Tips for winter walking
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Winter walking can be thrilling and exhilarating in the right conditions, but when there's snow lying hiking can be risky, with hidden dangers for walkers. Fresh snow can conceal icy slopes which are tricky to walk on. So it's important to be well-equipped for winter walking conditions and not to be too ambitious when there are fewer hours of daylight.
If you're well prepared, you can enjoy your walk without worrying too much about the weather!
The changing seasons reveal new facets of the landscape and wildlife, and provide new hiking challenges.
If you've enjoyed a recent walk somewhere different (or in a favourite place), why not tell others about it on Walking Stories? Even if you're on the other side of the world, enjoying summer walks!
Whether you prefer walking in cities or on mountain trails, this is a site where you can share your walking experiences and learn about new places to walk.
It's an on-line community for anyone who enjoys walking (or hiking), on routes anywhere in the world.
You'll find walking stories of all types, from mountain hikes and countryside trails, to easy walks through towns and cities. There are lots of great stories from Scotland, Japan and China, Tromso and San Francisco, Kefalonia, Spain and Peru and more. The latest stories are from Morocco, Tasmania, Kilimanjaro, Slovakia, Poland, Mexico, Denmark, Sweden and France. Some of the walks are highlighted below to help you explore the site.
City walks range from Cambridge (England) to Cambridge (Massachusetts), with fascintating walks around Paris and Brussels, San Francisco and Mexico City in America, Krakow in Poland, Gothenburg and Gävle in Sweden, Edinburgh Glasgow and Dundee in Scotland.
Anyone can access these walking stories - just CLICK ON THE MAP ON THE RIGHT to bring up a list of countries and walks.
Submit your own stories by becoming a member - for free! You can also send in comments and news items. There are easy-to-use forms to register as a member, and to submit a story.
Other site features include:
- a Gallery of additional photos for many of the stories
- a Highlights page for new visitors to get a quick idea of the coverage
- the Comment facility enabling Members to provide feedback easily on any story
- areas for Walking Clubs to share stories, photos and information among their own members
Explore the site - sign up as a Member - let us have your stories and ideas.
Click on stories featured below - or see the Website Story page for more recent additions.
This isn't really a walk - in fact it's the opposite. We had just finished our climb of Kilimanjaro, and had booked up a safari trip in a 4x4 to see another side of Tanzania - the national parks maintained as wild ... [more]
I was inspired to add a story here about the links between walking and art after reading an article in yesterday's "Guardian" about Richard Long, who is a landscape artist in an unconventional sense. He walk ... [more]
This was a short but wonderful hike above the peaceful Newlands Valley on an October afternoon. I walked over Catbells, Maiden Moor, High Spy, Dale Head and Hindscarth, all coming under the heading o ... [more]
The region of Marvão and the Serra da São Mamede, a protected nature reserve, is a wonderful place for walking. A mountain range with the highest point of 1025 meters, is a treasure of rich and diversified flora and ... [more]
Five days cut loose and fetter free in Glen Affric and on Ben Nevis. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did doing it! (the numbers refer to my Munro tally....) COLIN
Contributed by Colin Wilson - August ... [more]
Snowdon is the hightest peak in Britain south of the Scottish Highlands at 1085m (3560 ft). It is a challenge for anyone, and while you don't have to be a professional rock climber or specially conditioned, it pr ... [more]
Boston Freedom Trail is one of Boston's most recommended attractions and is a walk taking in many of the historical highlights of the city. In this story my wife and I don't quite make it to the end because of some d ... [more]
Summary of illustrated talk at the Scottish Storytelling Centre
This was the first of a series of evening events held at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Royal Mile, Edinburgh ... [more]
Everyone has a story to tell...
Some of my happiest moments have been walking with friends and sharing our stories.
I plan to cross Mexico City on foot and along the way, ask people to walk with me and tell me a sto ... [more]
A great forest stretches out on the south-eastern side of Brussels, reaching the settlements of Tervuren and Hoeilart in Flanders and Waterloo and La Hulpe in Wallonia. The forest provides a large and peaceful area for re ... [more]
Earlier in the year, I was a member of a party that went walking in Slovak Paradise, a discrete gem in the Slovakian countryside. Slovak Paradise is an "adult adventure playground" set in the vicinity of the High T ... [more]
An account of a 4-day glacial trek beneath Mount Fitz Roy in Los Glaciares National Park, Argentine Patagonia.
Story and photos contributed by Colin Henderson
... [more]
This is the story of a long trek lasting two weeks, climbing and descending through remote mountains before attempting the final ascent of Kang Yatse itself. The mountain has a lower top at 6200m suitable for tr ... [more]
The High Tatras make up one of Europe's smallest mountain ranges, on the border between Slovakia and Poland, yet the peaks rise dramatically to a maximum height of 2654m at Gerlachovsky Stit. The next-but-one mountain ... [more]
The east coast of Harris is very different from the unspoilt sandy bays of the west coast. It is rough and rocky, deeply indented by sea lochs, with crofting townships scattered along the shore linked by a narr ... [more]
This was a preparatory walk to stretch our legs before starting to climb Kilimanjaro the following day. We hired a guide through our hotel, and he took us past simple houses scattered through the fertile countryside overl ... [more]
An account of an ascent of the Petit Vignemale in the French Pyrenees ... [more]
Hedonism and Mountaineering do not aways go hand and hand but here is a story of one person who has tried to juggle the two...
This is the latest story by Colin Wilson. If you enjoy thi ... [more]
A base camp account of a succesful guided expedition led by Martin Moran and Johnathan Preston to climb Chiring We in the Kumaon Garhwal. ... [more]
An account of a trip to Tasmania to walk the Overland track and climb mount Ossa the highest peak in Tasmania ... [more]
It's just a month now (Sept 07) until a group of us set off for Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro via the Lemosho Route. Normally when you head off for a walk, you can just pack your rucsack the evening before (or on the d ... [more]
Declared a Biosphere Reserve by the UNESCO in 1978, the Torres del Paine National Park, (located in the Chilean Patagonia) is internationally renowned as one of the most beautiful, unspoiled and remote places on the planet. Att ... [more]
Having had 3 holidays in the last 5 years in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland (see Bernese Oberland ... [more]
Mera Peak is recognised as the highest trekking peak in the world. Alan Marshall organised a trip there in October 2006, and has provided this story, with photos by Bill Cook. Thanks to them both for providing this - the highest a ... [more]
Although most people go to Tenerife to enjoy the sunshine, beaches and nightlife, the island has some magnificent volcanic scenery inland, culminating in the peak of El Teide, the highest mountain in Spain. It's a lon ... [more]
This was one of those unique, momentous events that I’ll never forget. A very long climb through the night, first on our ... [more]
Many of the best walks in the hills and mountains of [more]
The Great Wall is without doubt the best known and most spectacular of the many attractions across the vast country o ... [more]
