Mary Welsh M


ary Welsh, whose fi fty books, and countless published walks led thousands of walkers over mountains and through the countryside for 35 years, has died at the age of 88. Mary wrote her fi rst book in 1982, at the age of 53. She had moved from Islington in central London to the Lake District. A Country Journal – The diary of a Cumbrian Naturalist charted her delight in the nature she saw as she explored the village of Broughton-in-Furness, where she had moved to, and wider Cumbria.


Her latest walk appeared in the December 2016 edition of Country Walking.


Starting with the publication


of A Country Journal, and fi nishing with her last book Walking Fife, The Ochils, Tayside and Forth Valley in 2012, Mary wrote thirty-eight books and twelve substantial booklets. Many went into third, fourth and even fi fth reprints, selling more than 200,000 copies. From 1985 to 1989 the Westmorland Gazette published her four-book series A Naturalist’s Guide to Lakeland Waterfalls throughout the year. In 1990 Cicerone started publication of a two- part series of Walks to Yorkshire Waterfalls, followed by Lancashire Canal Walks and Waterfall Walks – Teesdale and the High Pennines.


By now she was an established columnist


for the Westmorland Gazette and in 1995 the newspaper published Welsh Walks in Cumbria – a compilation of her walking columns that had appeared in the newspaper. In 1995 Walks with children in Swaledale and


Wensleydale was published, the fi rst in a series of substantial booklets of Mary’s walks published by Questa over the next fi fteen years. In 1997 Dalesman started publications of ten of Mary’s walks, each under six miles, with Walks around Coniston and Hawkshead going into a number of reprints.


In 1996 Cicerone published Walking in Lancashire, and Walks from the Leeds-Liverpool Canal while


She had extensive


knowledge of fl ora and fauna


Sigma published Country Walks around Kendal. In 1998 came North Lakeland


Walks with Children, and Walking the Howgills, both Sigma, while Dalesman published her Tea Shop Walks in The Lake District. Walking the Lakeland Fringes was published by Sigma in 2000. Mary shared walks in


Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire beyond her books, with the readers of publications such as the The Times, The Express, and the Westmorland Gazette for whom she wrote 692 columns, for many years taking and providing the accompanying photos as well.


Between 1989 and 2012 Mary worked on her magnum opus: 21 books covering the whole of Scotland in a series called Walking Scotland. Published by Clan Books each volume contains forty walks, exploring every part of the Scottish mainland and main islands. Eight books into the series, Mary


was joined by walking companion and illustrator Christine Isherwood with whom she worked on several of her books about walks in England, and they completed the series together. Mary described it as their ‘wonderful, magical task’. They covered nearly 6,000 miles to complete the series.


Mary was meticulous about checking and noting every stile and waymark, determined to ensure that her readers didn’t get lost. Her joy was in sharing the sights and sounds of the countryside she discovered. She had extensive knowledge of fl ora and fauna, and a passion for ornithology, identifying and delighting in birdsongs wherever she went. Mary grew up in Hemel Hempstead, the third child of Walter and Ethel Croker who had moved from the West Country before WW1. She spent her childhood exploring the local countryside and once into her teens started youth hostelling, eventually exploring and falling in love with Scotland. It was on a youth hostelling trip to Devon in 1947 that she met her future husband, Tom


continued overleaf.... spring 2017 | Outdoor focus 13


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