Another year has gone by when I’ve been very bad at keeping the blog up to date. My focus has been split between several different activities, including now running and cycling. So this index post to the year’s activities doesn’t have much to link to. Anyway, let’s give it a go…
- A bit of the South Downs (Eastbourne to Hassocks)
- TGO Challenge Pt1 (Ardrishaig to Glencoe)
- TGO Challenge Pt 2 (Glencoe to Blair Atholl)
- TGO Challenge Pt 3 (Blair Atholl to Ballater)
- TGO Challenge Pt 4 (Ballater to Aberdeen)
- TGO Challenge Summary / Index Post
- Norfolk Coast Path Pt 1 (King’s Lynn to Cromer)
- Norfolk Coast Path Pt 2 (Cromer to Hopton-on-Sea)
- The Perambulation of Dartmoor
- More South Downs (Hassocks to Amberley)
- Even More South Downs (Amberley to South Harting)
- 2025 in Biking
- 2025 in Running
My hiking year didn’t really begin until mid-April, and by that time it was important that I get out for some sort of trip, as the TGO Challenge was rapidly approaching.
With most options in the hills in the north and west ruled out because of the weather, that left me with the South Downs, and I decided to walk a section, starting from the end at Eastbourne. This was a 3 night trip, using campsites for each of the overnight stops.
The next significant trip was the TGO Challenge itself. Planned at about 390km, I ended up taking some foul weather alternatives (despite the weather being far from foul) and taking a more direct and faster finish to the east coast, just to get it done. The final distance was 361 km.
The weather was also warm and dry, and a lot of Challengers struggled with the conditions. I had around 60km of mostly road walking or hard tracks from the start and spent much of it trying to stay in the shade. It was also a lonely Challenge, with me no seeing another Challenger until day 9. Both of the Challengers I saw that day were people I already knew, which was nice.
At the end of day 9 I started to struggle with my lower right leg, and this led me to use the Deeside Way for a more direct finish. This was probably caused by the huge quantity of running, and next to no hiking, I’d been doing. My legs simply weren’t used to the different loads placed upon them. Rest cleared it up after the Challenge.
I resolved at the end of this Challenge, that next time I would put a lot more focus on enjoyment than on achieving a challenging distance. And that next time will likely be 2027, as 2026 is a planned “fallow” year now that I’ve adopted a 2 years on, 1 year off policy.
In June, I spent a few days in the Peak District, basing myself at the Fieldhead Campsite in Edale, and contenting myself with some daywalks around the Edale skyline, including a complete one day circumnavigation of Kinder.
In July, I set out to walk the Norfolk Coast Path, and thereby complete the Peddar’s Way / Norfolk Coast Path National Trail, having done the Peddar’s Way in 2024 as part of my Greater Ridgeway project.
I originally intended to do it all in one go, but it soon became apparent on trail that my legs weren’t up to the distances I’d planned. So I decided to pause at Cromer and come back a few weeks later to finish it off.
So I did just that.
Unfortunately, on the very first day of the walk, when I was swishing through lots of long grass walking from King’s Lynn to near Sandringham, I must have picked up a tick. I noticed it the next night, and got it out. But a few weeks later I noticed the bullseye rash and then had to go through the process of blood tests, antibiotics and crossing fingers. I had no actual symptoms other than an itch where the rash was. It all seemed to clear up.
Between the two NCP trips, I went to Dartmoor to finally do something I’ve had on my list for a long time – the Perambulation or Ancient Boundary Walk, retracing the route of a dozen knights in 1240 essentially beating the bounds of the royal forest. This was one of the hardest walks I’ve ever done and I came close to quitting.
In September and October history repeated itself – a plan to spend a few days in the Lakes came to naught because of nasty weather, and in both cases the South East was the place to be. So I picked up where I left off on the South Downs Way and did a bit more westbound.
2025 In Camping
This year, I did relatively few wildcamps, all of which were either on the TGO Challenge or Dartmoor – ie. places you can wildcamp quite happily without fear of being moved on. My appetite for hiding away in woods and long grass has somewhat diminished over recent times. Many of the long distance trails I’ve been walking are well supplied with campsites and the lure of a hassle free pitch and a shower at the end of the day has won out.
More from the Wildcamp Gallery:
My favourite wildcamp this year was #259, on a slightly bumpy patch behind Bynack Lodge at the end of day 9 of the TGO Challenge. They were all fine, even the one tucked into a layby on a forest track where I struggled to get the stakes in.
So my total for wildcamps was 8, but I did another 23 tame camps. Of these 6 were on the Challenge as I took advantage of facilities whenever I could.
In terms of shelters, things have stabilised quite a lot this year. Buying the Stratospire in early 2024 seems to have been a turning point. It’s become my default shelter for the TGO Challenge, and pretty much any upland camping. But the main tent I’ve used this year (13 nights) has been the Tipik-tentes Aston. Having sold my original Aston a couple of years ago (mainly because I realised I’d made a mistake having it made in red), I came across an opportunity to acquire a nearly new one in a more sensible colour and jumped on it. It’s basically become my go to tent for campsites where I want a bit more comfort and don’t have to worry about pitch size.
I still used my PyraOmm Duo on the first South Downs way trip (before I got the Aston), and still like it, so it’s going nowhere.
The Scarp got an outing on Dartmoor – mainly because I simply hadn’t used it for a while.
The Tipik-tentes Pioulou XL has left my collection as I wasn’t using it.
