Customer Reviews

The Magic of Skye (A Constable guide)

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This book has been a classic for more than 50 years. Apart from conventional guidebooks and the tables of Scottish 3000-foot mountains, probably no other other work is more commonly found on the shelves of those who walk and climb in the Scottish Highlands. The late Walter Poucher was a talented photographer who produced many books about the hills and mountains of Great Britain. This book was a departure from his usual style. Instead of giving brief route descriptions, he recounts his adventures in the mountains of Skye - the most rugged in the British Isles. There are also descriptions of coastal walks and other scenic attractions, suitable for days when the weather or the state of one's legs prevents a trip to the high tops. Many visitors to Skye find themselves returning again and again, spellbound by the lure of the island. Perhaps such magic cannot ever be captured in words or pictures, but Poucher's efforts are magnificent. His prose can be ponderous and may seem dated - writing with nailed boots on - but there are some bravura passages, and he has endeared himself to generations of walkers and scramblers, for although the writing may be old-fashioned, they recognise in it a love for the place which burns steadily in them. The only reason for not awarding five stars is that it needs a conventional guidebook alongside it. (I recommend Ralph Storer's Skye:Walking, Scrambling and Exploring; J. Wilson Parker's Scrambles in Skye; and the Scottish Mountaineering Club's District Guidebook: The Islands of Scotland.)