Journeys by hiking, running, cycling and touring
Persistent readers will no doubt be aware that for the last few years, I've had a camping out competition with my daughter, who does quite a few camps due to her involvement in several sections of the Scout movement. We did it again this year, but with 2018 being A Level year, it was pretty … Continue reading 2018 Round-Up Part 1: Camps
After all the shenanigans getting ready for my art exhibition at the start of the month, and then helping a friend with her exhibition which immediately followed mine, I'd managed to rack up a couple of months without any significant time in the outdoors. Other than a brief snatched camp out locally, but then a … Continue reading The “No Wainwrights” Lake District Backpack
It’s now 40 days until my first solo exhibition opens. Gulp. This sounds like a lot, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a lot. With a two week holiday away coming up , it effectively reduces my remaining preparation time to 3 and a bit weeks. With the two weeks after getting back from holiday […] … Continue reading Go Big or Go Home — matthewkingarts
The forecast for the next couple of days was markedly better, and it seemed a shame not to take advantage. So I made plans to stay another couple of days. This would be solo though, as Paul had to go to work and Cath had to go home. The obvious thing of doing a two … Continue reading Getting Back On The Horse: Part 3 – Pole to Pole
The plan was hatched, with anxious looks at the weather forecast several times a day. Ok for a couple of days then a brief bad spell at some point over the weekend. It was good enough to book the train tickets. I headed down on the Thursday, with Cath due to follow the next day. … Continue reading Getting Back On The Horse: Part 2 – Dartmoor Bimbles
It's been over 10 weeks since I returned, broken, from the TGO Challenge, a mystery illness having made me fight hard just to get to the end. On day 2 back at work I collapsed as the mystery illness deteriorated. Three weeks total rest from work followed by a spell of largely working from home … Continue reading Getting Back On The Horse – Part 1: Pottering About
Through a gap in the trees, I catch my first glimpse of the end of the loch. At the head of the glen, rises the Mountain, for the moment innocuous amidst its neighbours, happy to take a back seat for now. The path weaves a seemingly random course through the wood, one moment going up … Continue reading The Mountain
I’ve already told the story of the actual walk, so this post is simply an index to the individual daily posts... Day What Happened Distance (km) Ascent (m) Stuff Climbed -1: Wed 9May  Travel to Euston, Edinburgh, Crianlarich and Oban 0  0 - 0: Thur 10 May 1: Fri 11 May Oban to Loch Etive … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2018
Day 15 The Challenge done, I wake in my Stonehaven B&B with a lazy day ahead. I'm at the station in good time for the train to Montrose. As it pulls into Montrose, I realise this is the train that a huge swathe of Thursday people are getting - the platform is a solid mass … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2018: Aftermath and Reflections
Of the three (known) campers, I'm the last to pack up and leave. But it doesn't matter: today I will reach the coast and should do it comfortably, even in my enfeebled state. The day is pleasant, albeit grey and cloudy. It's a little cooler than recently and I struggle to find the right clothing … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2018: Day 14 – Fetteresso Forest to Stonehaven
I set off today with the "dreaded" (by some) Fetteresso Forest ahead. My only concern is not getting tripped up by the tendency of forest tracks to not quite match what the map says. First on the agenda is Kerloch, which I decide to tackle using forest tracks for as much as possible rather than … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2018: Day 13 – Glen Dye to Fetteresso Forest
Repeating the trick of not laying down to sleep until properly tired worked again last night, but it does have the side effect of making it a late start. I'm just finishing my packing up when Graham happens by, as if he's deliberately timed it thus (he hasn't). So we walk together again, the first … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2018: Day 12 – Fungle Road to Glen Dye
Yesterday's company got me through the day I know would otherwise have broken me, but today I have low expectations for accompaniment. The original plan was to attempt to get to Tarfside in a single day, including an ascent of Mount Keen which would have made today the hardest day of all on this year's … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2018: Day 11 – Ballater to Fungle Road
Any thought I had yesterday of a better night's sleep in a proper bed, was proven to be spectacularly wrong overnight. Not only did I struggle to get to sleep, but to say asleep, and was up in the middle of the night with a massive coughing fit. Perhaps it was also the fact that … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2018: Day 10 – Braemar to Ballater
The Cough did it again - another sleep-starved night. I'm looking forward to getting to Braemar and the pharmacy there, not to mention the other manifold "attractions" of the village. I must be keen as I'm away for 8:30 - on a day when there really is no need to hurry. I set off down … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2018: Day 9 – Geldie Burn to Braemar