What Else ?
Much of the reason why my year was fairly quiet in terms of hiking and camping was running. I spent November 2024 through to early April 2025 training for the Brighton Marathon, which I then completed.
I also bought a bike in January, with the intention of building up to bikepacking at some point later in the year. This would enable me to more effectively whittle down my list of journeys by doing some of those I’d struggle to do walking on two wheels instead.
What with all the running then a binge of hiking over the summer, I only managed 9 rides in total during the year. One of these was an overnighter to a local campsite – a test of my bikepacking kit and process. It went fine, but that’s as far as I got. So 2026 will be the year to actually do some bikepacking.
Stats of 2025
In total this year I…
- hiked or walked 1,005 km
- climbed 16,879m hiking and 6,835m running
- hiked on 39 days (plus another 14 touring around various places I visited)
- wildcamped 8 nights
- tame camped 23 nights
- completed 2 trails
- ran just short of 1,100 km
- done my longest single run at 42.4 km
- ran 38 parkruns, just a little short of my record of 40 set in 2024.
Looking Forward into 2026…
I’m not on the TGO Challenge in 2026 as it’s my “fallow” year. I generally follow a pattern of two years on, one year off. Just like in 2023, my last fallow year, my wife and I will be going on a road trip around Scotland, this time focussing more on the islands.
I should be back on the TGO Challenge in 2027, and as things stand I’m weighing up a number of possible start points, the most likely of which is Strathcarron, if only because it’s already designated as my fall back if I can’t decide!
After this year’s Challenge, I promised myself that I would focus on fun a bit more, and less on the extreme distance. And so my route will almost certainly be one that doesn’t put me several days behind the pack, and starting from an obscure start. There may even be some socialising, and there are a handful of gathering points I’ve not yet done, so that may be the opportunity to tick some of those off.
Because of other projects, it’s likely I will only get one longish trail done in 2026, and at the moment the favourite is the Snowdonia Way. That could change though, and if only because it’s similar in some ways to the Snowdonia section of the Cambrian way, which I still need to finish. The fact the next bit is the Rhinogs isn’t helping motivate me to do it though.
I’ll probably find time to finish off my re-walks of the North Downs Way and South Downs Way, and probably start another walking project which I can do fairly easily in day by day chunks.
I also didn’t get to the Lakes in 2025, being thwarted 3 times by poor weather forecasts, and so I really want to get back there for a short trip.
And finally, one of the things I want to do in the coming year is break out of the rut I’ve fallen into, where my hiking is restricted to just the bigger away trips, and with very little done closer to home on a day to day basis. Running is partly to blame for that, but there’s room for both.
A Slight Change of Direction
Over the last couple of years, you may have noticed that the number of blog posts has been reducing:
- 2021: 41 posts
- 2022: 39
- 2023: 19
- 2024: 13
- 2025: 11
They really tailed off from later in 2023, a combination of not being able to keep up with writing them because of the amount I’d been walking, and the start of me running more regularly. I also found that re-entering the workforce, albeit only part time, sapped what energy I had to (a) have the adventures and (b) write them all up or edit the videos.
I’ve been deliberately restricting the posts to the same stuff I’ve always written about – the hiking and camping adventures. But in reality I’ve branched out to encompass running and, this year, cycling. Hiking has been fitting around running. And I’ve not blogged anything outside of hiking and camping as a result, despite wanting to.
The reality is that I’ve evolved into more of a multi-sport chap now, and I don’t see me going back. A couple of years ago I concluded that I’d probably not ever manage to do all of the walks I’d like to do, in particular the really long ones. The decision to get a bike was very much linked to this – a walk that might take 3 months (e.g. LEJOG) could be done in 2-3 weeks by bike. Essentially taking a more open-minded approach to these trips would be more likely to result in them actually happening.
For a couple of years now, I’ve looked at my walks list as more of a journeys list – a list that I can work through in the most appropriate way and actually make them happen. It’s not about a feat of walking a long way, it’s about experiencing the landscapes, history etc, and it really doesn’t matter overly what method I choose to use.
In parallel with this, I have for a few years wanted my online presence to better reflect the mix that I do and I’ve finally done something about it. Wanting an online identity that reflects hiking, camping, running, cycling and even a bit of general travel, I’ve had several goes at comping up with a name, to find that anything good is invariably already taken on at least one platform. But it came to me in the shower, where all the best ideas originate…
Going forward this blog, along with my YouTube channel, Facebook page and Instagram will be under the identity of “On and Off the Trail”. Now this probably sounds a bit odd, but I think it perfectly encapsulates what I’m about.
“On Trail” is the obvious: the hiking and camping, which for me is very much focussed on long distance trails anyway. It works also for me dipping my toe into trail running, and completing some of these journeys by other means (ie bike).
“Off Trail” allows me to include the other things: those hikes that aren’t on a trail itself, the more general running and even some more holiday-like travel experiences, where I often visit the sort of places I’d hike to anyway. “Off Trail” also covers gear and general musings. There may also be the occasional piece related to my art, which is in any case all inspired by these travels and adventures.
“On and Off” references my flip-flop approach to a lot of my adventures: one minute I’m on trail, and the next I’ve had enough and am bailing out, only to return to finish it off later.
The new identify is already live on YouTube, and I will be expanding my video making to include things other than long distance hiking. So you can expect to see the odd bike adventure or running event crop up.
I hope you like it…
