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…

On the cover

Find a great walk near you! • Highlights from the 27 fantastic walks in this issue…

The View • SIGHTS | SOUNDS | WONDERS | IDEAS | COOL STUFF

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS MONTH

Muck Boot Arctic Sport II Tall

Potted history of SNICKERS

‘Walking teaches us the importance of being ‘unproductive’ once in a while.’ • Broadcaster, author and Winter Walks star Nihal Arthanayake on walking, talking and the joy of wandering aimlessly…

THREE QUICK QUESTIONS

BAKEWELL • Tuck into appetising walks over moor and dale from an idyllic Peak District town on Derbyshire's River Wye.

Make every day add up to more • There's no dead time or dull day ahead in a #walk1000miles challenger's 2023 – a year filled with pleasure and purpose. You can start any time: walk1000miles.co.uk/signup

Welcome to the world of #minichallenges! • Spice up your miles with one of our quests this month, post the result in the challenge Facebook group and our favourite 20 #minichallenge completers will win a Golden Badge! You have until 2 February for this crop.

Your View

Into the light

Map leading

On the nautical list

A fresh start

Views in brief

It's a traves-tea

Where's Kes? • Every month our favourite spaniel Kes goes walkies somewhere in the issue, and we want him back! Can you help find Kes?

Stuart Maconie • From Cumbrian Dregpike to Hereford Twiggywitch, I'm utterly under the spell of British Cryptids…

Everyday Wonders • There's a bit of a myth going round about wonder, which walking is fantastic at clearing up: that it lies at the end of a difficult or expensive quest a long way from where you started.

What'll it be? • Country Walking salutes the pub walk: the ultimate definition of the Everyday Wonder.

THE BLUE PINT POT

Plan your trip

In flight entertainment • With a chance to see on every walk, how lucky we are such fascinating and characterful birds are the UK's commonest.

CREAM OF THE CROP

KING OF THE BIRDS

THE CHRISTMAS STAR

Grand plans • spellbinding, plan-forming, vertigo-inducing; works of art, science and history there's nothing like getting lost in a map.

Mistakes were made

Maps were drawn in secret

The loyal air force • Some of the most dependable and delightful details of an everyday walk, our common insect friends boast more variety (and better aerobatics) than any air force.

Sky walker • It's where we look for signs and wonders and the backdrop to all our adventures. We go for a walk in the sky as much as the country, reckons CW photographer Tom Bailey.

Branches everywhere • Useful, beautiful, noble, long-lived; individual, yet fraternal. No wonder walkers feel a kinship with trees.

‘Blooming great bucolic things, FULL OF LIFE’ • Beautiful, bountiful and phenomenally biodiverse, hedgerows are the widespread yet under-loved wonders of our countryside.

Cut and pleach: a potted guide to...