Upland
A Journey through Time and the Hills of Britain
$35.70
- Paperback
304 pages
- Release Date
10 September 2026
Summary
‘Fascinating and lyrical… A beautifully written celebration of a lifelong passion.’ Stephen Venables
The relationship of people with hills and mountains has been complex, rich and varied from awe and wonder to fear and loathing, from spiritual longing to peaceful acceptance.
As he explores our high places, Ian Crofton conjures up those who have been there before: Neolithic axe-makers, mass trespassers, shepherds, quarrymen, botanists, poets and pioneering crag…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781780279794 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1780279795 |
| Author: | Ian Crofton |
| Publisher: | Birlinn General |
| Imprint: | Birlinn Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 304 |
| Release Date: | 10 September 2026 |
| Weight: | 263g |
| Dimensions: | 24mm x 129mm x 198mm |
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Critics Review
‘This is a constantly surprising and fascinating look at not just the mountains but about the people who work, play, live and travel there, through history and in the present day…. this books a was delight throughout’
– Neil Reid * Scottish Mountaineer Magazine *‘Rich in memories and beautifully written, Ian Crofton’s account of a lifetime walking the hills and mountains of Scotland, England and Wales makes for a delightful book’
– Allan Massie * The Scotsman *‘A fascinating and lyrical exploration of what the hills mean to those who have lived and worked among them, and to those who walk and climb among them today … A beautifully written celebration of a lifelong passion’
– Stephen Venables‘A wonderfully evocative ode to the high places of Great Britain’
– Ken Lussey * Undiscovered Scotland *‘Ian has a well-honed knack of weaving a literary web linking man and the landscape … a tome to engross yourself in whether you are an armchair mountaineer or a tough guy reliving past glories’
– Adrian Trendall * All Things Cuillin *‘This book is written—beautifully—from the stance of a walker and historian’
– Kate Green * Country Life *‘Crofton draws on a lifetime of walking and climbing across Britain and takes us on a unique journey through time and the hills’
– Dawn Geddes * Scots Magazine *‘beautifully crafted and captivating… Crofton proves to be an insightful and genial guide’
* Sunday Post *‘Skilfully weaves together personal and family stories, prehistory and history, literature, art, geology, nature and more in a glorious mix of everything the hills have to offer. This rich mix of subjects is wonderful… excellent with much to enjoy and to learn’
– Chris Townsend * Great Outdoors *‘Informative, evocative … a welcome addition to the nature-writing bookshelf’
– Sarah Lonsdale * Times Literary Supplement *‘Upland draws on a lifetime’s hillwalking and climbing, and yet it’s so much more than a simple memoir. Mining rich seams of culture and natural history, it ranges far and wide in its exploration of hills as a human experience - mountains not in the abstract, but as places we’ve lived and worked in, climbed and dreamed about for millennia’
– Dan Bailey * UK Climbing & UK Hillwalking *‘A delightful and unusual book, both personal and impressively wide-ranging in its scholarship … wonderful … elegiac … a very fine book that will stand the test of time’
* Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal *Ian Crofton
Ian Crofton’s books explore the interplay of landscape, nature, and history. His notable works include:
- Walking the Border: A Journey between Scotland and England (rated ‘excellent’ by The Guardian and Trail magazine)
- Fringed with Mud and Pearls: An English Island Odyssey (described by the BBC’s Countryfile as ‘really engaging’, by Coast magazine as ‘a fascinating study about what it means to exist on the fringes’, and selected by The Telegraph as one of their top twenty travel books of 2021)
His latest book, Upland: A Journey Through Time and the Hills, was published in May 2025.
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