outdoor
FOCUSthe quarterly journal of the OWPG autumn 2017 outdoor CONTENTS 3 3 / Walt Unsworth A tribute to Walt Unsworth, a father FOCUS fi gure of British outdoor writing, autumn 2017 who sadly died this summer. 7 / Gallery FROM THE EDITOR... The monthly themed gallery David Taylor showcasing the works of OWPG’s photographers. This month’s here’s something slightly melancholy theme: The Dizzy Heights. about the month of August. Autumn 7 isn’t yet upon us but it’s definitely 1928-2017 tapping at the door wanting to come 9 / Wordsmith T Walt UnsworthRoly Smith leads the tributes to an inspirational guiding light in. As I write this there is condensation on Kev Reynolds, the man with the the windows and a definite chill in the air. world’s best job, writes about The alt Unsworth, who has died after a short illness Photographers’ Guild – in 1980, and later became its fi rst (The central heating sprung unbidden into Man from Alaska. at the age of 88, could justly be regarded as the president. life a few days ago too, a reliable sign that father fi gure of British outdoor writing. Cicerone Press produced over 250 well-respected the season is about to change.) Any plans 10 / Andrew White W He founded the respected Cicerone Press with his guides “for walkers and climbers, written and produced for summer that haven’t yet been fulfilled Outdoor Focus talks to Andrew climbing friends Brian and Aileen Evans exactly 50 years by walkers and climbers” under his leadership. Walt will soon need to be put in a drawer to White, the presenter of the popular ago this year. Frustrated at the price of practical climbing await another year. gave many Guild members their fi rst opportunity to be TV show Walks Around Britain. guides to the Lake District, they got together to produce The inexorable passing of time has published, and he was always fi ercely supportive of them. been put in sharp relief this summer by their fi rst independent guide, which sold for eight shillings Walt had published twenty elegantly-written books of the sad loss of Walt Unsworth and Nick 12 / Book reviews 10 (40p), in 1967. his own, including Portrait of the River Derwent (Robert Channer, two prolific writers and steadfast Roly Smith reviews Heart of the Together they made an ideal team, with Walt as the Hale, 1971); the groundbreaking Encyclopaedia of champions of the outdoors. You can read Cotswolds, Border Abbeys Way, writer and Brian as the artist, designer and printer. The Mountaineering (Robert Hale, 1975), and his defi nitive tributes to both men by their peers in this Walking the Hebridean Way, Wild guide sold well, and the proceeds of each new book went histories of Everest and Mont Blanc. issue of Outdoor Focus. Guide: Scotland and Hadrian’s into the production of the subsequent one. As a former teacher, he was justly proud of the fact Elsewhere you can read about the The Highway: Parts One and Two. He was born at Ardwick, Manchester and educated that his trilogy of childrens’ books based in the Peak Man from Alaska and his friendship with at Abram, near Wigan, where he fi rst met his wife, District during the Industrial Revolution – The Devil’s Mill, Kev Reynolds; Andrew White talks about 14 / Doing it for ourselves Dorothy. Walt began fellwalking in the Lake District as Whistling Clough and Grimsdyke (Gollancz, 1968-70) – a youth during the Second World War. Rock climbing became recommended reading as part of the National Walks around Britain and the challenges Andrew Bibby writes about was a natural progression, and during the 1950s, he was Curriculum. and joys of making a TV series; and Gritstone, Britain’s fi rst authors’ one of many young tigers, such as Joe Brown and Don Walt won the ITAS Prize for Mountain Literature at the Ronald Turnbull celebrates the Lake publishing co-operative District and its World Heritage status. Whillans, for whom the “bob-a-night” (5p) Wall End Barn Trento Festival in 1992 for his Everest book, and I was On the subject of the Lakes, I hope to in Langdale almost became their second home. honoured to present him with the OWPG’s prestigious see you at the OWPG AGM weekend in 15 / Peaked interest 16 After conscription and service in the Army, Walt was Golden Eagle Award for distinguished service to the October. We’ll raise a glass there to those News from the Peak District, off ered an assisted place at Chester Teacher Training outdoors in 1996. Never has the award been so richly that are gone but not forgotten. including details about the Sheffi eld College and his fi rst teaching job took him to as a science deserved. Walking Festival in September. teacher to Wolverhampton. Later he became Head of As a travel writer, Walt and his wife Dot visited many If you’d like to submit ideas for articles for the autumn Physics at Birch Road Secondary Modern School at countries around the world, either privately or as a guest issue please contact me for further details. The 16 / Unesco goes Alfresco Walkden, Manchester. of tourist boards or travel companies, and he wrote up his deadline for all contributions is 15 November. But his fi rst and abiding interest was always climbing trips for many national newspapers. The couple married Ronald Turnbull considers the news and the outdoors, and he introduced many of his pupils in 1952 and had two children; Gail, a retired radiologist that the Lake District has been to the hills, many of whom, like Eric Price of Worsley, still and now garden plant specialist and Duncan, a former granted World Heritage Site status. Cover shot used to visit him in later life. While at Birch Road he also BBC cameraman and photographer. Walt had fi ve Allan Hartley introduced one of the fi rst Duke of Edinburgh Schemes, a grandchildren and two great granddaughters. Taken last year in the Sexten-Sesto Dolomites on a round tour of the Sunrise time 06.13 Sunrise time 07.01 Sunrise time 06.54 fact recognised by a visit from the Duke himself. In later years, he delighted in running the annual Paternkofel’s. The plan was that with Sunrise direction 76° Sunrise direction 94° Sunrise