Walking the world with Kev Reynolds
By admin | December 1, 2008
In January Cicerone author Kev Reynolds will be presenting a series of talks at various location around the country. Join Kev for an evening of entertaining tales and evocative images from the great mountain ranges of the world.
You can catch up with Kev on the following dates:
15 January Manchester, Britannia Hotel
16 January Harrogate, Holiday Inn Hotel
22 January High Wycombe, Wycliffe Centre
27 January Southampton, Novotel Central
29 January Cambridge, Newnham College
3 February Bristol, Avon Gorge Hotel
Tickets cost £5.00 (all profits to Northpoint School, Nepal)
Doors open 7.00pm, presentation starts 7.30pm
To book your place, please contact Mountain Kingdoms on 0845 330 8579 or info@mountainkingdoms.com
Kev describes himself as the man with the world best job, spending several months each year among high mountain regions researching guidebooks. To find our more information about Kev visit his website.
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Tony Howard and Di Taylor on trekking in Jordan
By admin | November 19, 2008
Cicerone authors Tony Howard and Di Taylor were recently interviewed by Jordan magazine about trekking in Jordan and how it has changed over the years.
Tony and Di first visited Jordan in 1984, when they were invited by Jordan’s Ministry of Tourism to assess the climbing and adventure tourism potential of Wadi Rum. They quickly identified Rum’s huge potential for climbing and trekking, which led to the publication of Treks and Climbs in Wadi Rum in 1987.
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Mountains of Montenegro wins Best Guidebook Award
By Jonathan | November 7, 2008
Congratulations to Rudolf Abraham whose guide to The Mountains of Montenegro has just been awarded the Outdoor Writers Guild Award for the Best Guidebook of 2007.
Rudolf lives in London where his day job as a scholar of Islamic Art, working for one of the most prestigious collections in the world. But his other love is exploring wild places. Montenegro is his second guide after Croatia, and he is planning new guides to Chile and Turkey.
His guide to Montenegro is the only English-language guide to the mountains, indeed probably the only one in any language other than serbo-croat. The book covers the range of walking and trekking opportunities in Montenegro and gives material for several weeks of walking.
From the book:
‘Ljepši od Alpa’ – ‘more beautiful than the Alps’. This description of Montenegro’s mountains was given to me by a Croatian climber, in the most congenial setting of a wedding, just over the Slovenian border. And it was these words, together with a postcard of improbably sheer-sided peaks in Durmitor, the country’s best-known mountain area, which first drew me to Montenegro, while living in Zagreb between 1999 and 2001.
Montenegro (or more correctly Crna gora, ‘black mountain’) lies on the southern Adriatic coast, sandwiched between Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia and Albania; and within its borders are some of the wildest, most spectacular, and least visited mountains in Europe.
More on Rudolf:
Rudolf Abraham grew up in England and New Zealand, and has travelled extensively in Turkey, the Caucasus, Iran and Central Asia. During these travels he has walked and climbed in the Karakoram, the Tien Shan, Ladakh and the mountains of easternTurkey. He lived in Croatia from 1999 to 2001, and has made numerous trips into the mountains of Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia. Rudolf studied photography and art history, and completed an MA at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He is the author of Cicerone’s Walking in Croatia, and has also written a book on Islamic art and architecture, and contributed introductions to books on Central Asia, Armenia and Afghanistan.
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A cookbook from Cicerone? Really!
By Sarah | October 27, 2008
OK, so it’s not the type of cookbook to go head to head with Jamie and Delia, but definitely the kind of cookbook that what you would expect to see from Cicerone.
Recently published is Moveable Feasts, a mine of information on optimal nutrition for anyone who enjoys the outdoors, and an inspirational cookery book for anyone who wants to enjoy great food on a camping trip.
My 13 year old stepson loves camping trips and was really impressed with the recipes that the authors Amy and Roy have come up with - he wants to try toad in the hole, followed by fruit crumble and custard first…. mmm. Right, let’s check the weather forecast for the weekend.
Sarah
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The Spirit of Hadrians Wall
By admin | October 10, 2008
The Independent bookshop Cogito Books of Hexham recently hosted a wonderful book launch at the atmospheric Monastic workshop within Hexham Abbey.
The evening saw local photographer Roger Clegg give an illustrated talk on how the book The Spirit of Hadrians Wall came about, whilst impressing us all with a collection of his breathtaking pictures of Hadrian’s Wall.
