Howay, It's A Geordie Walking Guide :-)

It's easy to forget that there's life beyond the obvious Vibram reservations of the Lakes, Dales, Peak and Snowdonia, but a new booklet from Geordie country aims to highlight the walking potential of the North East.

With a cover shot of the Matterhorn-like Rosebery Topping - coincidentally, Alan Hinkes' favourite hill - the new guide features no less than 23 routes designed to give a gourmet introduction to the best coast and countryside in the area.

Each route comes with a neat map and detailed step-by-step directions, plus travel and transport information, the number of the relevant OS map and a few colour photos to give an idea of the character of the area.

By hardened walkers' standards, they're all relatively short routes, but to be fair, they're intended as tasters and family walks rather than full-blown day outings. Most would make great summer evening strolls and they take in a lovely cross section of what the area has to offer.

Apart from the inevitable ascent of the mighty Roseberry Topping, there are walks in Kielder, Holy Island, around High Force and elsewhere. There's also a section on the six long distance paths that cross the region including the Pennine Way, Cleveland Way and Hadrian's Wall path plus a useful directory of local attractions like castles, museums and gardens. All that's missing is a teach yourself geordie section...

Well worth a look if you're heading up that way. You can get hold of a copy either by calling 0870 225 0129 or visiting www.visitnorthumbria.com/walking