Don't forget to buy this weekend's Sunday Times! I'm slightly nervous at the prospect of my new book ('Walking Weekends Peak District') being featured in The Sunday Times...

Let me know your thoughts and comments about the article by posting a comment below.

Anyway, after a year's worth of planning and procrastinating my new secure online shop is up and running... and the orders are trickling in! www.innway.co.uk/order01.htm

Cheers, Mark Reid

Launched my new book "Walking Weekends: Peak District" today at the Devonshire Arms at Beeley (on the Chatsworth Estate). Marketing, publicity and promotion is the biggest challenge for any publisher as you are competing with thousands of other titles and also with big publishers with large marketing budgets. My marketing budget stretches to a pint of beer in a Peakland pub! anyway, fingers crossed and hopefully this launch will produce some good coverage over the next few weeks.

By the way, the headline of my press release read... "LEAVE MUDDY BOOTPRINTS INSTEAD OF CARBON FOOTPRINTS. Spend a weekend walking through the Peak District and help save the planet." Not only does this book promote sustainable tourism by encouraging people to spend a weekend walking, eating, drinking and staying locally but for every copy sold I donate a % of the profits to the Peak District National Park Authority to be used for conservation projects within the National Park. No there's a good reason to buy my book!

Cheers, Mark Reid

I'm off up to the White Lion at Cray (the highest pub in Wharfedale) tonight for a weekend of walking and drinking with 9 other blokes! Should be fun... We head off twice a year (spring and autumn) for our walking weekends, staying at great country pubs and then doing a full day's walk on the Saturday and an easier stroll on the Sunday.

This is what life's all about... two days spent walking through some of England's finest landscapes in the company of friends and then a convivial evening at a traditional Dales pub with its stone-flagged bar, oak beams and roaring fire. Not to mention the local ale... it's Copper Dragon and Moorhouse's at the White Lion.

On Saturday, we're going to climb up to the summit of Buckden Pike (703 metres) then walk along the ridge down to Kettlewell for lunch. The afternoon section is back up through Upper Wharfedale to Cray via Starbotton (Fox & Hounds) and Buckden (Buck Inn).

cheers, Mark

Crafts for Christmas Fair at the Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate: 9th - 12th November

If you're near Harrogate this weekend, pop into the Crafts for Christmas Fair and say hello - I've got a stand selling my books as well as my new "Walking Weekends: Peak District" which is due back from the binders on Friday, so it will be literally hot off the press!

Cheers

"Walking Weekends: Peak District" finally finished today, after 18 months of research, 0ver 400 miles of walking and visiting over 60 pubs! The book is being printed at the moment and will arrive back from the binders next Friday. If you want to know more about this book then visit www.innway.co.uk

Anyway, had an great time in the Peak District with The Sunday Times journalists last weekend. We stayed at the newly-refurbished Devonshire Arms at Beeley (great food, stylish bedrooms, good service but rather too bright decor especially the flourescent pink plastic bar stools!) and the George at Castleton (traditional village pub with flagstone floors, open fires and generous portions of lamb shank!). The walks we did were from Beeley to Bakewell then back via Edensor. Also, from Castleton we walk up onto Win Hill then down to the Yorkshire Bridge before skirting around Ladybower Reservoir then back to Castleton via Hope Cross. The final walk we did was from Edale up onto Kinder Scout via the Woolpacks and Jacob's Ladder - see photo above. The article will hopefully appear in the travel section of the Sunday Times in late November. The best beer was a pint of Copper Dragon Pipkin at the Yorkshire Bridge Inn closely followed by Hartington Bitter at the Cheshire Cheese, Hope.

I finally did the walk around Baysdale last week on a wonderfully warm autumnal day. Elvis enjoyed himself as he loves running across heather moorland (see photo above).

Cheers

Mark