A Look At The June Issue Of The Great Outdoors

 In the June issue of The Great Outdoors I have a piece on my walk through the Alps on the GR5. It's in a feature on walks that can change your life. In my case this walk changed my view on long-distance walking in the Alps. The walk that really changed my life was the Pacific Crest Trail, described in this feature by Heather 'Anish' Anderson who has hiked the PCT three times. In one of them she took just 60 days, setting a record for a self-supported hike. Also in this feature Richard Hartfield describes the Haute Route Pyrenees, Kat Young experiences New Zealand's Te Araroa, and Mark Waring walks the spine of Sweden's mountains.

In the gear pages I review eight solo backpacking tents, four backpacking packs (Francesca Donovan reviews another four), and the Pacerpole Tops trekking pole sections and Craghoppers Dynamic Pro II waterproof jacket. I also suggest six pairs of boots that don't cost too much (under £150).

In other big features Francesca Donovan undertakes a backpacking circuit of Yr Wyddfa without once visting the summit, Andrew Terrill completes a quest to camp once a week for a year, Stephanie Killingbeck searches for hope in the face of the climate crisis by walking from Land's End to John O'Groats and visiting environmental projects along the way, and William Vandoorne goes on a month-long solo journey by foot and packraft in the wilderness of southwest Greenland.

The issue opens with a wonderful shot of Ullswater in pre-dawn light by Daniel Toal. Mountaineering and trekking coach Kate Sielmann is Creator of the Month. In Opinion columns Mary Ann-Ochota says we need a new way of seeing to fix the ecological crisis and Will Renwick says Welsh place-names need renaming in Welsh. Francesca Donovan reviews Tim Gent's very apposite new book Dartmoor Walking and Camping. Jim Perrin's Mountain Portrait describes wonderful Ben More Assynt in the NW Highlands. In her Notes from the Edge about her walk round the coast of Britain Emma Schroeder laments the amount of plastic waste she finds on beaches and says we should do something about it.

In the Wild Walks section in Scotland Stefan Durcaz walks over Carn Liath and Culardoch in the Eastern Cairngorms, and Andrew Galloway reaches the highest point in the Southern Uplands on the Merrick. In the Lake District Fiona Barltrop visits Martindalet, Vivienne Crow spends a night in a remote bothy beyond Skiddaw, and Ian Battersby walks over Bowscale Fell and Bannerdale Crags. In Eryri Andrew Galloway camps in Cwm Caseg and James Forrest stays in a bothy on Arenig Fawr. In the Peak District Francesca Donovan traverses Kinder Scout while down in Devon Emily Woodhouse walks the Two Moors Way and Tim Gent has a camp on a walk to Wild Tor and Cranmere Pool on Dartmoor.