Another positive review for The UK’s County Tops, this time from GearWeAre.com, a relatively new site established ‘to tell people what’s good – and what’s rubbish – in the world of the outdoors’. Fortunately, the people there have deemed the book ‘good’ in this review. This lot don’t have a zero-to-five star system for books; they use…
Author: heightsofmadness
‘Needs more pubs’
Another review, this time from The Travel Editor. The reviewer loved the book (apart from a lack of pubs, it seems); I loved the review. The UK’s County Tops Pros: delightfully daft idea Cons: needs more pubs Verdict: superb travelwriting project Ranging from the 80m Boring Field in Huntingdonshire to the 1344m Ben Nevis in…
Outdoors Magic reviews The UK’s County Tops
Outdoors Magic has given an early welcome for The UK’s County Tops (the ‘ideal step’ for anyone weary of the usual hill lists), published last week. I’ve copied the text below – or click here to see the real thing. Just arrived is a new book from Cicerone, The UK’s County Tops by Jonny Muir,…
A glimpse into the world of the ultra-runner
I raced in the Streatham Common six-mile championship yesterday morning. After a little over 40 minutes and six up-and-down miles, it was over. I warmed down, trotting a further lap of the common. On my way home, I glanced at my watch: midday. Some 40 runners would be beginning the Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence 24-hour…
Book number 3 – The UK’s County Tops
It is always exciting to get books through the post, even when they are ordered and expected. I never tire of pulling open those brown card envelopes from Amazon. But when it’s your own book – a pre-release – inside that envelope, and you hold it, cradle it, for the first time, reflecting on the months and years (of toil) it took…
Back to the islands: Seil and Easdale
There are many Scottish islands I’d have liked to have visited for Isles at the Edge of the Sea, with Scarp, Raasay, the Shiants, the Flannan Isles, Iona and Easdale the most prominent in a long list. I don’t regret not going to these places, however; circumstance and the nature of my journey resulted in them remaining unvisited. Besides,…
Undiscovered Scotland discovers Isles
Here is the review, and a link to the actual thing on Undiscovered Scotland’s website: Isles at the Edge of the Sea by Jonny Muir is a wonderful, inspiring book about a journey undertaken by the author to a series of Hebridean islands. His journey is as much about self discovery as it is about…
Munro-bagging becomes a little easier, again
My Munro-bagging efforts have been lacklustre in 2011 (and, for that matter, 2010). Living in England hasn’t helped. I managed 38 in 2009 (at a time when home was Inverness). My Munro count plummeted to a miserable one in 2010 (not including repeat ascents on the bens Nevis and Wyvis), although the one was at least a good…
A foray into fiction?
My library of reading is made up mostly of what I know: outdoors, travel, adventure, exploration. Those genres, for 15 years, formed the bulk of my reading. I remember spending a year engrossed in every book detailing the 1997 Everest disaster, then another 12 months or so dedicated to the polar exploration of the early 20th century…
Interview: the inspiration behind Isles at the Edge of the Sea
Below is the transcript of an interview with Books from Scotland, which named Isles at the Edge of the Sea its book of the month for July. In Isles at the Edge of the Sea, Jonny Muir is trying to get to St Kilda, the island at the edge of the world, passing through the many…
Isles at the Edge of the Sea – July book of the month
Books From Scotland has chosen Isles at the Edge of the Sea as its July book of the month. The website has also published the prologue to the book online, which I’ve re-produced in full below. Nowheresville O Caledonia! stern and wild, Meet nurse for a poetic child! Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,…
Bob Graham musings
After emerging unscathed (and just a little bit weary) from the Lakeland Trails Marathon, I had the rest of the week to focus my athletic endeavours on the Bob Graham round. Not doing it, of course, but running the rule over various sections of the 60-odd mile route – and ultimately deciding whether such an undertaking is…
Heights of Madness 