New Lonely Planet book on Scottish Hillwalking
Published on 18th April 2007 
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutesWhen passing through Leeds on my Easter Yorkshire Dales excursions, I popped into Waterstones and spotted that Lonely Planet has finally updated its guide to walking in Scotland. The previous edition dated from 2001, so it might have been time for an update. Six years can be a long time, sometimes.
Being easily persuaded, I acquired a copy to see what's in the new one. There are changes to the routes featured, but I'll hang on to my copy of the first edition as there seem to be a number of changes to the featured walking routes and I might find some use for it yet.
On the surface, not much has changed with the included walking information, apart from updates to the text and changes to the presentation. These include putting the walking information chapters at the back and adding glossy sections at the front containing a good supply of colour photos. Nevertheless, dig deeper and more of the changes appear.
The recently enacted Scottish access legislation must surely have had an impact, as walks in the Campsie Fells and Ochil Hills are now headline inclusions. New routes such as the John Buchan Way between Peebles and Broughton now get a mention. Some previously featured routes now find themselves in the Other Walks sections at the end of the chapters, along with new additions such as the Rob Roy Way that goes from Drymen to Pitlochry.
Another fate for previous headline routes is that they find themselves in boxes sitting outside the main text. Classic routes such as the Aonach Eagach ridge or the ascent of Ben Nevis via the Carn Mor Dearg arête find themselves in this position. Given the level of challenge associated with these, that may be wise, for these are not beginner's routes.
