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A Walk in the Clouds

75 short stories of adventures among the mountains of the world

ISBN

9781852847265

Availability

Published

15 Aug 2013

Edition

First

Pages

224

Size

21.60 x 13.80 x 1.20cm

Weight

320g

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This book is a moving collection of 75 autobiographical short stories from prolific outdoors writer Kev Reynolds, an insight into a lifetime of mountain travel and adventure. These tales are spread across the Moroccan Atlas, Pyrenees, European Alps, Himalaya amongst other destinations, and will leave you by turns amused, reflective and inspired.

Centres

In the Pyrenees: Gavarnie, Benasque, Espot. In the Alps: Zinal, Zermatt, Lötschental, Ellmau, La Berarde. Trekking to Everest, Annapurna, Kangchenjunga, Manaslu, Langtang, Dolpo. Trekking in Sikkim and Bhutan; in Peru and Morocco

Must See

mountain adventures and experiences around the world in ranges as diverse as the High Atlas of Morocco, the Pyrenees, Alps, Himalaya, Peruvian Andes, Norway, Turkey and Corsica

ISBN

9781852847265

Availability

Published

15 Aug 2013

Edition

First

Pages

224

Size

21.60 x 13.80 x 1.20cm

Weight

320g

Overview

Alpine expert Kev Reynolds has spent fifty years exploring mountain landscapes and thirty writing about his experiences. Here he shares some of the high points of a full life as a wanderer and writer. Kev is the leading international authority on many mountain ranges, including the Pyrenees, many regions of the Alps and the Nepal Himalaya. As the author of numerous guides he has inspired many thousands of trekkers to follow in his footsteps. As a lecturer he regularly evokes the mood and majesty of the mountains to spellbound audiences. In this book Kev tells how he set off, aged 21, to explore the Atlas Mountains of Morocco - and never looked back. He abandoned his desk-bound local government job to pursue a life in the mountains, living and working in Britain, Austria and Switzerland before finding his true metier as a writer. These 75 stories capture the joy he has take in exploring the Atlas Mountains, Pyrenees, Alps, Himalaya and 'Other Wild Places' again and again, meeting the local people and the mountain guides, experiencing the local food, faiths and lifestyle and watching the sun rise and set against some of the world's highest peaks from summit bivvies.

Table of Contents

A word before we begin

Atlas Mountains: exotic mountain playground

1: Travels in an ancient land
2: Mules, frogs and bivvy bags
3: Mint tea with a muleteer

Pyrenees: a spiritual home

4: Out of the shadows, into the light
5: Up and over
6: The last green valley
7: It was the nightingale
8: Tragedy on Jean-Pierre
9: The longest day
10: C’est le paradis
11: A Pyrenean maestro
12: Something of a doo-day
13: No friend in high places
14: Death of an izard
15: Among the Enchanted Mountains
16: Hole in one
17: The lost patrol
18: The way to Andorra
19: Rendezvous in Gavarnie

Alps: always something new to discover

20: A big moon rising
21: Living in the clouds
22: Chasing sunrise
23: Out with a pro
24: Battle of the ibex
25: Reflections in the alpenglow
26: The wind of relief
27: Mello magic
28: The pink château
29: A roar of disapproval
30: Unease on ice
31: The joy of doing nothing
32: Just hanging around
33: Walking on ice
34: One sunset too many
35: Henry V goes walkabout
36: Heart of the storm
37: Rätikon paradise
38: Breakfast on a tray
39: Under leaden skies
40: For the thank you
41: Recording historic landscapes
42: The Emperor’s Mountains
43: The giant green tortoise
44: Collecting summits
45: On the hill with Hörst
46: Moments of being

Himalaya: where dreams come true

47: Abode of the gods
48: Ten thousand prayers in the wind
49: Culture shock
50: Guru with an empty doko
51: The puja room
52: Clever little sod
53: The wonder of a blue front door
54: The ultimate chapatti
55: A taste of beauty
56: Head-to-head in the Himalaya
57: The Khumbu carpenter
58: Old man very tired
59: Song of the hidden land
60: Lost
61: Mountaineers of the future
62: To the ends of the Earth
63: A shadow to Cheri Gompa
64: Ballast
65: Saving Tsewan
66: With the aid of a hearse
67: Pasa Chaur

