TGO Magazine

Home
United Kingdom
Southwark
TGO Magazine

TGO Magazine Britain’s original hiking magazine, leading the way to the hills, mountains and wild places.

24/01/2025

“Don’t do it for Instagram – do it for you!” ⛰

🌄 We’ve come a long way since 19th-century mountaineer Annie Smith Peck made international headlines by ascending the Matterhorn in knickerbockers. Women in the mountains are now the norm (and nobody expects them to wear petticoats) – but the hillwalking world still has a yawning gender gulf. According to a Covid-era survey, only 20% of participants in mountains sports were female. The most recent stats from the BMC sing a similar tune – women made up around 27% of its membership in 2020.

🥾 There are post-pandemic signs that the balance might be tipping. Women’s walking groups are popping up all over the country. Instagram is full of ponytailed adventurers celebrating summit success. Many fall into a younger age bracket – a Strava report documents a 108% surge in young women (18-29) embracing the outdoors during the pandemic, compared to a smaller 69% rise across all age groups.

⛺ The imagery flooding the social media feeds of these newcomers is all ice axe-wielding adventuresses smashing their way through the glass ceiling. But there are plenty of women who were quietly enjoying the great outdoors long before it became .

🧭 Five incredible women featured in our latest issue share an obsession with the hills that goes far beyond tags and likes. Between them, they’ve beaten cancer and eating disorders, overcome prejudice in its many forms, and bagged literally thousands of peaks. Their message to a rising generation of young, female walkers? Forge your own path, ignore the doubters… and use the %$ # walking poles.

Read on in our March special:
https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/latest-issue/forge-your-own-path-with-our-march-issue/

23/01/2025

👩‍🌾 Flex your green fingers at The National Amateur Gardening Show.

🌺 Come and experience a fabulous garden zone, artisan food village, rural craft zone, English wine hub, kid's zone, wellbeing & natural health area, clothing and shopping, and a pet zone.

🎟 Taking place on the 12-13th July at the South of England Showground, tickets start from just £12.50:
https://www.kelsey.events/NationalAmateurGardeningShow

21/01/2025

⛰ Forge your own path with new ⛰

We learn life lessons from women of adventure featuring:
5️⃣ female mountaineers share hard-won advice for a new generation
👒 Elise Wortley recounts her attempt on Mont Blanc in a bonnet
🥾 Compleater & cancer survivor Lorraine McCall on her Grahams
🌄 Lydia Paleschi gets a bucket list trek on the quiet side of Nepal
🦅 Artist & Mountain Burdz founder Tessa Simpson talks topography
👭 Find your outdoor tribe & learn how to meet like-minded hill folk
🧭 Our experts map 10 simple yet beautiful stile-free routes
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Jim Perrin paints a portrait of Pen Llithrig y Wrach
🌡 Honest reviews of the best insulated jackets & base layers
and so much more!

📸 Beth Chalmers

Get your copy of our March special:
https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/latest-issue/forge-your-own-path-with-our-march-issue/

20/01/2025

This is the only kind of "Blue Monday" we're interested in 💎

🌬 Some corners of social media will try to tell you that today is the 'most depressing day of the year' - dubbed " " by a travel company in order to sell holidays. It can be hard to be faced with these pseudoscience narratives, especially for those struggling.

🦋 We encourage those who are able to go out for a walk and ignore the noise online. If that isn't available to you today, why not curl up indoors to read the tale of Anna Wells?

🏔 The trail breaking Munroist - and the first woman in history to complete a Winter round - wrote in our December issue about the surprising things she learned about being a woman outdoors during her epic journey up and down Scotland's 282.

🔗 You can now read Anna's story for free using the password BluebirdMonday:
https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/inspiration-and-ideas/anna-wells-winter-munro-round/

Here's to more bluebird days ahead.

