Paul Harrison’s new guidebook to Lundy is now in print. It has been fourteen years since the last guidebook to the island was published, and for many of the island’s devotees it has been a long wait for this second edition. However, the new guidebook is great. Its high production quality , coupled with the fact it contains almost double the information as the last one has made all the waiting worthwhile.
Lundy is no ordinary climbing area. It is one of the best places on earth for sea cliff adventures. Fittingly, Paul Harrison, assisted by Simon Cardy and Neil Dickson, have created a guidebook like no other. Harrison has spent more time climbing on Lundy over the past two decades than anyone, and his encyclopaedic knowledge of the island’s cliffs. His knowledge gives this book a clarity and consistency that few other comprehensive guidebooks have achieved. Cardy’s superb maps and photodiagrams are an invaluable new resource for Lundy climbers too. Many of the photos that illustrate them have been taken from the sea, giving an overview of the most complex areas (such as the Old Light cliffs) that will save newcomers to the island getting lost in waist-high bracken in search of the classics. Cardy had also re-drawn the maps from the 1994 guide at a larger scale and in colour, and these will further assist Lundy first-timers. Neil Dickson, the man responsible for Lundy’s first and only E9, has compiled an excellent and engaging Chronology that replaces the traditional essay-based history section. The entire book is illustrated throughout with outstanding images by a variety of photographers. In short, Lundy , 2008 is a modern day climbing guide classic. This guidebook defines a new standard for Climbers’ Guides.
