THE HILLS OF WALES
GOMER PRESS, £14.99
As a denizen of the Welsh hills, I seized on this chance to explore my adopted highland homelands in the company of a renowned climber and writer. This is a collection of columns and writings from the past 40 years of Perrin’s peregrinations through wondrous countryside. I enjoyed many of his adventures and anecdotes and kept reaching for my maps to mark new valleys, hills and mountains to explore. Perrin makes Snowdonia and the Rhinogs as alluring as any Urals or Carpathians.
But the map was always of Snowdonia – Perrin’s Welsh hills are mostly in the north west, with a nod to the Berwyns and Shropshire Hills. The Brecon Beacons and Preselis are pretty much dismissed in one slim final chapter, which felt like a missed opportunity, especially as Perrin’s previous book was called Snowden. And I tired of his alternately curmudgeonly then superior approach to walkers in bright anoraks, National Park authorities and most conservation bodies.
A book best dipped in for short, joyful bursts rather than long hikes. Fergus Collins, editor