📸: Rocks and Trails / Anna Wells

16/01/2025

Raise your hand if you have a Great Outdog in your life 🐾

⛺️ TGO is looking for hillwalkers and backpackers who take their four-legged friends along for the adventure in wind and rain, snow and shine. Whether your canine companion joins you on walks, runs and swims, on the paddleboard or in a row boat, in bothies, on high camps - or all of the above as with our team member Francesca Donovan and her dog, Maus - we want to hear from you.

⛰️ What tips and tricks have you picked up along the miles to make your dog feel contented, secure and safe while you’re out and about? Have a special trick to keep them occupied at the crag? Or figured out a way to manoeuvre them safely over tricky stiles? Mastered the art of carrying out their (ahem) business without kicking up a big stink? Learned the balance of keeping them fuelled with nutritious food? Let us know!

🌾 And how do you ensure your adventures don’t impact the ecology of the landscape or other hill users negatively?

🎒 Send us your hacks for having great adventures with dogs - plus your favourite photos of your furry friends - via email to [email protected] for a chance to be featured in the magazine. We’d love to hear from other hoomans who love their adventure dogs.

📸: francescaoutdoors/IG

13/01/2025

🌋✨ Take on The MoonWalk Iceland 2025! ✨🌋
Join us for an unforgettable night-time walking challenge set against the stunning backdrop of Lake Mývatn. Trek volcanic landscapes and explore Iceland’s rich wildlife - all while raising vital funds for Walk the Walk, the cancer charity supporting those living with cancer.
🌙 When: Thursday 29th May – Tuesday 3rd June 2025
📍 Where: Lake Mývatn, Iceland
Your six-day adventure includes:
🐋 Whale Watching: Spot humpbacks and blue whales.
🌋 Volcanic Hikes: Explore crater rims and boiling mud pools.
🌊 Waterfalls: Witness Dettifoss and Asbyrgi Canyon.
💦 Blue Lagoon Bliss: Relax in its mineral-rich waters.
🚶‍♀️🌟 Sign up now: https://walkthewalk.org/challenges/the-moonwalk-iceland

Walk the Walk

10/01/2025

🏔️ It's print day here at TGO HQ and we are looking forward to celebrating the fell power of women outdoors in our upcoming March issue.

📖 In it, you'll find Elise Wortley (otherwise known as the Woman With Altitude) as she recounts a climb of Mont Blanc in a bonnet, the tale of Lorraine Mccall's trail-breaking Grahams, Lydia Paleschi on backpacking Nepal's quiet side, Emma Schroeder's final Coastscript column, a review of an exciting new bit of kit from Coros by Kirsty Pallas, and so much more.

📸 Here's a sneak peek at our cover, as shot by Beth Chalmers, of her mum on Creach Beinn.

⛺ All this and more can be found in the February issue of , on sale Friday 26 January!

🎒 Find your closest stockist via Frontline (frontline-group.co.uk/store-finder/) or ask your local retailer to reserve you a copy.

🎁 Alternatively, subscribe and get a FREE Silva head torch.

08/01/2025

For travel off the beaten track, head for the The Adventure Travel Show this weekend.
With over 110 adventure specialists and 70 free travel talks, it’s the start of your next escape.

https://adventuretravelshow.seetickets.com/content/day-options

06/01/2025

Colour Revolution 🌄

🧗 In the last decade, the indigenous Cholita climbers of Bolivia have made a worldwide impression with colourful clothing and a renewed sense of power and identity. Climber and writer Anna visits the high Andes to meet her heroes.

Read on in new :
https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/latest-issue/broaden-horizons-with-our-february-issue/

04/01/2025

What better way to spend your honeymoon than fastpacking Türkiye’s 450km Lycian Way? Ross Brannigan is bowled over by the richness of history, honey and overflowing hospitality on this craggy coastal journey 🍯

🎒 “Carrying 20L rucksacks, we could move a little faster and further than many walkers – instead of the standard month on the trail, we were planning to cram it into 18 days. There is no pace to qualify for fastpacking, simply moving ‘fast and light’. These two elements are reciprocal: going light makes you faster; moving faster forces you to go lightweight. Naturally, it being our honeymoon, we were planning on sleeping indoors and finding food en-route rather than cooking. You need some level of luxury when you only have two pairs of underpants, right?”

