Footprints On The Mountains The News From The Pyrenees

The Pyrenees are by turns beautifully natural and bleakly austere; shaped by centuries of labour... and scarred by human suffering. In Footprints on the mountains, Steve Cracknell returns to them - on the Spanish high-level Senda - to see how they are changing. It is the story of an ageing hiker and a long and sometimes difficult walk. In the valleys he talks to locals and meets an eccentric cast of hikers. But on the heights he is alone with marmottes and sarrios. He listens to both sides of the argument over the reintroduction of bears. And goes searching for ibex imported as part of a rewilding programme. Bear festivals, witch trials, and refugees are as much part of the tale as the spectacular scenery; the World Heritage Ordesa canyon and the twisted waters of the Aigüestortes are part of the backdrop. More than just a footnote on the place of the ancient wild in the modern world, this is the book to read if ever you dream of escaping to the hills. Praise for Steve Cracknell's previous book If you only walk long enough 'A very humorous tale of adventure.' The French Paper Book of the Month. 'A superb and unique addition to books about the Pyrenees.' Strider Magazine. 'An original point of view, sometimes offbeat, never boring.' France 3 Television literary blog.

In a sweeping panorama which takes in everything from hot pepper ice cream and slug sex to the legacy of the Romantic movement and the future of the European brown bear, If You Only Walk Long Enough is a fascinating portrait of the French Pyrenees as they move into the 21st century. It is also the story of a solitary walker and a long-distance footpath, the Pyrenean Way (GR10). When he set out from the Atlantic coast, Steve Cracknell thought he was heading for the Mediterranean on a trail which ambled through the foothills. He ended up with crampons and ice axe, crossing glaciers to tackle the highest peaks of the range. In a book which is by turns amusing and thoughtful he treads lightly across the landscape, concluding that the Pyrenees are changing rapidly. Now is the time to discover them.

“You have to love the mountains to live here.” Nevertheless, at seventeen Salva left, returning many years later with Àngels to the family farm. Now it’s a holiday centre. “I was sleeping in the tent. The bear was eating a sheep fifty metres away,” says Mustà, a shepherd who moved to the Pyrenees from Morocco. “Born here... without doctors, without anything.” Josep has never left his mountain village. Once a secretary in Barcelona, his wife María is now the farmer in the family. Five in-depth life stories from the fifteen in Mountain People. Stories of hope in the face of adversity, reflecting our common humanity. Stories that, like the surrounding mountains, will ignite your imagination.

The return of large predators might help to reinvigorate nature. But are wild animals like wolves and bears compatible with livestock farming? Will their arrival destroy mountain communities? Unable to decide on the issues, Steve Cracknell climbs up to the isolated summer pastures of the Pyrenees to talk with those most concerned: the shepherds. He also meets hunters and ecologists - and goes looking for bears. In a book of relevance to the rewilding debate in Britain, the author shows how attitudes to the wild are bound up with cultural perceptions. Nobody has a monopoly of the truth.

'Gripping and atmospheric' - Sunday Times A breath-taking missing persons thriller set under the menacing peaks of the Pyrenees Five years after their disappearance, the village of Monteperdido still mourns the loss of Ana and Lucia, two eleven-year-old friends who left school one afternoon and were never seen again. Now, Ana reappears unexpectedly inside a crashed car, wounded but alive. The case reopens and a race against time begins to discover who was behind the girls' kidnapping. Most importantly, where is Lucia and is she still alive? Inspector Sara Campos and her boss Santiago Bain, from Madrid's head office, are forced to work with the local police. Five years ago fatal mistakes were made in the investigation conducted after the girls first vanished, and this mustn't happen again. But Monteperdido has rules of its own. 'Addictive, atmospheric and haunting, one of the best books you'll read this year' - Jo Spain, internationally bestselling author of The Confession

The Earth Beneath My Feet is the first of two books that describe an epic 7,000-mile wilderness walk across an entire continent. Like millions of people, Andrew Terrill grew up on the edge of a big city. But for Terrill, suburban life felt predictable and crowded - the days lacked purpose and meaning. What he craved was a life of freedom, adventure and simplicity, and after nearly dying in the Swiss Alps that was the life he chose. In May 1997 he left his London home and travelled to the southernmost point of Calabria, Italy. Once there, he turned north and began walking, headed for Norway's North Cape. Leaving civilisation behind, Terrill journeyed deep into the 'other Europe', the hidden wilderness Europe that still exists beyond road's end. Hiking from the Apennine mountain range - a wild side of Italy few outsiders ever know - to the vast northern wildernesses of Arctic Norway, Terrill immersed himself in the natural world, forever seeking a deeper connection with it. The 18-month journey became a voyage of discovery, unveiling the secrets and treasures of Europe's least-known places. The miles brought hardships and struggles, pushed Terrill to his limits, but ultimately led to unimaginable rewards. The Earth Beneath My Feet covers the journey's first eight months, taking readers the entire length of Italy during a searing-hot summer, and across Austria into the depths of an Alpine winter. It is a compelling tale of adventure told with freshness, optimism, wonder and youthful enthusiasm - an inspiring true story of a young man who chose to embrace life and live it to the full.

"The assessment builds on the work of the Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative"--Pref.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the observed and projected changes to the ocean and cryosphere and their associated impacts and risks, with a focus on resilience, risk management response options, and adaptation measures, considering both their potential and limitations. It brings together knowledge on physical and biogeochemical changes, the interplay with ecosystem changes, and the implications for human communities. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

"In this magnificent book, Oliver Schuchard provides more than sixty-five exquisite black-and-white photographs spanning his thirty-eight years of photography. In addition, he explains the aesthetic rationale and techniques he used in order to produce these photographs, emphasizing the profound differences between, yet necessary interdependence of, craft and content. Although Schuchard believes that craft is important, he maintains that the idea behind the photograph and the emotional content of the image are equally vital and are, in fact, functions of one another. The author also shares components of his life experience that he believes helped shape his development as an artist and a teacher. He chose the splendid photographs included in this book from among nearly 5,000 negatives that had been exposed all over the world, from Missouri to Maine, California, Alaska, Colorado, France, Newfoundland, and Hawaii, among many other locations. Approximately 250 negatives survived the initial review, and each of those was printed before a final decision was made on which photographs were to be featured in the book. The final choices are representative of Schuchard's work and serve to substantiate his belief that craft, concept, and self must be fully understood and carefully melded for a good photograph to occur. This amazing work by award-winning photographer Oliver Schuchard will be treasured by professional and amateur photographers alike, as well as by anyone who simply enjoys superb photography."--Publishers website.