been a fake, but the actual brimstone is a wonderful curiosity – a butterfly that can be spangled with frost one day and fluttering through the winter air the next. It's one of five British species to weather the cold months as an adult (most…

Email your picture, along with a few words about the walk and your contact details to cwroutes@bauermedia.co.uk THIS MONTH'S PRIZE WINNER ERISKAY, Route 25, June 2023 We decided to try this walk on a three-week road trip to the stunning Outer Hebrides. Eriskay is a compact and beautiful island and after a coffee we headed off to explore, including a scramble to the summit of Beinn Sciathan for panoramic vistas across to Barra and South Uist. While the weather was mainly dry, it was blowing a hoolie and we both struggled to stay upright – the trig point was a muchneeded anchor to keep us steady. Sadly we did not manage to spot a wild Eriskay pony, but there is always next time… David & Vicki, Stourbridge SHIELDAIG, Route 26, September…

New Forest This walk pulls together some of the finest scenery in the New Forest, including both its archetypal landscapes of dense forestry and open heathland, as well as two very pleasant ponds – Janesmoor and Stanlidge. The walk has its apex at the Rufus Stone, which allegedly marks the site of an oak tree where King William II (known as Rufus, and son of the Conqueror) died after being accidentally struck by an arrow while hunting. There is still much mystery and disagreement about elements of the story: Accident? Murder? Conspiracy? A curse? Did it even happen here? But whatever the truth, this is a gorgeous walk bookmarked by two fine pubs: the Royal Oak at the start/end point, and the Sir Walter Tyrrell (named after the accidental kingslayer)…

Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog) Located in the Fforest Fawr section of Brecon Beacons/Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, this waterfall walk is the region's second most popular attraction to Pen-y-Fan mountain, and with good reason. Stunningly beautiful in all seasons, the falls are even more spectacular after a period of heavy rainfall. Starting with a tranquil riverside walk, the intensity builds with each passing cascade. The first is the often-noisy Sgŵd Clun-Gwyn. Then you reach the broad and enchanting Sgŵd y Pannwr, which is close to Sgŵd Isaf Clun-Gwyn – a series of falls and pools and a popular place for cold water swimmers. The final waterfall is Sgŵd yr Eira (Waterfall of the snow), where a natural ledge allows you to actually walk behind the cascade for an entirely different perspective.…

The Broads With only a couple of trains a day and no access by road, you need to plan ahead to reach remote Berney Arms station, but it's worth it. Step off the train straight into an unspoilt landscape of reed-fringed waterways and windmill-studded marshes. This riverside walk through the heart of the Norfolk Broads follows the Wherryman's Way, a winding 38-mile route between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. The area around Berney Arms is a paradise for wildlife. As many as 15,000 overwintering pink-footed geese gather on the marshes between October and March each year. You're also likely to spot oystercatchers and other waterbirds; look out for unusual black swans with red beaks near Reedham ferry. All through this walk, make sure you enjoy the wide landscapes, the skylarks singing…

North York Moors Once among England's most powerful Cistercian monasteries, the ruined shell of Rievaulx Abbey is the focal point of this first-rate ramble around Rye Dale in the North York Moors, set against a backdrop of ancient woods, hills and watercourses. Now in the care of English Heritage, the 12th-century abbey is joined by a supporting cast of historic sites, including the Georgian bridge spanning the River Rye and a pair of Neoclassical follies at either end of the National Trust's panoramic Rievaulx Terrace. But before its Rievaulx finale, the walk dips into leafy Nettle Dale, following a section of the Cleveland Way. This is a fantastic introductory walk that shows there's so much variety in the North York Moors to go with its many acres of moorland plateaus.…

