Shuffling the paperwork

This has been a busy year, with five guidebook projects to complete, involving two new books and complete overhauls of three more books. As an outdoor writer I enjoy the outdoor part of things best, so I cram in as much time outdoors as I possibly can, organising all my route research to tie in with as much decent weather as possible.

In my opinion, Madeira is best visited in the winter, so I spent five weeks there between January and February. My guidebook, Walking in Madeira, contained 50 one-day walks and I planned to check all of those, as well as adding a further ten walks. Simple mathematics will suggest that on most days, I actually covered two days of walking, but on an island with such a tremendous variety of scenery and interest, I was happy to put in the distance just for the sheer joy of being out there.

After less than a week at home I headed for Mallorca to check a newly waymarked long-distance trail through the Serra de Tramuntana for a new guidebook. The route is designated as the GR221 – Ruta de Pedra en Sec – or the Drystone Route. My task was to check the route and its facilities, all its spurs and variants, while enjoying everything that makes rural Mallorca so delightful. Easter came early in the year, so I found myself caught up in musical parades and mysterious processions. Shortly before I left the island, it snowed, leaving the mountains looking most impressive.

Pollença is the terminus of a new waymarked trail through the mountains of Mallorca. Photo: Paddy Dillon

After two weeks at home I was ready to brave the British weather, and decided to start in the extreme south-west. My Walking in the Isles of Scilly guidebook needed an overhaul and I decided to give it a couple of weeks. The land area is miniscule, and boat trips were required almost every day to enable me to visit as many islands as possible. I felt like an old sea-dog in the end, tasting salt on my lips even when devouring a succession of cream teas. The islands receive more sunshine hours than anywhere else in the country, and they looked good in April.

I had another two weeks at home, and then spent the second half of May walking almost all the way round Northumberland. I’d accepted a contract to produce a new guidebook to the Reivers Way, to replace an old guide after the original author had died. I had checked the route previously in the depths of winter, but I wanted to walk it again, include some variant routes, and of course get some ‘warmer’ looking photographs. As a route, it includes almost everything that Northumberland is famous for, but also pushes through remote and unfrequented countryside.

Spending seven weeks at home is what I refer to as ‘payback time’. The walking is great fun and if I never had to go home, I would be well pleased, but deadlines are deadlines and I never let them pass! So, the paperwork for Madeira needed sorting, shuffling and delivering. The same had to be done with Reivers Way. I even started some preliminary work on the Mallorca project, though the delivery date falls at the end of the year. After being cooped up inside while it rained outside, the weather forecast suddenly promised a succession of fine days... and I was off!

An old guidebook of mine, Walking in the North Pennines, needed a complete overhaul, and I decided to increase the number of one-day walks in it to 50. I quartered the broad and bleak moorlands of the North Pennines, first sweltering on hot and humid days, but later wondering when it would ever stop raining. Picture quality can suffer in bad weather and there is only so much you can do with waterfalls, but fortunately I have hundreds of pictures to fall back on, so I wasn’t unduly worried. At the moment, this project is next in line for imminent delivery.

Paddy Dillon
Paddy Dillon is author of The National Trails, several Cicerone walking guides, and more... Read our interview with Paddy Dillon to find out more.