New MBA bothy on the isle of Jura

May 21st, 2012 in Cicerone Authors by Lesley

Cruib Lodge Bothy, Jura.

Welcome news for anyone planning to walk the wild west coast of Jura this year – the Mountain Bothies Association has recently completed the initial phase of renovating the Cruib lodge bothy on the north shore of Loch Tarbert, replacing windows and doors and weatherproofing the structure. The bothy, which is on the Ruantallain Estate, has been open to walkers for many years, but had fallen into disrepair. Happily, the estate agreed to the MBA taking over maintenance of this beautifully located bothy. If you’re planning to stay at the bothy during the deer stalking season – between July and February, please contact the head gamekeeper, Craig Rozga, at the Ruantallain Estate, 01496 820287.

The MBA also maintains the bothy at Glengarrisdale on the north-west coast, while there is also an estate bothy at Ruantallain near the mouth of Loch Tarbert, which makes a bothy-to-bothy walk around the west coast an enticing prospect for lightweight backpackers.

Our thanks to Peter Edwards, author of the Cicerone guidebook to Jura, Islay and Colonsay for this update information.

Loch Tarbert, from the Cruib Lodge Bothy, Jura

Comments Off


A great trip along the Pennine Bridleway

May 18th, 2012 in Cicerone Office by Sarah

This past Easter weekend we fancied a long mountain bike ride away from our usual trails in the Lake District. For a while I’d had my eye on the northern section of the Pennine Bridleway running from the top of the Mary Townley Loop (MTL) back to Newby Head near Dent.

I marked up the route and worked out we could do about 50 miles per day with a stopover in Settle, travelling pretty light if we stayed in a B&B with just a change of clothes for the evening.

Good Friday evening we boarded the train at Oxenholme for Accrington and cycled to my parent’s house in the Rossendale Valley. Early Saturday morning we rode some trails from my youth to rejoin the MTL near Fearns School, Waterfoot. Start of the Rossendale & Pendle Mountain Rescue Team MTL Challenge.

We followed the MTL clockwise on a section I’d ridden a few times before and remembered for the sheer number of gates. Taking turns to open and ride through we soon got onto the open moorland trails and over Worsthorne Moor to Hurstwood Reservoir.

Not far along here the Pennine Bridleway North splits off from the MTL over Extwistle Moor. On the map this was just a featureless moorland with no trails marked so I was keen to see what we’d be crossing over, imagining shouldering the bikes and carrying over boggy moorland. I couldn’t have been more wrong, the new trails that have been built were nice wide gravel tracks, well drained and with great swooping bends to tame the steep contours. Fantastic!

We carried on to the quaint village of Wycoller, somewhere I’d heard of many times but never visited. There’s a great tea-room at the Craft Centre with a roaring fire and a great selection of local foods and cake. Unfortunately it was pretty full inside and we were a bit muddy so opted to sit outside in the weak sunshine. Read the rest of this entry »

Comments Off


Take a look at the winning entries of our recent photo competition

May 17th, 2012 in Uncategorized by Sarah

I’ve just spent a very happy hour picking the winning photographs entered in our recent Swiss Alps themed competition.

We had a fantastic selection of photos entered to choose from, and it was really difficult to pick out just three winners.

Anyway, a choice had to be made. The winning photographs entered are:

First prize

Second prize

Third prize

Have you entered the latest Cicerone competition? Check out the great bundle of prizes up for grabs in our new competition.

No Comments »


Powerful stuff – energy drinks for climbers!

May 8th, 2012 in Cicerone Office by Lesley

Our thanks to Stuart, manager of the St Andrews branch of Waterstones, who sent us this brief review…

1850s energy drinks

“British climbing has always been full of eccentric characters. Probably starting with Albert Smith who climbed Mont Blanc in 1851. Essential equipment included: 93 bottles of wine and 3 of cognac. Unjustifiable Risk? is an absolutely fascinating book and surprisingly readable. A must for any armchair mountaineer.”

 
More little gems from the book will be posted on our blog in the next week or two… or you could get the book now! Only £9.99 in paperback – less with our May 2012 discount offer.

