Journeys by hiking, running, cycling and touring
As Cath headed back to the bus stop, I turned my attention to the road walk out to Hartsop. Sat on the step of Patterdale post office while devouring my lunch, a battle had been raging in my head between what I knew I should do this afternoon and the easier option I'd banked on … Continue reading Out in the Eastern and Far Eastern Fells – Part 2
Preparation I walked back into the large meeting room that was our base of operations and immediately noticed the tenser atmosphere. All had been going swimmingly when I'd stepped out an hour or so before for another meeting, and we were looking good to complete this stage of the project over the coming weekend. I … Continue reading Out in the Eastern and Far Eastern Fells – Part 1
We climbed on and up, the promised rain holding off but the wind strengthening as we got higher. False summit after false summit nevertheless led us to the eventual top and a struggle to remain upright and on the same patch of ground. To the south, shafts of sunlight broke through the sombre sky and … Continue reading Lakes or Bust
The observant among my readers will have spotted that I wasn't alone on last weekend's trip to the Lakes. Indeed it was hoped to be a small group, but in the end only my friend Cath (who can be found on Twitter as @wellycath) was able to join me, and the central theme of the … Continue reading Perceptions from a First Lakes Backpack
The creature stepped from the bog, covered in jet black ooze, spread its arms wide and started to lurch in my direction. I took out my secret weapon and brandished it in front of the foul wretch attempting to fend it off... Well, when I say "damsel", that's ordinarily the last word anyone that knows … Continue reading A Tour of the Tarns with a Damsel in Distress
Hopefully you can see where I'm going with the title of this one... As early as the first day of this trip I started having thoughts about its success or failure and the learnings that could be taken from it. And if I'm honest with myself, the seeds of that conversation with myself were sown … Continue reading Snowy Learnings of Cumbria for Make Benefit Glorious Walk of Cambrian Way
I lay in my sleeping bag nervously watching the tent flexing and straining under the force of the icy wind blowing down from the head of Eskdale, hoping it would hold as it was now too dark to shift camp to somewhere more sheltered. Memories of a past windy camp came back to both haunt … Continue reading A Snowy Saunter around the Southern Fells
I'm heading off to the Lakes for a week-long backpack at the weekend as a key part of my preparation for walking the Cambrian Way in April. Here are a few notes on the process of preparing for the preparation trip. The Concept The concept of this trip was simple: a multi-day route that mimicked … Continue reading Planning a Saunter in the Southern Fells
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…
In between a busy couple of weeks where my current client project has reached a critical stage, I've not had time to do much outdoors and with miserable weather and feeling shattered from work, not much inclination either. But one thing has been drifting in and out of my thoughts - my project to complete … Continue reading Wainwrights update
I've been thinking a lot about ways to improve the Cumbria Way, with a suggested new northern end, some options for a new southern end, and a number of ideas for "quick fixes" to liven up the standard route. But now it's time to actually put my money where my mouth is and share the … Continue reading An Alternative Cumbria Way
In my last post I talked about my proposed new Northern End point for an amended Cumbria Way, and also discussed the merits and demerits of the other options. In the northern case, I felt the answer was pretty clear cut - to me there was one outstanding candidate for a revised end - the … Continue reading Fixing the Cumbria Way – Southern Endings and New Routes
As I discussed in my earlier post, the single biggest issue with the Cumbria Way is where it ends.  No one wants to spend a week walking through lovely Lake District scenery and end it all walking through an industrial estate or next to a railway.  There has to be a better way. Of course, moving … Continue reading Fixing the Cumbria Way – A New Northern End Point
In my previous post, I talked about the problems with the Cumbria Way official route, and in this post I'm going to propose some quick fixes to the route that involve minimal change overall, and importantly don't create a whole new long distance path. Really these are just some ideas for varying the walk, but … Continue reading Quick Fixes to the Cumbria Way
"If it's not broken, then don't fix it", so goes the saying, and there's a lot of truth in it. But for me the Cumbria Way is broken and what is generally a fine walk has got serious flaws that almost stopped me doing it in the first place and would weigh heavily on my … Continue reading Fixing the Cumbria Way