APRIL 2012
The walk that The only boots INSIDE: Never changed history you’ll ever need? get lost again! Tackle a Peak District classic
TESTED: 16 top fabric boots
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ISSUE 300 ¤ SEVEN WONDERS OF BRITAIN ¤ COAST TO COAST PART 2 ¤ KINDER TRESPASS REVISITED ¤ NAVIGATION FOR BEGINNERS ¤ FABRIC BOOT TEST
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The
WONDERS OF BRITAIN
Are these Britain’s greatest ever landscapes? Stuart Maconie says so – but we’re rather hoping you’ll disagree…
10 COUNTRY WALKING APRIL 2012
G
RAB ANY BUNCH of walkers, sit them around a crackling pub fire, oil liberally with real ale or sloe gin, and then pose the question… what are Britain’s all-time-great bits of scenery? To celebrate Country Walking’s 25th birthday this May, we are launching a major poll to find the nation’s ‘Seven Wonders’: they could be lakes or mountains, clifftops or castles, chalk horses or standing stones. They can be natural or man-made, so long as they make you go “wow!” To whet your appetite, we’ve asked ace Country Walking columnist Stuart Maconie to share his personal top seven – but what about yours? Turn to page 17 to cast your votes – the results will be revealed in our special issue in May, and there’s a fantastic holiday for the letter or email we like best.
WIN!
1
HADRIAN’S WALL NORTHUMBERLAND
“First off, I must apologise to Scotland for its glaring absence from this list. I don’t know it well enough to include its delights in my seven wonders. And I fully intend to see the misty stacks of St Kilda before I hang up my boots. But let me at least pick somewhere that gazes longingly northward in that direction – although the men who patrolled Hadrian’s Wall were probably more wary than wondrous. “Two years ago, I walked the Wall from coast to coast, and the long-
distance path has many pleasures, from the bleak salt marshes of Cumbria to the glittering Tyne riverscape in Newcastle. But few would argue that the long, high middle section is the jewel. Up high on Whin Sill ridge, you can take in the Roman fort of Housesteads and the remote waters of Crag Lough. Or you can simply gaze across some of the most deliciously empty countryside in the land, and let the centuries whirl away with the clouds and the birdsong.”
A DREAM HOLIDAY See page 17
The walk: For the
best of the monument, aim west for 5km (3 miles) along the Hadrian’s Wall Path from Housesteads Fort, take the lane north at Steel Rigg and circle back on a parallel path via Peatrigg. u9km (5½ miles); OS Explorer OL43.
Photo: Tom Bailey
Let the centuries whirl away with the clouds and birdsong along Hadrian’s Wall.
Destinations | Peak District
�
Message IN A BOTTLE
KINDER TRESPASS: 80th ANNIVERSARY �
As historic walks go, it’s right up there with Nelson Mandela and Lazarus. Eighty years ago this month, 400 working-class heroes set out on the Kinder Trespass, and paved the way for every upland walk we’ve enjoyed since. Nick Hallissey strode off to trace their footprints – and dug up a very real piece of history on the way... Photography: Tom Bailey
Mists of time: Nick on the trail of the Kinder trespassers. He went looking for ghosts, he found a bottle.
APRIL 2012 COUNTRY WALKING 31
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FEBRUARY 2012 COUNTRY WALKING 43
Destinations | Coast to Coast
COAST COAST TO
Part Two: Keld to Robin Hood’s Bay
It’s Britain’s greatest long-distance walk, a two-week adventure through the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. Join us for the second half – from scintillating Swaledale to trail-end at the North Sea – then check out our complete guide to tackling it yourself. Words: Jenny Walters Photos: Tom Bailey
62 COUNTRY WALKING APRIL 2012
The tropical-looking water makes Jenny wonder which coast she’s walked to. (It’s Yorkshire. That’s the North Sea.)
