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The fields and fells of England, the mountains of Wales, the forests and drove roads of Scotland: these are all about healthy exercise, the loveliness of the landscape, the pleasure of good company. This book looks at what it takes to do a long distance challenge walk - the mental toughness, experience, and the slight madness.
Key to Route Maps; Map: Location of the Walks; Introduction; PART I: THE NATIONAL THREE PEAKS CHALLENGE; 1 Introducing the Three Big Hills; Ben Nevis; Scafell Pike; Snowdon; 2 The National Three Peaks Challenge: Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon within 24 hours; Planning; The route: Ben Nevis; The route: Scafell Pike; The route: Snowdon; Variants; 3 The National Three Peaks Challenge by Public Transport; The good, the bad, and the mystery socks; Challenges and the imagination; The Three Peaks by bus; PART II: THREE PEAKS RATHER CLOSER TOGETHER; 4 The Yorkshire Three Peaks: Pen-y-ghent, Whernside, Ingleborough; Route and schedule; Adventures of the invisible worm a winters night on the Yorkshire Three Peaks; Up Ingleborough underground; 5 The Lancashire Three Peaks: Longridge Fell, Easington Fell, Pendle; Pen-y-ghent or Pendle? Route and schedule; 6 Everywhere has Three Peaks in it; Peaks in threes; The Three Peaks of Somerset: Dunkery Beacon, Periton Hill, Selworthy Beacon; The Marilyns: 1554 hills you probably havent heard of; PART III: MORE AND MOOR; 7 A Weakness for Bleakness; 8 The Dartmoor Ten Tors: 50 Miles of Moorland over Two Days; History and geography; Ten Tors for grown-ups; 9 Mastery of Misery: The Lyke Wake Walk; The easiest walk in England? Route and schedule; 10 The Derwent Watershed: 39 Miles in the Dark Peak; For Peats sake; Route and schedule; 11 The Across Wales Walk: From the English Border to the Sea over Plynlimon; Walking across Wales; Brief route and schedule; 12 The Lairig Ghru: The Great Through-route of the Cairngorms; Through the Ghru; Route and schedule; PART IV: SURVIVAL; 13 Time and Space: The Fundamentals; 14 Fifty from your Front Door: A Southern Upland Story; 15 A Hundred Miles at Once: Two Days and Nights over Exmoor; The Exmoor Hundred; Survival skills: Sore legs and feeling sick; PART V: RIVER DEEP MOUNTAIN HIGH; 16 The Welsh 3000s: 15 Peaks in One Day; Brief route and schedule; Foel-fras to Snowdon with extra fun; 17 The Lakes at Length: Lakes 3000s and Old County Tops; Stuffing the daffodils; Lakes 3000s brief route and schedule; Old County Tops brief route and schedule; 18 The Cairngorm 4000s: Five Granite Giants in a Day; Brief route and schedule; Getting the wind up; 19 The Mourne Seven Sevens: All Northern Irelands 700m Peaks; Brief route and schedule; Mourne is never less; 20 Tranters Walk: 18 Munros around Glen Nevis; The freedom to fall; Brief route and schedule; 21 Start/Finish; Appendix 1 Information and Internet; Appendix 2 Walks Summary; Index
Ronald Turnbull lives close to the Carsphairn and Lowther Hills. He was one of the first people to walk the Southern Upland Way. He is a runner as well as a walker, and in 1986 was awarded the Long Distance Trophy of the Fell Running Association for a non stop journey over the 148 hills of Southern Scotland. Outside the Southern Uplands he walks, climbs and runs in the Highlands and sometimes in England.
'This is another excellent guide by Cicerone in which Ronald Turnbull takes a look both serious and humorous at what it takes to do a long-distance or challenge walk. Ronald, veteran of many a long-distance and challenge walk intersperses sound advice with wry recollections of his experience of the National Three Peaks Challenge and other such routes throughout the British Isles. For aspiring or novice long-distance walkers, this guide provides tips on how to minimise the suffering, to stay safe, to raise money for charity perhaps, and to find a surprising amount of enjoyment along the way. Old hands will enjoy comparing their experiences with the author's reminiscences of the highs and lows of long-distance routes.' (Keswick Reminder / March 2007)'Extensive tips are given, including on how to approach the challenges, safety, raising money for charity and enjoying the experiences.The style is light although the seriousness of the challenges is conveyed. Interspersed throughout the text are Turnbull's experiences and reminiscences, many of them in a humerous vien. It is evident that he is a member of the Fell Runners' Association.For anyone with an interest in challenge walks, this is an interesting, amusing and informative read.'(Irish Mountain Log / Summer 2007)
