Review of ‘Drive and Stroll in Derbyshire’, 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 (3rd July 2006), and is reproduced with Julie's kind permission.

Whether Charles Wildgoose writes as he walks, or walks as he writes I can't be sure, but his books always produce a good cross-section of uncommon and informative suggestions to get us out and about.

As an active member of the Ramblers' Association, Charles knows the sense of striking a balance between the actual walk and the amount of driving it takes to get there and back. In this, his 9th local walking guide, some of the choices could fairly be described as strolls, the longest walk being just short of six miles. With 20 circular routes in all, some even took our indefatigable author to pastures new. His selection includes a Bonnie Prince Charlie walk, a segment of the 2,000-mile Euroroute 8, a bite-sized portion of the Pennine Way and tasters of waterside, woodland and open vistas in the Dark Peak, White Peak and colliery country.

Superb scenery aside, points of interest on and off the routes include stocks and ancient cross shafts, good places for bird watching, hedges where hops grow wild, a stately home - and a stone laid by a South Pacific King. Charles himself seems to have a particular fondness for kissing gates and squeezers.

He backs up each walk with photographs and the essential map, comments about the lie of the land, parking advice and a recommended refreshment stop - one of the more unusual being a pub-cum-Post Office.

Review by Julie Bunting