Country Walking

Country Walking Magazine shows you the best of British walks: the biggest views, the hidden gems, the sea cliffs and the mountain summits. All our features come complete with superb writing, inspiring photography and step-by-step instructions so you can follow every footpath yourself. In every issue, you’ll find: - In-depth stories of amazing walks - A booklet of 25 pull-out walks every issue - with OS maps! - Information about hotels, pubs, cafes, tearooms. - Clear, jargon-free tests of walking kit And... every issue our readers tell their walking stories, help us devise new walks and shape the places we go to. If you love walking, this is the magazine for you.

Welcome

IN THIS ISSUE…

The fisher king

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS MONTH

CAUGHT OUR EYE Dnsys X1 Exoskeleton

HOW TO CROSS A RIVER

DID YOU KNOW?

LOST IN A GOOD BOOK

The hardestwalking band in showbiz • Dorset-loving folk duo Ninebarrow talk walks, writing guidebooks, caring for their very own woodland… and now, parenthood.

THREE QUESTIONS WE ASK EVERYONE

NEWCASTLE • With Northern Ireland’s highest mountains towering above it, and with beaches, forests and nature reserves aplenty, Newcastle is one of the premier walking destinations west of the Irish Sea.

The magic of WALKING & TALKING • What’s the most memorable conversation you’ve ever had on a walk?

Have cat, will travel! • How are you doing your Walk 1000 Miles? There’s no right way to do — or rather EVERY way to do it is the right way, as Carla McCone and her Wainwright-bagging cat Laszlo so wonderfully demonstrate.

Look great, feel amazing, earn a medal!

Gear for heroes

‘Walking has saved my life’ • Elaine Simmons, 55, from Somerset tells us how she walked from homelessness to happiness, with the help of Walk 1000 Miles.

Walk of the month!

Let’s go golden badger hunting • Spice up your miles with one of our mini-challenges and you could win a money-can’t-buy Golden Badger* — this lot have just discovered they have!

5 new ways to win gold

Country Walking: with you all the way

Your View

Views in brief

Stuart Maconie • Why Stuart’s mileage has taken a sudden plummet - and he’s grateful for our cities as well as our country.

The BEST THINGS in life • Are three: boots, beer, big views. The quest for happiness is at an end: we found it — on the best pub walk in every national park.

The greatest pub crawl?

Plan your trip

The greatest ridge of all

Blue lagoons, white sands

That many donkeys can’t be wrong

Gold in the hills

Bure and simple

Friends in high places

A devilishly good day

The capital of epic conviviality

How green is my valley

On the dragon’s back

Hitting the wall

The water of life

A taste of Everest

A walk that packs a punch

D-DAY: THE DRY RUN • It’s 80 years since Allied Forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, but they practised first on the sands of Dorset

Plan your trip

D-DAY: AROUND BRITAIN • In the year before Operation Overlord, the business of war touched many peaceful parts of Britain.

Orchid fever • Nature has never conceived a more bewitching - or bawdy - treasure than the dazzling orchid family. Right now every walk's a hunt.

Going on an orchid hunt…

You can leave your hat on • Ancient markings, alien abductions, poetic graffiti, stone circles, Victorian mindfulness, Charles Darwin in a plunge pool… and the most famous song in Yorkshire. Welcome to the beautiful and slightly bonkers world of Ilkley Moor.

The Ilkley Alien

Plan your trip

Tea break

PRIZE CROSSWORD

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