A Look At The June Issue Of The Great Outdoors

I have an unusual gear feature in the latest TGO magazine. Rather than a review of any particular product it's an opinion piece on packs and, in particular, what features I really don't like. More conventionally I also review the Patagonia R1 Air Fleece Vest.

Also in the gear pages Lara Dunn and Peter Macfarlane each review three daypacks and Gemma Palmer and Peter Macfarlane each review three pairs of trail running shoes.

In the main features there's a look at a dozen of the best ridge walks in the British Hills ranging from Southern England to North-West Scotland. 

Ursula  Martin  describes probably the longest ever book tour on foot - a 1600 mile circuitous bookshop linking Land's End - John O' Groats walk to promote her latest book One Woman Walks Europe. 

The great mountain and climbing photographer John Cleare sadly died last year. John's editor Deziree Wilson, who was working with him on his memoir Cleare Perspectives, describes the process of putting the book together in a piece illustrated with some of Cleare's superb photos. This is a book I'm really looking forward to.

Flowers and the Alpine spring are the theme of a piece by former TGO editor Carey Davies as he describes a hut-to-hut walk through the Alps in July.

The issue opens with a stunning photo by Alan Novelli of the rising sun catching early-morning cloud on the Y Gribin ridge in Eryri/Snowdonia. 

In the Almanac pages Nadia Shaikh praises the nightingale, I review the Scottish Mountaineering Club's splendid new  guidebook, The Corbetts by Rab Anderson, and in a moving essay Kate Armstrong argues that the mountains aren't always a cure-all for mental health problems.

Jim Perrin's Mountain Portrait is Moel Hebog in Eryri/Snowdonia, which he describes as a wonderful peak in sumptuous hill country.

In the Skills section Mountain Weather Information Service forecaster and mountaineering instructor Mehmet Karatay talks about the fascinating science of thunderstorms and how to stay safe from lightning.

In Uphill Struggles Juls Stobel advises a reader addicted to outdoor clothing. 

Wild Walks has seven very different routes. James Roddie describes one of my favourites, a circular walk over Meall a' Bhuachaille in the Cairngorms. In a different part of the national park Alex Roddie visits The Snub, Loch Brandy & Glen Clova. The Lake District sees Vivienne Crow on Lingmoor Fell & Side Pike and James Forrest on Gowbarrow Fell. In the Yorkshire Dales Norman Hadley as a stroll through wildflowers on Kisdon and in the Muker meadows. Also in Yorkshire (but not the Dales) Ian Battersby explores Ilkley Moor. Finally in the Peak District shares a classic ridge walk over Chrome Hill.