PREVIOUSLY ON THE COAST TO COAST... Last month we walked from the Irish Sea at St Bees in Cumbria to the halfway point at Keld in Yorkshire – over high Lakeland fells, through the peat bogs of the Pennines, and into the Yorkshire Dales. There were blisters and storms, sunshine and sore legs, and seven incredible days in the hills. uCatch up on part one at lfto.com/ countrywalking (or call for back issues on 01858 438866).
APRIL 2012 COUNTRY WALKING 63
Welcome to the
COUNTRY WALKING GEAR REVIEWS This month the gear pages are a treat for your feet, as Steph and I review some of the best lightweight fabric boots for men and women – built for the warmer days of the year. Arming yourself with a pair of stiff, blister-inducing leather boots is a good plan if you’re tackling rough terrain on a wintry hill, but for the conditions you’ll face in spring and summer, a mixed-material boot is just the job. Pick the right pair and they should deliver comfort, versatility, flexibility, breathability and waterproofness. Don’t assume they’re easier to maintain than leather, though. My tips on page 59 should see you right.
Fabric boots P
repare for spring and summer with a pair of lightweight boots. Decent footwear is critical when you’re out on the trail, and top of most walkers’ kit lists is a pair of leather boots. Leather boots will keep your feet dry and warm throughout the year in most conditions, but for the warmer months, something a little lighter, cooler and less cumbersome can be useful. What’s more, a good pair of mixed-material boots may even serve you all year round. They tend to be a bit softer than full-leather boots, but if you’re not planning an Alpine assault, give them some serious thought. Contrary to popular belief, though, they’ll need a bit more looking after than their leather cousins.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR Andy Cremin, gear editor
This month I’ve mostly been testing in... uRobin Hood’s Stride, Derbyshire Putting fabric boots through their paces in the shining White Peak dales. uEpping Forest, Essex Slip-sliding around the claggier bits of this huge forest. uFotheringhay, Northamptonshire Mud-tastic riverside and farmland.
52 COUNTRY WALKING APRIL 2012
FIT The most important thing to look for when buying footwear is how the boots fit your feet. Every boot model is built around a different mould (or ‘last’), each with different widths and volumes. Although the actual size will be the same, the volume and width around the heel , in particular, will differ. The only way to work out which boot fits best is to try on a few models in a shop. Any good outdoor shop should employ bootfitting specialists, who will help you to find a pair that fit the shape of your feet perfectly.
GRIP The tread pattern in the sole, and the space and depth of the lugs in the tread, are what generates most grip. Deeper lugs will provide more grip in muddier conditions, but will wear away faster than shallower designs. Look for a heel brace, too, which helps provide grip on downhill stretches. Simply put, a heel brace is the part of the sole under the heel, where there is a break in the sole that normally leads to the arch of the shoe. This change in height adds an extra area to provide traction.
MATERIALS The boots tested over the coming pages are all lightweight and use a combination of materials in the upper – either mesh, fabric, suede leather or a combination thereof. Suede is used for its lightweight nature and breathability – also because its suppleness requires less breaking-in than full-grain leather. Fabric is generally used on the uppers, again as a lightweight, flexible option.
WATERPROOFING Better boots use a waterproof and breathable membrane underneath the outer fabric to help keep your feet dry. A membrane is more important on these mixed-fabric boots than on a full-grain leather pair, as they don’t have nearly as much natural water repellency. But having a Gore-Tex or equivalent lining isn’t the be-all and end-all of waterproofing. Boots should be cleaned and reproofed regularly to help the membrane function efficiently.
SUPPORT The amount of support you require depends on the kind of terrain you’re planning to walk across. A higher ankle cuff will provide more support and keep your ankle locked in place at the back of the boot, but may be too warm and restrictive for more casual use. Some boots on test here are designed with a midheight ankle that positions them somewhere between a boot and a shoe. They could be a good option if you’re looking for less support, perhaps because most of your walking is in gentle terrain.