Cicerone author Mark Richards provided the text to accompany Roger’s photographs, and was on hand to give more detail about both the historical and social context of the great Roman frontier.
Anyone who visited the ‘Hadrian’ exhibition at the British Museum in London will instantly recognise Roger’s work, as his images were wrapped around the outside of the building during the exhibition. His work is also used exclusively by Hadrian’s Wall Heritage in their marketing activity of the Wall.
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It is official - there is a new mountain in Wales
By admin | October 2, 2008
Following on from the news in late 2006 confirming that Birks Fell in the Lake District had been given mountain status, the Ordnance Survey officially confirmed last month that Snowdonia’s Mynydd Graig Goch (Nantlle Ridge) is 2000ft 6 inches high, bringing the total of Nuttall mountain summits in Wales to 190.
The Nuttalls Mountains of England and Wales are defined as summits which are at least 2000ft high with a minimum of 50ft of ascent on all sides. Take a look at John and Anne Nuttall website for further information.
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The Danube Cycleway - from Vienna to the Black Sea
By admin | September 11, 2008
We received the following note from Anne Mustoe after cycling The Danube Cycleway:
“I’ve just got home after attempting to cycle the so-called Danube Cycleway from Vienna to the Black Sea, and I thought you might be interested in my comments. It was not a ride to be recommended!
Beyond Budapest, where the Higginsons finished their guide book, Hungary was a delight - though I would have been in a real mess had I not been able to speak German with some fluency. I came across very few people with any English at all, even in the smarter hotels. In Croatia, the Danube Cycleway signs were brilliant, but people were warned not to wander off the roads, as the fields were still littered with land mines. Vukovar, in particular, was bombed and shelled to smithereens. The picture in my hotel room had five bullet holes in it! Serbia was less damaged by the civil war, but beyond Belgrade the terrain became very mountainous, with few places to stay overnight. In Serbia, I was treated to such horror tales about the breakdown of law and order in rural Romania, that I chickened out and took trains to the Black Sea. That turned out to be the wiser course. Romania was a desperate country, with a shattered infrastructure. When I arrived in Bucharest at 5.30 am, I was surrounded on the main station by a mob of beggars, gypsies, hotel touts, taxi drivers, hustlers of all sorts and a pack of six huge brown dogs. It’s as well I’m fairly unflappable.”
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How old is Cicerone?
By admin | August 27, 2008
There has been much debate here at the Cicerone office recently about just old Cicerone is. We think that we are 40 years old next year, but have not yet been able to confirm it. Even Walt Unsworth who founded the company is unsure of the exact date of when Cicerone was founded.
Looking back through our library of Cicerone books here, the earliest guide we came across was published in 1969 - have you got an earlier edition sitting on a shelf? If so let us know, it would be great to hear from you.
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Holiday season at Cicerone…
By admin | August 26, 2008
With the holiday season well and truly under way, many of the staff here at the Cicerone office have been getting away and experiencing first-hand knowledge of the countries and regions we publish guides to.
Jonathan and Lesley are currently trekking in the Gran Paradiso, Caroline recently returned from Cycle Touring in Switzerland, Sarah is just back from Norway, Sue is climbing on Lundy (weather permitting!) and Lois is cycle touring in Scotland.
Hopefully everyone will return full of energy for the busy autumn publishing schedule that is ahead of us.
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Advice regarding shepherd’s dogs in Alps
By admin | August 6, 2008
A report in ‘The Times’ on 5th August has described how various walkers and holidaymakers are being attacked by Pyrenean mountain dogs used to protect large flocks of sheep. Our recent guide by Paddy Dillon to the GR5, which follows the length of the French Alps, has specific advice regarding these ‘pastous’. Firstly there are usually signs in the areas where these dogs are being used. Being aware is the first important step. If you find your route is approaching an apparently unattended flock, assume they are guarded by the dogs. It is not always easy to spot the dogs as they will be hidden deep within the flock, and are a similar colour to the sheep. If possible pass with as wide a distance as possible, provided the terrain allows. Do not approach the flock, or the dogs. Do nothing to provoke a reaction.
To see Paddy’s full advice, select the GR5 book page, click on the ‘google’ search inside button, and type in ‘dogs’ in the search box. Or click this link
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