direction 113° He eventually achieved his ambition of becoming Milnthorpe Art Exhibition from Harmony Hall, his elegant a lady photographer friend we’d 1 1 1 Sunset time Sunset time 19.46 Sunset time 18.37 16.33 climb the Paternkofel and then do SEP OCT NOV a full-time writer, specialising in walking, climbing and Georgian home, for the Milnthorpe Men’s Forum, raising Sunset direction 284° Sunset direction 265° Sunset direction 247° the round tour following WWI paths travel. He wrote several climbing guides himself, notably thousands of pounds for local artists and charities. looking for alternative views of the three Towers of Drei Zinnen or Tre Sunrise time 06.35 Sunrise time 07.24 Sunrise time 07.18 to Anglezarke Quarry, near Horwich, where he made Walt’s quietly-spoken, sometimes gruff , Lancashire Cime Di Laverado, sounds better in Sunrise direction 84° Sunrise direction 103° Sunrise direction 120° many fi rst ascents. His English Outcrops (Gollancz, 1964), burr always communicated good, no-nonsense, northern Italian. I snapped this group as they 15 15 15 Sunset time 19.14 Sunset time 18.06 Sunset time 16.10 illustrated by John Cleare, was described as “one of the common sense, and he was enormously supportive of me caught us up, only noticing the dog SEP OCT NOV Sunset direction 275° Sunset direction 257° Sunset direction 240° in the rucksack when they’d passed. seminal books of post-war climbing.” when I became chairman of the Guild in 1990. He was the www.allanhartley.co.uk Sunset/Sunrise times and direction correct for London. Times in BST (GMT from 1 Nov) Walt eventually became editor of Climber (later mentor and guiding light to so many prospective outdoor Climber and Rambler) magazine, where he was known by writers, and will be sadly missed by the entire outdoor The Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild is the only UK-based Editing/design: David Taylor his staff as ‘Uncle Walt’, on the recommendation of Chris community. association of media professionals working largely or entirely on outdoor [email protected] Brasher in 1962. As editorial adviser to the publisher, His advice to would-be outdoor writers, expressed subjects. Our members cover every fi eld of activity and all corners of ISSN 2043-8591 (print) Holmes McDougall, he also named and helped launch the in an interview with Stephen Neale last year, was: the globe. They include writers, journalists, fi lm makers, photographers, ISSN 2043-8605 (online) revamped magazine as The Great Outdoors (now TGO). “Don’t miss anything. Keep your ears open and pick up publishers and editors, all with a passionate interest in the outdoors. For He was also one of the founder members of the something that no one else is thinking about and see what more information visit www.owpg.org.uk. Outdoor Writers’ Guild – now the Outdoor Writers’ and you can do with it, and you may succeed.”
2 Outdoor focus | autumn 2017 autumn 2017 | Outdoor focus 3 Sir Chris Bonington, current OWPG Tom Waghorn, outdoor journalist and a friend for Jonathan and Lesley Peter Lumley, another president, commented: “I’ve known over forty years, said: “He had a tremendous ability to Williams who took founder member and Walt for over fi fty years. Always kind discover talent, and as a canny businessman, he knew over Cicerone in 1999, editor of Outdoor Trade and thoughtful, he has achieved and how to spot a gap in the market.” commented: “Walt and and Industry, said: contributed so much to our knowledge Dot lived in Milnthorpe, “Walt was at the coal and understanding of the climbing scene just up the road from the face of mountaineering Cicerone offi ces, and Walt reporting and activity and life, as a magazine editor, as a writer Kev Reynolds, who has written wrote more than particularly with his defi nitive history of twentyguides for Cicerone, said: “Walt was both my used to pop in from time – a force in both Everest, and as a publisher. We owe him mentor and my friend. When I did my fi rst book for him to time to welcome new expression and a huge amount for what he has done – Walks and Climbs in the Pyrenees in 1978 – I had no team members and check publishing. He took the for our sport and will miss him as a wise idea that I would be able to make a living at it, but Walt up on what was going on. Cicerone concept and and very good friend.” encouraged me at every step.” He always had a cogent gave readers what they view on new projects.” relished.”
Walt with his book Everest , former colleague on John Manning Ace mountain photographer John The Great Outdoors and now editor Cleare, said: “He was the fi rst of Lakeland Walker, said: “Walt was a Terry Marsh, secretary of the Guild for many years, said: “Walt author to actually buy my climbing was a man of considerable intellect, blended with kind humanity towering fi gure in the outdoor writing pictures – and his practical world. When I worked at The Great and a passion for the outdoors. He was a great inspiration, and common sense did much to guide the fi rst publisher ever to ask me to write a guidebook.” Outdoors between 1994 and 2007, the OWG in its early years.” we referred to him as ‘Uncle Walt’ and regarded him as its founder.” “Walt was a kindly man”
Walt in the Alps
“Father of outdoor writing” Walt in the Dolomites, 1976
Paddy Dillon, who has written seventy books for Cicerone, recalled: “Whenever I delivered a manuscript, Walt always used to say: ‘Never give a sucker an even break. That’s my motto.’ I’ve no complaints if he was directing that at me. Walt in China, 1995 He gave me his time and encouragement, while I was content to absorb whatever “A mentor and a friend” Walt’s National Service days morsels of wisdom I could.”
Mark Richards, another of Walt’s Roger Smith, former editor of The Great Outdoors, said: protégées, said: “He was my guiding “Under a sometimes apparently gruff exterior Walt – who light – the man who gave me a start was also no mean climber himself – was a kindly man and encouraged my creativity. I’ll always willing to give advice to others.” always be grateful to him.”
