Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

While on my recent trek to Wales, I spotted the quarterly Walking Wales Magazine. Confusingly, there also is a brochure published by the Welsh Tourist Board with almost the same title but that is a separate entity. While Scotland has TGO, Ireland has Walking World Ireland, and England has both Country Walking and Trail, Wales seems to have nothing apart from the slim compact periodical that I bought last Friday. However, it seems hard to get; the last time that I encountered an issue was while on an outing to Abergavenny a few years ago and I hadn’t seen one again until my visit to Dyffryn Ardudwy. Here’s a summary of what’s in the issue that I picked up (2007 Issue 2): feature articles on walking in the Wye Valley, in Gwydir Forest and among the Moelwynion, a "Great Walks" section sharing walks from around Wales, and news from the Welsh walking scene among other things. With content like this and an annual subscription costing only £12.95 and I must admit to being tempted, especially when I haven’t been seeing it on wider sale.

Having allowed it to lapse, I renewed my subscription to Country Walking, the magazine that let me in on places to walk in the British countryside, but this was not as easy as I thought it would be. These days, Emap is promoting direct debit payment for subscription to their magazines over and above credit card payment. Personally, I much rather the latter method because the idea of sending my bank account details over the internet doesn’t appeal to me, as secure as these things are these days. That said, the credit card option has become a little hard to find for Country Walking on greatmagazines.co.uk, Emap’s subscription store; in fact, I found it buried in the Spring Subscription Specials section after I had used the web address from the renewal reminder that they sent me. As appealing as the direct debit option is (cost spreading for the reader, continuation of revenue for the publisher), I still much prefer to pay by credit card.

I have recently started to catch up with my collection of unread photography magazines. I still limit myself to three per month and subscribe to two of these. The limitation is partly for the usual financial reasons and partly because there is only so many that you need anyway. I used to acquire Amateur Photographer every week but that stopped about a year ago because I felt that the monthly titles were sufficient. I also cannot justify buying digital photography magazines, or digital photography books for that matter, when the main titles cover both digital and film photography anyhow. These include Photography Monthly and Practical Photography but I have seen some sharp comments in the ePHOTOzine forums about the similarity in their content and the prevalence of landscape photography in their pages. There was a time when I stopped buying the former when it became too formulaic but the arrival of Will Cheung, ironically from PP, brought me back into the fold. These days, I find PM to be the more substantial of the two with plenty of meatier content. Landscape photography floats my photographic boat so it should not surprise you to read that Outdoor Photography is another of my staples. It started out life dedicated to landscape and wildlife photography but has since been extended to encompass travel photography. Now, what I really need to do is slow down, use a tripod and take my photography beyond the level at which it is right now…

My heading home to Ireland for a few days allowed me to catch up on my outdoor reading while on my travels (and in between the work needing to be done at my parent’s) and an odd thought struck me. Outdoor magazines like TGO, Walking World Ireland and Outdoor Photography do feature articles on the environment but suggestions as to public transport options for getting to locations for photography or walking do not get the mentions that I feel they should. Admittedly, Trail and Country Walking are better for this while TGO does try as well. One assumption might be that public transport is not up to the task and that is a point when you head off the beaten track, especially in Ireland. Another valid point is that public transport does not run according to the demands of landscape photography, for which the extremes of the day are best. However, I suspect that car-using writers simply do not get to mentioning other options for whatever reason. I have lost count of the numbers that I have seen the Traveline phone number, which to my mind suggests a certain lack of application. Maybe we need to make the point to them?

Here are a collection of hillwalking magazines that I have been known to peruse and I have subscriptions to all but the last in the list.

Country Walking

Though geared more towards the more leisurely walker, it does features hill country rambles along more low level walks. The website allows you to buy route descriptions as well as subscriptions.

TGO

More of a hillwalking and backpacking title than the above and with a definite Scottish flavour, this is the one I would have if I was only allowed one.

Walking World Ireland

The name says it all: the main focus is clearly on Ireland. If I ever get around to walking in my home country, this is from where my ideas could come. Sadly, the website is little more than an advert for the magazine; a missed opportunity to promote the island as a walking destination in my humble opinion.

Lakeland Walker

I first glimpsed this in Booth’s supermarket in Keswick and have been hooked ever since. These days however, I am beginning to wonder if my lakeland fill is being obtained from other sources.

Trail

Not a regular read of mine any more; the features became less interesting to me over time but regular route descriptions and outdoor equipment megatests could still attract my attention. The website is only there to sell route descriptions (no need to buy the magazine then) and subscriptions. If it sold test articles as well, that would be a real boon.