Book reviews Roly Smith
I’d like to have seen a little more
about the history of the area, for
example the placename of Lorton,
which may come from a mythical
Norse lady called Hlóra or from the
identical base of the Old English
hlōwan, both of which, intriguingly,
mean “the roaring one.”
Highlights of the Cooley and
Gullion routes are Eagles Rock to
Foxes Rock from Greer’s Quay and
Slieve Gullion (1,880ft/573m) itself,
the highest point in County Armagh,
which is approached from the Slieve
Gullion Forest in an easy, nine-mile
circuit.
Illustrated throughout by the
author’s fine photography and with
clear, diagrammatic maps, this
book will add to his reputation as
Ireland’s most trusted and best read
mountain guide.
Walks around the Lorton Valley
David Ramshaw
P3 Publications, £3 (pb)
T
he 17th century Wheatsheaf
Inn at Low Lorton, near
the River Cocker near
Cockermouth, is a popular
hostelry with a caravan park and
campsite, commanding panoramic
views of the northern Lakeland fells.
This book came about as a
result of a conversation between
the author and Mark Cockbain,
mine host of the Wheatsheaf, and
his partner Jackie, when Mark
mentioned that many of his visitors
asked him about the availability of
local walks from the village.
This attractive little 32-page
guide is the result. But it is a
walking guide with a difference,
because every directional change is
accompanied by a specially-taken
photograph, making it almost
impossible for even the non-map
reader to get lost. The author points
out that even children could have
fun finding the next waypoint from
the pictures.
Most of the walks follow
footpaths in the valley, but the
author takes to the hills with easy
ascents of Fellbarrow, Low Fell
(with its beautiful views south
across Crummock Water), The Bield,
Kirk Fell and Graystones. Others
start from The Green at Boonbeck,
in the shadow of the famous Lorton
Yew, immortalised by Wordsworth
in his 1803 poem, The Pride of
Lorton Vale.
The Mourne and Cooley
Mountains: A Walking Guide
Adrian Hendroff
The Collins Press, £12.99 (pb)
T
his book could have been
sub-titled The Best of
Northern Irish Hill Walks.
Centred on the range
which, in the words of William
Percy French’s famous song “sweep
down to the sea,” they also include
six routes in the little-visited Cooley
and Gullion hills.
The Mournes are perhaps
most famous for being the site of
Northern Ireland’s highest peak –
Slieve Donard (2,799ft/853m). Other
rocky, tor-topped summits included
in the book are Slievenaglogh, Slieve
Bearnagh and Slieve Binnian, not
forgetting the eponymous Millstone
and Rocky Mountains.
But the eastern, higher Mournes
are also home to the monumental
22-mile Mourne Wall, constructed
between 1904 and 1922 by
engineers from the Belfast Water
Commissioners to enclose the
9,000-acre catchment area around
the Silent Valley Reservoir.
Along the Divide: Walking the
Wild Spine of Scotland
Chris Townsend
Sandstone Press, £9.99 (pb)
T
he author is described
in the publisher’s blurb
as “possibly the world’s
most experienced long
distance walker who also writes.” I
suspect most long distance walkers
are also able to write. But few, I
would suggest, have the gift that
Townsend has for seeming to take
you along every step of the way with
him on his marathon wilderness
treks around the world, particularly
in North America.
His latest offering owes much to
his deep-seated love of his adopted
country of Scotland, and also to
Peter Wright’s pioneering Ribbon
of Wildness, his 2010 exploration of
the watershed of Scotland, which he
acknowledges throughout. Wright
autumn 2018 | Outdoor focus 3