Outdoor Discoveries

News of Walking World Ireland

Everyone can have a hiatus and there has been a long one on here for entries like this one. In my case, it is not as if I have been away from hillwalking. As it happens, I have had more trouble motivating myself to write stuff on here than getting out among hills and there is a growing list of Trip Reports to Come too. What has happened is that procrastination has got in the way of my getting those additional outings shared and it gets worse as the list grows longer. In addition, an old bike of mine has found its way onto rollers in an effort to increase fitness and reduce flab. The former has been a success so far and the latter needs more in the way of effort so the bike trainer will not be left to gather dust like another road bike that I acquired in April but that was taken out on a short cycle between Macclesfield and Buxton yesterday.

The inspiration for this post though is an email that I unexpectedly received from the publisher and editor of a walking magazine that I thought was defunct: Walking World Ireland. My impressions led me to join Mountaineering Ireland to received its journal, Irish Mountain Log, as a substitute. However plans are afoot to get Walking World Ireland back on newsagent shelves again, albeit under a new guise of Mountain World Ireland. Here is the text of that email:

An apology and announcement to readers of Walking World Ireland

From November 28th:

Walking World Ireland will become Mountain World Ireland

As a subscriber to Walking World Ireland, you’ll have noticed that the magazine has not been published for almost a year now – since the 2014 Annual.

As editor and publisher I want to apologise sincerely for this. We value every reader very highly, and it was only after a prolonged period of business difficulties that the decision to suspend publication was made. Since that moment it has been my clear hope and intention to return WWI to the shelves as soon as possible.

The reason I’m contacting you today is to let you know that the magazine is indeed making a comeback. I’m delighted to be able to say that, and I hope it will also come as good news to you.

From next month, Walking World Ireland will resume publication as Mountain World Ireland. It’s a small change, reflecting a slight but exciting change in emphasis – largely the result of the countless conversations I’ve had with readers over recent months.

Mountain World Ireland will remain at its core a hillwalking magazine, celebrating, as ever, the beauty of Ireland’s mountain landscapes and the pleasures and challenges they offer. But more, it will celebrate the wider world of mountain sports – the people and activities that inspire us as lovers of high places.

I hope and trust that this rebirth will meet with your approval, and will continue to inform, entertain and inspire you as WWI did. I want to thank all of you for the patience you have shown, and for the many, many expressions of support we have received from readers and subscribers. I hope to hear from you again with any comments you may have on our future direction. Anything, in fact, that you have to say.

Finally, I want to assure all of you with unfulfilled subscriptions that we will honour all our outstanding commitments, and if you’re unsure where your subscription stands, do contact me at [email protected] or on +353 (0)86 805 4590.

Sincerely

Conor O’Hagan
Editor

Copyright © 2014 Mountain World Ireland, All rights reserved.

You are receiving this email because you have previously subscribed to Walking World Ireland

Our mailing address is:
Mountain World Ireland
10 Kickham Road
Kilmainham
Dublin,
Ireland

Some of the sentiments sound familiar so I will wait and see what becomes of these plans. An improving economic situation may help the new venture so I wish it well while intending to savour what is on offer. If anything, the WWI offer had gone a little repetitive so a refresh was needed anyway and a break often can make for a good reboot as has been seen with many a movie franchise. My Irish travel horizons may have been narrowed by life events over there in recent years but there may be a chance to do some explorations of my own yet.

As for the future of this outpost, I hope to get more trip reports shared and the summers of 2013 and 2014 came good enough to lure me out and about on welcome and much needed escapades. Usual haunts like the Scottish Highlands, the Lake District and the Peak District saw incursions along the Gower, Monmouthshire, Yorkshire and Northumberland. The perceived need for better photos drove quite a lot of these and the Lake District photo album is being rebuilt at the moment too. Also, there may have been visits to other places too and there are musings that I wish to mull over on here too once procrastination has been banished.

