Country Walking Magazine

...(and dales, and coasts and country lanes).

Although it is unashamedly aimed at the ‘pleasure’ angle of walking (if you want the ‘adventure’ end of the spectrum, check out the sister mag “Trail”), CW should not be dismissed as an ‘oldies and novices’ guide. There’s a lot of interesting and helpful information for the experienced as well.

What it’s always been ...
...of walking: new routes, information from the National Parks, changes in the law and clarification on existing regulations;

 product reviews: personally my interest is limited to the basic five (boots, pack, waterproofs, map & compass) but if you need to know the wicking factor of your vest or which is the best all-weather sock, I’m sure CW can tell you;

 reader holidays – from long weekends ... more

Waxing lyrical on a magazine that is intended to be primarily practical is clearly inappropriate, so let’s stick to the evidence, though some of what follows is necessarily subjective.

Cost: £3.20 per monthly issue, but with frequent discounts and/or offers for subscribers. Approximately 120 pages, of which about 15 are adverts. I’ve not studied the ‘national average’ for this particular statistic, but on a purely intuitive basis this feels like a good result. The advertising itself is all relevant and is well ordered.

So what do you get?

Most of what you’d want from your local expert – if you were lucky enough to have one versed not only in the local routes, but also the geology, flora, fauna, history, mythology, local gossip, best food & drinkeries, the best views & the time of day to capture them, who might have been inspired by them: the whole Who What When How Where & Why.

As a subscriber of several years standing I watched the near-terminal decline of the magazine as it lapsed into a coma of rehashed routes and boring boot tests. I’m pleased to say the patient has recovered, is fighting fit and back out on the hills (and dales, and coasts and country lanes).

Although it is unashamedly aimed at the ‘pleasure’ angle of walking (if you want the ‘adventure’ end of the spectrum, check out the sister mag “Trail”), CW should not be dismissed as an ‘oldies and novices’ guide. There’s a lot of interesting and helpful information for the experienced as well.

What it’s always been good at:-

 news from the world of walking: new routes, information from the National Parks, changes in the law and clarification on existing regulations;

 product reviews: personally my interest is limited to the basic five (boots, pack, waterproofs, map & compass) but if you need to know the wicking factor of your vest or which is the best all-weather sock, I’m sure CW can tell you;

 reader holidays – from long weekends in the UK to longer trips in some of the best walking in the world: on personal experience these trips have to be among the best around. They are not cheap, but they are virtually all-inclusive (with the usual exceptions), exceptionally well-organised, brilliant walking and great fun. That they try to stay out of the hotspots and to support the local economy of wherever they are is also a bonus in my book;

What it’s got better at:

 more route ideas per issue and more background information on them (history, wildlife etc);

 better photography and more inspired (& therefore inspiring) writing;

 seasonality: as a townie who can barely tell a sparrow from a crow I love the ‘Month in the Country’ and ‘Birds’ pages;

 practicalities: the ‘How To’ sections had become quite trite, but they too have been revived and we now have real advice on everything from fitness to photography, Pete Hawkins teaching the finer points of navigation (even to those of us who consider getting lost a much-maligned art-form), even a sensible article on how to wee in the woods. I have to applaud the last because other than the accompanying drawing they pulled it off with no evident tongue in cheek.

Don’t let all this leave you thinking that the magazine takes itself too seriously though. There is still room for humour and all the other things close to a walker’s heart: decent accommodation, food and beverages (quite possibly in that order).

What’s not so hot?

I’d hate to have the crew resting on their laurels when there is still work to be done. The section that I personally get most use out of is the one that is probably still the weakest. “Down Your Way” is a monthly pull-out-and-keep of approximately 25 walks scattered around the country. Used the way I use it, as a ‘where to start’ crib sheet: it is brilliant. Used as intended by the publishers, possibly less so. My reservations are:

 Not so much a pull out and keep, as a pull out, use and discard. I would not advocate keeping any edition for more than two years. Routes move, get built on, cease to be permissive paths etc. Meeting a five-bed executive house is marginally less threatening than an angry bull, but no less annoying. On the other hand, most routes or close cousins thereof, will (re)appear every couple of years. The problem is that there is no indicator of shelf-life for these routes. From the magazine alone, you’ve no idea whether you’re going to be on public footpaths, permissive paths, or whatever. If you’ve saved routes for a holiday, you may not have the map to hand to check until it’s too late.

 Maps. OK we are spoiled by having, in the OS, indisputably the best mapping agency in the world. Please, CW, do a deal with them! Hand-drawn sketches just don’t quite cut it. In fairness they do quote the relevant OS map numbers and I’m sure would never advocate your venturing out without one. Sadly the people most likely to do so are the novices who think they can read off a sketch.

Interestingly the maps used in the body of the magazine are of much better quality.

 Checking. These routes seem to be published as submitted and a surprising number of their contributors don’t know their right from their left. There are times to follow your instincts rather than your guide ~ fine for those of us who know what we’re doing, downright dangerous for those who don’t.

 Distances. A quibble really, but I’d like to see a wider range of distances covered in each issue. Even those of us who aren’t Bonnington or Brasher, yes even those of us who live in the flatlands, like a challenge now and again.

 Public Transport. Still not getting there on this one. The latest issue had a fifth of the routes stating ‘none’ against the Public Transport information, despite the fact that the one on my home turf has an hourly bus service passing just over half a mile from the nearest point of the route. Hardly a huge add-on for a four-mile walk. Yes, this was a special ‘families’ issue with walks shorter than normal, but an extra mile or two will not be noticed by a frolicking child (so long as you don’t tell them until afterwards). In general terms I’m still lobbying for a compulsory note on the nearest bus/train stop to any point of the route with an indicator of distance between the two.

In the last year or so great efforts have been made to ‘get closer to the customer’ and CW has become a lot more interactive, engaging with their readers by means of surveys, spot-polls, and walks, and a much more pro-active ‘what do you want from us’ approach which will hopefully mean the improvements continue.

On balance, the magazine has made great strides in the last couple of years. It will never be a substitute for doing your own planning and mapping, but it’s very readable and as an ideas resource it is becoming unbeatable.

hiker@Ciao
7.8.04
 

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