Comments Off


New Wales Coast Path – 870 miles of spectacular Welsh coastline

May 3rd, 2012 in Book Catalogue by Sarah

This Saturday sees the official opening of the new Wales Coast Path – the longest continuous coastal path around a country. The new path runs for 870 miles through spectacular coastal scenery from Chester in the north to Chepstow in the south east.

Along the way the new path follows established routes such as the Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail and Lleyn Peninsula Coastal Path. And to help you find your way, a new waymarker has been created that can be seen along the whole of the Wales Coast Path.

If 870 miles isn’t quite long enough. When you arrive in at the finish in Chepstow, there’s the option of walking Offa’s Dyke Path to create a total circumnavigation of Wales extending to more than 1000 miles.

Comments Off


Explore the Hebrides with Cicerone

May 2nd, 2012 in Cicerone Authors by Sarah

Cicerone author, Peter Edwards, got in touch to tell us about his recent research trip to the Outer Hebrides and the Isle of Skye. Peter is currently undertaking the ‘fieldwork’ for his forthcoming walking guide to the Hebrides. This will be a medium format guide in Cicerone’s ‘inspirational’ guidebook series, in the mould of the Great Mountain Days books.

With the impending publication (mid-June) of Peter’s guide to Walking on Rum and the Small Isles and Mike Townsend’s Walking on Uist and Barra, Cicerone’s guidebook coverage of the various island groups comprising the Hebrides will be complete. Furthermore, Richard Barrett’s Cycling in the Hebrides, also published in June covers the Inner and Outer Hebrides in one fell swoop.

Together with his wife, Fiona, and their labrador, Dougal, Peter undertook a number of day walks and two-day backpacks throughout on Barra, South Uist, Berneray, Harris, Lewis and Skye. Read the rest of this entry »

Comments Off


Scottish Islands Explorer magazine

April 27th, 2012 in Cicerone Office by Sarah

The Scottish islands are spectacular places which enchant their many visitors and their few hardy inhabitants. The beauty of these inhospitable islands combined with their rich history makes them fascinating places to visit and learn about.

So we’re really pleased to announce that Cicerone has teamed up with the Scottish Islands Explorer magazine to bring you a fantastic new offer.

The Scottish Islands Explorer is full of human stories and useful facts about the Scottish Islands. There’s information on everything from archaeological digs to island wildlife; an enjoyable way to learn more about the area’s people and places before you visit.

From now until the 30 June each new subscriber to Scottish Islands Explorer magazine will receive a free Cicerone guidebook.

There are four Cicerone books available to choose from, each one covering walks on different islands, including the Isle of Mull and the Isle of Skye.

The magazines will be delivered straight to your door and, armed with a Cicerone guidebook, you’ll soon be inspired to get out and explore.

Comments Off


Take a ride on the Lakeland Fellranger bus

April 19th, 2012 in Cicerone Authors by Sarah

It’s springtime in Grasmere and crowds flock to the lakeland village to see Wordsworth’s daffodils and sample the famous gingerbread. But today the town played host to a few more unusual visitors…

Cicerone author Mark Richards was in Grasmere this morning to see the newly painted Lakeland Fellranger bus.

A 559 Stagecoach bus has been named after Mark’s popular series of Lakeland Fellranger guidebooks to the Lake District, and painted with a new design to showcase the Cicerone guides and the fells they explore. It even has Mark’s face on the back!

The bus is part of Stagecoach’s ongoing effort to promote their Lakeland bus services as a great (and green) way to explore the fells.  Mark has long been an advocate of using public transport to access the area and many of the walks in his guides link up with handy bus routes.

He has been eagerly anticipating the bus’s launch and was over the moon to see the finished product, “On a personal level, to have a bus named after my eight-part Lakeland Fellranger series published by Cicerone Press is rather special… This tie-in with Cicerone brings into focus a symbiotic relationship these buses can and should have in the minds of active visitors and this amazing mountain landscape.” Said Mark.

After a morning spent posing for photos, the 559 went back to ferrying passengers up and down the scenic road from Bowness to Grasmere.