USE A major thing to consider when buying walking boots is the type of walking you plan on doing. There is no point buying a pair of stiffas-ski-boot models, built to take a crampon and climb Alpine peaks, if you mostly walk in the UK away from the hills. Having said that, all the boots tested here are fine for use throughout Britain for most of the year. They aren’t really suitable for winter use when it’s really wet, though.
APRIL 2012 COUNTRY WALKING 53
Photo: Tom Bailey
FLEX The amount of flex in the sole of a boot is the main thing that determines the kind of terrain it’s suitable for. Generally speaking, the stiffer a boot, the higher you can go with it. A stiffer boot will provide a better barrier against uneven ground, but will be harder to break-in and could be less comfortable on harder ground. All the boots tested in the following pages are flexible enough to be used for general walking.
Get into
WALKING
78 COUNTRY WALKING APRIL 2012
Start to use your map:
ON THE TRAIL
Now you know your way around the map, here are some handy hints for using it on your walks.
Turn your map so that the illustrated features match the real-life features.
THUMB YOUR WAY Avoid getting lost by mentally ticking off features on the map as you walk past them. Keep your thumb on your route to keep track of your location. FOLLOW A HANDRAIL: ‘Handrailing’ is using a linear feature – coastline, river, wall, railway – to guide your steps. Find a river, say, that heads the way you want to go, then just follow beside it, using it like a handy handrail.
ORIENTATE YOUR MAP Orientating the map simply means turning it around so that the features – roads, buildings, hills, woods, rivers – match up with what’s really there on the ground. It’s one of the best tools for good navigation. Why? Because it’s easier to work out where you are if what you see on your map exactly reflects what you see before you. STEP 1: Take a look around and identify some features that might appear on your map, such as hills, buildings, fences, rivers, roads, cliff edges and lakes. STEP 2: Hold your map out in front of you and find these features. Once found, turn the map (not yourself) around until they match up exactly with the real-life features around you. Say you are on a path with a building left and a hill to the right. Turn your map round so that it also shows a building on your left and a hill on your right as you look down at it. In this way you can easily see from the map what features you will walk past next.
Turn your map around until the red north arrow on the compass lines up with the vertical gridlines.
STEP 3: When you change direction, keep the map orientated by turning it so that its features always match up with what’s around you. It doesn’t matter if words are upside down – reading the name of a river or hills matters less than knowing it’s in front, behind or beside you. USE YOUR COMPASS In mist or on a featureless moor? Set your compass dial to 0°, lay it on the map with its edge along a vertical grid line and arrows pointing to the top of the map, then rotate map and compass together until the red north end of the needle lines up with the grid lines. Your map is now facing north.
TIME YOUR STEPS: An average walker takes 15 minutes to walk one kilometre on easy-going terrain (in other words, to cross one grid square on the map). This can be handy when you’re looking for a turning one kilometre away – if you haven’t found it after 15 minutes, then chances are you’ve walked past it. For smaller distances, you obviously shorten the time – so 500m would take about seven minutes. But keep in mind that rough terrain and walking uphill or steeply downhill will all slow you down.
BECOME AN EXPERT Reader Lynn Davis says, “My walking buddy and I did a navigation course with Will4Adventure (will4adventure.com) last year and completed our Bronze NNAS award! We were complete beginners and I had no idea how to read an OS map, so I really recommend it. It makes a big difference to our walks now – we know where we are, where we’re going and how to spot surrounding hills and landmarks.”
DON’T PANIC!
TOP TIP
Practise navigation on a familiar route first. Take your map on a walk you know well (so you don’t need to worry about getting lost) and study how landscape and map match up – it’ll be second nature in no time!
APRIL 2012 COUNTRY WALKING 79
Photo: Tom Bailey
Got a nasty feeling you’re lost? Stop for a break, take a deep breath, then think about which features you’ve passed since your last known location and what you can see now. If you still can’t locate yourself, go back to where you were last fully confident about your position and try again.