Better late than never

If you are a magazine publisher, it helps if you can do so to a regular schedule. Walking World Ireland has fallen foul of that more than once within the last year and it has taken five months for the current issue to arrive, both to subscribers and to shops. Last year’s annual featured multiple walking routes taken directly from Collins Press’ series of walking guides instead of coming from regular contributors such as Dennis Gill and Tom Hutton. That left me wondering if financial troubles were the cause of that though the content wasn’t any less useful as a result.

For any struggling magazine, an irregular publishing schedule is the sort of habit that needs breaking. It also was one that afflicted the now defunct Cycling World magazine and it leaves a gap in the marketplace these days. If you were after a magazine that prioritised route features over cycling kit, then this would have been the one to have. Now that it’s gone, it seems that coverage and reviews of new bikes and other pieces of equipment is what sells and that the experience of getting out in the countryside to clear your head is playing second fiddle.

Thankfully, walking is more about the experience of being out of doors in the countryside than about the kit that you use. The result has been that we are keen to read about new routes and the experiences of others. Walking World Ireland has done well on both counts for as long as I have known it and gives prominence to a country whose countryside deserves it. Reassuring, the latest late edition has something of the character to which I have come to expect of the magazine. There are two routes from a long-standing regular contributor (Tom Hutton) and Andy Callan is doing gear reviews. EastWest Mapping still supply route maps so things feel as if they may be returning to normal.

However, there are changes afoot too and these are described in an otherwise apologetic editorial. The publishing frequency is set to go from bimonthly to quarterly and a digital edition is planned too. Hopefully, that will be available for Android tablets (there is a Nexus 7 in my possession) and that blinding by iPad isn’t witnessed as has been the case for other magazines. It sounds as if the last few months have been difficult ones for a magazine that has been with us since 1993 so I hope that it has a future in uncertain economic times. Hopefully, the ample amount of satisfying Irish walking will continue to have a place on new stands because it is more than deserved. With subscriptions priced now from €18, the offering looks more attractive than it ever did.

Update 2013-05-20:  Cycling World magazine has turned out not to be as defunct as I thought that it was; the May issue is out now and I have a copy in my possession after a visit to the Macclesfield branch of W H Smith on Saturday. However, the Walking World Ireland website is down as write these words so that’s not a happy harbinger for its continued existence after there being a troubled year for the magazine.

Update 2013-06-09: Walking World Ireland has got its website up and going again so all is looking more promising. Now, let’s hope things stay that way for them…

Into 2013…

2012 was a slower year for this place than others but there still are things to say. Outstanding trip reports await writing and there are other things to be sharing too so there should be no stopping yet. The one longer walk a month ethic (there may be more sometimes, of course) will remain for me even if December saw a trip to Tatton Park was the most that I got to doing; those Christmas preparations had their part to play in this, naturally. Even the Christmas and New Year period saw less than it usually might have done for a variety of reasons.

Today, I am nursing a heavy cold so that has put paid to any greater ambitions that I may have had for New Year’s Day of 2013. Weather has had its part to play too with all those deluges that have been tormenting others far more than me. Let’s hope that the promised dry spell of weather materialises and allows everywhere to dry out a little. Once this cold is behind me, I even might get out for that longer walk of the month too.

Apart from the cold, there is one other thing that limits grand designs like my trip to the Western Isles in 2008. My parents are older and my father’s health is far from what it was so it will need close watching and more thinking about his care than he himself is willing to do. Walks still will be needed to clear minds from time to time so they won’t stop. The de-stressing action of simply putting one foot before another is one helps and there is the time for thinking too. When I changed job in 2010, both of these really helped and my hope is that they’ll continue to do so.

