Our walks this month
1 Muckle Roe Shetland
8 Cadair Idris Eryri/Snowdonia
2 Lochnagar Cairngorms
3 Holme Force Lake District
4 Sprinkling and Styhead Tarns Lake District
5 Wast Water Screes Lake District
6 Gwydyr Forest Eryri/Snowdonia
7 Dyffryn Ardudwy &Moelfre Eryri/Snowdonia
9 Pistyll Rhaeadr &the Berwyns Powys
10 Ystradfellte Bannau Brycheiniog/ Brecon Beacons
10 varied routes in Scotland, England and Wales
When the hillwalking gets hot, there’s no finer tonic than the sound of water running through the landscape or the chance to remove your shoes and cool off your tired feet. Luckily, Mother Nature provides in our high places. From flowing falls to tucked-away tarns and long, expansive lochs, our Wild Walks team has been hunting out the best places in Britain to enjoy some waterside relaxation. In this, our Welsh mountain special, you’ll also notice special attention paid to its beloved waterfall country both north and south. Just don’t forget to take your swimsuit!
1 17.5km/10.9 miles/6 hours Ascent 635m/2080ft
Ian Battersby finds atrail with atwist along crimson coastal cliffs
THE SHETLANDS have their roots in both Scotland and Norway, and both traditions have influenced this ‘Big Red Island’ (translation of the more lyrical Muckle Roe). Yet, big it is not at only 172m high and 5.5km wide. Muckle Roe is also so close to Mainland – even connected by a short bridge – that it hardly feels like an island. But its named is earned somehow. Muckle Roe is remarkably red, with its shade of granite laid bare amongst cliffs exposed to Atlantic afflictions.
It is these flushed rock faces that attract walkers, and this route makes as much of them as it’s possible to do in a day. If you explore every nook and cranny you’d better bring your bivvy. Inlets dig in and headlands cling on, not wanting to be stranded like numerous sea stacks, cut off and gnawed by unremitting waves. They attract a trickle of walkers and a strong sea bird population, and seals come in for fish. So polish your lenses, because you won’t want to miss a thing.
ROUTE
1 HU322629 Follow the lane as it bends right past acottage to atrack on the left signposted to beach and lighthouse. Follow this W, ignoring the turn off to Hams, to reach Muckle Ayre beach. Continue past aramshackle building, then take aminor path climbing SW along the cliff. The path skirts around Burki Hill, turning NW, past asheepfold, arriving at two stiles either side of a stream. The path is now obvious, continuing Wby ametal fence, then turning NW, passi
