Product Description

"The Short Walks" series is devised for all the family to enjoy. Each guide features 20 routes of 1.5 to 5.5 miles, with the emphasis on maximising enjoyment and minimising fuss. Each easy-to-follow walk has points of interest for children, special features, refreshment stops and facilities, along with quality Ordnance Survey colour mapping and specially-commissioned photography, all in a durable, pocket-sized format.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23025 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 80 pages

Customer Reviews

A Word of Warning!
Having just come back from the Lake District and having used one of these guides for the first time, I have to say beware! This was my first time walking in the Lake disrtict so I thought it would be a good idea to have a guide, and having read the previous reviews on this book I thought I would make the purchase. However, a word of warning: some of these walks are described as easy - Latterbarrow for example, a smallish fell on the outskirts of Hawkshead is 244m/803ft high, and for me was an extremely strenuous climb up an uneven rocky path to the summit. There was also a fundamental flaw in the instructions to this walk, as the guide sugested you turn left at the main junction just along from the car park when in fact you should tun right!
On the other extreme, you have the Buttermere lakeside walk which is a pleasant flattish walk (around 4+ miles) which I found extremely easy, and yet this was classed as a moderate walk.
Another thing this guide doesn't give you which would be useful is the 'scare factor' of these walks. The Elterwater walk (strenuous section of the guide - 5+ miles) started off very pleasantly for half of the way - again very easy as far as I was concerned, but then it all went pear-shaped as I suddenly found myself walking along a very narrow ledge with a sheer drop down to the river and rocks below. I'm not sure on the height of the drop, but it was enough to scare me senseless, virtually crawl the rest of the way across the ledge and abort the walk for fear of whatever else may be thrown across my path.
To sum up, the instructions for the best part are clear (with the exception of Hawkshwead) but I'm left thinking that some of the walks should be shuffled around into different categories and that there should be a bit more guidance for those of a nervous disposition.

Excellent guide for all
To give you a bit of background, my husband and I visited the Lakes in early March. We managed four of these walks in our week there, even with him going through chemotherapy and me being spectacularly unfit! We liked the Lakes and the walks so much we're planning another trip in September and we'll definitely be taking this guide with us.

The walks are divided into three levels of difficulty; we only tried the easiest and the medium level walks. The easiest level walks should be manageable for practically anyone (bearing in mind that I'm not joking about being unfit!). These trails are easy to follow and easy on the feet and knees, but still give amazing views and lovely fresh air.

We did two of the medium-level walks and didn't have a problem with them either. However, I would suggest looking at other guides alongside this one for some of the longer walks. We took the Rydal water walk (really beautiful), which for the most part was pretty easy. However, the last stretch of the path set out in this guide was steeply downhill - chosen by the author to take in a very pretty waterfall. The route was rocky and just beside a stream which had overrun its banks, so it was also wet and slippery. Having another guide in addition to this one would have given us enough confidence to take a longer, but smoother, path.

Having said that, I would very much recommend buying this book before you go. While you're in the Lakes, you can pick up individual A5 guides to most of these walks from any tourist information centre (they'll cost between £1.50 and £2). I would also suggest the LapMap (about £1.50), which covers some of the same walks but with slightly different routes. That way, if you're completely new to walking (like we were), you'll have different perspectives and plenty of descriptions to give you the most options and prevent the tiniest chances of getting lost!

Handy Little Book
Have just come back from the Lake District having done a couple of walks using this book. Very useful. I know you can read an OS map to find public footpaths but this is pretty good as it gives you an indication of those worth doing and good starting points. The pictures in it helps you pick what you fancy the most as well. Very compact for walking with too.

The instructions are very clear (for the most part - odd hiccup - but that might have been our fault!) and the grading of the walks was very useful. (Not normally much of a walker but this sort of publication would make me do it more often.)

Glad I bought it. Now just looking for one for Lincolnshire!