Other wild places: a kaleidoscope of experience

68: Corsica: sun and snow on the scented isle
69: Norway: the blessings of bad weather days
70: Spain: the fragrance of the hills
71: Madeira: lunching with lizards
72: Tenerife: island of the dragon tree
73: Turkey: yogurt with the matriarch
74: Peru: the garden of tears
75: Peru: Alpamayo dreaming

Afterthought

Glossary

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Reviews

A lovely online review from Andy Howell

mustbethisway

Kev encourages the reader not to start at the beginning but to open the book at any page and see what you get. And doing that is lovely. I stumbled upon a hairy day in the Pyrenees, that begun with guessing when it was an hour before dawn as neither Kev nor his climbing partner had a watch (he reckons they got up before midnight), and ended with an interesting crevasse rescue. Then there's a 'clever little sod' with an ingenious tourist-trapping scheme in Kathmandu. And trying to avoid being recognised in a mountain hut on the Tour du Mont Blanc.

A peaceful, delightful book that will make you feel like you are in the mountains even when you are not.

Adventure Travel magazine, Nov/Dec 2013

There are many words of praise on the Internet for Kev Reynold's new book so I don't propose to review it in the usual way. Instead, I sent A Walk in the Clouds to Coventry. Kev Reynolds had a new role...in Coventry Hospital with my anxious husband who was an inpatient for the night. A rather different assignment to accompany our treks in the Alps where his excellent Cicerone guidebooks have survived being soaked, sat on, torn apart and generally mistreated.

The aforementioned husband looked dolefully ay my choice of his reading matter. He thought he had something better in his overnight bag. Kev Reynolds won. What a great book that evokes so many memories of expeditions into the mountains. The short chapters and delightful prose both inspired and cheered the hopefully restored partner and he couldn't stop talking about it when he arrived home. He especially liked the chapter about squalid mountain huts.

Eventually, I had to prize the book from his clutches to read it myself. That is praise indeed from a book addict. A Walk in the Clouds is a dip into the author's experiences over fifty years in the Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites, Atlas Mountains and Himalayas as well as a smattering of other wild places. There are not many nail biting incidents but it is an appreciation of the amazing world out there.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, Mr Reynolds, for sharing your thoughts and memories as a guidebook writer.

Strider, December 2013 (Journal of the Long Distance Walkers Association)

After Kev Reynolds climbed Morocco's Atlas Mountains in 1965 at age 21 he married Min, his girlfriend, quit his government desk job and began to explore the planet's many mountains........ Kev gave me the feeling not only of hiking the trails but also of watching the seasons unfold, meeting the people and forming connections throughout the world. He says, "Life is an adventure to be cherished"and literally "walks his talk."

Read the full review by Niki Collins-Queen, on Amazon.co.uk

Famed British climber and author of dozens of climbing and trekking guidebooks Reynolds reminiscences about a life spent roaming the world’s great mountain ranges in this compilation of excursion stories. Unlike a guide or an expedition journal that chronicles a particular ascent, this volume encapsulates the feel and the mood of adventure. Gleaned from various journals and articles spanning his entire career, Reynolds' vignettes provide unique and intimate snapshots of sunrises from mountaintops, scrambles up scree-covered slopes and through mountain mist, crossing dangerous mountain glaciers, riding out mountaintop storms, and sharing tea with shepherds in remote valleys. The sort of volume that can be picked up and enjoyed randomly here and there in a spare moment, each of Reynolds' memories vividly transports the reader to the world’s high places. These charming anecdotes shared from a driven life will inspire trekkers and climbers while satisfying armchair explorers as well. (Apr.)

Cevin Bryerman, Vice President / Publisher, Publishers Weekly USA March 2014

By Kev Reynolds

Kev Reynolds was a freelance writer, photojournalist and lecturer. A prolific compiler of guidebooks, his first title for Cicerone Press (Walks & Climbs in the Pyrenees) appeared in 1978; he later produced many more titles for the same publisher. A member of the Outdoor Writers' Guild, the Alpine Club and Austrian Alpine Club, his passion for mountains and the countryside inspired a lifetime's activity, and he regularly travelled throughout Britain to share that enthusiasm through his lectures. Sadly, Kev passed away in 2021. He will be remembered fondly by all who knew him and by many more he inspired through his writing and talks.

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