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Diciadain, 02/Jun/2010
Walking on Jura, Islay and Colonsay Book Review
Another Islay walking book? Does the world need two of them? Well, I think the world can cope with two. Or even more. Having just reviewed the new Islay Walks booklet I now have another book with walks on Islay. Actually, not only Islay, but also Jura and Colonsay. The book is simply called Walking on Jura, Islay and Colonsay and is by Peter Edwards.
Peter's name might be familiar to some regular readers, as I've linked to his blog Writes of Way several times over the last couple of months. In his blog Peter writes about his walks in Scotland and other places, and of course also mentions the book. Most recently he had the courage to admit an error he had only spotted after the book was published in There’s only one ‘d’ in ‘Cladach’. Having had a chance to look at it now what are my thoughts?
Being the owner of other Cicerone Guides I had quite high expectations (also having read Peter's blog for a while). They weren't disappointed. The book is well laid out, well designed and there is a lot of information in it. I think this is also a good point to mention that this book has been written with the experienced walker in mind, as the subtitle of the book points out: ‘12 Challenging Walks on the Islands’. Three of the walks are on Jura (one of which is a 5-Day walk), five on Islay and four on Colonsay. Pretty much all of them fairly long and over rough terrain.
The walk descriptions are quite detailed with OS maps showing the route as well as pictures Peter and his companion took when they completed the walks themselves (please remember that the maps, as Peter rightly points out, do not replace having the full map(s) with you!). From the ones I've read where I know the area/walk they seem to be detailed enough while also allowing some freedom in the route planning. There's also background information for quite a few places being visited, e.g. the Stevenson lighthouses or the American Monument.
I will try to ‘test walk’ some of the walks during my upcoming Islay visit (possibly with excursions to Jura), but even without that I think I can recommend this book to many walkers (walkers with some experience, capable of reading a map and a compass, having a decent level of fitness). You'll enjoy reading this book and walking the walks.
As some people might ask: So how does this compare with the new Islay Walks booklet? It doesn't. At least I don't think it does. To start with the Islay Walks booklet only covers Islay while this book covers also Jura and Colonsay. More importantly to a large extent they are targeted at different people (admittedly with some overlap). If you are an experienced walker you might actually enjoy both, Peter's book for long walks, the Islay walk booklet for shorter walks. If you've only recently started walking or don't have much time the Islay walks booklet is probably right for you.
But most importantly, start walking and enjoy it!
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