Undiscovered Scotland

 

"Big Trails: Great Britain & Ireland: The best long-distance trails" by Kathy Rogers and Stephen Ross is the sort of inspirational book that gets you dreaming of a world free of 2020's restrictions on travel: a world in which it is once again possible to go where you like and how you like. And especially a world in which you can pull on a pair of walking boots, wriggle into your backpack and set off to explore on foot.

"Big Trails: Great Britain & Ireland" is a beautifully-produced book that gives you an overview of 25 "Big Trails" on these islands off the coast of Europe. The authors answer the obvious question at the beginning of the book: what is a Big Trail? "A Big Trail is an adventure to be had on foot. It is a long distance trail, suitable for walkers and runners, that requires several days or weeks to complete." The introductory sections of the book give you lots of background information and set out how times for routes have been calculated for four classes of users: walkers, trekkers, fastpackers and trail runners. Each trail has a chapter of its own that includes a well-written introduction, a good full-page map at a scale that varies depending on the walk, essential information and a collection of the sort of colour photographs that have you itching to be out there in the landscapes depicted. The book is not intended to be carried en route: rather its function is to inspire and to allow expeditions to be planned.

With a book like this, so much depends on the choice of routes for inclusion. For us, the 25 routes represent a great variety intended to suit just about everyone. They range in length from the 53km Causeway Coast Way in Northern Ireland to the 986km South West Coast Path around the edge of south west England. Geographically they are well dispersed, from south west England and south west Ireland to the coast of Norfolk and Cape Wrath in the far north west of Scotland. Many of the walks are classics, like the Cleveland Way, the Pennine Way, the South Downs Way or the West Highland Way; while others are newer, like the paths around the coasts of Anglesey and the Isle of Man, or the Cambrian Way, or the Cape Wrath Trail.

 

From a Scottish perspective the walks included are the Cape Wrath Trail, the John Muir Way and the West Highland Way, plus the northern tip of the Pennine Way. What is particularly nice is that Vertebrate Publishing have published companion maps for some of the Big Trails, including for the West Highland Way. This gives mapping for the route at a scale of 1:40,000, which is an excellent compromise between the level of detail needed to follow the trail and the physical size of the resulting map. A lot of background information and reference material is also included on the double-sided map, including accommodation, custom itineraries using the Jones-Ross formula for the four different speeds of likely users, sources of tourist information, and so on.

The map proudly states on its cover that it is lightweight, durable and waterproof: and yes, it is all three of those things. Sadly our test of its waterproof qualities was carried out under a kitchen tap rather than in a squall on Rannoch Moor, but that's 2020 for you!

"Big Trails: Great Britain & Ireland: The best long-distance trails" is a book we'd heartily recommend to everyone whose not done as much walking as they'd like during the pandemic and dreams of better times: while the map of the West Highland Way is also an excellent addition to the walker's armoury.