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Langdale Pikes There is one skyline that sums up the Lake District better than any other, and it belongs to the Langdale Pikes. Stand in the village of Elterwater on a clear evening and look north-west, and you will see it: a jagged wall of rock rising straight out of the valley floor, its peaks […]

Swaledale Introduction Swaledale is the northernmost and, by most accounts, the most dramatic of the Yorkshire Dales. Carved by the River Swale and fenced in by high heather moorland, it feels noticeably wilder and quieter than its better-known neighbours like Wensleydale or Wharfedale. Traditional stone barns dot every meadow, dry-stone walls climb impossibly steep hillsides,

Upper Wharfedale Introduction Upper Wharfedale is the part of the Yorkshire Dales that keeps its best secrets for anyone willing to leave the main road. Stretching from the limestone drama of Kilnsey Crag up through Kettlewell, Starbotton and Buckden to the quiet church at Hubberholme, this stretch of the River Wharfe feels like a different

Rannoch Moor Introduction There are few places left in Britain where you can stand and see nothing but bog, rock, water and sky in every direction. Rannoch Moor is one of them. This vast, 50-square-mile expanse of blanket peat bog sits at the meeting point of Perthshire, Argyll and the Highlands, framed by mountains and

Beinn Alligin Introduction Beinn Alligin rises above Loch Torridon like a stone crown, and the first time you see it from the road near Torridon village, it’s hard to keep your eyes on the driving. This is one of Scotland’s great Munros, a mountain of two summits, a dramatic black gash of a gully, and

Glen Nevis Introduction There’s a moment, just past the lower falls car park, where the road narrows to a single track and the glen suddenly closes in around you. Steep, grassy shoulders rise on both sides, the River Nevis churns over grey boulders below, and Ben Nevis itself disappears behind a wall of rock. That’s

Mourne Mountains Introduction The first time I stood at the foot of Slieve Donard with the Irish Sea at my back, I understood why C.S. Lewis credited this landscape as part of his inspiration for Narnia. The Mourne Mountains rise so suddenly from the coastline of County Down that they seem almost theatrical, granite peaks

Loch Lomond and Trossachs Introduction I still remember the first time I stood on the shore at Luss and watched the mist lift off Loch Lomond, revealing Ben Lomond in the distance. That moment is why so many travelers fall for Loch Lomond and Trossachs the second they arrive. This isn’t just another pretty loch

Glencoe Travel Guide Few places in the world compress this much drama into so small a space. Glencoe is a narrow Highland valley where glacier-carved peaks rise almost straight out of the road, where cloud shadows chase each other across the slopes of Bidean nam Bian, and where a single-track lane can feel like the

Isle of Skye Travel Guide Introduction The Isle of Skye doesn’t ease you in. One minute you’re crossing the bridge from the mainland, the next you’re staring at jagged black mountains that look like they were torn out of the earth rather than formed by it. This is Scotland’s largest island in the Inner Hebrides,