hike | camp | paint
In early May, for my TGO Challenge warm-up, I headed for the Lake District to get mind and body into the groove, and to test out certain elements of my gear strategy. I wouldn't normally go on such a trip the week before the Challenge, but I had planned to head for Scotland a few … Continue reading The 10th and 50th
It's been over 2 years since I met someone at a station to set off on an adventure. That time the station was Euston, the (well one of them) person was Darren, and the walk was the TGO Challenge. This time the station was again Euston, the person was again Darren, but the walk was … Continue reading A Slow Lake District Backpack
A look back at some stand out days of backpacking. Today we go back to September 2014 and the Southern Fells of the Lake District. I orignally blogged this as part of The Four Valleys Walk. I'd arrived in the Lakes the previous day and headed out from Keswick to Borrowdale and climbed over the … Continue reading Best Backpacking Days #2 – High House Tarn to Sampson’s Stones
The train dropped me at Ravenglass at lunchtime, and with a pub practically on the platform it would have been rude not to "fuel" for the rigours of the arduous trek that lay before me. Suitably fortified, I sallied forth and set off past the Roman Bath House and down to the Esk. A delightful … Continue reading Ravenglass to Coniston
After all the shenanigans getting ready for my art exhibition at the start of the month, and then helping a friend with her exhibition which immediately followed mine, I'd managed to rack up a couple of months without any significant time in the outdoors. Other than a brief snatched camp out locally, but then a … Continue reading The “No Wainwrights” Lake District Backpack
Things were looking good: the forecast was encouraging, workdays were slotted into place, and I was ready to drift off to Dartmoor for a few days of backpacking as a warm up for the big event, just as I did last year. And then Paul messaged me to say he was ill (again), and that … Continue reading Making it up as I go – The pre-TGO Challenge shakedown trip
After a couple of weeks in which preparing for and holding my first art show proved to be pretty much all-consuming, I was keen to get out into the landscape again, and to do so before winter started to rear its ugly head. By which I mean not the winter of crisp days on snow-covered … Continue reading Above the Clouds
I really should have been on the Cambrian Way, but I just didn't fancy it. For once I wanted to do something I wanted to do. It's been 6 years since a truly memorable trip to Eskdale, and a couple of years since a less successful one - I was itching to retread some of … Continue reading The Eskdale Escapade
Daylight’s fingers crept over the surface of the tent and the wind that had blown malevolently all night finally disappeared. It wasn’t supposed to be especially windy according to the forecast, but it seemed that it must have been funnelled in such a way as to enhance its force. Either that, or it’s just out … Continue reading And Then There Were None
I stood watching the black silhouette of the Scafells against a redish glow gradually infiltrating the sky above. As more light spread across the land, the glow became an intense orange concentrated behind Great Gable. A time for contemplation of the walk so far, and the walk ahead. Today was forecast … Continue reading The Valley of Sluggishness
I'm up and raring to go today, my last full day for this trip. The forecast is good and I've deliberately saved this walk for today because of it. The bus whisks me out to Hawkshead Hill and I jump out at High Cross - strategically chosen because it's the nearest point to my target … Continue reading Autumn in the Lakes: Stragglers and Shadows
All is dark when I finally arrive in Windermere, after some nail-biting moments on the train journey up, wondering if I would make my connections at Preston and Oxenholme. Not wanting to wait for the bus, when there's a taxi right here, I hop in the car and minutes later am at Ambleside youth hostel, … Continue reading Autumn in the Lakes: Nature’s Palette
I was halfway down a suspiciously unlimey lime and lemonade, when a large blue rucksack came bobbing along the lane in front of the pub. It turned into the "beer garden" and Cath emerged from underneath it, and muttered some words I took to be a greeting. A few minutes later with a pint of … Continue reading The Four Valleys Walk – Part 2: Eskdale, Wasdale & Borrowdale
I'd long dreamed of exploring this valley and camping somewhere remote in its upper reaches to enjoy the majesty of England's highest mountains surrounding me, but the reality was damper, mistier and more precarious than I'd imagined it would be.
The first thing I saw as I stepped off the bus at Rosthwaite, a stop short of where I ought to, was Eagle Crag, one of my most favourite fells, peering out from behind Rosthwaite Fell. This just reminded me that it's ages since I've been to Borrowdale. Quite apart from the challenge itself, it … Continue reading The 10-in-10 (ish)