Books Guides And Maps
25th Feb 2015 North Wales Scrambling
This is a gem of a book. I first saw it on Amazon after a friend had recommended it. Got a copy and am thoroughly impressed. So is my Dad. He lives in Snowdonia, has done for over 40 years, and...
28th Apr 2022 Wild Guide To Central England
Adventures un the Peak District, Midlands, Cotswolds and Wye Valley. If you read my reviews then you will know that I've reviewed a lot of Wild Things Publishing's guides over the years. A...
18th Nov 2021 Wild Guide to The French Alps
Wild Guides to the UK have been around for a few years now and proved to be an excellent extension to the original series of Wild Swimming books. Essentially they feature may of the same wild...
11th Nov 2021 7 & 8 - 3748 Straight Ups In Fontainebleau
Now on its fourth edition, and growing ever fatter as more and more problems and areas are added, this is still unquestionably the go-to guide for any upper-grade or aspiring boulderer in Font....
13th Sep 2021 Scottish Island Bagging
This is one of my favourite books of the year. A beautifully illustrated guide to around 150 of Scotland's outstanding islands. Whilst it doesn't cover every single island, it features all of...
10th Sep 2021 Bleau Blocs
I think it's fair to say that there can't actually be too many books about Fontainebleau. I was sat on a beach this summer chatting about the magic of Font, and how literally incredible it is...
10th May 2021 Hidden Beaches Spain
Wild swimming has been one of the success stories during the pandemic with tens of thousands turning to cold water dips and swims and discovering that you don't need a gym membership or a...
29th Apr 2021 Wild Swimming France - Second Edition
The 2012 Wild Swim France guide is one of the most well thumbed books on our shelves. It's been with us to France at least once every year that we’ve had it and provided us with countless...
26th Apr 2021 Peak District Gritstone - Graham Hoey
Peak District Gritstone Over 2,000 classic trad routes on Eastern, Western ad Moorland grit. Grahm Hoey, Vertebrate Publishing If there's one thing I've learned over the years that I've been...
27th Jan 2021 The Book Of Trespass - Nick Hayes
I usually review books that have been sent to me. This one arrived via a more unusual route. I found it in a carrier bag on my front door handle with a note from a neighbour saying he thought I...
6th Jul 2020 Peak Limestone - Rockfax
It doesn't seem too many years ago that Northern Limestone was published, but it was clearly time to up the ante and produce a guide to limestone just in the Peak District. With bouldering...
29th Nov 2019 Islandeering - Adventures Around The edge Of Britain's Hidden Islands
I do love the fact that new sports, hobbies and pastimes are regularly thrown into my world. I saw this book and was immediately enchanted by both the cover image and the word - ISLANDEERING. ...
5th Sep 2018 Classic Routes Of The Ecrins -0 Sbastian Constant
This is a delight of a guidebook. It's A5 portrait and 200 pages (but only 75mm thick) so fits into a rucksack pocket pretty easily. The cover is plastic laminated so it will stand up to a bit...
16th May 2018 Wild Guide Portugal
It's quite a while since I last went to Portugal. Nearly 30 years I think! Looking at this guide it'll definitely be less than 30 before I go again :-) Reviewing a guide when you haven't...
15th May 2018 Mountain Adventures In The Maurienne
The full title of this book is Mountain Adventures In The Maurienne, The Vanoise and Dauphine Alps. It features day walks. Walking tours, scrambles, rock climbs, via ferratas, mountaineering...
14th May 2018 Wild Guide To Scotland
Wild Guides are now coming thick and fast from Wild Things Publishing. The latest to arrive through my door is the Wild Guide to Scotland. It's the same format as the previous ones: basically...
26th Jul 2018 Wild Guide - Wales
UPDATE Wild Things Publishing have now made most of their books available as interactive apps via Itunes and Google Play. The apps work pretty nicely featuring a navigable map, as well as...
1st Feb 2018 Canyoning In The Alps - Northern Italy And Ticino
The size of this book, and the relatively small area of the Alps that it covers, is testament to the wealth and breadth of the sport of canyoning. Initially I thought I'd hit paydirt...
31st Jan 2018 Walks & Treks In The Maritime Alps
Another pocket sized guide from Cicerone who have definitely cornered the market when it comes to continental Europe. This guide features 220 pages (that's 18 walks of between 6km and 20km as...
19th Jan 2018 Mountain Adventures In Chamonix
It seems apt that I am writing this review on the same morning as watching a short video a friend sent me of some very adventurous looking conditions in the French Alps. I also went...
4th Dec 2017 North Wales Bouldering
I can safely say that this is the biggest climbing guide I have yet reviewed. At 668 pages it's a mighty tome that comes with a hefty price tag of £36.95. It may sound expensive, but it's...
16th Nov 2017 Exploring Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way
I've been reviewing guide books by Wild Things Publishing for a few years now, but they have by no means cornered the market. David Flanagan and Richard Creagh have produced a lovely guide to...
4th Oct 2017 100 Hut Walks In The Alps - Cicerone
Cicerone have an army of guidebooks to adventurous stuff in Europe (they do cover other parts of the world too, but Europe is their main focus). This guide is a welcome addition to our...
2nd Oct 2017 The Push - Tommy Caldwell
I've grown out of the habit of reading books about famous climbers so it was with trepidation that I started reading The Push. I felt as though I knew enough about tommy Caldwell's life through...
29th Sep 2017 Wild Guide To The Lake District & Yorkshire Dales
If you read my reviews you'll know that I am a big fan of Wild Things Publishing. They started out with Wild Swimming and have since gone on to produce a whole raft of other titles, the latest...
