Best Irish Walks

Rating:
Summary: Good selection of walks with concise descriptions.
Review: Best Irish Walks carefully selects the best walks from the Walk Guide series. The format is simple and lacks the sophistication and glossy presentation of guide books for the UK mainland. The maps are basic and each essay would benefit from at least one photograph to give the reader a feel for the walk. This criticism however may miss the point as this is clearly a no frills book to stuff in a rucsack pocket, rather than to grace the coffee table at home. The descriptions are excellent and the reader should take for granted that the majority of routes described are in remote areas with few if any well defined paths.

Rating:
Summary: Walks are quite long, and information is dated.
Review: You would expect a second edition of a book titled "Best Irish Walks" to provide guidance to the many visitors of the Emerald Isle on interesting and varied hikes. It can, but only if your interests are in hikes of 5+ miles in length, and only if you use some sense in making sure the paths are still clear and marked. This is NO book for those with children or even adolescents, those who plan to stay near the major tourist routes, nor those who would be uncomfortable with having a path disappear some distance from the beginning. On the other hand, it does provide excellent directions to finding the hikes, the supplied brief topo maps are helpful and the descriptions are accurate - usually. We had one major problem with walk #49 - Doughruagh, which takes off just behind Kylemore Abbey. Interestingly ommitted was the charge to enter the Abbey grounds, and even more interesting was the ignorance of the Abbey staff to the hike listed as being on their grounds. Despite these warning signs, we persevered and the clear directions and map helped us find the beginning. Unfortunately, it gradually became clear that the path had not been maintained for years, and it led (or appeared to lead - we aren't sure what went wrong) to a rock face that became quite sheer and crumbly. We managed to climb down the face and bushwack through half a mile of rhododendron thicket to get back to the Abbey, but the experience was unpleasant, to say the least. While getting off the path is one of the hazards of any hike, I didn't expect to find a path this poorly maintained in a just-published second edition of best hikes!