Powerful stuff – energy drinks for climbers!

May 8th, 2012 in Cicerone Office by Lesley

Our thanks to Stuart, manager of the St Andrews branch of Waterstones, who sent us this brief review…

1850s energy drinks

“British climbing has always been full of eccentric characters. Probably starting with Albert Smith who climbed Mont Blanc in 1851. Essential equipment included: 93 bottles of wine and 3 of cognac. Unjustifiable Risk? is an absolutely fascinating book and surprisingly readable. A must for any armchair mountaineer.”

 
More little gems from the book will be posted on our blog in the next week or two… or you could get the book now! Only £9.99 in paperback – less with our May 2012 discount offer.


New Wales Coast Path – 870 miles of spectacular Welsh coastline

May 3rd, 2012 in Book Catalogue by Sarah

This Saturday sees the official opening of the new Wales Coast Path – the longest continuous coastal path around a country. The new path runs for 870 miles through spectacular coastal scenery from Chester in the north to Chepstow in the south east.

Along the way the new path follows established routes such as the Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail and Lleyn Peninsula Coastal Path. And to help you find your way, a new waymarker has been created that can be seen along the whole of the Wales Coast Path.

If 870 miles isn’t quite long enough. When you arrive in at the finish in Chepstow, there’s the option of walking Offa’s Dyke Path to create a total circumnavigation of Wales extending to more than 1000 miles.


Explore the Hebrides with Cicerone

May 2nd, 2012 in Cicerone Authors by Sarah

Cicerone author, Peter Edwards, got in touch to tell us about his recent research trip to the Outer Hebrides and the Isle of Skye. Peter is currently undertaking the ‘fieldwork’ for his forthcoming walking guide to the Hebrides. This will be a medium format guide in Cicerone’s ‘inspirational’ guidebook series, in the mould of the Great Mountain Days books.

With the impending publication (mid-June) of Peter’s guide to Walking on Rum and the Small Isles and Mike Townsend’s Walking on Uist and Barra, Cicerone’s guidebook coverage of the various island groups comprising the Hebrides will be complete. Furthermore, Richard Barrett’s Cycling in the Hebrides, also published in June covers the Inner and Outer Hebrides in one fell swoop.

Together with his wife, Fiona, and their labrador, Dougal, Peter undertook a number of day walks and two-day backpacks throughout on Barra, South Uist, Berneray, Harris, Lewis and Skye. Read the rest of this entry »


Scottish Islands Explorer magazine

April 27th, 2012 in Cicerone Office by Sarah

The Scottish islands are spectacular places which enchant their many visitors and their few hardy inhabitants. The beauty of these inhospitable islands combined with their rich history makes them fascinating places to visit and learn about.

So we’re really pleased to announce that Cicerone has teamed up with the Scottish Islands Explorer magazine to bring you a fantastic new offer.

The Scottish Islands Explorer is full of human stories and useful facts about the Scottish Islands. There’s information on everything from archaeological digs to island wildlife; an enjoyable way to learn more about the area’s people and places before you visit.

From now until the 30 June each new subscriber to Scottish Islands Explorer magazine will receive a free Cicerone guidebook.

There are four Cicerone books available to choose from, each one covering walks on different islands, including the Isle of Mull and the Isle of Skye.

The magazines will be delivered straight to your door and, armed with a Cicerone guidebook, you’ll soon be inspired to get out and explore.


Take a ride on the Lakeland Fellranger bus

April 19th, 2012 in Cicerone Authors by Sarah

It’s springtime in Grasmere and crowds flock to the lakeland village to see Wordsworth’s daffodils and sample the famous gingerbread. But today the town played host to a few more unusual visitors…

Cicerone author Mark Richards was in Grasmere this morning to see the newly painted Lakeland Fellranger bus.

A 559 Stagecoach bus has been named after Mark’s popular series of Lakeland Fellranger guidebooks to the Lake District, and painted with a new design to showcase the Cicerone guides and the fells they explore. It even has Mark’s face on the back!

The bus is part of Stagecoach’s ongoing effort to promote their Lakeland bus services as a great (and green) way to explore the fells.  Mark has long been an advocate of using public transport to access the area and many of the walks in his guides link up with handy bus routes.

He has been eagerly anticipating the bus’s launch and was over the moon to see the finished product, “On a personal level, to have a bus named after my eight-part Lakeland Fellranger series published by Cicerone Press is rather special… This tie-in with Cicerone brings into focus a symbiotic relationship these buses can and should have in the minds of active visitors and this amazing mountain landscape.” Said Mark.

After a morning spent posing for photos, the 559 went back to ferrying passengers up and down the scenic road from Bowness to Grasmere.

Mark also has a busy summer ahead of him – with 6 fellranger guides already out and another – The Northern Fells – due to be published later this year, he is busy exploring and writing for the final guide in the series, the Far-Eastern fells.

So if you’re lucky enough to be out and about in the Lake District this summer, keep an eye out for the Fellranger bus, you could even hop on for a ride!


MTB Yorkshire Dales – Ribblehead and Cam High Road

April 4th, 2012 in Book Catalogue, Cicerone Office by Sarah

At Cicerone we’re always surrounded by temping new guidebooks of places near and far to head for a walk, trek or bike ride.

