Another year has gone by when I’ve been very bad at keeping the blog up to date. So this index post to the year’s activities doesn’t have much to link to. Anyway, let’s give it a go…
This year, I’ve spent a lot of time running, and rather neglected the outdoors stuff. This is both good and bad: I very deliberately started running with a local club in October 2023 with the hope that it would carry me through the winter and maintain some fitness. It did, but it has also snowballed into me becoming not just a regular runner, but someone that gets annoyed if I don’t get out for 4 runs a week.
The running has taken me to my first race – the Basildon 10k, then a half marathon (Southend), a trail running event (the Essex Way Relay), and a pair of 10 mile races (Great South Run which was cancelled due to a storm, and the Hadleigh Road Race which I ran in the tail end of the next storm). Also the danger of being in a WhatsApp group with the running club people: you get sucked into signing up for crazy things – in this case a marathon next year. So now I’m not just running regularly but actually training for a marathon.
So this has meant that the outdoor trips have suffered, but it’s not the only cause. The last couple of years I’ve definitely fallen out of love (if I was ever in love) with those snatched winter overnighters hiding in a wood in the cold, so I didn’t even start backpacking properly until March.
I did start the year by doing something I never expected – finishing the Jubilee Greenway which Covid largely killed off and I never had the enthusiasm to resume. But somehow one winter’s day I needed a walk, and it fit the bill, so I did it. Most of what was left was canalside and I enjoyed it – so much so that I rolled straight into the Lea Valley Walk.
I had an abortive trip to the Lakes to rewalk the Cumbria Way, but the mud was horrible and I binned that idea on day 2.
I’d originally intended to walk the Southern Upland Way as my TGO Challenge warm-up, but heard bad reports of the ground conditions from there and so re-planned, opting to re-walk the Great Glen Way instead, which I absolutely loved.
Then it was the TGO Challenge, a 384km walk from Kilchoan to Kinnaber Links near Montrose. I came close to bailing on that too, due to illness, but once more the Great Glen Way rescued me and gave me the time to get better.
After the TGO Challenge I turned my attention to finishing the Greater Ridgeway, starting with the rest of the Icknield Way, picking it up from Royston. I then rolled straight into the Peddars Way.
I did manage a November trip to Dartmoor, with a camp the first night, and then that was pretty much it.
2024’s Adventures
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 was 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 however, get my videos of the Yorkshire Wolds Way and West Highland Way (both from walks in 2022) out, belatedly.
Another reason why I’ve been so erratic with the blog is that I’ve been in a bit of a funk trying to work out which medium is going to work best going forward – blog or video – so I’ve not done a good job of keeping either up to date.
2024’s Wildcamps
More from the Wildcamp Gallery:
The best camps this year were #247 (a lovely spot on the shore of Loch Lochy on the GGW), and the night near Sanna on the first night of the TGO Challenge (#244) – the night of the really great Northern Lights (which I was unaware of, and so missed). As can be seen from the picture, I’ve largely used just 2 tents this year – the Tarptent Stratospire for the wilder stuff, and the Liteway PyraOmm Duo for the more lowland stuff. The Stratospire I bought early this year after several years of umm-ing and ah-ing over getting one, and immediately I wished I’d got one years ago.
Unrecorded Activities
Some things I also did but didn’t write about or video, or even include in the table above:
- Re-worked the PyraOmm Plus inner I made last year so that it would fit in the smaller PyraOmm Duo. This worked brilliantly.
- Attended a recording of QI series V
- Worked on the local and general election counts
- Had a weekend camping in the Peak District, and did Monsal Trail parkrun
- Ran a leg of the Essex Way Relay, which takes place the first Sunday of September each year. I had a 15km leg – one of the longer ones.
- A trip to the Brecon Beacons for the new Y Promenad parkrun and a climb of Pen y Fan with my running club
Stats of 2024
In total this year I…
- hiked 1,199 km (745 miles)
- climbed 16,381m (54,000 ft) hiking and 6,427m running
- hiked on 62 days
- wildcamped 12 nights
- tame camped 18 nights
- completed 5 trails
- ran just short of 1,154 km
- done my longest single run at 25km – next year I’ll be aiming to get to the full marathon.
- ran 40 parkruns, a record for me.
2025…
The big trip of the year will be the TGO Challenge, my 6th. My route is all signed off and ready to go. It’s a similar length to this year’s at 390km. I’ll be starting in Ardrishaig and finishing to the north of Aberdeen.
I’ve got a modest walking to do list for 2025 because of the amount of running things I’ve got on:
- aim to finish the Southern Upland Way – most likely in autumn
- walk either the Norfolk Coast Path or, more likely, the Pembrokeshire Coast Path
- I’d like to walk the Old Way, an obscure pilgrimage walk in the south of England
- try to fit in the token one trip to each of the Lakes, Dartmoor, Wales and Peak District (Scotland already covered with the TGOC)
In running I’ve got the following races either lined up, or likely to enter:
- Victoria Park half marathon (January)
- Tiaras and Tutus – a run as far as you can event (February)
- Brighton Marathon (April)
- the c2c Ultra (30 miles) (September)
- the (postponed) Great South Run (October)
I’m running for Asthma+Lung UK in the marathon – any support would be welcome at: https://www.justgiving.com/page/matthew-king-furrockrunner
See you on the other side.