Mark Richards’ pen portrait of Walt 4 Outdoor focus | autumn 2017 This month’s theme: Gallery The Dizzy Heights
Walt Unsworth Memorial Service St Thomas’s Church, Milnthorpe June 19, 2017 A gentle walk in memory of Nick Channer Kate Spencer remembers Walt e were saddened to hear that Nick Channer, a Guild t’s always a sad time to hear of a bereavement, and it strikes member for more than twenty years and a former home harder when it is someone you have been close to WCommittee member, died in July following a short illness. I and who you respect for their contribution to things that are Destiny decreed that Nick would write about the history important in our lives. I was outdoors in Scotland when the of the countryside and intriguing houses. He was born at news came: Walt Unsworth had died after a short illness. He Home Farm Cottage in the grounds of Elstree boys school at was our fi rst Chairman of Outdoor Writers’ Guild, where I was Woolhampton, Berkshire, where his father was a teacher and Secretary and a committee member for over 17 years. He gave his mother the assistant matron. generously advice, help and true support to me, as another The school, a Georgian manor house surrounded by publisher in the fi eld of operations we shared. parkland, almost certainly kindled Nick’s love of walking and Journalists, authors and book readers alike have gained so the countryside; it belonged to a former age and, surely, was much from Walt Unsworth and the company he ran, Cicerone. the inspiration for his life’s work. Beautiful countryside and Joining us at the Guild as the second phase of our operation waterways lay beyond the school gates, as well as places began he brought the many writers’ support and he helped like Mapledurham, featured in Nick’s book Writers’ Houses. grow awareness of the potential and benefi ts of the OWG Nick was an only child, and as a youngster he spent organisation wide and broad. hours at an old typewriter, creating his own stories from the The Guild itself was founded on initiatives from Spur programme synopses in Radio Times. Visits to his cousins in Book publisher Rob Neillands. Seven of us came together to Wolverhampton gave him the opportunity to tour Pebble Mill form OWG at an autumn COLA Trade exhibition, and as the studios, leading to a lifetime fascination with the place. Secretary I spent a fi rst year with them arranging things. We The family moved to Thatcham, near Newbury, when put together a Constitution, outlined membership guidelines Nick started at secondary school. Then, after leaving school, and organised the system that would lead to mutual co- he had a couple of offi ce jobs before fi nding work with an operation and a close working relationship with the then estate agent, writing in his spare time. Later, inspired by industry Trade body, Camping & Outdoor Leisure Trade Sunday walks with his old school friend Ian Knapp, Nick Association at their hq, the Board and its members. began writing local walking guides for Countryside Books. The Guild mantra then was to bring cohesion to those Nick steadily broadened his repertoire, and retraced reporting from Trade exhibitions and writing about taking gear fi ctional journeys such as Richard Hannay’s possible route into the outdoors. The input which Walt Unsworth delivered across Scotland in The Thirty-Nine Steps. He branched into our activities contributed to the way the Guild grew in out on several overseas forays, covering topics as varied number and stature across the outdoor trade. He was a great as the D-Day landings and Sherlock Holmes’ fateful trip to help to the project. Others have come along since and taken Switzerland. He wrote regularly for the AA Pub Guide and up our early ideas, then after Walt retired from the business he the Reading Chronicle, and contributed to broadcasts on became, as I am, a Life Member of what is now the Outdoor national and local radio. Writers & Photographers Guild. Some of it seems like only Besides writing over fi fty books, Nick wrote extensively yesterday when we were all together. for newspapers and magazines including The Daily Telegraph, Country Walking and Country Life. Meanwhile, Walt Unsworth R.I.P. The Guardian featured extracts from his magnum opus Writers’ Houses, with its foreword by Julian Fellowes. ALF ALDERSON / Viluchinski Bay He travelled widely, talking about his books to clubs and The photo was taken on a heliski trip to Kamchatka. The scenery on societies like the WI. virtually every descent was like this, and the combination of snow Yet Nick rarely talked about himself, and remained clad peaks and deep blue Pacifi c Ocean was something that really to the end a very private man. But, says OWPG’s vice- made an impression on me. Many runs saw us fi nish at the shoreline; president Roly Smith, “Nick was a loyal member of the Guild we even went skinny dipping on one occasion! committee for many years, and also acted as the Guild’s What you don’t see in this picture are the smoking summits of archivist. He was a gentle, quiet and very kind man, who was many of the peaks, as Kamchatka is the most active volcanic region always good company on our many excursions together. on Earth; we got to ski a few of these too. Incredible place... Well read, he was an accomplished writer and meticulous in his research.” www.alfalderson.co.uk True to his character, Nick coped with terminal illness by not talking about it. Eventually, in May, he had confi ded in his cousin Anne that he was being treated for cancer, but his death in July came as a massive shock to us all. Nick will be greatly missed by all who knew him, but his legacy lives on in his writing.
Based on an original tribute by Anne Hastings Outdoor focus autumn 2017 6 Outdoor focus | autumn 2017 10 | autumn 2017 | Outdoor focus 7 Kev Reynolds The Man with the World’s Best Job www.kevreynolds.co.uk TheWordsmith Man From Alaska e were running short of breath when we finally he’d entertain himself by playing Rachmaninoff on the piano reached the Sefinenfurgge, but having climbed that he’d transported into the wilds by buckboard. 1800 metres since breakfast, we could be excused When our journey across the mountains was over, he Wfor that. Resting on a convenient rock, Fred mopped the gripped my hand tightly, looked me in the eye and said: sweat from his brow, then turned to me and said in that soft ‘Let’s keep in touch.’ North American drawl of his: ‘I guess you bein’ a writer, you We did, and for several years I treasured each letter might like a bit of poetry?’ I nodded. ‘Does the name Robert that arrived. ‘Winter is just around the corner,’ he wrote Service mean anythin’ to you?’ he asked. in one. ‘This afternoon I canoed to the far side of the lake Grinning, I quoted back: ‘Have you gazed on naked to cut winter wood, and broke ½ inch ice some of the way; grandeur where there’s nothing else to gaze on?’ Fred took coming back towards evening, my earlier passage breaks up the next line: ‘Set pieces and drop curtain scenes galore,’ were skimmed over with new ice. I feel that will be my last after which we completed in harmony the first verse of Call canoe trip of the year … Northern lights may be in store for of the Wild, that classic hymn of praise to the wilderness. tonight.’ With that, our friendship was established, and over the In another he described how ‘the mercury has slipped next few days as we trekked the central section of the Alpine into the “far belows” as we call it -50 or better.’ He told of Pass Route together, I gradually got to know something the caribou having left early for the Yukon, that moose were of the life of this quiet man from Alaska, and the more I his most prominent neighbours that winter, and how he’d learned, the more I grew to respect and admire him. ‘spotted wolf tracks out on the lake.’ A gentle, thick-set man of medium height, Fred When he was 70 Fred made a three-month trip ‘outside’ - Rungee was 67 at the time, and making a nostalgic return meaning outside the State of Alaska. He described spending to Switzerland which he’d last visited a month of it along the coastline of as a four-year old when his father, a He was a man at peace Vancouver Island, ‘kayaking from composer, had spent a year there with island to island, enjoying side trips to his family. Fred inherited his father’s with himself and the homesteaders, inland lakes for warm love of music and trained for a while as a water swimming, dining on clams, classical pianist, but fate had other plans world around him... mussels, oysters and fish about the and as a conscientious objector he became a smokejumper evening campfires, bathing in hot springs and walking some during World War II, after which he moved from Connecticut of the beaches on the Pacific Rim.’ to Alaska where his love of the wilderness took root. For Fred was a man whose love of the natural world was the rest of his working life he was a smokejumper for the infectious, so with his agreement I planned to take a film Bureau of Land Management – that is, a fire fighter who crew to visit him. What an inspiration he would be! But as would parachute into remote regions to combat forest fires. with so many well-laid plans, it came to naught when the He and his crew would land with a backpack of survival and independent film company was taken over by executives fire-fighting equipment, and cut breaks to prevent wildfires with no interest in a man who lived alone in the wilderness. from spreading. It was exciting, dangerous work, of course, Eventually we lost touch. My fault, not Fred’s, I was racing but well paid. hither and yon trying to earn a living, stumbling from one Finding he had an affinity with the wilderness, Fred financial crisis to the next, moving home and losing things. saved his money, took early retirement and bought a parcel But though our correspondence ended, I never forgot the of land on the edge of the Wrangell-St Elias National Park, man from Alaska. where he built a cabin in which to live overlooking Carlson More than 25 years after we’d first met, I had a yearning Lake, about 4km from the nearest road. He grew vegetables, to get in touch again. By now he’d be in his nineties… ate berries, caught fish from the lake, drew his water from Tapping his name into Google, up came Fred’s smiling face, a nearby spring and because of bears, had to carry a rifle illustrating his obituary. My friend Fred had died three whenever he stepped outdoors. His home, he told me, was months earlier. on a caribou migration trail, so twice a year immense herds Now began another correspondence, this time with ALLAN HARTLEY / On Tow - Gaping Gill would wander past, sometimes destroying his vegetables someone who’d known Fred much longer and far better than on the way. On occasion he’d shoot a moose to keep him in I did, and who could tell me a whole lot more about the man The photograph was taken during the Bradford Pothole Club’s annual winch meet. I’d finished with meat for a year or more. who’d lived a life I could barely imagine. He was not the lone my photo session in the main chamber and was in the queue to exit. Despite all the water showering There was no boasting with Fred. He’d answer my wolf I’d pictured. Instead he was a friend to many, drawing down I decided to have a go at photographing passengers in the winch cage as they hastily questions with enthusiasm and honesty, and as the days admirers from all walks of life with his natural warmth and ascended on their way out. went by I began to build a picture of his life of self-imposed humility, and who became so well-loved and respected that Shielding my camera, I put my flash-gun on, swung the camera upwards for hasty aim and fired. solitude in which there was no room for loneliness. I sensed the State of Alaska honoured him by instituting a ‘Fred Drenched. Dry camera, clear lens, wait for the next passenger and try again.This I did for five times, this being the best. Only when enlarged on the PC did I notice the On-Tow sign on the bottom of the his disciplined humanity; he was a man at peace with himself Rungee Day’. winch cage hence the title. and the world around him. Submerged as he was by nature in So I was not the only one whose life was enriched by an the raw, he would mesmerise with tales of close encounters encounter with the Man from Alaska, and I shall cherish the Nikon D800; lens 24-85mm @ 26mm; aperture f/5.6; shutter speed 1/60sec; ISO: 3200 www.allanhartley.co.uk with black bears, but would contrast such excitements by memory of our walk in the Alps, and never recite Call of the quoting numerous authors, reciting poetry and telling how Wild again without hearing his voice…. 8 Outdoor focus | autumn 2017 autumn 2017 | Outdoor focus 11 9 Next issue’s theme: The onset of winter Putting one footage in
front of the other Andrew White talks to OF about Walks Around Britain
Q How do you first decide what areas of Britain to Q How many episodes are in a series and how long A while ago, all the raw footage was on HDV tapes. But, A Yes, the TV series Walks Around Britain is essentially cover? does the shooting take? since we moved to using the DSLRs and now the Sony/ self-publishing on television, as I’m not commissioned Ursa, all the footage has been recorded on SD cards, by anyone to make the series. I’ve gained ‘promises A There are two different processes I go through when A There are seven episodes in each season, and that is which are transferred across onto three separate external to broadcast’ from a variety of television channels, deciding on where we go in the series. Firstly I’m minded for scheduling purposes. Many of the channels which hard drives. This means that not only is everything we’ve all of which I’ve researched over time would likely be the series is Walks Around Britain – not Walks Around show Walks Around Britain will every so often show filmed safe and secure, but also available fairly fast to be interested in showing the series. Then, once the channels the Lake District – so I’m always trying to make sure the them at the same time every day – known in the trade as used. agree to show the series, they have to agree to show series is going to new areas in every season, and not just stripping - so a seven programme season adds another each edition at least once every year for the duration of a the same places. But having said that, they are areas full week of programmes to the collection. We’ve made Q How important is the editing process and how long three-year deal. This gives me the security to be able to which are very popular which I’d be silly not to include three seasons so far, and we’re part way through filming does it typically take? go to kit manufacturers and say I can guarantee at least more often – such as the Lake District. So it’s a balancing season four now. a certain number of showings across various channels, act between making sure there’s enough popular and How long it takes to film depends on whether it’s a A Editing is incredibly important, not just to bring the and that provides the funding for the series. Currently, recognisable places to draw in viewers, but enough ‘full’ walk, i.e. one where we have a cameraman with us, programmes in at the allotted duration, but also to the series is on twenty-two UK TV channels, available new and varied locations to be able to say we’re are still or a ‘self-shot’ walk, where I film and present it alone. affect the style, pace and tone of the programmes. around the world on Amazon Prime Video and on Virgin Walks Around Britain. It usually takes two days per walk for the ‘full’ walk and Lots of modern TV is fast-paced with quick cuts and Trains and London Midland trains via their on-board Secondly, a large source of income for the series one day for a self-shot walk. many shots, all designed to ‘capture the viewers’ entertainment services. With every new outlet, be that comes from product placement - where advertisers attention’. But when you are dealing with walking, a more broadcast or non-broadcast, I’m adding more and more can put their products inside the programmes - and Q What equipment and editing software do you use? considered, moderate pace suits the subject. It’s about viewers to the series, and increasing my desirability to
