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Scotland (World Mountain Ranges) Chris Townsend

By Dave Roberts   

on June 10, 2012    No ratings yet.

Posted in Books and Maps, Outdoor Gear ReviewsScotland

Scotland (World Mountain Ranges) Chris Townsend

There are so many guide books out there today that it’s often difficult to see which one will be the next Poucher or Ridges of Snowdonia. This book is destined to be one of the very few that will be reprinted and will be gracing bookshelves in a generation’s time.

Scotland is a hybrid reference and guidebook, but doesn’t really get it’s teeth into the latter as it provides just a route snippet and no maps. That’s perfectly understandable considering that there’s a lot of content in here, and the guidebook snippets should be seen as a bonus. The book is hefty enough as it is, if it also included full directions then it would be heftier than the Jones section in a welsh phone directory.

What you’re left with is a volume that has something about every mountainous area in Scotland, including the often ignored Southern Uplands. Each section begins with a general description of the area, presumably containing all the relevant information about that section. This includes anything from the history to the geology, people and language of the peaks.

It may not be a volume you would normally take with you on a backpacking trip, but I found that having the Kindle edition to hand on our recent Knoydart trip invaluable. That was both as a reference to the Knoydart section, and also as a general read. That’s the sign of a classic guidebook in my view, that it can be read as a bedtime read as well as being informative. As it’s Chris Townsend, it’s also pretty authoritative, he’s one of the few out there who really knows his onions as it were.

If you want a comprehensive Scotland library, then all you need is this volume along with one of the many Munro and Corbett (as they may be short, but make up for it in attitude) guidebooks.

I’ve bought this book on kindle, and it’s that good that I’ll be hunting a physical copy of this down in second hand bookshops.

We reviewed the Kindle Edition of Scotland – mountain ranges of the world.

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Dave Roberts

Dave Roberts founded Walk Eryri in 2004, with the aim of providing routes that are off the beaten track. Walk Eryri is now part of Mud and Routes which continues to provide more off beat routes and walks in Snowdonia and beyond. Dave has been exploring the hills of Eryri for over thirty years, and is a qualified Mountain Leader. Dave also established Walk up Snowdon, Walk up Scafell Pike and Walk up Ben Nevis just to mention a few.

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