A Look At The October Issue Of The Great Outdoors

The October issue of The Great Outdoors is out now. In it I review the Altra Lone Peak 8 trail shoes that I wore on the Cape Wrath Trail. That's it for single reviews for me this month but I am quoted extensively in the Gear Of The Year 2024 feature as I tested quite a few of the products. Not all of them though, and one of those, the Flextail Zero Pump, which wins Best Tech and which is reviewed in more detail separately by David Lintern, I am going to buy. It sounds excellent! David also reviews the superb MidgeSpecs, which I reviewed on this blog, which also gets the Best Accessory award. 

In the comparative reviews Lucy Wallace tries out eight pairs of trekking poles and David Lintern and Kirsty Pallas test out the comfort of four sleeping mats each. 

The theme of the issue is long-distance hikes. John Fleetwood walks England end to end from St. Michael's Mount to Lindisfarne Abbey. Marek Bidwell backpacks the original Skye Trail from Armadale to Rubha Hunish. Then there's an incredibly long walk that took Bethany Hughes seven years; 18,000 miles from Patagonia to the Arctic. In the Middle East David Myers makes an extraordinary and sobering solo 1000-mile circuit of the Jordan River watershed.

Elsewhere in the issue Sarah Hobbs of Strathspey Storywalks is Creator of the Month; Ronald Turnbull reviews Everest 24: New Views on the 1924 Mount Everest Expedition from the Royal Geographical Society; Jim Perrin's Mountain Portrait looks at fine but often ignored Beinn Dearg in Torridon; Nadia Shaikh hopes for a Right to Raom policy in England and Wales in the Opinion column; Phillipa Cherryson finds out why Rhayader calls itself the outdoor capital of Wales; Alex Roddie looks at how to make outdoor adventures more sustainable; and Emma Schroeder finds an eclectic mix of interesting things in British streets including rubber ducks, sarcastic weather, and proprietary cats. 

Wild Walks has a bothy theme. In the Scottish Highlands Stefan Durkacz visits Luib Chonnal bothy and climbs two nearby Corbetts while Alex Roddie walks the Affric-Kintail Way past Camban bothy and the remote Glen Affric Youth Hostel, and takes a tough walk to Ben Alder Cottage bothy. In the Southern Uplands Ian Battersby goes to Clennoch Bothy and Moorbrock Hill, and in Dumfries & Galloway visits Greensykes Bothy. In the Lake District James Forrest spends a night in the area's most remote bothy, Mosedale Cottage, and goes up Branstree while Vivienne Crow overnights in Dubs Hut as she links two long ridges over High Stile and Dale Head. In the technically bothyless Peak District Francesca Donovan goes up Kinder Scout via Oyster Clough Cabin. Finally in Wales Andrew Galloway finds shelter in Dulyn Bothy in the Carneddau and Phillipa Cherryson stays in Grwyne Fawr Bothy in the Black Mountains and ascends Waun Fach.