increasingly now, destination management companies, taking time for shots to develop; for the viewers to take sponsors and advertisers. A The early walks were all filmed on a Canon HDV tourist boards and accommodation providers are paying in a scene as if they were there and not to bombard them camcorder, which gave pretty good images, but they us to include a walk in their area. Any such walk has with stuff. Walks Around Britain has a reputation now for Q Traditionally, whether writing a book or creating weren’t full HD broadcast quality. I then moved onto to fit into the ethos of the series, but usually the areas ‘Slow TV’ and I’m really proud of that… and that is from a TV show, another party such as an editor would filming with my Canon DSLR – which gave fantastic who want to pay are those who wouldn’t normally get the editing. provide an objective viewpoint to help shape the images, but absolutely shocking sound! Now, I’ve just coverage as a place to go walking, so that fits my first The programmes are produced using a template - final product. How do you stay objective as a self- taken delivery of a Sony 150Z camcorder, which is 4K/ part too. which aids faster working and also allows the editing to publisher? UHD capable (pictured above). On the walks filmed by Having said all that, the areas have to work in relation be done by anyone whilst still maintaining a consistent my cameraman Dave is filmed either on his Canon DSLR to the whole season of programmes. I can’t have look and feel. On average it takes around four days A It could be a problem, what with me still pretty much or, more recently, his new Ursa Mini. We also use a DJI fourteen walks in Rutland, just because they want to pay starting with a blank template to completely finish a doing everything – but right at the start of the series drone and a Steadicam, all of which are 4K capable… me, so it’s about having a plan across the whole of a 22-minute programme. on television, I created a ‘Style Guide’ which sets out so it’s only a matter of time before we see Walks Around season about the geographical spread of the walks. everything Walks Around Britain is and isn’t. It’s designed Britain in 4K.. Q How do you promote the series when it’s ready for to enable someone else to pick up and instantly know Q What research is required when planning a series Editing is all done on Sony Vegas, a competitor to broadcast? how to make an edition of Walks Around Britain, for such
of Walks Around Britain? Adobe’s Premiere, which I find to be more user-friendly time as I hand over the series to someone else. But in the than Adobe’s. A Well, this is where all the time spent building up a meantime it is a great way of making sure what we are A For my series, it’s all about telling stories. Great views profile on social media really pays off! Right now, Walks doing is true to the format and the brand. after a while can become a bit boring and old hat - ‘Oh Q Do you have a back-up plan if shooting doesn’t go Around Britain has over 32,200 followers on Twitter - For example, one of the guiding principles of the look, there’s another drone shot of a mountain’ - so what to plan? which makes it the most followed short walks account series is the presenters can’t do anything anyone else
we do is tell stories. Now those stories could well be in Britain - and a regular weekly reach on Facebook doing the walk can’t do - so we don’t climb to the top of A This is tricky, as usually we have the one chance to get the story of the great view; but more often than not, the of between 15k - 30k. In fact, we’ve more followers closed towers in Walks Around Britain just because we the footage in the can – so if bad weather strikes, we just story is something unique to the walk. Perhaps it’s where on Twitter than I think all of the TV channels which are on telly. That principle means a presenter can’t go have to keep going. Fortunately, we haven’t yet been in the coffins where taken for burial at the only church in show the series… and certainly more than most of on the footplate of a steam locomotive for a segment, a situation where we’ve not been able to film anything the area; perhaps it’s where an author got inspiration for the outdoor brands like Berghaus, Craghoppers and unless a member of the public can book on a footplate because of the weather… and because I’m the producer, a book; perhaps it’s where a long-forgotten battle took the like. The Walks Around Britain website has around ride. But that doesn’t stop a cameraman filming from the I can decide just to shorten a route so we get a complete place - it’s all about stories. And we all love stories. I 20,000 unique visitors a month - only 5,000 fewer that footplate – so long as the presenter isn’t doing something walk in, rather than come away with something which know it will come as a shock to many Guild members, buy Country Walking every month… so it’s this profile someone else can’t. isn’t finished or useable. but not everyone wants to walk all the Wainwrights… but Walks Around Britain has which makes it a hell of a lot easier to promote the series and make money from it. www.walksaroundbritain.co.uk stories engage everyone - and it’s about finding those Q How do you keep track of your footage over the walks with stories. But I wouldn’t have that if I hadn’t developed a strategy course of recording a walk? for social media to make it work for me - and of course Andrew will be leading a practical video workshop Then, within each walk there’s research to make sure spent many, many hours tweeting! at the OWPG AGM weekend (13-15 October). The we know as much as possible about the route, so if A It’s not normally a problem keeping track of what there’s something that was there but isn’t now, we can footage we’ve filmed, as I’m there every time we film! aim of the workshop is to shoot and edit a short Q Walks Around Britain is essentially a self-publishing make sure we film it - either just to talk about it or maybe I’m either filming it – when we have other presenters like film suitable for a blog or Youtube. Contact Ronald venture. How did you decide which media outlets to add CGI effects over the top. It’s also so we can Leah or I’m self-shooting - or I’m presenting it - when Turnbull ([email protected]) for more would be most sympathetic and supportive to what possibly arrange to meet up with someone significant for Dave is the cameraman - so it’s pretty easy to remember details about the weekend. you wanted to do with the show? that walk and do part or all of it with them. the stuff filmed and what it was for.
10 Outdoor focus | autumn 2017 autumn 2017 | Outdoor focus 11 BOOK REVIEWS / ROLY SMITH Circuit covers 58 miles. by the numerous references to The route owes much to the authors claim that exploring the wild accession as Emperor. It is also As the author says, the the notorious steel-bonneted pioneering work of Dr Peter Clarke, landscapes of Scotland will make the claimed to be the world’s first Peace Cotswold region is “utterly reivers, who waged uncontrolled whose 2006 book The Outer reader healthier, happier and more Trail and has a foreword by Mechtild distinctive.” But I do wish his internecine warfare over this area Hebrides: The Timeless Way was open-minded about their connections Rossier, director of the UNESCO villages wouldn’t “nestle” quite so for over 400 years. the inspiration for the creation of to it. World Heritage Centre. much. Modest ascents and descents the new Way. It was not until 2012 From the white sand beaches of Best moment comes when a make this an easygoing circuit that Clarke’s idea received official Barra and Berneray to the forbidding delighted Richards discovers a which can be accomplished financial support, and work began heights of Suilven, Applecross, 200m long Roman kerbed causeway in five or six days either on improving and waymarking the Torridon, Moidart and the Lairig crossing Melmerby Fell above clockwise or anticlockwise from route. Ghru, wild camping and swimming Garrigill in the South Tyne valley, Melrose, although clockwise is Highlights along the route opportunities are thoroughly “untouched since the Roman recommended as it generally include retracing parts of Bonnie examined. legionaires (surely that should be provides the best views. Prince Charlie’s flight from But surely one of the joys of legionaries?) held sway over the Government forces after the experiencing real wilderness is that Brigantes.” Battle of Culloden in 1746; the you don’t have to be led by the hand magnificent, flower-filled machair to it, but to go out and find and live it described by the author meadows and dazzling white sand yourself. But then, maybe I’m being a as “A fabulous fantasia of beaches of South Uist, and, just bit too purist myself… off route, the imposing standing Lakeland, afoot and afloat.” stones of Callanish on the west coast of Lewis. Castles of Eden is another new 42- mile, four-day heritage trail through HEART OF THE COTSWOLDS the Eden, Lyvennet and Lowther Christopher Knowles Valleys. It visits the Norman castles Rucksack Readers, £14.99 (pb) at Brough, Appleby and Brougham, with an opening diversion to take in aterproof paper, clear Pendragon Castle in Mallerstang, 1:50,000 mapping, and concludes through the Lowther excellent photography valley to pass Lowther Castle, and a knowledgeable text. ending along a Roman road to W Penrith. The latest production from Jetta BORDERS ABBEYS WAY Megarry’s Edinburgh publishing Neil Mackay The Great Lakes Connection is a house has everything you would Rucksack Readers, £12.99 (pb) new 50-mile walk linking Windermere want from a practical, rucksack- and Ullswater, alliteratively described friendly guidebook. his is another “way” from by the author as “A fabulous fantasia Rucksack by another of Lakeland, afoot and afloat.” As the author says, the experienced author, who Starting at Grange-over-Sands on in this case used to be the Morecambe Bay, the route goes Cotswold region is “utterly T on to Windermere, and then via Access Officer for the Scottish WALKING THE HEBRIDEAN WAY distinctive.” Borders Council, which developed Richard Barrett Brothers Water into Patterdale and the route which was opened in Cicerone, £14.95 (pb) Glenridding. Ullswater’s eastern The author has been organising 2006. WILD GUIDE: SCOTLAND shore is then followed to reach Pooley Bridge, then field-paths walking holidays in the Cotswolds his is a tempting guide to the Kimberley Grant, David Cooper HADRIAN’S HIGH WAY PARTS ONE AND for over twenty years, so he should Modest ascents and latest long-distance route & Richard Gaston alongside the River Eamont to TWO; CASTLES OF EDEN, AND GREAT Penrith. know his stuff. He has devised descents make this an in Scotland: the 155-mile Wild Things Publishing, £16.99 (pb) three new walking routes in this Hebridean Way, which runs LAKES CONNECTION Uniquely, you can shave 18 miles easygoing circuit T off the walking route by using the new guide to the delectable the length of the Outer Hebrides he latest in Wild Things Wild Mark Richards Cotswold country, whose from Vatersay on the southernmost Guides sets out with the JR Nicholls Publishing, £6.99 each (pb) ferries that can take you the lengths honeystone oolitic limestones, Apart from the rather clumsy title tip of Barra, through the Uists to ambitious intention of covering of both Windermere and Ullswater. according to JB Priestley, “knew (too many plurals!), the new route Stornoway, in the north of Lewis. the whole of Scotland, home to ark Richards’ love affair But you’ll miss, as the author so T enthusiastically describes, “a the trick of keeping the lost is an easy, 67-mile circuit of the Purists will undoubtedly want what most people would regard as the with Hadrian’s Wall country sunlight of centuries glimmering Borders, visiting the romantic 12th to add the dramatic extra sixteen wildest parts of wildest Britain. continues with the publication fabulous mix of natural and human about them.” century ruined abbeys of Melrose, miles to the Stevenson lighthouse How well it succeeds really Mof his two-part Hadrian’s High ingredients” on the main route. The eight-day Grand Circuit, Dryburgh, Kelso and Jedburgh, at the northernmost Butt of Lewis depends on whether you think that Way, a new 100-mile walking route New and revised editions of the following as described, covers 94 miles and also taking in the historic which, because of lack of funding, intention is actually physically possible linking Ravenglass on the Cumbrian books have also recently been published:- from Cheltenham via Broadway, towns of Hawick and Selkirk and is still not officially part of the within 312 pages of nicely designed coast and Bardon Mill on the Wall. WALKING THE SOUTH DOWNS WAY Moreton, Bourton and Cirencester; Sir Walter Scott’s Gothic baronial Hebridean Way. Further future but inevitably selective opportunities This imaginative route links no Kev Reynolds, Cicerone, £16.95 TREKKING THE PACIFIC COAST TRAIL while the 45-mile Winchcombe mansion of Abbotsford House. options might include routes for adventure north of the Border. fewer than ten Roman forts and Brian Johnson, Cicerone, £16.95 pb Circuit goes to Broadway, Moreton You are left in no doubt that running up both the east and west Apparently aimed at the is published to commemorate the WALKING ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT and Bourton, and the Cheltenham this is indeed Border country coasts of Lewis. cosmopolitan adventure seeker, the 1,900th anniversary of Hadrian’s Paul Curtis, Cicerone, £12.95 pb