25th Sep 2017 Via Ferratas Of The French Alps
Via Ferratas are perhaps one of the oldest forms of adrenaline-based mountain activity. However they weren't originally designed with pleasure in use. Originating in the Italian Dolomites they...
26th Jul 2017 Bikepacking Guidebook by Wild Things Publishing
Full title: Mountain Bike Camping Adventures On The Wild Trails Of Britain By Laurence McJannet At this year's Sheffield Adventure Film Festival there were enough films submitted on...
12th Apr 2017 Wild Swimming Walks - Dartmoor & South Devon
Following hot on the heels of my review a few days ago of the equivalent book on wild swimming walks in and around London this guide is a little more in keeping with the ethos of wild swimming....
6th Apr 2017 Wild Swimming Walks - London
The full title of this book is: Wild Swimming Walks - 28 lake, river and seaside days out by train from London Wild Things Publishing have released a series of very good and very...
1st Mar 2017 The Bond - Simon McCartney
I've avoided reading any books about mountaineering for a while. Impressive though the feats are I began to find them following a pattern. It's no fault of the authors, but there are only so...
22nd Feb 2017 The Scottish Bothy Bible by Geoff Allan
Another gem from Wild Things Publishing, this is the second book on bothy's to have been released in the last year. Whilst the former, The Book Of The Bothy, featured a selection of bothies all...
20th Feb 2017 Wild Garden Weekends - Guidebook
I has been a pleasure to delve into this beautifully illustrated book and leaf through the beguiling examples of what has to be described as ‘Secret Britain’. Obviously, when reviewing...
2nd Nov 2016 Wild Swimming - Italy
They keep on coming. I've previously reviewed Wild Swimming books on the UK, France, Spain, Australia and now comes Italy. I've not been to Italy for a long time, but this book looks set to...
13th Oct 2016 1,001 Climbing Tips - Andy Kirkpatrick
1,001 tips on anything has to be a pretty tall order. 1,001 tips on a niche activity like climbing must be virtually impossible. Not so if you have the mind of Andy Kirkpatrick. I checked out...
4th Oct 2016 Wild Guide - Devon, Cornwall & The South West
I'm loving the fact that Wild Things Publishing are producing a series of these Wild Guides. Having started off with wild swimming guides they have broadened their horizons and begun this...
30th Sep 2016 In The Shadow Of Ben Nevis - Ian Sykes
Ian Sykes is a guy you have probably never heard of. He's not climbed big grades or big mountains so he's never really featured in any of our magazines or websites. But he's now in his...
26th Jul 2016 Wild Swimming - Hidden Beaches
If you follow my reviews at all then you will know that I am a big fan of the Wild Swim series of books. I find them thoroughly inspirational, especially in light of yesterday's Blog post about...
14th Jul 2016 Wild Guide - Scandinavia
I've reviewed one Wild Guide already, to the South of England. This is a whole different world of a book. I suspect I have yet to find a guide book with this many inspiring photographs in it. A...
13th Jul 2016 Punk In The Gym - Andy Pollitt
Andy Pollitt’s book was given to me by Vertebrate Publishing, the Sheffield-based business responsible for the majority of the recent climbing biographies, with a twinkle of the eye and a...
30th Jun 2016 Wild Swimming - Spain
After France, Spain is probabyt eh country outside the UK that I have travelled to most. As kids our summer holidays were often based there, and summer in Spain being hot, we seem to spend the...
21st Jun 2016 Wild Swimming - Sydney
I’m an avid fan of wild swimming, and love the ever-growing series of Wild Swimming guidebooks published by ~Wild Things Publishing. Wild swimming by its vey nature tends to take you off the...
15th Jun 2016 Spain: Mallorca Guidebook Rockfax
I lose track of whether this is the third or fourth edition of Rockfax’s Mallorca guide (actually, I just looked it up and discovered that it’s no less than the 7th!) such is the popularity of...
17th May 2016 5 + 6 - Western & Northern Fontainebleau (Part 2)
I’ve been a long-time fan of Bart Van Raaij, the Fontainebleau fanatic who has singlehandedly reinvented the guidebook to what is probably the world’s most complicated climbing area. Bart’s...
10th Feb 2016 Rock Queen – by Catherine Destivelle
Rock Queen – by Catherine Destivelle Review by Sam Schofield Catherine Destivelle was at the pinnacle of climbing during the 1980s and 90s, achieving sporting firsts, winning competitions and...
9th Dec 2015 Wild Guide - Southern & Eastern England
I've been a fan of the publishers of the Wild Guides since they hit the ground running with the first edition of wild Swimming. This latest incarnation is a delight to behold. It's the same...
24th Nov 2015 One Man’s Everest - Kenton Cool
One Man’s Everest Kenton Cool Review by Sam Schofield One Man’s Everest is a book of adventures woven into a bright, entertaining and inspiring tapestry of a mountaineering career. The...
27th Apr 2015 Peak District Trail Running - Vertebrate Publishing
I've long held the view that there aren't enough fell running guide books out there. We are inundated with cycling guides and climbing guides, but running is arguably more popular, but there are...
31st Mar 2015 Beyond Limits - A Life Through Climbing - Steve McClure
Steve McClure is one of the best rock climbers in the world; and undoubtedly the best sport climber in the UK over the past 15 years. With climbing parents, growing up within easy reach of the...
24th Jul 2018 Wild Swimming - France
UPDATE Wild Things Publishing have now made most of their books available as interactive apps via Itunes and Google Play. The apps work pretty nicely featuring a navigable map, as well as...