That’s not to say that there won’t be brighter interludes too. After all, it is amazing how bright lighting of wonderful countryside and the peace of the natural world can soothe and delight a weary soul. When I was watching episodes of BBC Scotland’s Adventure Show highlighting the Scottish National Trail on the iPlayer. The first of these really struck a resonance with me because of how many of the places featured were among those that I have passed on my Scottish forays. Places such as Kirk Yetholm, the Eildon Hills, the Three Brethern, the Pentland Hills, Edinburgh and its Water of Leith walkway, the southern reaches of the West Highland Way, the Rob Roy Way, Aberfoyle and Aberfeldy. It felt as if I had shadowed much of the route on my various comings and goings. It was hard to say the same for much of the countryside crossed in the second part though I have had a taste of what Glen Tilt has to offer last June. The threatened Monadh Liath hardly have seen any invasion from myself and those north-western Scottish fastnesses have lain beyond my attention so far.

There has been a chance to catch up with unread issues of TGO too. Older ones from before the big redesign were among these and I was reminded how more portable these used to be. Of course, Android digital editions fulfil this need so I suppose that I need to look at that app though there is something a little more special about holding a paper magazine in your hand in these ever digital days. also, I am catching up with those delayed trip reports too and they are reminders of ambiences experienced then that may be revisited in the flesh again not far into the future. Macclesfield’s nearby hill country has its share of these to offer so it could come into its own when short departures from the cares of modern life are needed, and other similar spots are not too far away either so who knows where I could be hiking?

2013 may feel more uncertain for me than other years but I got through 2010 and that was bumpy in its own respects. For me, it looks as if it will be a matter of inching a way through the year. Of course, at start of any year, it impossible to know where things will sit at its end and so it is with this one. Obstacles get overcome and life goes forward in its adventurous manner. Over the Christmas period, I read an opinion piece from Cameron McNeish in TGO bemoaning adventure holidays and their misplaced concepts of planning and organisation. Life’s not like that so that mindset sounds hubristic to me, and especially so now.

While my 2013 is beginning in a wistful state of mind, my hope is that yours will be good to you. May twelve months hence have us recalling happy surprises that have come upon us along the way too; I am recalling 2012’s in my own mind right now as this blog goes into its eighth calendar year (the actual birthday is at the start of May). Life’s adventure continues…

A catch-up on Irish walking magazines and books

Recently, I got the opportunity to survey the current editions of both Walking World Ireland and Irish Mountain Log. The first of these is a magazine that I have featured on here a few times before, while the latter may be new to regular readers of these musings. It is published by Mountaineering Ireland, the Irish answer to the British Mountaineering Council, on a quarterly basis and does feature some articles that catch my eye. Those pertaining to clubs and climbing usually are those over which I skip but others such as an example entry from the perhaps overly grandiosely titled Irish Peaks Guidebook, a West of Ireland hill country photo essay from Adrian Hendroff, an article about a Pyrenean nature walk and others about the spirit of the sorts of special places in which all of us outdoors lovers love to immerse ourselves.

Walking World Ireland puts out its Annual around this time of year and the 2013 one is out now. There is no year planner inserted into the current one as there used to be in years gone by. Lists of walking festivals and organisations still have a place though and there is an index like there often is for these. Interestingly, the usual route articles are excerpts from a series of guides from Collins Press about which I say more later. Usually, we see similar contributions from Dennis, Gill, Tom Hutton, Gareth McCormack and Helen Fairbarn but that’s not the case this time around. Loop Walks also seem not to have a place like they have had in recent issues. Otherwise, it’s all the customary sort of content that you’d expect along with articles looking further afield than Ireland. Still, the differences seen in the Annual make me wonder what is set to come in the first actual issue of 2013.

