OUR ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Continuing the series in which the companies and organisations that
share our aims and values introduce themselves.
Pathfinder ® Guides,
published by Crimson
Publishing, are branded
Ordnance Survey and
sold under license by OS.
Kevin Freeborn, editor
of Pathfinder ® Guides is
your guide...
W
hat connects an early 19th-
century historical novel by
James Fenimore Cooper and
a walk through Broomy Inclosure in the
New Forest National park? Answer:
Pathfinder. Inspired by Cooper’s stories
as a boy, weekends were a reverie of
woodland wanderings and den-building
among the trees. Whether coincidence,
or a great circle-of-life arc, ‘Pathfinder’
has been part of my professional life
since 2007.
Pathfinder ® Guides marks its 30th
anniversary this year. The first titles
appeared in 1989, a joint publishing
venture between Ordnance Survey and
Jarrold Publishing. Why Pathfinder?
A founding principle is that all the
route maps are based on OS 1:25k
mapping and back in the 1980s the OS
8 Outdoor focus | autumn 2019
1:25,000-scale maps showing public
rights of way were called the ‘Pathfinder
Series’.
Approaching the Millennium, Jarrold
became the sole publishers of the
guides and licensed the Pathfinder ®
trade mark from Ordnance Survey.
A handful of the original titles didn’t
survive into new editions, but the
series continued to expand and Jarrold
launched a sister series called ‘Short
Walks’. In 2008 Jarrold sold both lists
to Crimson Publishing, the present-day
publisher. The publishing wheel turned
full circle in 2016 when Pathfinders (with
Short Walks) were once again branded
OS. The books are now sold and
distributed by Ordnance Survey.
Today there are 80 titles in the
combined lists and more than 100 titles
have been published over the past thirty
years. The basic format of Pathfinder ®
Guides is reassuringly familiar: 96 pages
with 28 circular walks, typically between
three and ten miles, ordered by
increasing length/completion time and
divided into three categories – green,
extended strolls and more relaxing short
walks; blue, half-day walks; and orange,
more challenging in terms of distance
and sometimes with longer or steeper
ascents and, occasionally, with a touch
of remoteness or pathless terrain.
Many of the walks – around 2,750
have been commissioned over the
years – have been compiled and revised
by OWPG members. Terry Marsh,
Dennis and Jan Kelsall, Sue Viccars,
Tom Hutton, Felicity Martin and David
Foster have long and greatly valued
associations with Pathfinder ® Guides. I
think there’s a symbiosis to the rhythms
of walking and writing, and while each
author brings their own unique style,
the collective volumes are distinctly
Pathfinder.
Coverage is nationwide from
the Highlands to the Isle of Wight
and from Pembrokeshire to Suffolk,
featuring titles like Snowdonia and
Cotswolds that showcase great walks
in Britain’s National Parks and Areas of
Outstanding Natural Beauty, while many
of the other titles are county based
such as Cornwall and Lincolnshire
and the Wolds. From the summit of
Lochnagar in the Cairngorms to Wicken
Fen in Cambridgeshire, and Arundel
Park in West Sussex to Cwmtydu on the
Ceredigion coast, there is an incredible
breadth and variety of routes in all our
guides with something for everyone in
each of them. A Pathfinder walk has
at least one feature, landscape quality
or testament to human endeavour as
its objective. The collection of finely
crafted routes in each book conveys
an affirming sense of place and makes
perfect walking.
www.pathfinderwalks.co.uk
www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk