Review of ‘Adventurous Pub Walks’, by Charles Wildgoose

This review is by Julie Bunting, and was published originally in The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper, on 12th July 2004, and is reproduced with Julie's kind permission.

If there are two things which make a happy partnership in the Peak, it is an adventurous walk and a good pub. Matlock author and indefatigable walker Charles Wildgoose has brought some of the best together in this selection of 20 circular routes with refreshments. The walks are between 8 and 12 miles in length - no lazy strolls as an excuse for a slap-up meal here.

Some of the pubs are at journey's end, others lie about half-way along the route, giving time to work up an appetite and enough distance on the second leg to 'work it off'. The walks take in some of the best scenery the Peak has to offer, and as Charles is an active member of the Derbyshire Dales Group of the Ramblers' Association, his instructions are refreshingly accurate and concise.

Pubs and stunning scenery aside for the moment, these walks include the sort of fascinating stories and points of interest to make us pull on our boots in the first place, and to 'go the extra mile'.

En route you can meet strange White Nancy, follow a paved Roman road, skirt around quicksand, shudder at thoughts of body-snatchers and visit not just the largest parish in England but Elysium and Hades as well. Tasty rewards for your efforts all come with the author's personal recommendations and sound like real revivers, from home-made chicken and black pudding sausages to chilled cajun salmon sandwiches, and ales including Black Sheep Bitter, Lancaster Bomber and Frolicking Farmer.

The walks have uncomplicated maps clearly linked to the text and are illustrated with photographs taken by the author. The book will easily fit into a large pocket or a map case.

Review by Julie Bunting