Collins Press seem to be on their way to become the Cicerone or Frances Lincoln (the latter is particularly appropriate for this comparison since their outdoors publishing only seems to have commenced with their taking on Wainwright’s guides) of Irish walking guide publishing. Like the latter publishing house, they do produce much more than just walking books. Most of these are available as what they call “Limpback” editions, like a hardback but with something of the paperback feel. The range of subjects includes: Carrauntoohil & MacGillycuddy’s Reeks; Connemara & Mayo; Donegal, Sligo & Leitrim; Ireland’s County High Points; Northern Ireland; Scenic Walks in Killarney; Scenic Walks in West Cork; The Burren & the Aran Islands; The Dingle, Iveragh & Beara Peninsulas; Tipperary & Waterford. There is a good range available with the Dublin & Wicklow Mountains being the only stand-out omission, but time may see that addressed yet. The guides seem to be temptingly presented so it might make a good excuse for a visit somewhere for me to try out one of the books for size to see what it opens up for a walker in Ireland’s pleasing hill country; this is but one of the excuses that I should make a reality. Let’s hope that they see success with these and that more get to experience the delights of Irish hill country too.

All of the above are set to be illuminating once I get around to setting aside some time to go further than cursory glances. The Kindle version of the Irish county high points (why not just call them tops?) guide has made it into my possession already and needs more consultation like the aforementioned magazines. After all, it amazes me to see how many Irish counties shared their highest hills with others; Limerick and Tipperary are far from being the only ones (the Munro-class Galtymore is the one that they share). There may be more Irish entries on the trip ideas page here yet.

A time that’s safe for dreaming?

The allure of working in the outdoors also has attracted its share of dreamers, some of whom have managed to turn their dreams into reality. A few months back, I was reminded of this when reading a copy of Outdoor Photography. In there, I found something written that I hadn’t seen for a while: an amateur photographer whose work was featured possessed the aspiration of turning professional. So much has happened in recent years that I wonder such dreams are realisable or if they are mere delusions.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the appeal of the countryside to those living in urban settings. Escaping the topsy turvy of modern life is what keeps me getting in walks in quieter places and thoughts of seeing them in pleasing light is an attraction, especially when it comes to photographic capture of those scenes. In that, I am not alone even if life gets in the way from time to time.

Of course, the countryside is under pressure and that always seems to be the case. There is that fungus that kills ash trees just like another has been doing the same for elms, though some still survive and some progress seems to have been made with making the trees more resistant to the fungus that is carried by beetles. Then, there’s the thorny subject of wind-powered electricity generation that rouses strong feelings. Added to that lot is a government so desperate for economic growth that it’s willing to change planning laws in the hope that that might help.

We already have seen cuts in public spending taking hold. A few years ago, I remember reading of someone taking redundancy to start further education in order to become a countryside ranger. Those opportunities hardly can be very plentiful so I wonder how she got on with her planned career change. After all, not only have local authority budgets been reduced but national park authorities saw the same happen to theirs shortly after the current government took power.

Saturation of markets comes to mind when anyone shares ambitions of becoming a professional photographer and it isn’t limited to that profession either. After all, how many guides and guidebook authors do we need? Maybe there were less walking guidebooks available than there are now, which gave some long-established writers a chance, but those bookshop shelves are well loaded now and there’s the rise of digital publishing too. Cicerone may be keeping there eBooks at the same prices as their paper equivalents but I for one have been used to their being cheaper so how long can that last?

The advent of digital photography has had quite an effect on the lot of a professional photographer. A decade ago, a well supplied stock library was a good source of income but that seems not to be the case any longer. Sales of books, calendars and postcards help but there also is quite a growth in the provision of photography courses and writing always is an option. Such is the volume of images that is available that it is impossible to limit yourself to travel, landscape or wildlife photography to maintain that all important income.

It seems that even the obvious outdoors careers are not immune to the upheavals of the present day. Hobbies can lead to careers and my means for earning a living is an example of that as well as something from which many yearn to exit. Having grown up on a farm, I realise that an outdoors life isn’t all easy and there are many things today that make it that bit harder too. Contenting myself with earning my crust using the skills and experience that I possess is how I plan to proceed while enjoying those all-important outdoor escapades for affording some quiet time away from it all. However, it also looks as if  bit more effort is needed to keep the countryside more intact than otherwise might be the case. On that, I reckon that I need to have a think.