Walk La Gomera is the first er, 'book' book from Mediteranean
walking specialists Discovery Guides, their words.
But where exactly is La Gomera chaps? Just a hint, but flagging
its location in the Canaries on the cover or at least somewhere in
the book would be a good basic move. At the moment, it's worthy of
the penultimate question on Who Wants To Be Millionaire...
Still, if you fancy hopping a cheap charter to warmer climes this
winter and the Med in particular, Discovery Guides and their web site
are a good place to start. They cover the Balearics, Madeira, the
Algarve, Canaries, Malta and Gozo with maps and walks, which you can
buy direct from the site. Earlier walk guides are in 'non-book'
format and we haven't seen them, so aren't really in a position to
comment.
Walk La Gomera £8.99
Flagged as 'the most detailed book dedicated to walking on La
Gomera' -think about it - this slim 80-page volume covers 32 walks
together with 1:25,000 scale colour maps specific to each walk.
Without actually flying out to La Gomera and using it on the ground,
we can't really comment on issues of accuracy, but this is what we
can tell you:
General information Distinctly lacking really. No hints on
the best places to base yourself, and only basic information on what
you need to wear and a rather cursory reference to carrying 'plenty
of water', We'd like to see a more authoritative fact file with
information on the best times to go, average temperatures etc.
There's a list of web sites where you could probably find all
this, but it really ought to be in the book.
Route descriptions Err on the florid side with
'lichen-bearded trees' and 'verdant greenery' popping up and the
routes are invariably described as 'our' as in 'our path', 'we look'
etc. We can't help thinking that the authors have missed a trick by
sticking to straight narrative, when breaking the walk into stages
and making the descriptions less wordy would make the whole thing
easier to read. The basic information however is detailed and, as
long as it matches the terrain, looks useable enough. Bear in mind
that the timings, also used in the text, will vary with the
individual walker.
Maps Look good from Glossop. A shame that the walks haven't
been indexed onto a larger overview of the island and that the three
regional maps, although they show the individual walks, haven't been
numbered so you can see which is which at a glance. But otherwise
seem very decent.
The Bottom Line If you're off to walk on La Gomera, this is
the book for you. Could do with a load more general information and
we can take or leave the writing style, but the basics seem to be
present and correct.
More Information and online ordering from the Discovery
Walking Guides web
site. You can even buy a limited edition 'author-signed' copy,
which the company reckon might end up as a valuable commodity in ten
years time. Hmmm...