Cairngorms Though known for its high, wild and remote summits, Britain's biggest national park is also home to ancient Caledonian forest. Loch an Eilein, meaning ‘Loch of the Island’, is surrounded by such forest. The island referred to in the name was originally connected to the shore by a causeway and hosts a ruined castle which was originally built in the 13th century and fortified in the 14th century by Alexander Stewart, the so-called ‘Wolf of Badenoch’. The circuit of Loch an Eilein alone would be a very easy route of 3½ miles, but it's well worth also including the path around neighbouring Loch Gamhna. Although still mainly level, this is rougher with a couple of boggier sections but it is appreciably quieter and consequently better for wildlife spotting. Things…

First canal walk Once the highways of Britain, canals still criss-cross the nation, providing thousands of miles of scenic waterside walkways. The Rochdale Canal was called ‘the Everest of canals’, and was one of three competing canals aiming to cross the Pennines. But while the other two got bogged down in the time and cost of building tunnels, this one went up and over, through the gap between Todmorden and Littleborough. Thus, it opened first, and in 1804 it began taking all that lucrative cargo over the hills between Yorkshire and Manchester. Today this stretch, between Walsden and Littleborough, remains the highest section of broad canal in the country, 600ft at the aptly-named hamlet of Summit. This fine short walk follows the canal to Summit, passing some of the highest…

TALK WINTER Would you like to moble up in your mufflements and maggle a mile to make a hogmadog?* There's a flurry of gorgeous words to describe a frosty walk, although origin of the word winter itself is unclear: it could come from German meaning wet, early Irish meaning white, or have its roots in the word wind. Which pretty much covers what you'll see in an average season… *Moble (v) to dress in many layers; Mufflement (n) Lancashire dialect for warm clothes; Maggle/meggle (v) Scots word meaning to trudge through snow (or mud); Hogmadog (n) huge ball of snow made by rolling a snowball around.…

WHEN ISOBEL WYLIE Hutchison walked into the Angus Glens in 1952 she wrote of the memorial to Scott and Wilson: ‘This eloquent tribute seems an inspiring send-off for the summit of my stroll.’ That stroll was 410 miles from Edinburgh to John o’ Groats and 62-year old Hutchison was going up Glen Clova and over The Mounth. What Hutchison didn't say was she'd made her own grand expeditions at icy latitudes. She was drawn north – not to the Pole, but by plants. From a young age she'd explored Scotland from her home at Carlowrie Castle, later hiking 100 miles through the Cairngorms, 70 through the southern highlands, and the length of the Outer Hebrides to the Butt of Lewis, where she looked across the ocean and decided Iceland would…

A WINTER'S TALE DISCOVER The Durham Dales ONE NIGHT IN January 1973, Yorkshire TV's switchboard went into meltdown. Most of the callers were saying exactly the same thing. “I want to send some money to help the old lady in the Yorkshire Dales. What's the best way to do that please?” It followed the first transmission of Too Long a Winter, a documentary about life in Baldersdale, a remote side-valley of Teesdale in the North Pennines. The star of the show was Hannah Hauxwell, a 46-year-old farmer tending a small herd of cows and living alone in an isolated farmhouse with no electricity or running water. The first shots of Hannah showed her struggling to lead a stubborn bullock through knee-deep snow, clad in ragged clothing that seemed to belong to…

IMAGINE THIS – you're a child who's just woken up to more snow than you've ever seen in your life. You join your equally exuberant friends and siblings for a fun-packed morning of snowball fights, snowman building and ice sliding… only to then hear a mysterious voice. “Hello?” it quivers, apparently from a deep drift. You inch nearer to where the sound has come from and spot something round protruding from the snow. It's a shrivelled, almost frozen head, nearly as white as the surrounding snow, with long, thick icicles spearing from its whiskers like stalactites… did it just move? “Hello?” says the same trembling voice, as the creature starts to emerge with its hair a ball of ice, one of its fingers resembling a dead stick, and with deeply…

