Lakeland Walks with David Powell-Thompson. Photography by Terry Abraham. Distributed by Striding Edge Productions. Priced £14.99.

DAVID Powell-Thompson is a film and television broadcaster, media researcher and Lakeland Mountain Guide.

Along with Terry Abraham, award winning film maker , David has produced a great new DVD entitled Lakeland Walks. It features four classic walks in the Lake District; Castle Crag, Helvellyn, Scafell and High Street and runs for 82 minutes.

David has an intimate knowledge of the Lake District having been Head Teacher at St Bega’s school in Eskdale for over 20 years. In these four walks, David uses his great knowledge of the areas in question to inform the viewer about a number of little known facts relevant to the areas covered by the walks. For example in the Castle Crag walk he talks about and visits the cave that used to be inhabited by Millican Dalton, a well-known eccentric in the Borrowdale area in the 50s and 60s.

The Scafell walk takes the viewer from Wasdale via Burnmoor Tarn over Sleight Side visiting one of the Bronze Age cairns enroute. David then climbs to the summit of Scafell, the second highest summit in the Lake District, to conclude his walk.

The final walk is from the hamlet of Hartsop to the summit of High Street visiting Angle Tarn, The Knott, Rampsgill Head and Kidsty Pike as well. David says that Angle Tarn is one of his favourites with which I would heartily agree. It must rank as one of the best Lakeland tarns with its five bays and two islands. After ascending The Knott, David has an overnight camp on Rampsgill Head and this enables the viewer to see what a beautiful sunrise there is over the Pennines to the East the following morning. To end his walk, he then visits the 14 foot high Thornthwaite Beacon and Gray Crag before descending back down to Hartsop via Hayeswater.

The DVD is beautifully filmed by Terry Abraham and features music by Jamie Sims. For any lover of the Lake District this would make an ideal Christmas gift. Available from Striding Edge Productions at www.stridingedge.com

by John Burland