Walking the Dales, by Mike Harding

(0718127013)

Apparently the author is a bit of a Someone (or a Someone Who Used to Be Someone) in England: author and musician.

However, in this book he mostly leaves all that behind and talks about his love affair with the Yorkshire Dales. Although it is nearly 20 years old, this is a lovely book of photographs of the area from Skipton to Richmond to Tebay to Kirkby. Really nice to page through. I must admit I only looked in depth at the areas like Swaledale which I have seen myself, to which I (of course) feel he gave short shrift. [grumble grumble...] But I paged through the rest and stopped and read here & there.

Enjoyable book, but probably only if you 1) know the area, 2) love the thought of walking [i.e. "rambling"] and/or 3) intend to go to the Dales. Which I heartily recommend, by the way. Especially if you like slow, quiet vacations.

The major problem with the book is that after looking through it, I feel that I need to go back to Yorkshire. So, I will this summer! I think we can cut across some of this area on our trip up to Durham/Hadrian's Wall. {rustle rustle--getting the maps out}