‘SOME OF THE statements contained in this article will be regarded as incredible. My sanity may be called into question.’ So began journalist Beriah Evans as he laid out a story in The Guardian and The Daily News on 9 February 1905 which would see scientists, psychic researchers and every other newspaper descend on a wind-swept band of sparsely populated countryside between the Rhinog mountains and the Irish Sea. For a time the goings on in an obscure community in a place on the north-west Welsh coast between Barmouth and Harlech gripped the nation. They've never been satisfactorily explained, their ripples are still being felt on the far side of the Atlantic, and this is still an eerily beautiful, unfinished-feeling place to be. Clearly this is a case for walkers…

Walking wordsearch The UK's 10 smallest birds and a bonus big one! JUST FOR FUN ● GOLDCREST ● FIRECREST ● WREN ● GOLDFINCH ● COALTIT ● MARSHTIT ● WILLOWTIT ● BLUETIT ● ROBIN ● DUNNOCK Last month's answers WHERE IS THIS? Parlick, Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, England PRIZE CROSSWORD Win Cicerone guidebooks Three lucky winners will each get to select two guidebooks from Cicerone's range, including The National Trails of England, Scotland and Wales and Walking in Arran. For more details, Tel. 01539 562069 or visit www.cicerone.co.uk EMAIL COMPLETED PUZZLES TO: cwcrossword@bauermedia.co.uk Closing date: 27 December 2024 DECEMBER ANSWERS NOVEMBER WINNERS Reg Gibson, Kent Clive Brooks, Surrey Kate Denton, Wollaton Dec issue winners will be published next month. Full terms and conditions can be found at greatcompetitions.co.uk WIN! Bauer Media Group (the…

Miles walked this month: 91 Last weekend I took my kids on a walk up to what is known as Lonely Tree, a local landmark, overlooking the Powys village of Llanfyllin… or at least, it was. In 2014, the Scots pine blew over in a storm. It had stood proudly on a hilltop for 200 years. It was a place where people would picnic, carve their names into the bark, propose to loved ones and even have their ashes scattered. This is why, when it blew over, locals carried up 60 tonnes of soil in the hope of saving it. It was voted Welsh Tree of the Year that year, almost as if the nation was willing it back to life. It didn't succeed, but saplings have been planted at…

Dartmoor Much of Dartmoor is characterised by wild moorland plateaus and granite tors. But there is so much history and wildlife to explore in its many beautiful valleys. This stimulating figure-of-eight walk samples both valley and moor, and includes magnificent views of southern Dartmoor, the Dart Valley and on to the South Hams. Both loops begin at the picturesque village of Holne, which derives its name from the Old English holegn, ‘holly tree’. Holne is noted for its historic church and 14th-century Church House Inn. The second loop leads down to the Dart Valley and New Bridge – ‘new’ in that it's newer than Old Holne Bridge, which was repaired after floods in 1413. One of Dartmoor's finest granite packhorse bridges, it was already old when repaired for the princely…

South Downs The South Downs are characterised by its rolling chalk hills and this walk samples these landscapes at their finest. Situated in the lovely Meon valley, the charming village of Exton makes an excellent walking base. The South Downs Way passes through it, descending from Beacon Hill on one side and climbing to the top of Old Winchester Hill on the other. Both hills are National Nature Reserves, important for their flower-rich chalk grasslands. Running along the east side of the valley is the Meon Valley Trail, which follows a disused railway line, open to cyclists and horse-riders, as well as walkers. This walk follows the South Downs Way up Beacon Hill, thereafter joining another long distance path, the Wayfarer's Walk, a 70-mile route which crosses Hampshire from north…

Snowdonia (Eryri) Nestled in what feels like a remote Scottish glen, beneath the northern walls of the Cadair Idris massif, the tranquil pools of Cregennen Lakes are a wonderful place to get away from the world for a few hours. They're owned and managed by the National Trust in one of those delightfully secretive locations you need to access via a winding woodland road that takes you far away from civilisation. You start by climbing a pointy (but small) peak with some easy and optional scrambling, then stroll along an undulating ridge with knockout views across the mighty surrounding mountains and the golden sands of the Mawddach estuary, before looping back to your start point. It's a walk that shows off some of Snowdonia's finest coastal and mountain scenery in…

