Journeys by hiking, running, cycling and touring
I'm technically late with my "phone-in" again, but I was supposed to phone in Tuesday (from Clova) and then again from either Forfar (on Wednesday) or Brechin (on Thursday), depending on route taken. So it seemed like a good idea to split the difference and combine them in one Wednesday "phone-in". This post covers days … Continue reading (Virtual) TGOC 2020: Part 4
Oops, I'm late for another phone-in. I should have been in Braemar yesterday (or "Graemar" on my virtual route). Days 8, 9 and 10 on the (real) 2020 Challenge would have seen me head from Kingussie up Glen Tromie, before cutting across to Glen Feshie. I'd then given myself the option of a couple of … Continue reading (Virtual) TGOC 2020: Part 3
Today (ok yesterday, as I'm posting this the following morning) is day 7 on the Virtual TGO Challenge, and we're halfway across. The crossing of the A9, at least for those in the Newtonmore to Aviemore area, seems to symbolise the halfway point. Of course, if on a more southerly route, you'll have already crossed … Continue reading (Virtual) TGO Challenge 2020: Part 2
Today is Day 3 on the Virtual TGO Challenge, and obviously if the Challenge were running normally it would also be day 3 in reality. It was also day 3 on the 3 previous Challenges which I took part in. The first 3 days of the Challenge for me have a rhythm all of their … Continue reading (Virtual) TGO Challenge 2020: Part 1
With the actual Challenge deferred to 2021, something is needed to fill the gaping hole left. A couple of posts, including one from Sue and Ali, have suggested ways in which a virtual Challenge could be done, within the confines of the lockdown. So this is mine.... There are various ideas about sharing memories of … Continue reading (Virtual) TGO Challenge 2020: Preparation
This morning, the following photo popped up in my Facebook memories: ...and gave me the idea for this post. Yes, this was my first wild camp. Only 8 years ago, but it seems like longer. I'd intended to camp wild as early as 2007 when I went on my abortive tour of the Lakes. Back … Continue reading An Anniversary
Week 6 of lockdown, and things have settled into a pattern: alternating frenetic bursts of exercise with doing absolutely nothing. Whilst we see in the media images of people acting like twats and abusing the lockdown, the reality here is much more mundane. People are generally distancing pretty well, and most incidents of near misses … Continue reading Deferred Gratification – Part 2
A few weeks ago, I was inwardly bemoaning the fact that my calendar for 2020 was looking a bit sparse in terms of backpacking trips, with just the TGO Challenge and one long weekend on Dartmoor, inked in. No trips to the Lakes, no section of South West Coast Path. Nothing that would involve taking … Continue reading Deferred Gratification – Part 1
**I've had to re-write this post a couple of times as events have moved faster than my speed of write-up. This walk was undertaken at the very start of March, when the "plague" referred to below had reached the UK, but had not escalated to the stage it's at now. It would be totally irresponsible … Continue reading Don't Make Me Go South of the River (Jubilee Greenway Part 2)
A grey Sunday morning at the start of February, and as if I can't get enough of the place, I'm taking my usual walk to work, or at least the first part of it, around the corner to The Narrow pub. Here set into the pavement opposite, and lying unnoticed by me for several years, … Continue reading Don’t Let Them Touch Your Vibrations (Jubilee Greenway Part 1)
2017: I'm only going to do this once. 2018: Oops, I did it again. That's probably it though. 2019: Several routes planned a week after getting home. 2020: ? In my house there's a sort of informal rule: do something 3 times and it becomes a tradition. This is why I always go to Dartmoor … Continue reading I have to do it – it’s a tradition!
This year I only managed 18 wild camps (plus an additional 4 tame camps on the TGO Challenge) against a loose target of 24, falling short largely because I shelved plans for weekends away in September and November due to indifferent weather. In any case, 24 would have been well short of some yearly totals, … Continue reading Camp of the Year 2019
How have art and the outdoors overlapped this year ? 2018 was all about my debut solo show in a London gallery, and I was painting furiously for that. This year, though, I've slowed down a bit, but not been short of ideas and have a huge queue of possible paintings. The prime targets this … Continue reading Art Roundup 2019
August, three weeks after my weekend in the Arans, and another trip. Another short one, as I had to be home to go away on a "proper" holiday. But just time for a couple of camps. Having walked all these hills before, I didn't put myself under any pressure to bag anything particular or to … Continue reading Return to the Big Hill
In need of a weekend in the hills, after much tossing up between an attempt to move my Cambrian Way marker forward by a couple of days and the idea of going somewhere new, I eventually fixed on a visit to the Arans. This came out of my research for the optimal way to get … Continue reading The Arans