Paul Jenner and Christine Smith

A handbook for walkers and lovers of the countryside.
If you enjoy walking, whether it be the occasional stroll — or a full day’s walking or more — you are sure to enjoy reading the Landscapes Walking Companion. Filled with pages of invaluable advice, hints and tips, the book covers a wide array of topics. These include outdoor skills (including route-finding, weather forecasting, cloud recognition, dealing with emergencies and survival techniques), what to look for in the landscape, recognizing trees and flowers, finding food in the wild, geology, natural history, astronomy, folklore and traditions, photography and man's interaction with the environment. Dip into the book at leisure or read it from first to last page — it will certainly inspire you with ideas for many future walks, hikes and rambles and add tremendously to your enjoyment of every outing.
The book is the perfect walking companion for all ages and abilities. And although the text is written for the benefit of those walking in Europe, much of it is equally relevant to those who walk in other parts of the world. This companion is also expert in outdoor skills. For those who need it, the book will teach you how to use a compass, how to read a map and understand contours. If you have a problem with finding your way, making sure your drinking water is clean, or devising an emergency shelter, valuable advice is at hand. Is it going to rain? Your companion will help you make your own forecasts. When your holiday is done and your walking is over, your companion will have given you a richer experience to look back on. And if you have taken your companion’s advice on photography, you will have many memorable photographs to act as reminders of your walking excursions.
Sunflower Books, the publisher of this book, was established in 1981 when their first guidebook, Landscapes of Madeira, was published. Subsequently Landscapes of Madeira won Sunflower the Thomas Cook Award for Best Travel Guide. Since then, the series has been praised in numerous reviews and has been expanded to cover over 50 destinations, most of them in southern Europe. In 2011 Sunflower was one of only four out of eighteen guidebook publishers to be named a Recommended Provider for Guidebooks by the UK’s Which? Travel Magazine. The Walking Companion comes, therefore, from one of the UK’s most acclaimed publishers of walking guides.