Journeys by hiking, running, cycling and touring
A peaceful night was had, but the sleep wasn't great quality - still feeling the loss of my mat, and for that reason keen to get the walk done. Midges besieged the tent as I made tea, and attempted to eat a cereal bar under my midge net. I copped for quite a lot of … Continue reading Glyndŵr’s Way – Day 7: Ouch, my feet
Last night I booked a campsite at Lake Vyrnwy for tomorrow, as I wasn't that happy with the way potential wild camps aligned with places to get water. I decided to create some certainty and effectively break this final 4 days into 2 sections of 2 days. That just left tonight to think about, and … Continue reading Glyndŵr’s Way – Day 6: Still no Water
...It was not OK. As soon as the sun went down last night, the wind picked up, and with it the rain. The mountain forecast I was using had last updated at 6pm, and didn't reflect the late build up of the storm. The forecast I did myself as darkness fell, was a little more … Continue reading Glyndŵr’s Way – Day 5: Calm After the Storm
A slower start today due to the constraints of staying in a B&B or pub. I generally love the day leaving "proper" accommodation, though: it's like a reset back to the start of the walk when everything is fresh and new. Of course if the weather's poor, it just feels like going out from the … Continue reading Glyndŵr’s Way – Day 4: The Best Day Yet
Another middle-of-the-night sleep disturbance: this time at 4am, when I woke to find myself on a deflated mat. Attempts to re-inflate it failed miserably, with the air coming out as fast as it was going in. I gave up and simply lay on the flat mat. At least I had a thin closed cell foam … Continue reading Glyndŵr’s Way – Day 3: Trials, Tribulations and the Field of Doom
Day 2: Black Mountain to Ysgŵd-ffordd - 27.84km, 734m ascent / 780m descent It's amazing the effect of a decent night's sleep, and last night's was just such a night. I woke feeling a lot more positive. My pack up was more efficient too. although I still wasn't quite fast enough to do it with … Continue reading Glyndŵr’s Way – Day 2: Under Surveillance
It was a long and excruciatingly slow journey to Wales, with speed restrictions/engineering work doubling the journey time to Crewe. This was also my first train travel of any kind since You Know What. So, it was a relief all round to complete the last leg of the journey and step down onto the platform … Continue reading Glyndŵr’s Way – Days 0 and 1: To Knighton and Beyond…
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
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
**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)
2018's section of the South West Coast Path never happened, the year being taken up with a combination of art exhibitions and the asthma-y aftermath of the TGO Challenge. So it was 2 years, almost to the day, that Dad and I returned to Bude for the 60 mile (or so) section to Barnstaple. What … Continue reading South West Coast Path 2019
...or strictly speaking Harwich to Mistley, as for logistical reasons I decided to do this last section in reverse. In any case, I'd already experienced the walk into the end at Harwich on the Secret Archipelago Expedition last March, so even if I had opted for the big climax by the sea, it wouldn't have … Continue reading The Essex Way: Part 5 – Mistley to Harwich
After the big skies and open views of the previous sections, this one was a bit unexciting in comparison. Also, I did this section as a daywalk rather than planning to sleep out - which was just as well as there didn't seem like much of a choice of spots to secrete a tent either. … Continue reading The Essex Way: Part 4 – West Bergholt to Mistley