With time to get away for a week or more restricted to once or twice a year, it’s always of great interest when we publish a new local guidebook. I soon snaffled the advance copy of Mountain Biking in the Yorkshire Dales that arrived just as recent the spell of good weather appeared.

With the Yorkshire Dales on our doorstep we’ve already done a lot of mountain biking there, but we’re always on the look out for new rides or different ways to link up routes we already know.

After a quick flick through the book, we picked route 3 – Ribblehead and the Cam High Road.

We parked up at Ribblehead, with the formidable viaduct in the background and the sun on our backs.

A short ride along the road towards Hawes soon ended with the first off-road section over Gayle Moor. A short spin on the tarmac took us to the start of the next section, which is also part of the Pennine Bridleway.

The views were stunning as we climbed steadily on a good track all the way to the top. From here, a fast and fun descent of the Cam High Road took us back to the road to retrace our steps back to the car.

All in all, a cracking ride, and one I’ll definitely do again…


Tell us your story – The GR5 Trail

April 3rd, 2012 in Book Catalogue, Tell Us Your Story by Sarah

Last year we decided to walk the Traverse of the Alps, from Thonon on Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean coast at Nice, 420 miles across the high Alps, mainly in France but crossing into Switzerland for part of the walk and hugging the French/Italian border in places.

The walk is part of the much-longer GR5 Trail which starts on the Hook of Holland, but the Alps section is considered to be one of the most spectacular long-distance hikes of Europe, a description which we would totally endorse.

We had originally planned to walk the Tour of Mont Blanc, but my husband felt that this might be too strenuous for me so we opted instead for the ‘Traverse’, and the motto for this is….never, ever listen to your husband.

The GR5 Trail

Mont Blanc from Col d'Anterne

We decided to do the walk in two parts, the first 200 miles to Modane in the Vanoise National Park in June and then returning in September to tackle the second part from where we left off, the theory being that we would avoid the hottest time in the Alps of July and August.  This theory also proved to be slightly wrong as it was very warm for both parts of our trip but with little wet weather to speak of we consider ourselves very lucky as in total we were walking for 30 days, mostly at heights between 1400 and 2400 metres.

We booked all of our accommodation prior to setting off, a mix of hotels, guest houses, as well as a sprinkling of mountain huts, the latter all with basic washing and dormitory facilities, and, as we were to discover, an incredible range of excellent food, produced from goodness knows where. Read the rest of this entry »


Find out more about the End to End Cycle Route

March 29th, 2012 in Book Catalogue, Cicerone Authors by Sarah

End to End Cycle Route

 

With the recent release of the Cicerone End to End Cycle Route guidebook by Nick Mitchell we thought a catch up with the author himself was in order.

Jonathan and Lesley went to meet him on day 8 of his journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats at the highest point of the Forest of Bowland.

Watch this video to find out the authors favourite part of the route so far, why Princetown was so popular with the team, what it’s like to cycle with a team of 20 and what improvements Nick’s made to his bike.

 

 

So after that brief catch up, Jonathan and Lesley wave goodbye to Nick and the rest of his team on day 8 of this brilliant end to end cycle route after a lovely day in the Forest of Bowland.

 

 


Outdoor Pursuits – Edinburgh April 2012

March 16th, 2012 in Cicerone Office by Sarah

 

Come and see us at the Outdoors Pursuits show in Edinburgh later next month.

The show takes place at the Royal Highland Centre on the 21/22 April. You can get a great value family ticket for only £21, or just £17 in you buy online.

We’ll have a wide range of Cicerone guidebooks for sale, so come along for a chat and get some inspiration for your next trip.


Rifugio Guglielmina destroyed by fire

February 29th, 2012 in Book Catalogue by Sarah

We were saddened to about the loss of the Rifugio Guglielmina, one of the historic huts on the Tour of Monte Rosa. A fire broke out there just before Christmas, strong winds meant emergency services could not easily tackle the blaze, and the hut was totally destroyed.

The building dates from 1878 when Giuseppe Guglielmina built it as an intermediate hostel for those tackling the long stage from Alagna to the Gnifetti hut in the days before cable cars.

Five years of work produced the Hotel Guglielmina, billed as the highest hotel in Europe. The hotel soon attracted a large and famous clientele, including Queen Margherita of Italy and many well-known British people, Alpinists and otherwise.

The hotel was enlarged in 1930 and again in 1950. Each day a mule service from Alagna ensured that guests could walk up and have their luggage taken up in advance. The mules also transported bread, clean linen and the mail, amongst other necessities. This was a smart hotel for the discerning traveller – white-gloved servants waited on the guests, and Guides were on call for those with aspirations to go higher. Read the rest of this entry »


New Titles from Cicerone

Unjustifiable Risk? Unjustifiable Risk?
A social, economic and cultural history of British rock climbing and mountaineering charting the conditions that gave rise to the sport, and the achievements and motives of those who have shaped its development over 200 years. Today’s climbers share a desire to escape from urban society but what makes them take that unjustifiable risk? More »
The High Atlas The High Atlas
Inspirational book packed with anecdotes and insights about the best treks and climbs in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco, in North Africa, and drawn from the author's 50-year experience. Illustrated with dazzling photographs of the mountains and also the mountain people, the Berbers. 48 routes including Jbel Toubkal, Tazekka and Igdat. More »

» More new titles
» Coming Soon

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