Journeys by hiking, running, cycling and touring
And now things get serious with the most controversial section of the Cambrian Way. Rough walking over demanding terrain, nowhere to stay overnight, but in the eyes of Tony Drake the most rewarding part of the whole route. Except in my case, I don't have the accommodation issue... I know from reading George Tod's accounts … Continue reading Planning the Cambrian Way – Part 8: Barmouth to Beddgelert
Yes, you heard it here first. Despite appearances to the contrary, there is culture to be found in Thurrock, which may I remind you was recently determined as the most miserable place in the country, according to Cameron's new-fangled happiness index. And I can reveal that it is more than a bit shit here. So … Continue reading Warning: Unexpected Culture in Thurrock
Ah, a short one but a good one. Two of the best 100 (according to Trail) mountains in the country, and depending on where my main training trip before the Cambrian Way takes me, this stretch could see me pass through the halfway mark in the Trail 100. But then if it doesn't, it will … Continue reading Planning the Cambrian Way – Part 7: Dinas Mawddwy to Barmouth
A quick section to plan this one. On paper of a similar length to the previous section, I knew I could knock this one out quickly, so that's what I've done. It may be longer and hillier (slightly) than stage 3, but it's not caught my imagination in the same way. In part this is … Continue reading Planning the Cambrian Way – Part 6: Devil’s Bridge to Dinas Mawddwy
Assuming that I don't roll into Llandovery a bedraggled and broken mess of a walker, and head promptly for home, I'll depart Llandovery and enter a whole new world - one of deep valleys, woods and wild rounded hills. It looks absolutely enchanting, and whilst it clearly won't match the more dramatic scenery a couple … Continue reading Planning the Cambrian Way – Part 5: Llandovery to Devil’s Bridge
Could this be the most problematic section of the walk to plan ? It was certainly starting to look that way. It's the longest section according to my initial carve up and with me needing to make sweeping assumptions about the daily distances I could make by predicting my fitness and the effect of any … Continue reading Planning the Cambrian Way – Part 4: Abergavenny to Llandovery
It seems no one spotted the "deliberate" mistake in my last planning post - indeed I was even complimented on the reasonableness of my 24 day schedule. Except, if you'd added up the days for each section you'd have come up with 27, making it even more reasonable. It was only sitting down to start … Continue reading Planning the Cambrian Way – Part 3: Cardiff to Abergavenny (Stage 1)
I bought a lot of gear last year. Oh boy, did I. Instead of spending it on accommodation on trips, I invested the cash on upgrading my kit and using it wild camping. Too much time on my hands probably also played a part. So this year, I need to spend less on gear and … Continue reading Which Pack ?
Earlier this evening I had an idea as I stared at my chart of Lake District Fells. I was taking a break from planning my assault on the Cambrian Way and was instead thinking about how I could put together a walk that would be good preparation for that project and which would also help … Continue reading Right Back Where I Started…
WordPress sent me my annual report on how I've done as a blogger. It threw up some interesting stats: Of the 11,000 views of my 93 posts this year, the busiest day was May 14 with 188 views. I posted 608 pictures. However, I'm not sure how this number has been affected by me recently … Continue reading 2012 Blogging in review
I've now had a chance to walk through the route on Anquet, referring to the Cambrian Way book and the various blog accounts of the walk I'm using to assist in the planning. Not wanting to plunge into the detailed working out of daily walks and where to stop overnight at this stage - it's … Continue reading Planning the Cambrian Way – Part 2: The First Rough Plan
2012 has been a bit of an odd year and after taking 8 months off in 2011, this year was always going to be a little more work focussed. However, I never expected my current assignment to last into the summer, let alone make it to the end of the year. Whilst this kept me … Continue reading 2012 in Pictures and Memories
How do you go about planning such a long walk ? Leaving aside the doing the walk itself, which is a formidable enough challenge in its own right, the thought of also having to turn a blank sheet of paper into a fully formed plan for the walk would definitely scare some people off. For … Continue reading Planning the Cambrian Way – Part 1: The Approach
A week and a bit ago, I did a post asking for some views as to which of 4 possible options for my main long distance walk for next year I should do. Here are the results and the decision. Anyone who read the post carefully would have noticed that nowhere did I promise to … Continue reading Which Long Distance Walk for 2013 – The Results
It's time to start thinking about a long distance walk for 2013. I'm looking for something which is up to about 2-3 weeks long, and have got a shortlist: I originally intended to do the Cambrian Way in 2011 but even though I had 8 months off work, still couldn't find a big enough gap … Continue reading Which Long Distance Walk for 2013