Walking the Dales

by Mike Harding

A celebration of the Yorkshire Dales based on this entertainer's 15 years of walking in the area. Includes his own photographs.

Genres: Walking, Nonfiction, Travel

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1986

Reviews

[Cat. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apparently the author is a bit of a Someone (or a Someone Who Used to Be Someone) in England: author and musician.

However, in this book he mostly leaves all that behind and talks about his love affair with the Yorkshire Dales. Although it is nearly 20 years old, this is a lovely book of photographs of the area from Skipton to Richmond to Tebay to Kirkby. Really nice to page through. I must admit I only looked in depth at the areas like Swaledale which I have seen myself, to which I (of course) feel he gave short shrift. [grumble grumble...] But I paged through the rest and stopped and read here & there.

Enjoyable book, but probably only if you 1) know the area, 2) love the thought of walking [i.e. "rambling"] and/or 3) intend to go to the Dales. Which I heartily recommend, by the way. Especially if you like slow, quiet vacations.

The major problem with the book is that after looking through it, I feel that I need to go back to Yorkshire. So, I will this summer! I think we can cut across some of this area on our trip up to Durham/Hadrian's Wall. {rustle rustle--getting the maps out}

[Peter Coomber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't say that this book excited me. I think the problem is that although it is nice reading about someone's walks (and there are some very good photographs to illustrate them), it is far better to be out there walking the routes (or walking whichever routes/parts of the country excite you).
Perhaps three stars is a little unfair. Sorry Mike...
It's a well put together book, with some nice photography and short descriptions of an (obviously) fine part of the World (enjoyed by me on many occasions). Agree about the Howgills!

[Susan Grimshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertainingly and knowledgeably written book about the Yorkshire Dales beautifully illustrated. The book was first published some 30 years ago so some of the information is obviously somewhat outdated now. Being an exiled Yorkshire woman I enjoyed reconnecting with God's Own Country.