Read on in new :
https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/latest-issue/broaden-horizons-with-our-february-issue/

01/01/2025

Winds of Change 🌬

🌄 From escaping anxiety to forging a deeper connection with family, these authors all found a new sense of direction on a hike. Here, they share key moments from those pivotal journeys which we hope will inspire you to find your own new horizon in 2025.

🥾 “The good that regular rambling can do for your body and your brain is so well documented that it’s now even prescribed as a treatment on the NHS. But can a walk – one walk – really change your life? Maybe it can. The authors here have all experienced a form of epiphany on a hike. Often that’s born from a sense of connection fostered by the outdoors; connection to family, an animal, nature – even themselves. It’s not always length or duration that’s important. Their life-defining journeys range from an overnight bivvy trip in the Cairngorms to a 19,000-mile, Britain-girdling epic. But all experienced perspective shifts so powerful they’ve been moved to write books about them. These are their stories…”

Read on in the new issue :
https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/latest-issue/broaden-horizons-with-our-february-issue/

29/12/2024

Hidden In Plain Sight ⛰

🦚 Scratch the surface of Britain’s pastoral landscape and you’ll often find uncomfortable tensions, secrets obscured by the scenic. In two story-walks drawn from her new book, Our Island Stories, Corinne Fowler showcases how our imperial past is written into the rural modern-day.

🌼 “We begin our journey in the most tranquil of lanes, at the modest dwelling of Dove Cottage. Winter robins visit its mossy garden, and in summer, pink roses loll against the whitewashed cottage walls. William Wordsworth lived there with his sister Dorothy, and it’s now a museum, set amid the landscapes where William penned the most famous poem in the English language, ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ (known as ‘Daffodils’ for short). Though William often composed his poems outdoors, he sometimes wrote at home, with his children clambering all over him. What is perhaps less well known is that Wordsworth’s pastoral idyll was sponsored through a familial investment in drug trafficking…”

Read on in new :
https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/latest-issue/broaden-horizons-with-our-february-issue/

26/12/2024

Save £31 on a subscription to adventure with 🎒

🦅 As Britain’s original mountain magazine, we have been helping people to explore from sea to summit, valley to mountain top for more than 40 years. Through compelling, long form storytelling and eye-catching photography, we seek to convey the thrill of adventure, the joy of exploration and the wonder of the natural world. The Great Outdoors exists to help you make the most of your time outdoors.

Subscribe and get:
🌄 Tales from the trails
🥾 Expert gear reviews
🧭 Mapped walking routes
⛷ The best skills advice
🌱 News from the hills
and so much more.

So, subscribe today and redeem this offer:
https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/TGONYNY25

24/12/2024

Broaden your horizons in the new issue of The Great Outdoors 🌄

🥾 From single walks that changed lives, to colourful revolution in the high Andes, and facing our uncomfortable colonial past in beloved British landscapes, we hope you’ll find inspiration to go out and find your own new horizon in 2025.

Featuring:
⛰ Four authors recall Highlands walks that changed their lives
🧗 Anna Fleming meets her revolutionary mountain heroines
🇬🇧 Corinne Fowler on hidden histories in Lakeland and Eryri
🤵 Ross Brannigan honeymoons by fastpacking the Lycian Way
🌡 TEST YOURSELF: Do you know how to avoid hypothermia?
❄ 10 big half-day hill routes for short winter days
🔺 Jim Perrin paints a portrait of the Ridge of the Red Cairns
👖 We review the best hiking trousers and winter boots
🗞 The latest news and outdoor events from the mountains
📚 New outdoor books to inspire

Get your copy of now:
https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/latest-issue/broaden-horizons-with-our-february-issue/

📸 Anna Fleming

20/12/2024

REVEALED: Winners of The Great Outdoors Reader Awards 2025!

