Journeys by hiking, running, cycling and touring
Recently I decided to make a determined effort to tick off the National Trails, and moreover to thru-hike as many of them as I can. To date I've only completed the North Downs Way, and am just over 90% done on the South West Coast Path, but neither of these have been done in one … Continue reading Glyndŵr’s Way: Planning
Social Hiking (shareyouradventure.com) dies tomorrow, and I spent much of yesterday backing up/saving down my tracks and routes, which took several hours. For anyone who has yet to do this, you've got until 10pm tomorrow night. A blog post by Phil explains what you can export and how. And while I was steadily working through … Continue reading Goodbye Social Hiking
A video version of this adventure... https://youtu.be/ND-m9hpw6q0 The blog post for this trip is at: The Darent Valley Path See also some reflections following the trip: The Clarity of the Trail
Although it was a bank holiday weekend, this time it wasn't practical to head for the hills, especially with choice much reduced by the current "situation". I had no desire to be in some honeypot location fighting my way through hordes of people; no desire to sit on a train in a mask for hours … Continue reading The Darent Valley Path
Just back from a long weekend of backpacking and as my thoughts start to settle on another successful trip, I am reminded of some musings I've been meaning to set down on this subject. This weekend's trip was what many would consider a bit of countryside rambling, involving no mountains, dramatic vistas and the like. … Continue reading The Clarity of the Trail
I've now had a chance to pitch the shelter somewhere other than the garden, and so also have been able to spend the night in it. I took it on my recent Dartmoor trip to try out, although the forecast was such that originally I had decided not to risk it: quite windy and cold, … Continue reading Making my Own 3 Season Tent – Part 12: Field Testing
A familiar route, the road walk to Two Bridges. I stopped a few moments to watch the geese. I took the path that heads towards Wistman's Wood, although I wouldn't be going quite that far. I slanted off up the hillside towards Littaford Tors, not bothering today with Crockern Tor, as I was on a … Continue reading Dartmoor: The Safari – Part 3: The Land of Horses
A spot of negotiating meet time for Tuesday morning turned on contrasting definitions of what "early" meant. The time agreed being a little too early for me, considering how long I would take to pack up and do the walk into Princetown; the time agreed being a little late for Paul. Ultimately we set a … Continue reading Dartmoor: The Safari – Part 2: Harts, Foxes and Sheep
Lockdown eased and social media was awash with people taking their first tentative steps back into backpacking. I had a week off arranged for mid May - a remnant of the time already reserved for the TGO Challenge - but with a reasonably settled forecast, and some evolution in things going on at work, I … Continue reading Dartmoor: The Safari – Part 1: Cats, Bears and Bunnies
While you're waiting for the main write-up, here's a few images from the trip... https://youtu.be/-pBEIKetfVM
With the tent "finished", I was obviously itching to see what I'd ended up with, so put it up in the garden. I knew it wasn't the neatest sewing job ever, but was hoping it would look ok. Results are a bit mixed, to be honest. Your eyes do not deceive you - it is … Continue reading Making my Own 3 Season Tent – Part 11: The Result
The time has come. I've made a small prototype and am happy with the design. I've made some other items in the materials the tent's going to be made from. I concluded I'm as ready as I'll ever be to start on the real thing. And a 4 day weekend seemed like a good time … Continue reading Making my Own 3 Season Tent – Part 10: The Build !
As part of the process of building up to making a MYOG shelter, this weekend I made a few smaller bits... Before embarking on the tent build itself, I'd decided that not only did I need to prove the concept with a prototype, but I also wanted to get some experience using the actual materials … Continue reading MYOG Bits and Pieces
In my last post, I only showed one picture of the completed 2/5 scale prototype, so here's some more. It was made from cheap polycotton fabric, with an assortment of various grosgrain ribbons used to create loops to stake it out, and for the big guy from the beak to the ground. It's pitched with … Continue reading I Made a Tent…. (sort of) [Making my Own 3 Season Tent – Part 9]
After my wife's exertions, and the evolution of planning that came with it, it was now my turn to have another go. Since my first abortive attempt, I've practiced sewing seams a bit more, cutting them straighter and seeing the benefit in the end result. The lesson about patiently measuring and cutting has been learned. … Continue reading Making my Own 3 Season Tent – Part 8: Bigger and Better