White Coomb and Loch Skeen

Mention hillwalking and Scotland in the same sentence and most people automatically think of the Highlands: munros, romantic-sounding Gaelic names, precipitous edges.

But there is another Scotland: high hills, grand views, remote, beautiful. And for people travelling from the South, there is another advantage: less time spent getting there.

The Southern Uplands stretch from the Ayrshire coast to East Lothian, from the Galloway Hills to the Cheviots, and cross some of the least populated land in the country, so if it’s solitude and wilderness you crave, this is for you. Thousands of motorists speed through the Borders every day en route for the delights north of Glasgow. It’s worth turning off the A74(M) for an exploration of the shapely hills of the Borders. Read the rest of this article »

Britain has 15 national trails – long-distance paths and bridleways that offer a challenge to anyone who wants to walk, cycle or ride a horse over linked rights of way.

Maw Wyke Hole on the Yorkshire coast

Surprisingly, the Coast to Coast Walk isn’t one of them. Or perhaps it’s not so surprising. Its creator was the original Grumpy Old Fellwalker Alfred Wainwright, best known for his Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells but who, later in his life, turned his attention beyond the Lakes and completed books on the Yorkshire Dales limestone country and a companion to the Pennine Way, the grandfather of all our National Trails.

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Distance: 16.6km (10⅓ miles)

Time: allow 5 hours

Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer, OL21, South Pennines

Note: grough routes should be used in conjunction with maps, a compass and other navigational aids. Routes often use access land and involve finding your route off footpaths. Knowledge of and competence in using a map and compass is essential when using the routes. Carry the correct equipment for the conditions and be aware of hazards in the outdoor and upland environment.

The South Pennine moors lie on the doorstep of some of the most industrialised towns and cities of northern England. They are the green lungs where millworkers once escaped the pollution and grime of some of the grimmest environments imaginable, and where millowners erected mock baronial piles with the fruits of their workers’ labour.

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Distance: 12km (7½ miles)

Time: allow 3½ hours

Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer, OL2, Yorkshire Dales southern and western areas or Harvey’s Superwalker Yorkshire Dales Three Peaks

Note: grough routes should be used in conjunction with maps, a compass and other navigational aids. Routes often use access land and involve finding your route off footpaths. Knowledge of and competence in using a map and compass is essential when using the routes. Carry the correct equipment for the conditions and be aware of hazards in the outdoor and mountain environment.

In the winter months, daylight hours are at a premium and getting in a long walk means careful planning and an early start if you are not to end the day walking in darkness or, worse still benighted and calling for help.

So it’s useful to have a few shorter routes up the Gore-tex sleeve, so you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn, nor worry about being caught on the fells at night. This walk takes us into an upland wonderland of strange unearthly terrain, with the bonus of some fabulous views. Another real bonus is that the hill is of modest height, so the labour expended to get to its summit is not too great either.

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The walker setting forth on the West Highland Way is embarking on a trip through history. Not only will his or her route pass through scenes of bloody massacre, betrayal, lawlessness and military campaigns, but the way itself is the result of the historic movement towards forging routes to enable the masses to enjoy the open countryside and escape the dark urban confines of Britain’s towns and cities.

The West Highland Way approaches Buachaille Etive Mòr in Glencoe

From the skirmishes between northern English ramblers and gamekeepers on the moors and fells of the Peak District came the notion of a long-distance path running from Derbyshire to the Scottish Borders. Tom Stephenson’s Pennine Way would be a long time coming, being opened finally in 1965, 30 years after the journalist first mooted the concept.

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Great Gable, Green Gable and Base Brown from Seathwaite

Note: groughRoutes should be used in conjunction with maps, a compass and other navigational aids. Routes often use access land and involve finding your route off footpaths. Knowledge of and competence in using a map and compass is essential when using the routes. Carry the correct equipment for the conditions and be aware of hazards in the outdoor and mountain environment.

This route up one of the Lake District’s most shapely mountains involves a little scrambling and a lot of hard work in an effort to get off the usual routes up the Gable. In mist, you must be able to navigate well. Don’t attempt the route if you haven’t a head for heights and aren’t prepared to do a little four-by-four work up and down the rocky sections.

Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer OL4, The English Lakes north-western area

A short walk, only 9.1km (5.6 miles), but with 1 250m of hard ascent. Allow six hours.

We start in Seathwaite, reached by taking the Borrowdale road down the Eastern side of Derwent Water then turning left just before the small village of Seatoller. If you’re approaching over the Honister Pass, turn right after passing through the village. Seathwaite does get busy, so it may be wise to try and get there fairly early, though there is room for a good many cars on the lay-by and verges before the farm buildings and turning circle.

The path (right) up the Climbers' Traverse from the stretcher box, with Tophet Bastion visible at top of picture

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Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer OL2, Yorkshire Dales southern and western areas or Harvey’s Superwalker Three Peaks

Note: groughRoutes should be used in conjunction with maps, a compass and other navigational aids. Routes often use access land and involve finding your route off footpaths. Knowledge of and competence in using a map and compass is essential when using the routes. Carry the correct equipment for the conditions and be aware of hazards in the outdoor and mountain environment.

Our route to the summit of Ingleborough follows the grough ethos of: love the outdoors; hate the crowds.

It’s undoubtedly true that Ingleborough is one of Yorkshire’s most popular, if not the most popular, hills. Wainwright valued it for its ability to sustain interest and said it was every Yorkshireman’s duty to summit the peak at least once in his lifetime. Women didn’t seem to figure large in Wainwright’s estimation as peakbaggers, but grough thinks it’s every Yorkshirewoman’s duty to climb the venerable old hill at least once. You can bring your bloke too.

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Harter Fell from Longsleddale

Note: groughRoutes should be used in conjunction with maps, a compass and other navigational aids. Routes often use access land and involve finding your route off footpaths. Knowledge of and competence in using a map and compass is essential when using the routes. Carry the correct equipment for the conditions and be aware of hazards in the outdoor and mountain environment.

Longsleddale: starting point for the route 

Escaping the crowds in the English Lake District is never easy, but this route, on the far eastern side of the national park, steers clear of the honey pots while delivering some stunning scenery. So keep it quiet: it's our little secret.

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