Rather than knocking out the usual self-aggrandizing post, going to great lengths to describe every adventure of the year, I thought this year I’d again make it more of an index to the year’s content (which is what I mainly use it for anyway) and keep the remarks about how the year went to a minimum.
2023 has been a bit of an odd year. It initially continued in similar vein to 2022, but with a big TGO Challenge shaped hole where that should have been. Instead my wife and I went on our World Tour of Scotland lasting almost three weeks and taking us all the way up the east coast, over to Orkney, back and then along the top and down the west coast.
After that normal service resumed, with a big focus on walking the Greater Ridgeway, comprising the 4 trails: Wessex Ridgeway, Ridgeway National Trail, Icknield Way and Peddars Way. Starting in Lyme Regis with the Wessex Ridgeway, I made it as far as Royston on the Icknield Way, and so will be looking to finish it next year.
What stopped me from finishing this year, was a temporary return to the world of work, which will also impact most of 2024 and potentially some of 2025. Then that’ll be it – I will definitely* be re-retiring.
(*as definite as one can be about these things)
In terms of actual achievements this year, there aren’t the sort of milestones I hit last year. But I did finally finish the South West Coast Path, 15 years after starting. And I did my longest ever day walk at 53.02km, which was on an Ultra Challenge on the North Downs. I only even contemplated doing this after having walked over 44km one day on the Wessex Ridgeway, and realising that a 50km Ultra wasn’t that much more when I considered I’d be carrying a day pack rather than full backpacking rig.
Most of the year’s other achievements come from running. I finally notched up my 100th parkrun, while my wife sailed through 200. I also joined the roster of Run Directors at my local parkrun, whilst also sneaking below the 27 minute mark for the 5k, and 1 hour for the 10k.
I’ve only done 13 wildcamps this year, out of a total of 34 total camps. This is partly due to the amount of car camping down on the Scotland tour, and partly because I preferred using camp sites wherever possible walking the Greater Ridgeway.
2023’s Adventures
| Month | Adventure | Blogs | Videos |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Clarendon Way (3 days, 51km, 2 wild camps) | The Clarendon Way | The Clarendon Way |
| February | Dartmoor (4 days, 44km, 2 wild camps) | A Meetup on Dartmoor | |
| March | Wessex Ridgeway (4 days, 76km, 3 wild camps) | The Unglamourous Side to Backpacking… | |
| April | Southern Upland Way (6 days, 155km, 3 wild camps, 1 bothy) | Planning, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 | Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 |
| May | World Tour of Scotland (19 days, 123km walked, c2,500km driven, 6 tame camps) | ||
| June | South West Coast Path (7 days, 129km, 0 camps) | Finishing the SWCP | |
| July | Wessex Ridgeway (6 days, 177km, 7 tame camps) | ||
| August | Ridgeway National Trail (6 days, 168km, 1 wild camp, 3 tame camps) | ||
| Sept | Icknield Way (6 days, 90km, 4 tame camps) | Flogging a Dead Horse… | |
| Nov | Dartmoor (4 days, 51km, 2 wild camps) |
There are a few gaps in the table above as I’ve also been really bad about keeping the blog up to date (I’ll come back and update this post as I publish them). I can excuse myself for not having churned out the videos of some of these, as I am deliberately waiting to do the videos for the Greater Ridgeway as one exercise, but I have fallen behind on publishing the videos, and still have some from 2022 I want to get done.
I did manage to revamp the blog at the start of the year, just haven’t then made a very good job of keeping up to date with it!
2023’s Wildcamps
More from the Wildcamp Gallery:
This year also hasn’t especially been one for stand out camps. They’ve had quite a “business-like” feel to them – camps needed to complete a walk, rather than camps that have been particularly stunning, or even an end in themselves. Having said this there was a nice feel to #237 and the last one, #241, was decent too. #235 was very clearly the low point though – a miserable night of rain and condensation, in a “that will have to do” pitch.
Unrecorded Activities
Some things I also did but didn’t write about or video, or even include in the table above:
- Spent a week on Dartmoor, staying in a cottage in Lettaford – lots of running and local walks, including a small bit of South West Coast Path
- Ran a 10k in each of the 4 main Scandinavian capitals – Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm.
- Did my first Ultra Challenge, walking 53.02km on the North Downs, beating the 12 hour target I set myself.
- made another inner for one of my tents – a big improvement on the one I made last year
- Made a quilt for use in the warmer months. It turned out ok.
- finally made it to 100 runs at my local parkrun, ran 34 parkruns in total, 10 of which were touring, and volunteered on 21 occasions, finishing the year with my 50th volunteer day.
Stats of 2023
In total this year I…
- hiked 1,294km (804 miles)
- climbed 25,227m (82,765 ft)
- hiked on 79 days
- wildcamped 13 nights
- tame camped 21 nights
- completed 4 trails, including 2 on the LDWA’s National Trails list
- ran just short of 800km, as much as I’ve done in all the previous 4 years combined
- done my longest single run at 18km – next year I’ll be aiming to get to the half marathon.
2024…
2024 looks like being a bit like 2023 – as in heavily constrained by work. The big trip of the year will be the TGO Challenge, my 5th. My route is all signed off and ready to go. If I manage to complete it, it’ll comfortably be the longest one so far – at an estimated 380km.
Much of the rest of my walking to do list for 2024 involves finishing things off:
- the rewalk of the North Downs Way (80km / 3 days ish left)
- the Cambrian Way (141km / 9 days)
- Southern Upland Way part 2 (189km / 9 days)
- Icknield Way (102km / 4 days)
- Peddars Way (78km / 3 days) – not actually started but it’s the last bit of the Greater Ridgeway
- Jubilee Greenway (25km / 1+ days)
Added to this, as I’m aiming to do the Peddars Way, it makes sense to also do the Norfolk Coast Path (133km / 5 days), thereby completing another full National Trail.
I’ve also got a couple more Ultra Challenges booked – a 50km at Easter, and a 73km / 2 day one in the Peak District in July. The virtual walk to the South Pole I’ve just started will make good training for the above too.
I’m hoping to also get to the Lakes and Dartmoor at some point.
In MYOG activities, I’m planning to modify this year’s inner to fit a different shelter, or may just make another new one from scratch. I’m also hoping to finally have a crack at making the simple rucksack I’ve been meaning to do – either that or some sort of shoulder bag / chest pack.
In running, I should get past 150 parkruns, and have set myself the target of running 40 this year, allowing 8-9 to be lost to volunteering as RD, and a few to being away on holiday or trips where I can’t get to a parkrun. Then there’s a few letters of the alphabet to pick off and some compass points. I’m also going to do at least one “proper” race in 2024.
See you on the other side.