Lake District The Lake District is England's mountainous masterpiece. The beauty of the landscapes here, romanticised by Wordsworth, fictionalised by Beatrix Potter and idolised by Wainwright, have attracted artists, writers and outdoorsy folk for centuries. For walkers, the reflection of its craggy summits, crafted valleys, and ancient woodlands in its many lakes is alluring to newbies and seasoned pros alike. If you're visiting the Lakes for the first time, Cat Bells is a perfect place to begin. A firm family favourite, this hill is a classic outing for young, old and everyone in between. Sweeping aesthetically above Derwent Water with a distinctive profile, it is a little fell with big features: a taste of scrambling, a domed summit and mind-boggling views of the Borrowdale valley. This linear outing starts with…

Northumberland Hadrian's Wall is undoubtedly Northumberland National Park's chief attraction, and this walk is along arguably the most iconic section of it. Started in 122 AD, the wall's purpose was to mark the northern boundary of the Roman Empire and keep the troublesome tribes of Caledonia at bay. Although 73 miles in length in total, running from Bowness-onSolway in the west to Wallsend in the east, the 5½ miles covered on this walk are packed with memorable sights. There's Sycamore Gap (now sadly without the famous tree), the cliffs of Steel Rigg, the lake called Crag Lough, Housesteads Fort, and the wall's highest point, Windshield Crags. Much of the drama of this section is a result of the wall following the undulating escarpment of the Whin Sill. Formed of an…

First coastal walk When it comes to coastal walking, we couldn't ignore the South West Coast Path which stretches for 630 glorious miles along the shorelines of Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. But which bit to tackle? There are too many contenders to count, but north Cornwall's magnificent coastal scenery is hard to beat, with its dramatic cliffs and coves, and splendid beaches. The village of Boscastle makes an ideal base, with superb coastal walking in either direction, and a useful bus service to facilitate linear walks. This circuit combines a stretch along the coast with a return leg along the lovely, wooded Valency valley, providing a walk of great contrasts. There are literary associations, too, since it was these paths that Thomas Hardy and his wife-to-be Emma walked when…

First walk in the east ‘The east’ might seem an odd category to include in this guide. But despite it being within easy reach of so much of the population, it is often overlooked as a walking destination. And yet, with its miles of coastline, wildlife-rich lowland reserves and chocolate box villages, there are plenty of great walks to be enjoyed here, including this one. RSPB Minsmere became a flagship nature reserve after the Second World War, with thousands of acres of reedbeds, heathland, woods, fields and shingle (the farmland here had previously been purposefully flooded to help protect the coast from enemy invasion). This route, which combines well with a full exploration of the reserve, also crosses Dunwich Heath – a rare lowland habitat that's home to the likes…

Geoffrey Dutton December 30th marks a century since Geoffrey John Fraser Dutton was born: biomedical researcher, poet, wild water snorkeller, mountaineer and author of ‘the funniest outdoor stories’. Over 40 humorous tales of the Doctor and his two companions, the Apprentice and an unnamed narrator, are collected in The Ridiculous Mountains and Nothing so Simple as Climbing. ‘The scene of their disasters and delights is usually Scotland, where they first gnawed the global crust. This is no disadvantage, mountain problems and protagonists being everywhere similar.’ Adventures include caving, birdwatching, angling, skiing, sailing, canoeing, deerstalking, paragliding, moss-gathering and mountain rescue, and involve dogs, flies, archaeologists, midges, gamekeepers, poltergeists and the police. Dutton was also a horticulturalist, forging a nine-acre ‘marginal garden’ from a bouldery hillside in Perthshire and writing about it…