12 Outdoor focus | autumn 2017 autumn 2017 | Outdoor focus 13 PEAKED INTEREST DOING IT FOR OURSELVES... he right to walk freely over mountain and Andrew Bibby introduces Britain’s first authors’ publishing co-operative, Gritstone moorland was the birthright of every citizen of Britain, claimed author and broadcaster T Stuart Maconie at the 85th anniversary nyone who aims to make their living dairy farmers have traditionally used to sell their milk). Gritstone is a marketing vehicle and not a traditional Spirit of Kinder event, held at Edale Village Hall professionally from writing knows that books are Gritstone Publishing Co-operative Ltd is, to the very best publishing house and we will not be in a position to on Saturday, 22 April. not the way to make a speedy fortune. Calculate of our knowledge, the first writers’ co-operative in Britain. publish books written by non-members of the co-op, no Stuart, the newly-elected president of the A the hours taken to research and write even A company limited by guarantee established using fully matter how good they may be. We have also decided Ramblers, added: “I was in Castleton earlier a modest title and you’d almost certainly find yourself mutual co-operative rules (provided by Co-operatives for the time being while we get established to keep the today, and it was just great to see families from working for far less than the minimum wage. The Society UK), Gritstone provides a marketing vehicle to enable us number of co-op members at four. There may come a all walks of life, colour and creed out enjoying of Authors’ latest survey (May 2015) found that average to bring our own books (and only our books) to market. time in the future when perhaps we can increase the the glorious scenery of the Hope Valley. authors’ incomes in Britain, including advances, royalties There is a shared logo and a shared website - membership, but we feel that this time hasn’t yet come. “That’s who those brave trespassers of 85 and collecting society payments, is about £12,500. www.gritstone.coop - where our books can be purchased. We’re not yet past our first year of trading, so it’s early years ago fought for, and that’s who I’ll be It doesn’t help that the publishing industry is There are four of us who came together to create days. But I think the consensus among the four of us so fighting for as president of The Ramblers.” increasingly driven by commercial pressures. Perhaps Gritstone. Chiz Dakin needs little introduction to OWPG far is that we’ve hit upon a model which brings us definite Stuart added that he was greatly honoured there really was a time when literary gentlemen (and a members. She has served for several years on the Guild’s advantages. We’re not sure why nobody has started an that, as a keen walker from a council estate in few ladies) sat in offices in Bedford Square in London committee, currently as Vice-Chair, has won the Guild’s authors’ co-operative before, and we would certainly Wigan, he had been elected to his new position reading typed manuscripts to decide which books caught Award for excellence in photography and is also the welcome being joined by other similar co-operative as head of the 140,000-strong Ramblers. their fancy and could be added to their lists. These days, author of several books, including Cycling in the Peak ventures if others choose to come together in a similar The theme of the standing-room-only publishing decisions are much more led by the views of District (Cicerone, now in its second edition) and Outdoors way to us. event was the transformation of the summit sales and marketing staff than they are of the editorial Photography, co-written with Jon Sparks. of Kinder Scout, the Peak District’s highest departments. Chris Goddard is the author of two exceptionally point, by the National Trust and Moors for the well-researched and exquisitely hand-drawn books, West Future partnership, and it looked forward to The real difficulty with self-publishing is Yorkshire Moors and West Yorkshire Woods: Calder Valley, current and future challenges to this precious as well as a practical guide to the Wales Coast Path. He’s environment. the marketing aspect of the process currently working on a companion title focusing on the Other keynote speakers were Dame Helen South Yorkshire Moors, and is also preparing a series of Ghosh, Director General of the five-million- In general, the size of publishers’ advances – when guides to the English coast path. member National Trust, Stephen Trotter, Director offered - are falling. I received £8,500 ten years ago from a of the Wildlife Trusts of England and formerly publisher for an outdoor title I wrote for them – nothing like Gritstone is a marketing vehicle and manager of the Trust’s High Peak Estate, Jon what I could have earned if I had spent the time involved not a traditional publishing house Stewart, current General Manager of the Trust in in newspaper journalism or indeed almost any other the Peak and Vanessa Griffiths, Chief Executive sort of work, but still not too bad in the circumstances. I of The Ramblers. Master of ceremonies was suspect I’d be lucky to get a fraction of that for the same Colin Speakman has a host of published books to the popular BBC Radio Sheffield presenter book today. his credit, including the definitive Dales Way guide – Rony Robinson, and his partner, Sheffield We do have in Britain some long-established outdoor appropriately enough, because it was very much Colin’s folk singer Sally Goldsmith provided the publishers who care about their books and try to care vision which led to the creation of what is now a very musical accompaniment on the day, including about their writers. However they are also obliged to popular walking route through the Dales to the Lake the leading of the traditional singing of The operate in a tight commercial market. It’s really not easy District. Gritstone has just published his latest book, Manchester Rambler. being an OWPG member these days. co-written with his wife Fleur Speakman, The Yorkshire So are there any alternatives? Self-publishing is Wolds. Almost the first travel guide to this beautiful if little certainly no longer dismissed as being simply the province explored part of Yorkshire, the book’s publication has everal guild members will be leading walks at of vanity writers, and indeed the Society of Authors and been timed to link with Hull’s City of Culture celebrations. this year’s Sheffield Walking Festival, taking NUJ offer advice to their members on successful self- The book also has Welcome to Yorkshire