hike | camp | paint
Usually, simply getting to the start wouldn't warrant a post all of its own, but then I don't usually start in Kilchoan. To get to Kilchoan you can take the bus from Fort William, but there's also a more intrepid way of getting there that many Challengers use, and which I did this year. The … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2024 – Part 0: Getting to the Start
*I originally wrote most of this post before setting off, but didn't quite finish it, so what you have here is updated to change all the verbs to the past tense and with some added hindsight...* Provisioning As on all of my Challenges so far, the plan was to be relying on home-dehydrated food topped … Continue reading TGO Challenge Preparations – Part 3: Practical Stuff
With my head now in the game, I have started to look forward to the Challenge, and this post will cover the planned route, the process that led to it, and how I plan to get to and from the start/end. The Route I am one of a small handful of Challengers who have opted … Continue reading TGO Challenge Preparations – Part 2: The Route
It's a week today until I set off for my 5th TGO Challenge, this time walking from Kilchoan to (hopefully) Kinnaber Links via an insanely rambling route that heads west more than a west to east route really should. This is a route I've wanted to do for a while, and sitting in the bar … Continue reading TGO Challenge Preparations – Part 1: Warming-Up
Ponders End to Broxbourne *I didn't take many photos on this walk, and a lot of the more interesting images ended up on video (linked below)* A day starting and ending with rail replacement buses. Which reduced the available time to walk, and hence the distance walked. Back at Ponders End, I retraced my steps … Continue reading Walking the River Lea (Part 3)
From West Ham to Lea Bridge following the actual River Lea I've just been editing the video for Part 3, and realised I hadn't actually published Part 2. So here it is, albeit in somewhat abbreviated form. One of the things that's irritated me about the Lea Valley Walk is its preference for following a … Continue reading Walking the River Lea (Part 2)
From the confluence with the Thames to Lea Bridge Fresh from finishing the Jubilee Greenway, I quickly decided that the Lea Valley Walk was to be the next project. But unlike the JG, I'd make sure I actually finished it within a sensible time. The Lea Valley Walk runs from the source at Leagrave in … Continue reading Walking the River Lea (Part 1)
Only a few days after finishing the third section, I'm back out again to polish the rest off. As it's not very much distance, I decide to walk from Fenchurch Street to King's Cross rather than take the tube. That adds 4km. Back on the Regent's Canal, it's a similar diet of backs of industrial … Continue reading Glad That’s Done (Jubilee Greenway Part 4)
I decided some time ago that I'd not go back to finish this walk. The loss of momentum caused by the pandemic made me re-evaluate the worth of doing it compared with something a bit more rural and/or remote. And so nearly 4 years has passed, in which time I've accumulated several bits of uncompleted … Continue reading Thanks for the directions (not!) (Jubilee Greenway Part 3)
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 … Continue reading 2023 Index
I've been a bit slack in posting over recent months, and the ever growing pile of things I was planning to write about has made catching up with the posts a bigger and bigger task. Last time I left you in Sanquhar at the end of the first chunk of the Southern Upland Way, which … Continue reading Flogging a Dead Horse (The Icknield way Part 1)
A friend recently asked me to make some tent pockets for him. A simple design - basically open pouches that would be secured to the tent inner with safety pins. After a bit of discussion we settled upon using my remaining scraps of Hilleberg inner tent fabric. I decided also, having seen a picture of … Continue reading MYOG Tent Pockets
A while ago, I decided I could do with something to use in the summer when it's warmer, as my other bedding options can be a bit too warm in the height of summer. So rather than spend loads of money buying one, I decided to make one. The design would be simple - it's … Continue reading MYOG Summer Quilt
Day 5: St John's Town of Dalry to Chalk Memorial Bothy Rain at first light meant a bit of a lie in, and when I finally peeped out around 7am, I saw Afke packing up. She'd gone by the time I was properly up. I set off handrailing through the forest and went wrong almost … Continue reading Southern Upland Way – Part 3: St John’s Town of Dalry to Sanquhar
Day 3: Beehive Bothy to Caldons A cold night and I never felt quite warm enough, but I seemed to have slept ok. Partly because I wanted to cherish what warmth I had, I was slow in getting up, and when I did emerge found Afke on the point of leaving, and Wolfgang and Sophie … Continue reading Southern Upland Way – Part 2: Beehive Bothy to St John’s Town of Dalry