New: The Threlkeld Walking Companion

if you were to press me on my first love - after the Lakes - then it's walking. It has been a mainstay of my life for the best part of two decades. And it has been a lifeline during the various lockdowns.

So I'm delighted to announce the publication of a new line of walking guidebooks for 2021, the first being The Threlkeld Walking Companion.

The glossy A5 guide features 18 fell, meadow, woodland and riverside walks of between 1 1/2 and 16 miles by veteran guidebook writer, apprentice of Alfred Wainwright, and Countrystride presenter Mark Richards.

Classic ascents of Blencathra, Skiddaw, High Rigg, Latrigg and Clough Head are paired with explorations of remote valleys, coffin routes, bronze age sites and Lakeland’s highest mountain pass.

Heritage highlights and insights are provided by local historian and former National Park warden Donald Angus. (We interviewed him for Countrystride episode 55).

At IbL we've always believed in supporting local. So The Threlkeld Walking Companion is published in Naddle, printed in Penrith and its profits are circulated in the valley, raising funds for the community-owned Threlkeld Village Hall and Coffee Shop.

The 64-page book includes detailed mapping and is supplied with GPX routes for each walk.

My favourite? The long walk to Sticks Pass via lonely Dowthwaitehead - to my mind one of the north Lakes' finest expeditions.

You can find out more about the Walking Companion here.