The Great Outdoors - UK (2021-08)

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August 2021 The Great Outdoors 3

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James Forrest (centre) and friends Sarah and Harrison get the giggles on Fleetwith Pike(p 34 )

DESPITE what the famous Merseyside-

adopted anthem will tell you, walkingalone has

its merits.

Roaming alone for a day or two can be a

powerful antidote to the stresses and strains of

workadaylife, and longer solo journeys canbe

hugely empowering experiences. e features we carryon these

pages are oen of the solo sort, too,with our contributors drawing

on the introspective insight which comes from journeying alone

(if you missedUrsula Martin’sfeature on her walk through

pandemic-hit Europe in the last [July] issue, for example, stop

whatever you’re doing and order a back issue now!)

But in this issue, we celebrate the communaldimension of the

outdoorexperience. Weall know what a long and lonely slog the

last year and a half has been, but inthe pages ofthis edition, at

least, we’veaimed to give you a doseof someof things we’vebeen

missing: camaraderie, companionship, community, connection

and friendship.

Many people enjoy the outdoors primarily or in part through

walking groups, hiking clubs, orgroups of friends, and even

diehard loners oen draw on a larger communityfor advice and

inspiration. Voluntary organisations likeMountain Rescue are

founded ona sense of shared experience; the understanding that

we’reall in together when we go into wild places, and no one

should be le behind.

Shared experience

e perenniallypopular Lake District is emblazoned in big

letters on the front cover, and James Forrest’sfeature on p

(illustrated with some greatphotography by Jessie Leong)

certainly does a wonderful job of conjuring that beguiling

Lakeland atmosphere – butit’salso a celebration of the simple joy

of walking, camping, joking andlaughing with a group of friends

in a beautiful place.

Elsewhere, Pete Macfarlane heads to the Arrochar Alps totake a

friend wild camping inthe mountains forthe first time (p42), and

PeterElia uses a horseback journey through the spectacular

mountain of Kyrgyzstan to look back at the truly life-changing

consequences of joining a walking group. Jessie Leong appears

again to describea backpacking trip with friendsto the north-

westerly tipof Iceland, while Hanna Lindon delves into the

wonderfuldiversityof modern hiking clubs (p12).

ere’slots more, of course: we kick offa new ‘Route of the

month’feature with an in-depth profile of Tryfan(p16), test GPS

watches (p80), delve into declining biodiversity in national parks

(p18) and give our usual round-up ofmappedwalking routes

across the UK (p86) to name just a few of the other goodies you’ll

find in these pages. Have fun!

Carey Davies, Editor

@carey_davies

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