🥾 You nominated and voted in your thousands across 15 categories including the Open Outdoors award, pub of the year, campaigner of the year, and more. Now, we are delighted to announce this year's winners, from the books that'll inspire your next big adventure to the brands that craft kit you trust, and the people who work tirelessly to make our outdoor lives better.

🌄 Thank you to every single one of you who nominated and voted for your favourite outdoor people, organisations and places and congratulations to your winners and all shortlisted. Here's to a great new year outdoors!

Meet your winners:
https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/awards/reader-awards/

17/12/2024

Do you have an uphill struggle? Share it with Juls Stodel and be in with the chance of winning £100 worth of vouchers to spend with Highlander Outdoor 🎁

⛰️ Here at The Great Outdoors, we are delighted to introduce you to our new advice columnist. You may know Juls from her Big Bothy Walk in which she spent a night at every Mountain Bothies Association shelter. Now a trustee of the MBA who has seen her fair share of miles and mountain mishaps, Juls is ready to help you with your Uphill Struggles.

🥾 Don’t understand bothy etiquette? Can’t fathom walking in a group? Have an unpopular hill opinion? Write to Juls and she’ll offer you her ear – and her pen.

🎒 Should your letter be published in The Great Outdoors magazine, you’ll win a £100 voucher to spend with Highlander.

So, send your Uphill Struggles to ‘JULS STODEL’: [email protected] 💌

12/12/2024

🌄 It's print day here at The Great Outdoors HQ! Here's a sneak peek at the Andean adventures shared with the Cholita women of Bolivia who grace the cover of our next issue.

💫 As we approach the new year, we're thinking about how broadened horizons can provide altered perspectives. So, we've put together a jam-packed magazine in which leading outdoor authors share the walks that changed their life, Anna Fleming visits her heroines who started a colour revolution in the high Andes, and Corrine Fowler uncovers the hidden colonial histories in Eryri and Lakeland.

🥾 Plus, Ross Branningan fastpacks Türkiye's Lycian Way, our experts test what's hot from the world of outdoor gear - winter boots and an innovative new stove to name just a few, and we map 10 half-day walks for shorter days. You can also test yourself: do you know how to avoid hypothermia? Take our quiz and find out.

⛺ All this and more can be found in the February issue of The Great Outdoors: on sale Friday 27 December!

🎒 Find your closest stockist via Frontline (frontline-group.co.uk/store-finder/), ask your local retailer to reserve you a copy, or simply subscribe to get delivered direct to your home.

🎁 Subscribe and get a FREE Silva head torch via the link in bio.

📸 Anna Fleming

10/12/2024

Alex Roddie demos how to unlock the winter mountains 🔓

❄️ “I believe that the British mountains are at their best in winter if you stay out overnight. After returning from a winter weekend in the Ben Lawers range, I got thinking about how easy it is to take all this for granted when you’ve been kicking around for a while. To forget what it was like to weigh up decisions about where to camp, anxious about pitching a tent on snow for the very first time. It’s worth remembering – and sharing – how to take that first step into the cold and dark…”

Read more in the new issue of :
https://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/latest-issue/make-the-most-of-winter-nights-with-our-january-issue/

Address

Southwark

Website

http://www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when TGO Magazine posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Videos

🔍 Behind the Design: Inov-8 Has Been Innovating 🥾 · 💡 User-Driven Innovation: Inov-8 has listened to 20 years of feedback to revolutionize its footwear. 👂 · 🌟 Total Redesign: Over the past 12 months the product team has redefined the range for ultimate performance. ⚡ · 👟 Perfect Fit: Inov-8 has enhanced the width in the toe box and rounded off the toe for a natural feel. 👌 · 🦶 Foot-Centric Philosophy: Inov-8 believes the foot should control the shoe, not the other way around. 🌱 🔍The end result? You get first-rate reliability and performance with Inov-8's new line of footwear 🥾 · 🌟 Ultimate Grip: Sticky rubber outsoles that cling to any terrain, whether wet or dry! 🦎 · 🏃 Lightweight & Breathable: Designed to keep you moving swiftly on your adventures. 💨 · 🌍 All-Terrain Mastery: Built for everything from rocky paths to muddy trails. ⛰️ · 💪 Durable Construction: Ready to tackle your most challenging hikes and runs. 🔥 Ready to set your #AmbitionInMotion? Dive into the full story of how these adventure essentials were made! [Link in bio/story] Link to go in Bio and/or Story - https://www.inov8.com/blog/post/behind-the-design-roclite-boots-shoes

