Review: Lake District Tea Shop Walks

AS one gets older, the desire to climb the higher Lake District fells such as Scafell Pike, Helvellyn and Great Gable, which I have done many times, diminishes and more leisurely walks in the valleys of Lakeland take precedence where one can view the higher fells and reminisce about glorious days on the tops.

This new guide by award winning writer Vivienne Crowe immediately caught my eye as a book of handy walks but which had an objective of a very nice tea room at the completion of the walk. The ten walks range in distance from 3 to 6½ miles in distance, ideal for a morning or afternoon. Some include a modicum of climbing, particularly the first walk from Grasmere to the summit of Helm Crag (approximately 1,000 feet of climbing) but well worth it for the tremendous views of Grasmere, Esthwaite Water and Easdale Tarn. However, many of the others are lower level on lakeside paths and alongside rivers.

This attractive and cleverly structured guide gives walkers ten of the finest walks to the best cafés and tea shops in the Lake District in a popular pocketable format. With clear information, an overview and introduction for each walk, expertly written numbered directions, large scale Ordnance Survey maps, superb eye-grabbing panoramic photographs, and interpretation of points of interest along the way, these guides set a new standard in clarity and ease-of-use.

Featured cafes include: Brew, Grasmere; Rattle Gill Café, Ambleside; Chesters by the River at Skelwith Bridge; Courtyard Café, Claife Viewing Station; Bluebird Café, Coniston; Croft House Farm Café, Buttermere; Flock In, Rosthwaite; Lingholm Kitchen, Derwentwater; Watermill Café, Caldbeck and Helvellyn Country Kitchen, Glenridding.

This is one of twelve books in the popular Lake District: Top 10 Walks series. Handy, pocket-sized, full colour walking guides written by experts. The author of this book, Vivienne Crow is the author of 17 guides to Cumbria and the Lake District, and is a regular contributor to many national and regional magazines. She is also a member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild.

If you are venturing to the Lake District this autumn (one of the best times to see it in my opinion) this is a book worth taking to enable you to take a short walk with a grand tea room at its conculsion.

l Published by Northern Eye Books, Price £5.99.

Walking in the Bavarian Alps by Grant Bourne and Sabine Koerner-Bourne

Germany’s Bavarian Alps run from Lake Constance in the West to Salzburg in the East. Lying along the German-Austrian border in a thin sliver of land roughly 300km long, this area contains some of the most spectacular walking and beautiful scenery that Germany has to offer. Seventy graded walks explore mountain landscapes, wild mountain gorges and alpine meadows as well as the region’s picturesque villages, opulent baroque churches and fairy-tale castles like Neuschwanstein. The walks are divided into six mountain areas, grouped around base towns to make planning a walking holiday as easy as possible. Bases include Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald, Marquartstein, Inzell, Oberammergau and Ramsau among others.

The mountain walks are mainly between 3 and 8 hours duration, though some longer walks are included staying at some of the many mountain huts. The guidebook gives an outline of two multi-day tours and suggestions for shorter valley walks of less than 3 hours are also included. Relaxing beer gardens, colourful local traditions and excellent tourist infrastructure add to the region’s charms, and make the Bavarian Alps the perfect destination for a walking holiday.

It is many years since I was last in this area whilst staying at Oberammergau for the Passion Play held at the end of each decade and whilst there I was highly impressed with the beauty of the surrounding countryside and particularly the Kofel mountain behind the village, part of the Ammergau Alps. Having read this new guidebook it is certainly an area that I would like to return to sometime in the next few years.

As well as the seventy routes mentioned in the book there are interesting appendixes covering details of hut accommodation, useful addresses of tourist offices plus a glossary of German words and phrases. There is also information about the history, culture, flora and fauna, travel details and hotel and guest house accommodation in the Bavarian Alps.

Published by Cicerone Books.£17.95.

l John Burland