THE KINGSBRIDGE ESTUARY is a superb natural harbour. Salcombe, well sheltered on its western bank, thrived on fishing and shipbuilding, while the estuary and surrounding coast, with its sandy beaches and secluded coves among the high cliffs, was ideal for the ‘free trade’ (AKA smuggling). Today, it's the area's natural beauty which makes Salcombe prosperous. Visitors wander the town's winding streets and throng the many pubs and restaurants, enjoying freshly caught seafood. The pretty harbour bustles with visiting yachts. Take one of Salcombe's ferries and see it from the water, then follow our first walk to enjoy a bird's eye view from the sub-tropical gardens at Overbecks and Sharp Tor, aptly named for its gothic pinnacles of shattered schist. Stunning views of the coast open up as you round Bolt…

WRITE TO US AT: Country Walking, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA EMAIL: editorial@countrywalking.co.uk ● FACEBOOK: facebook.com/countrywalking ● TWITTER/X: x.com/countrywalking LETTER OF THE MONTH The friendship country walking built David Howells wrote in the October edition about 15 years of friendship that all came about from walking. We can top that! Myself and four friends have been getting together twice a year for 28 years and we met on a Country Walking weekend. How about that! Back in 1996, Country Walking advertised a walking weekend in the Brecon Beacons including a visit to a sustainable farm. It sounded very interesting and eight people signed up for it. We stayed at the Dragon in Crickhowell and the then hotel owner, Alan, was the walk leader. We all got on well,…

WINTER, IT HAS to be said, gets a bad rap from Shakespeare. ‘Angry winter!’ (from A Midsummer Night's Dream). ‘Three winters cold have from the forests shook three summers’ pride’ (Sonnet 104). ‘The furious winter's rages’ (Cymbeline). ‘The icy fang and churlish chiding of the winter's wind’ (As You Like It). ‘Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold’ (Henry VI). ‘Winter's tedious nights’ (Richard II). ‘What freezings I have felt, what dark days seen / What old December's bareness everywhere!’ (Sonnet 97). Perhaps most famously, there is ‘the winter of our discontent’ at the beginning of Richard III, which Dick the Bad sarcastically suggests has been transformed into ‘glorious summer’ by his brother's reign. It's fair to suggest the Bard was probably not a massive fan of the winter months,…

DISCOVER Winter waders TENS OF THOUSANDS of birds flock across the sky like smoke. Not starlings, but knots, in a flickering cloud of light and dark as they switch direction, flashing from white underwings to grey back. In summer, their chest, belly and face turn the colour of brick, earning the name red knot, but those terracotta hues are mostly saved for the Arctic where they breed. Knots overwinter around our coasts and estuaries, although some fly all the way to Australia and the southern tip of South America, notching up 9000 miles on one of the longest migrations by any bird. Here, these stocky sandpipers walk the shore on their khaki green legs, probing the sand and mud for molluscs and crustaceans which they detect with special sensory organs…

Welcome to walking WHEN YOU'VE ENJOYED walking as a hobby for a few years (or decades) as I have, you often think back to what you missed out on when you first started. There were no backpacks… no stiles… maps were scrawled onto rocks…. Okay, I'm not quite that old. But this guide is something I could really have done with. Something to reassure me that just because I'm not Sir Chris Bonington and that I don't know the difference between EVA and TPU midsoles, doesn't mean I can't explore forests, rivers, seascapes or remote mountain ranges. One great thing about Britain is that just about everywhere is accessible. And if climbing Bow Fell or Ben Macdui feels a bit far from your comfort zone, there are always easier, low-level…

Exmoor At 519 metres above sea level, Dunkery Beacon is the highest point in both Exmoor National Park and the whole of the county of Somerset. And luckily, there's a car park little more than 100 metres below the summit, making it a very accessible peak. This is a fascinating place to visit, rich in history with its Bronze Age burial sites, two Iron Age hill forts and a deserted medieval settlement – perfect for the whole family to explore on this short but engaging walk. Keep an eye out for the local wildlife too: Dunkery and its surrounding woodland is a Nature Reserve, conservation area and Site of Special Scientific Interest where you might spot shy red deer and shaggy Exmoor ponies grazing, or kestrels and skylarks soaring overhead.…