Mark also has a busy summer ahead of him – with 6 fellranger guides already out and another – The Northern Fells – due to be published later this year, he is busy exploring and writing for the final guide in the series, the Far-Eastern fells.

So if you’re lucky enough to be out and about in the Lake District this summer, keep an eye out for the Fellranger bus, you could even hop on for a ride!

Comments Off


MTB Yorkshire Dales – Ribblehead and Cam High Road

April 4th, 2012 in Book Catalogue, Cicerone Office by Sarah

At Cicerone we’re always surrounded by temping new guidebooks of places near and far to head for a walk, trek or bike ride.

With time to get away for a week or more restricted to once or twice a year, it’s always of great interest when we publish a new local guidebook. I soon snaffled the advance copy of Mountain Biking in the Yorkshire Dales that arrived just as recent the spell of good weather appeared.

With the Yorkshire Dales on our doorstep we’ve already done a lot of mountain biking there, but we’re always on the look out for new rides or different ways to link up routes we already know.

After a quick flick through the book, we picked route 3 – Ribblehead and the Cam High Road.

We parked up at Ribblehead, with the formidable viaduct in the background and the sun on our backs.

A short ride along the road towards Hawes soon ended with the first off-road section over Gayle Moor. A short spin on the tarmac took us to the start of the next section, which is also part of the Pennine Bridleway.

The views were stunning as we climbed steadily on a good track all the way to the top. From here, a fast and fun descent of the Cam High Road took us back to the road to retrace our steps back to the car.

All in all, a cracking ride, and one I’ll definitely do again…

Comments Off


Tell us your story – The GR5 Trail

April 3rd, 2012 in Book Catalogue, Tell Us Your Story by Sarah

Last year we decided to walk the Traverse of the Alps, from Thonon on Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean coast at Nice, 420 miles across the high Alps, mainly in France but crossing into Switzerland for part of the walk and hugging the French/Italian border in places.

The walk is part of the much-longer GR5 Trail which starts on the Hook of Holland, but the Alps section is considered to be one of the most spectacular long-distance hikes of Europe, a description which we would totally endorse.

We had originally planned to walk the Tour of Mont Blanc, but my husband felt that this might be too strenuous for me so we opted instead for the ‘Traverse’, and the motto for this is….never, ever listen to your husband.

The GR5 Trail

Mont Blanc from Col d'Anterne

We decided to do the walk in two parts, the first 200 miles to Modane in the Vanoise National Park in June and then returning in September to tackle the second part from where we left off, the theory being that we would avoid the hottest time in the Alps of July and August.  This theory also proved to be slightly wrong as it was very warm for both parts of our trip but with little wet weather to speak of we consider ourselves very lucky as in total we were walking for 30 days, mostly at heights between 1400 and 2400 metres.

We booked all of our accommodation prior to setting off, a mix of hotels, guest houses, as well as a sprinkling of mountain huts, the latter all with basic washing and dormitory facilities, and, as we were to discover, an incredible range of excellent food, produced from goodness knows where. Read the rest of this entry »

Comments Off


« Older Entries

New Titles from Cicerone

Chamonix Mountain Adventures Chamonix Mountain Adventures
Handy guidebook to mountain activities based in Chamonix in the French Alps. Selections of graded routes described for walking, trekking, mountaineering, mountain biking, road cycling, via ferratas, rock climbing and bouldering, with clear advice for novices for each activity. Adventures to fill an exciting trip for everyone to the Chamonix area. More »
Great Mountain Days in Scotland Great Mountain Days in Scotland
Inspirational guidebook to 50 challenging routes for mountaineers, scramblers, hillwalkers and fell runners, many long enough to backpack over 2 days, especially in winter (12 to 25 miles). A mix of classic routes and unsung gems across Scotland from Galloway to the Outer Hebrides in widely differing wild landscapes. With customised OS mapping. More »

» More new titles
» Coming Soon

The Cicerone e-newsletter

This issue:

Polar Exploration, The High Atlas and much more

The latest news from Cicerone

Subscribe to our enewsletter for the latest information, tips, competitions and much more.

Site by OUTSRC