About Me and My Site 

I discovered the pleasure of walking in my late teens thanks to an enthusiastic father-in-law to be.

Most of my walking has been and will continue to be in the Yorkshire area, especially the Dales because that is close to my home but I also love the Lake District, The North Yorkshire Moors and The Peak District.

It was only in 2011 that I decided to put this site together partly to make use of the prolific number of photographs I have started to take since the dawning of digital cameras but also because of the number of times I have seen see walkers struggling to find routes using books. I have also lost count of the number of times I have been the victim of friends' attempts to lead walks this way. Almost without exception, relying on a book alone has resulted in uncertainty about the correct route and led to delays and backtracking. I wanted to see if I could do better.

There are hundreds of walking books on the market and many have interesting information about the areas in which the walks are situated. However, they are often not a practical resource for use in the field. Direction instructions are often immersed in a multitude of other information. Some contain very attractive drawings or sketch maps but are difficult to relate to reliably on the ground.

Books are heavy to carry, awkward to use and easy to spoil in adverse weather.

Some of the directions are so poor that I seriously wonder if the authors have actually walked the routes at all. I can assure you that I have walked every inch of the walks I describe. I make detailed notes on my mobile phone as I go and try to ensure my directions are logical and make a practical back-up to maps.

I am a big believer in using maps to guide walks and my walks usually have been worked out directly from maps rather than from books. Britain is very fortunate in having the best mapping resource in the world, namely maps produced by the Ordnance Survey (OS). The best resource you can have for walking is a 1:25000 scale OS map. See the Finding You Way page. They give information on many more routes in an area than any book of equivalent cost. They can be folded to show the area of your walk  and protected inside a map case.  Some think they are expensive but in reality they cost no more than a round of drinks for two, sometimes less - depending on what you drink!. Looked after they can last years and are very good value for money.

A possible exception in terms of books is the Pathfinder Guide series where at least you get a section of the Ordnance Survey map relevant to the walk.

By all means, use books to  find a walk which sounds attractive to you but work out the route on a map then use this whilst actually doing the walk. I never cease to be surprised by the number of people who seem reluctant to get to grips with maps and compasses. They seem to think they represent some mysterious dark art beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals. Believe me, if I can use a map and compass, anyone can!

My hope is that visitors to the site will be able to quickly find walks to their liking based on distance and severity and will be able to use the directions I have provided preferably in conjunction with an OS map to avoid the annoyance and potentially the dangers of getting lost. For copyright reasons, I cannot reproduce sections of OS maps (other than the dynamic OS maps using the Ordnance Survey Open Data facility) but I have included sketch maps which will enable you to easily identify the same routes on them. I have also included a direct link to the relevant maps at Amazon where you can order them on line.

I have included in the site advice on using maps and compasses in the Finding Your Way section and various other areas related to walking - see the links in the panel down the left hand side.

I hope visitors find this site of use and I would ask you to tell your walking friends about it as I would like to think the effort I am putting in (which is not inconsiderable) is worthwhile. Feedback on individual walks is appreciated.

If you have any interest in the technical issues about the site itself, click - Technical Stuff

To see my Privacy and Cookie Policy, click the link.

Regards

John Kelly

All information on this site is given in good faith and no liability is accepted in respect of any damage, loss or injury which might result from acting on it.