was generously there to see him off as he set out from Kielder and there again at the end of his walk at Duncansby Head.
The idea of a continuous, 745 mile / 1,200 km walk along Scotland’ s spine seems to have been first accomplished by Dave Hewitt, in his Walking the Watershed of 1987. Townsend decided he would follow, as far as was humanly possible, the line generally west of centre, which marks where the rivers flow either west into the Atlantic or east into the North Sea.
Unfortunately, the author was not blessed with ideal weather, especially in the Sothern Uplands and around the Great Glen, and was forced to follow a lower route when high winds, low cloud and illness demanded.
But as with all the author’ s books, this is much more than a mere diary or route description. Townsend also delves deeply into the politics of the outdoors as he strides along, and his views on the Scottish independence referendum and National Parks are enlightening. He writes that John Muir, the Scotsborn father of US National Parks, would have found it“ a disgrace” that Scotland didn’ t already have National Parks, and unlike some other Scottish wilderness lovers, he welcomed wholeheartedly the recent designations of the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and Trossachs Parks.
Coast to Coast: St Bees to Robin Hood’ s Bay
Sandra Bardwell and Jacquetta Megarry Rucksack Readers, £ 14.99( pb)
This is a comprehensively revised and redesigned edition of the authors’ 2010 guide, the most outstanding new feature perhaps being over 20 stunning new photographs of the route by awardwinning photographer and Guild member Karen Frenkel.
The result is a model of what a practical and enticing guidebook should be. This new edition has revised and updated route directions; support for GPS on your smartphone; several overlaid photographs to help with routefinding, and even some of creator Alfred Wainwright’ s preferred but unadopted route options.
Claimed by the authors to be Britain’ s most popular long distance path, the Coast to Coast passes through the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors
National Parks in its sinuous 184- mile route linking the Irish with the North Sea.
Strangely, 45 years after its inception, this most popular of long distance routes still has no official status and therefore it is still not marked on OS maps and there is no consistent waymarking, as with the official National Trails. This is something which surely should be addressed by Environment Secretary Michael Gove sooner rather than later.
The 1:55,000 mapping page-bypage by Lovell Johns Ltd is crystal clear, and the guide benefits from Rucksack’ s standard rain-proof encapsulation. The preliminary background features on subjects such as geology, the National Parks, Wainwright and history and wildlife are thoroughly researched and wellwritten.
Anyone contemplating Wainwright’ s marathon – surely his finest achievement – through some of northern England’ s finest landscapes need look no further for an attractive, clear, and above all, eminently practical guide.
The Salt Path
Raynor Winn Michael Joseph, £ 14.99( hb)
This new outdoor writer’ s first book recently hit the Sunday Times bestseller list. Raynor Winn was driven to write through desperation. She and her husband Moth were evicted from their idyllic home, lost their livelihood, and Moth was given a terminal diagnosis. What were they to do? Short answer – be homeless and penniless on the South West Coast Path.
Raynor used my SWCP guidebook and was concerned I might find her comments objectionable, so she sent me an early draft. I lost a night’ s work because I read it in one sitting, laughing heartily at her misconceptions, eg:“ Paddy Dillon is probably superhuman. In fact I’ m convinced he’ s ex-SAS, eats raw seaweed for breakfast, runs marathons when there’ s nothing on TV, and wears camouflage pyjamas. He seems to think this is day nine when it’ s really day seventeen.
“ Paddy Dillon eats spinach for breakfast, wears a hair shirt and sleeps on a bed of nails, obviously, because he walks from Bude to Boscastle in a day.”
I’ m amused, but what of the‘ ordinary’ reader? Well, many will read the book in one sitting, because Raynor’ s writing grabs you and won’ t let go. There’ s anger at being evicted, grief at being given a terminal diagnosis, hunger and pain as they tackle a route beyond their means and experience, not to mention them being shunned because of their circumstances.
Raynor appreciates the beauty and splendour of the coastal path, describing it in exquisite prose, but also writes about homelessness from gritty experience, questioning everything from government statistics and strategies to the attitudes of the general public. It’ s surprising how many‘ rural homeless’ there are, working in the countryside but unable to buy or rent property.
At the end of their trek … no … I mustn’ t spoil it for you. Just read the book. reviewed by Paddy Dillon
4 Outdoor focus | autumn 2018