The View
1 You can walk a new coast to coast
This one is at the opposite end of England from Wainwright’s famed route, crossing the nation’s south-west foot. The Tamara Coast to Coast Way stretches 87 miles between Morwenstow in the north and Cremyll on Plymouth Sound in the south, mostly tracing the valley of the Tamar. The river forms much of the border between Devon and Cornwall; you’ll cross the water multiple times, and on some sections choose which side you walk (while remembering each county’s rules about whether clotted cream or jam go on your scone first). The path rolls through wooded valleys and by purple moors, bucolic farms and historic mines, and it links with the South West Coast Path so you can walk a full 300-mile loop of Cornwall, known as the Kylgh Kernow. See tamarvalley.org.uk/tamara-coast-to-coast-way
2 It began in the Fens
Virago Press, the feminist publisher celebrating women’s voices, turns 50 this year. Its authors include Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood and Daphne du Maurier, but it all began with the non-fiction work Fenwomen by Mary Chamberlain. The book is an oral and social history of the isolated Cambridgeshire village of Gislea, and it’s still a fascinating read – particularly to those who like to walk this ‘flat, flat land’.
3 DRINKING BEER CAN HELP SAVE THE PLANET
The joy of a pint at the end of a walk can now be good for the planet as well. London’s Gipsy Hill Brewery has launched the first carbon negative beers (without using offsetting). Made with regeneratively farmed barley and recaptured hops, Swell Lager has a carbon footprint of -30g CO2e and Trail Pale -40g. Cheers to that!
4 There’s hope for the things with feathers
As avian flu continues to devastate seabird colonies around Britain (the coast remains open but dead birds should not be touched, and dogs should be kept away) there are a few glimmers of good news. The gannetry on Scotland’s Bass Rock – the largest colony in the world – is showing signs of recovery this summer, after being hit by the pathogen last year. Curiously, researchers can tell which gannets have been infected, as it changes the bird’s eyes from blue to black. Also in Scotland, the RSPB has been printing birds for a project called Terning the Tide. Once painted, the replica 3D Arctic and little terns are placed in newly established habitats to signal to terns arriving on migration where it’s safe to nest. And, down south, the first white-tailed eagle chick born in England in over 240 years has successfully fledged, spreading its wings – which may one day span nearly eight feet – in the skies above the Isle of Wight.
5 The YHA loves walke