endorsement. place from 8–17 September 2017. Sheffield is the publishing, as of course does the Guild. The rise of the Gritstone has also published two novels of mine, The leafiest city in Europe and the greenest in the UK e-book has helped. I find it hard to think of many things Bad Step and In the Cold of the Night, two crime novels S with over 60% of it greenspace and much of the Peak about Amazon that I like, but the modest monthly royalties set in the Lake District both with strong outdoor themes: National Park within the city boundary. I get through from the company for the e-book sales they fell-running, mountain rescue, hill-walking and much else. Andrew White will be leading the Ladybower make for me are certainly better than nothing. My forthcoming non-fiction book about southern English Reservoir walk from the first series of his Walks Around However the real difficulty with self-publishing is the landscape history, Back Roads through Middle England, is Britain TV programme on 15 September. Chiz Dakin marketing aspect of the process. Writing the book is currently in production. will be leading an outdoor photowalk in Padley Gorge the easy bit. Finding a printer is not too difficult. Getting Gritstone, we believe, gives us a credibility which we and up on the moors on 11 September. Anne and the published book into the shops and into the hands of wouldn’t necessarily get if we self-published alone. But John Nuttall will be leading a family walk, akin to their book-readers is the challenge. there is also something more: writing can be lonely, and kiddie book walk, in the same area on 17 September. So half way through last year four of us who consider Gritstone provides an informal way to receive support And Rob Haslam will go in search of Naked People ourselves professional outdoor writers/photographers and encouragement from our peers. The guidelines we on a sculpture trail near Rotherham on 12 September. decided to come together to try to develop a better way drew up last October talk of one of our objectives being Roly Smith’s joint venture on Clarion Call, a book on to market self-published titles. What we have done is to “encourage members to take an interest in each other’s Sheffield’s Access Pioneers, is also celebrated with the Andrew Bibby is a writer and journalist. He won the to set up a marketing co-operative. It’s based on the work and to offer informal support and solidarity”. We GHB Ward Walk, also on 12 September. OWPG Award for Excellence in 2006 for his book way that artists and craftspeople sometimes collectively have, for example, read each other’s work and have also For further details and booking visit the website: Wensleydale and Swaledale. market their works (it’s also exactly the same method that sometimes helped with proof-reading and copy editing. www.theoutdoorcity.co.uk/walk
14 Outdoor focus | autumn 2017 autumn 2017 | Outdoor focus 15 UNESCO GOES ALFRESCO Ronald Turnbull on the granting of World Heritage Site status to the Lake District
s I write, it’s just 24 hours since And the Lake District too has These lumps of rock and dirt, the the Lake District was inscribed been awarded this dual designation. ‘stones and watter’: they’re nothing as a UNESCO World Heritage This could reflect the efforts of the at all until clothed in imagery and ASite. lobbyists in promoting the place as imagination. Mountains exist, first of Thus it joins the Grand Canyon and being wonderful in every available way. all, in the mind. the Taj Mahal among the top spots for But I prefer to think it’s a sophisticated Up until about 1750, upland all-around wonderfulness worldwide. insight of the UNESCO Committee. areas were an ugly nuisance that Within the UK, it’s been raised to the The Lake District is, indeed, an only existed because of a) human status of Hadrian’s Wall and the City artefact of man. naughtiness and Noah’s Flood and of Bath. It also becomes co-equal with There’s scarcely a square inch of b) because nobody had invented a – ummm – Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Lakeland that hasn’t been handled bulldozer big enough. the mill town of New Lanark. and reshaped by people. Without the Langdale axe-heads of the later The Lake District has been sculpted and Heritage Sites come in two flavours: there Stone Age the area would be a tangle of swamps, woodland and embellished over the following 200 years are ‘natural’ ones, and ‘cultural’ ones scrub. Charcoal burners created the oak coppice of the lakesides; slate It was in 1769 that he poet I have never been to New Lanark, men and copper miners made the Thomas Grey came up with a new even though it’s only 42 miles from my white-painted villages; humans and form of fun: getting scared by the home. The Lake District is 100 miles Herdwick sheep turned the hill slopes deadly rockfalls and non-existent away, and I’ve been there hundreds into velvetty lawn. bandits of Borrowdale. In 1782 people of times – maybe not so much as When it comes to ‘cultural’, the suddenly spotted that Ullswater and 1000, that would mean going once a first press report in The Guardian Windermere could be looked at almost week and there are also the Scottish cites in a slightly embarrassed way as if they were paintings by Poussin. Highlands (whose very best bits the earthwork at Penrith called King The Lakeland fells, as we know them haven’t even hauled themselves up to Arthur’s Round Table – according today, were invented in the month of National Park designation). to an implausible legend it was the August 1802, when the poet Coleridge Heritage Sites come in two fictitious king’s jousting ground; took a nine-day backpack trip and flavours: there are ‘natural’ ones, and however, Penrith is actually outside scrambled down Broad Stand. ‘cultural’ ones. Bath and Stonehenge the national park. They’d have been As one of the finest works of the are cultural. The UK has just two better mentioning the Castlerigg English imagination, the Lake District purely natural sites: the Jurassic Coast Stone Circle, third best such structure has been sculpted and embellished of Devon and Dorset, and Northern in England (where Stonehenge and over the following 200 years: by Ireland’s Causeway Coast. The islands Avebury are already World Heritage in fellwalkers, painters, dry-stane dykers, of St Kilda are considered as being their own right). rock climbers, rare sheep enthusiasts, both natural – for their soaring cliffs More confidently it also mentions photographers, mint-cake makers and and sea-stacks – and cultural – for the Wordsworth, Coleridge, Ruskin and outdoor writers. remains of human habitation from the Beatrix Potter. Because a cultural Now, even UNESCO’s noticed. Stone Age onwards. artefact exists most of all in the mind.
16 Outdoor focus | autumn 2017