I think I actually felt the first rays of spring sunshine today. No doubt there will be more snow to come before spring properly appears but the slight lift in temperatures got me thinking about hill walking. Then, by chance, a walks guide that was sent to me by a writer and walking friend Felicity Martin dislodged itself from beneath a teetering pile of papers and lists of things to do on my desk.

So instead of cracking on with my work this afternoon I took a few moments out to dream about walking and to flick through the four “Experience Big Tree Country” walks guides. Published by Catkin Press (a small, independent publisher based in Scotland), the beautifully produced walks guides for Perthshire include 48 of Felicity’s favourite walks (chosen from the 250 routes she has walked in her home region).

Each guide has 12 walks, with a map and a step-by-step guide to following the walk. There is a huge amount of detail in each walk and Felicity has included lots of helpful info such as the grade of the walk (gentle to strenuous), average time that the walk should take, terrain, as well as how to get to the start of the route.

One route has caught my eye already. I am off to Aberfeldy in a few weeks for a Glasgow Tri Club training weekend and the Birks of Aberfeldy and Dunskaig walk looks like being a great trail to run. It’s around 4 miles in length and heads through a wooded gorge and along tracks through pasture. If I have some time to myself (in between swimming and cycling) I’ll be trying this route as a run.

To order a guide, £3.95 each, check out Catkin Press. A share of the profits from sales goes towards supporting the work of Perthshire Big Tree Country.