'Out There' reviewed in Wild Land News

"This is a book to savour ... extremely well-written .... Chris is a compelling and engaging author .... too many delights in its pages to describe in a brief review, I suggest you read and enjoy it".

Beryl Leatherland in Wild Land News Autumn 2017.

I'm delighted to that Out There has received another positive review. As it came out last year I wasn't expecting any more. This review is in the excellent magazine of the Scottish Wild Land Group, Wild Land News, which you can read online here. The review starts on page 35. Do please read the whole magazine. It's all good stuff.

Out There reprint ... and future books

It's almost a year since my collection of essays on the outdoors was published. To my delight it's just been reprinted. The cover now has an acknowledgement of the award the book won last autumn too.

I've also started work on my next book, which will be centred round my Scottish Watershed walk but which will  also about the Scottish outdoors in general and about the changes I've undergone in over 25 years of living in Scotland after moving here from England. This book, which doesn't have a title yet, should be published in spring 2018.

Before then there'll be an ebook combining my long out-of-print books on my two long walks in Canada - Walking the Yukon and High Summer: Backpacking the Canadian Rockies. Copies of both are being torn apart and copied at present, after which I'll be doing some minor editing (there are tiny errors/mistakes in both books that have been irritating me for a quarter of a century!).

Out There - The Pictures 1: Trekking to Makalu Base Camp

From left: Chamlung, Peak 6 & Makalu

My book Out There: A Voice From The Wild describes many wild places and outdoor adventures in words but has no pictures. For those interested I'll be posting occasional collections of photos from some of the pieces in the book, starting with a selection from the trek to Makalu Base Camp in the Himalayas in Nepal. This trek to the base of the fifth highest mountain in the world is my favourite of the three treks I've done in this part of the world. I've really enjoyed sorting through the pictures I took. I hope you enjoy them too.

The trek was from Tumlingtar to Sherson and back

Crossing the Arun River

Trekking through terraced fields and tropical forest near Sedua

In the tropical forest

Camp at Kauma

Clouds clearing near the Shipton La

On the ridge above Kauma

Porters in the Barun Valley

  

The excellent cook crew at work

Trekking in the Barun Valley

Dawn light on Chamlung

Camp at Sherson below Chamlung

Guides & trekkers below Makalu

Evening light on Peak 6

Porters crossing the Barun River at Yangri Kharka

Morning at Kauma after overnight snow

 

Dawn at Kauma

All the photos were taken on a 6 megapixel Canon EOS 300D DSLR with Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens.

OWPG Awards for Out There and a feature on Hydration

Whilst I was away on my recent walk the Outdoor Writers And Photographers Guild announced their annual awards and I'm delighted to find that I won two of them - for my book Out There and for a feature on Hydration that appeared in The Great Outdoors.

On Out There the judges commented 'a thoroughly engaging account of the author's lifelong involvement with the great outdoors ..... with plenty of ready quotes to delight winter night conversations for fellow dreamers of wild places. Townsend speaks frankly, and with the authority of a connoisseur'.

A Talk on Out There at the St Andrews Nature Weekend on May 28

On May 28 I'm giving a talk based on my book Out There at Waterstone's in St Andrews as part of the St Andrews Nature Weekend. More details here.

Talk at Dunblane Library

Next Tuesday, May 10th, I'm giving an illustrated talk about my book Out There at Dunblane Library as part of the Off The Page Book Festival. More details here.

I'll be showing photos from some of the trips described in the book and talking about those adventures, the people and books who inspired me, and the importance of wild places.

Latest reviews of Out There.

I'm delighted with two more positive reviews of my latest book.

In Geographical magazine Laura Cole writes:

'a thoughtful, challenging and vital experience of being outside'

'a singular celebration of wild spaces.'


While in Outdoor Enthusiast (page 54) David Lintern says:

'the tone here is enthusiastic yet calm and clear-sighted, conversational but never cold'.

'the voice of experience, and it's one we should listen to.'

Interview in the Inverness Courier

An interview I gave to the Inverness Courier last month about my new book is now online here.

The interview covers a wide range of topics. It was done on the phone and the interviewer has written up what I said well (this doesn't always happen with phone interviews) - and it was probably a sub-editor who spelt my name wrong!

'Out There' reviewed in Scotland on Sunday

'I was struck then by his thoughtfulness and clear-sightedness – as if all his opinions had been slowly, patiently reasoned out during endless hours of quiet contemplation while alone on the trail – and these same qualities are evident throughout this compendium of his best writing.'

Roger Cox in his review in Scotland on Sunday.

Reviews for 'Out There'

The first reviews of my new book have appeared and I'm delighted as they are very positive.

Nick Drainey in The Scots Magazine gives a good overview of the book and finishes by saying 'Townsend has achieved his aim of inspiring others with this book and if you don’t feel like going on a walk – no matter how long or short – after reading it, you never will.'

Alex Roddie, who I was very pleased to see at the book launch in Inverness last week, writes on his website 'I have read several books by this author but I think this is one of his most diverse and enjoyable reads yet – perhaps also his most important ....... the result is magnificent'.

Alex also contacted me with a few questions. My answers are appended to his review.

In Outdoor Focus, the journal of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild, of which I am a member, Roly Smith describes the book as a 'highly readable anthology' and 'highly recommended'.