I listened to the above programme on radio 4 this morning and wondered whether any SOTA activators have used or heard of these guide-books written by W.A.Poucher.
They cover all of the UK and unlike the sketches Wainwright used Poucher illustrated his books with black and white photographs superimposing pathways onto them, very useful for people not too happy with their map skills.
In reply to 2E0MIX:
The Poucher guide books are very well known (well to people of a certain age they are) but I must admit, until hearing the programme, I had never heard of the other rather eccentric elements of the man’s life and of his professional life.
I bought “The Scottish Peaks” when it first came out in 1965 and although the black and white photos were not of the clearest - some were terribly sooty - I found it invaluable in my explorations of the Highlands. More recently I bought several of his books of colour photographs and still like to look at them occasionally - he was exceptionally gifted as a landscape photographer but would be less valued today as he tended to go for clarity rather than atmosphere. He would analyse a view and determine the optimum lighting conditions for it, and then return repeatedly until he got what he wanted.
Those of my friends who encountered him on the hill said that he wore make-up, I gather he tested the stuff on himself for ill-effects.
I too have well-thumbed copies of “The Welsh Peaks” and “The Scottish Peaks” and found them pretty useful for the routes they contained.
Wonderful advice too, including that about clinker soles on your boots! I bought them around the time modern waterproofs were starting to come in, so the advice was already a bit dated. The routes are still there though!
I guess the gold lame gloves at dinner when at a hostel or B&B might give you a further clue. Even in his 80’s he was admired for how good his skin was even though a hill walker - perhaps make-up on the hills isn’t such a daft idea?
I guess the gold lame gloves at dinner when at a hostel or B&B
might give you a further clue. Even in his 80’s he was admired for how
good his skin was even though a hill walker - perhaps make-up on the
hills isn’t such a daft idea?
I doubt it helps that much, good skin is a gift! I was involved in amateur dramatics years ago, spent a lot of time in make-up - it always amused me that the basic sticks of greasepaint for skin tone were 5 and 9! Anyway, it didn’t do much for my complexion!