back to Book Reviews
ISBN: 978-0-7112-3175-7
Published by Frances
Lincoln £13.99 (£11.20 to Members)
Following publication of the seven Pictorial Guides,
AW received requests ‘from fellwalkers now in
the sere and yellow, old-timers who have climbed
all the lofty peaks and still cannot be persuaded to
send their boots to a rummage sale, whose fires
of enthusiasm for the hills are unquenchable, but
who for one reason or another can no longer drag
themselves up Scafell or Gable ...’
Outlying Fells was written as a result and published
in 1974. This has now been revised by Chris Jesty,
as he did for the Pictorial Guides, after re-walking
the routes to provide an up-to-date guide of the
fifty-six walks included by AW.
One useful new feature, making it easier to
navigate round the book, is the numbering of all
the walks at the beginning of the book, with the
numbers and names included on the map on page
xvi. As in the PG revisions, the main routes are
picked out in red on the maps and new items such
as car parks have been incorporated into both the
text and the maps.
Last year, Society members walked these routes
as part of the Best of the Rest Challenge and a
number commented in their reports on features of
the routes they had found to have changed since
AW’s day. These changes were notified to the
publishers and included in Chris’s revision.
Of his personal highlights, Chris has picked out
Scout Scar, Potter Fell, Whitbarrow, Beacon Fell,
Stickle Pike, Whit Fell and Heughscar Hill for
especial mention. As indicated on page 32 of this
issue, Scout Scar was much admired by AW and
will be visited on the Society walk in August next
year.
For days when the weather puts the higher fells
out of bounds or when you want a shorter halfday
or evening walk, this guide provides a range
of excellent options. In view of the large number
of amendments in this revised edition needed to
reflect changes that have taken place to routes over
the last thirty-eight years, I consider this book to be
a very useful acquisition for walkers, even if they
already have the original guide.
John Burland -
Member No. 2