🥾 Boots on or boots off, you set the pace on an Inghams Walking holiday🥾 ⛰️ Whether you like your walks to lead you to the highest places or prefer to stop and smell the wildflowers, stride into the freedom to explore with no set itineraries. 🌻Inghams have been guiding outdoors lovers on walking holidays since 1934. With over 85 years of expertise and passion, step this way for the adventure of a lifetime in Andorra, Austria, France, Italy, Madeira, Slovenia or Switzerland. #yousetthepace #inghamswalking

Our Gear Editor Chris Townsend recently took the Daydream 65L pack from BACH Equipment into the hills of Scotland ⛰ 🎒 After rigorous testing with a heavy load over rough ground in the Cairngorms, he delivers his verdict on this "well designed" and stable pack with "excellent access". Watch Chris' full review of the Daydream 65L now.

Today, we've been at the Royal Courts of Justice hearing where optimism prevails as part of the appeal to reinstate wild camping on #Dartmoor 🏕 🌳 "We don’t accept that in England we have legal access to just 8% of land” - Caroline Lucas of Green Party of England and Wales. ✨ Lewis Winks of The Stars Are Ours UK told The Great Outdoors that he was feeling hopeful and optimistic, adding "There's been celebration and talk of the future...We've created such momentum and catalysed a moment in history." 🥾 Beca Trebilcock, long-distance hiker and wild camping advocate, shared her concerns that these restrictions could be extended to other outdoor recreation such as wild swimming and bouldering. 🏞️ We also bumped into Mary-Ann Ochota, broadcaster and contributor to The Great Outdoors who said "the genie is now out of the bottle and conversations about extending the right to roam are being had, not just among niche campaign groups, but publicly." 👇 Tell us what you think will help expand the right to roam in England and Wales beyond the 8% we currently have in the comments. Right to Roam Dartmoor National Park

🏕️ The Great Outdoors’ editor Carey Davies went searching for peace on a Crinkle Crags wild camp this weekend… here’s what happened ✨ #lakedistrict #wildcampinguk

Three cheers for the trail breakers 🥾 ❄️ Who else has been waist deep in fresh #snow this weekend? Remember to tag The Great Outdoors in your snow shots! 📸: James Roddie 📍#Cairngorms

Heading into the weekend, bracing for the gusts, and wishing they were going to be as magical as this... 📸: benphotostudio/Twitter 📍On the Sgùrr nan Conbhairean round, #Scotland

Monchique, Portugal

Here, it’s not just the untouched nature that captures you, it’s all that this magical place has to reveal, with each road, path, trail, street or door. With so much to discover, it's unlikely to end up as you planned. So, choose a starting point and from there on: Let Monchique guide your adventure. 🌿 https://trymonchique.pt/welcome/

The Black Friday Sale is live 🗞 ⛰ Get a digital issue of The Great Outdoors, the UK's original mountain magazine, now for just 99p! Shop now 👉https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/black-friday?utm_source=brand&utm_medium=social-organic&utm_campaign=portfolio-black-friday-digital-issue-99 👈

From director Jennifer Peedom (Mountain), and written by author Robert Macfarlane, RIVER is a profound cinematic and musical reflection on how rivers have shaped both the planet's elaborate landscapes and all human existence. It’s out in cinemas on March 18. Check out the stunning trailer.

He'll redefine what's possible.

Venture to new heights in The Alpinist, only in cinemas 24 September: https://www.thealpinistfilm.com/

Shortcuts

Our Story

The UK's original hiking magazine, leading the way to wild places for more than 40 years. Authentic voices, immersive stories, breathtaking photography, and gear reviews you can trust.