OWPG’ s Roly Smith reviews the latest outdoor books
OWPG’ s Roly Smith reviews the latest outdoor books
subsequently named after him. Copiously illustrated not only by many of these mouthwatering maps, the book also includes many period photographs of some of these pioneering cartographers. There are also explanatory features on the underlying principles of cartography, including astronomy, triangulation, photogrammetry and the various depictions of relief.
the volcanic Whin Sill, at High Force and on Hadrian’ s Wall and the Permian and Triassic sandstones of Stainmore and the Eden Valley. But who knew about the granite cupolas of Weardale, or the igneous volcanic granite boss bursting through the Devonian Old Red Sandstones under the overlying blanket peat of The Cheviot? However, phrases like“ granoblastic texture”, or the“ Pendleian to Amsbergian” sequence of the Millstone grit near Kidhow Gate approaching Hawes in Wensleydale, may be stretching the ability of your average Wayfarer to fully comprehend. Those confusing technicalities, and the varying lengths given here to the Pennine Way, which range from 255 to 256 miles( the official distance according to the National Trails Agency is 268 miles), should not detract from this truly comprehensive companion for the rambling rockhound.
Mapping the Mountains
Andrew Davies Dutch Mountain Film Festival, £ 35( hb)
Few outdoor folk would argue with author Andrew Davies’ opinion, expressed in the last issue of Outdoor Focus, that mountain maps rank among the most beautiful examples of cartography. And this sumptuous book, published as a direct consequence of an exhibition on maps for the Dutch Mountain Film Festival in 2019, is his paean to mountain planning perfection. It is a stunning 220-page celebration of mountain mapping from the earliest, shaded or hachured and“ here be dragons” woodcuts to many people’ s favourite – Bradford Washburn’ s classic masterpiece of Everest and its environs published by National Geographic in 1988. Davies meticulously traces the history of mountain mapmaking through numerous lovingly curated examples from the earliest maps made by the all-conquering Romans, to the Swiss-style maps of the Alps and the genesis of Britain’ s universally-respected Ordnance Survey in William Roy’ s great 18th century map of the Scottish Highlands. It also covers the lovely, shaded Carte d’ État-Major map of the French Alps based on the largely unheralded work of Adrien Durand, and Henry Godwin- Austen’ s map of the Karakoram in 1864, which first revealed K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, and which was
The Pennine Way: A Geological Companion
CA Bendall Crowood Press, £ 20( pb)
For most of the 12,000 or so walkers who undertake Tom Stephenson’ s original marathon national trail, the Pennine Way, annually, and the numerous guidebook authors who have described the 268-mile route, its geology usually comes down to the basic two-tone Carboniferous – 350 million-year-old millstone grit and limestone. But as geology teacher Charlie Bendall – a man who has walked the Way no fewer than five times – explains here, there’ s much more to it than that. This sectionby-section description of the route claims to cover all the ground within 500m of the Way, illustrated by a series of detailed geological maps and cross sections. Among the many unexpected geological oddities encountered along the Way and described here are the obvious ones such as
Hadrian’ s Wall Path
Jacquetta Megarry & Gordon Simm
Rucksack Readers, £ 16.99( pb)
This is a thoroughly revised and updated second edition of Rucksack’ s popular and unique west-to-east and east-to-west guide to the 85-mile Hadrian’ s Wall path. It was re-walked by Megarry this year following the tragic disappearance of fellow author Gordon Simm in southern Spain in 2012. Unlike some other recent guidebooks, it comprehensively covers the senseless felling of the Sycamore Gap tree in 2023, here
8 OUTDOOR FOCUS Winter 2025