Pembrokeshire Coast Seemingly wild and remote today, the Pembrokeshire coastline has not always been so. The headlands and hills have seen settlement since the Stone Age and, from the middle centuries of the first millennium, St Davids developed as a centre of religion, learning and pilgrimage. Although only short at 4½ miles, this walk around St Davids Head is packed full of interest, taking in several prominent prehistoric monuments and an Iron Age settlement, as well as the site of a wartime lookout. The clifftop scenery, heightened by the waves crashing at its foot, is impressive, while the view from the top of Carn Llidi, particularly at sunset, can be counted among the best in the county. The stunning vista extends across much of the Pembrokeshire peninsula and, on the…

Peak District The crumbling cliff face of Mam Tor is an iconic sight throughout the Hope Valley. This super-short walk gets you up close and personal with that collapsing east flank, starting and ending at the remains of the old A625 road, which was consumed by the hill over a number of decades. It also takes in the superb view from Mam Tor's summit, a short stretch of the famed Great Ridge, and a little-known traverse path which passes directly beneath the landslip. This is one of the most popular hills in the Peak District, but considering the top of Old Mam Tor Road is around 350m high, your car will do a lot of the hard work for you. Consequently, this outing is perfect for young families, or for…

Yorkshire Dales Few routes pack so many punches in such a short distance as this classic circuit around Malham's spectacular attractions. The first of these is Janet's Foss, a small but sublime waterfall in a wooded ravine. Legend has it that Janet is a Fairy Queen who lives in a cave behind the falls. Close by is Gordale Scar, a dramatic gorge with 100m cliffs, concealed from view until the very last moment. Created by torrents of glacial meltwater cutting down through a geological faultline, it has been inspiration for artists and poets alike such as Wordsworth and Turner. Finally, there's Malham Cove itself, a huge limestone amphitheatre topped by a large expanse of deeply-fissured limestone pavement that's home to a great variety of ferns and flowers. With gorgeous drystone…

Loch Lomond & The Trossachs It took a long time for any national parks to be created in Scotland, with Loch Lomond & The Trossachs finally being established in 2002. Conic Hill perches above the waters of Loch Lomond, and is also the first major summit on the journey north along Scotland's most famous long distance trail, the West Highland Way. Loch Lomond is the largest landlocked loch in Britain and when you walk around the back of Conic Hill, rising gradually to the viewpoint, you can understand why it has been the setting for many a song and painting. Conic Hill is far smaller, and more achievable, than most of its neighbours, yet the panoramic vistas of the loch, its many islands, and the surrounding mountains, are just breathtaking.…

First forest walk Whether it's the legends of Robin Hood or the birdwatching opportunities (or both) that draw you to Sherwood Forest, you won't be disappointed. It's easy to imagine medieval outlaws hiding among the huge old oaks, the biggest of all being the world famous Major Oak – around 1000 years old, and now supported by scaffolding. There has been evidence of human habitation in this area since the days of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. After the Norman Invasion it became a Royal hunting forest, and at the time when Robin Hood was supposed to be roaming, hiding and plotting, Sherwood Forest covered a fifth of Nottinghamshire. Listen out for warblers and woodpeckers as you wander through the trees. And, as you cross the peaceful, sandy acres of Budby Forest South…

First Munro Many hillwalkers love their tick lists. One of the most challenging is the Munros – the 282 Scottish mountains that are over 3000ft high. Many of these summits require excellent fitness, navigation and stamina, but not all of them. Here is an easy-to-follow route up a Munro that's achievable even for those with minimal hill walking experience. There is a good, obvious path all the way to the top, and although it is steep in places no scrambling is involved, making it perfect for anyone who wants to get up to a high summit. Once there, you can enjoy superb views across the southern and central Highlands. Drops at the top mean care should be taken, especially in mist, low cloud or high winds. But if you want…