Country Walking

Country Walking Magazine shows you the best of British walks: the biggest views, the hidden gems, the sea cliffs and the mountain summits. All our features come complete with superb writing, inspiring photography and step-by-step instructions so you can follow every footpath yourself. In every issue, you’ll find: - In-depth stories of amazing walks - A booklet of 25 pull-out walks every issue - with OS maps! - Information about hotels, pubs, cafes, tearooms. - Clear, jargon-free tests of walking kit And... every issue our readers tell their walking stories, help us devise new walks and shape the places we go to. If you love walking, this is the magazine for you.

Welcome • This month I've been…

IN THIS ISSUE…

Truly, Madly, Grebely

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS MONTH

‘I do like a mad big adventure. But my first love? Walking.’ • TV adventurer and Yorkshire devotee Helen Skelton talks great walks, great kit, and the British mountain that has it all.

EDWINSTOWE • Step into the heart of outlaw country, where limestone caves hold ancient secrets, and colossal tree trunks make perfect hideaways.

Golden Badgers, here we come… • Meet the winners of this month's epic Mini Challenges - and check out the next set on the right: the perfect way to spice up your winter walks and win a money-can't-buy prize!

5 ways to strike gold • Take part in one of this month's new Mini Challenges and you're in with a chance of winning one of our coveted Golden Badgers. The deadline for these is 12 February. Good luck!

Your View

Wildlife for Walkers • Three remarkable species to spot in January.

Stuart Maconie • Some books send you back out into nature a different person than before. Stuart has just found one of these books… and it has given him the chills.

THE WILD PLACES • Wild country, wilder residents: from humble wood to mighty mountain, these walks will get you up close and personal with nature at its most exquisite.

THE WOOD • Some National Nature Reserves are in remote, wild and famously beautiful places. This one is wedged between two motorways just north of Slough. But that's the joy of NNRs: they're everywhere, for all of us.

The Magic Map

THE VALLEY • Limestone spires, a vast rock arch, deep caves and a tiny mountain: Dove Dale is the theme park of our National Nature Reserves. Hold tight; here we go.

THE MOUNTAIN • The whole idea of the National Nature Reserve was born here, on the slopes of this remote Highland peak. Come and discover why Beinn Eighe changed the way Britain looks after its landscapes.

Size isn't everything

THE BOG • Deep in the Ceredigion hinterland lies a collection of wetland habitats brimming with life, yet promising peace, calm and solitude.

THE MARSH • The Wash is England's largest National Nature Reserve, and most of it is offshore. But take a walk along the edge of it and you'll understand its appeal - for human life and avian.

THE RAINFOREST • To walk into a temperate rainforest is like taking a portal to a distant world or time. And this little NNR in Devon epitomises everything that is special and precious about them.

THE DUNE • Welcome to the strange, shifting world of the space between sea and land, where everything is in motion - and where life always finds a way.

THE PAVEMENT • Did your mum ever tell you not to tread on the cracks? At Great Asby Scar, it might as well be an Olympic sport…

Phantom of the forest • Helen Macdonald's book H is for Hawk might be the perfect exploration of our need to connect with wildness. As the film adaptation opens, discover the story behind it – and meet its biggest star: the goshawk.

W is for Walks (with hawks) • Want to seek out the best chance of seeing a goshawk...