The Great Outdoors

TGO Magazine is your essential guide to hillwalking and backpacking in the UK and overseas. Get out more! We provide all the inspiration you need to plan your next trip, plus expert reviews and tips. The Great Outdoors is for anyone who loves walking in the hills, mountains and wild places. With information on the latest gear, in-depth features and stunning photography, The Great Outdoors will help you access the high peaks and long trails of Britain and beyond. Our enhanced digital addition includes even more great photos and interactive content.

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IN THIS ISSUE • Meet some of the folk that made this magazine…

The Great Outdoors

ALMANAC • MAY in the mountains

Càrn Mòr Dearg Arête, Ben Nevis

Readers’ page • Share your views, your experiences and your favourite photos tgo.ed@kelsey.co.uk

SHORE CRABS • Nadia Shaikh peers into pools of time at minuscule creatures that remind this treasure hunter of her own childhood

CRoW at 25: access reform kicked into the long grass • It’s been 25 years since the previous Labour government sanctioned the CRoW Act. Now, with 10 Defra secretaries in as many years and backtracks on reform, Jon Moses of the Right to Roam campaign explains how you can help progress the access movement against rivers and torrents of government prevarication

FROM SEA TO SEA • As one of Britain’s most iconic walking routes receives elevated status as a National Trail in spring 2026, this year might just be the perfect time to contour your way across England on a Coast to Coast adventure holiday

BEN NEVIS • Jim Perrin returns with a tall tale from a May many moons ago, and a heated debate in an unheated car en route to an adventure on Britain’s ‘bottle-nosed whale’

Roof of England • If you’re looking for a two-week escape to a high place of big skies, powerful falls and gentle wildflower meadows, why not walk the Roof of England? Allow Vivienne Crow to introduce you to this shiny, new long-distance trail

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GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES • It’s a century since the first Three Peak Challengers summited Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Yr Wyddfa in 24 hours. Today the challenge gets bad press – but, argues Hanna Lindon, it’s all about how you approach it…

DANCING SHADOWS • Confined to the house with chronic illness, Louise Kenward discovered a community of artists continuing to connect with the natural world from their beds and homes. Here, she explores the rich and multi-faceted relationships disabled people can have with the outdoors – and shares perspectives drawn from her anthology Moving Mountains: Writing Nature through Illness and Disability

A WORLD OF NUANCE • In these extracts from Moving Mountains, four disabled authors reflect on their relationship with the natural world

Making MEMORIES • London-based journalist Minreet Kaur got in touch with The Great Outdoors and asked: how should two absolute beginners approach their first wild camp in the Cairngorms? Moreover, Minreet’s mother was in recovery from blood cancer. Could we help? How could we not? An idea took hold, and last September we teamed up with guiding company Trek Scotland and went for a walk…

WALKING WITH THE MAASAI • Wild encounters, culture-crossing conversation and nights beneath the stars – Bella Falk goes behind the scenes at the safari on a Maasai-guided trek through Kenya’s Loita Hills

SKILLS: TRY SOMETHING New • Looking for a change? Perhaps a new hobby to put the (ahem) spring back into your step this spring? These mini activity guides might just inspire you to try something completely different!

Camping Guide • Your toolkit for hitting the pause button in the great outdoors

2-PERSON TENTS • Mountain Leader Fiona Russell and...