Apologies - this is a long post - and unless you’re planning on walking the Pennine Way in 2024 it’s probably not much use to you. Having said that, although I'll be walking from North to South - the opposite direction to most walkers, the planning process will still be relevant to those following the …
Pennine Way (North to South) 2024 – Planning Read More »
Retrospective Looking back over my shoulder, to the year behind us, I see a bit of a mixed back of walking achievements. I had a good first half of the year and fairly mediocre second half, with almost no proper walking taking place after mid-September. I blame that decline on a combination of consistently poor …
2024 Planning Read More »
2nd August 2023: Longformacus to Cockburnspath – 18.5 miles Once again my watch told a different story to my head when it came to my sleep. I thought it had been OK, I’d used my earplugs to protect me from the noise of the bar downstairs and from one particular door that seemed to get …
Southern Upland Way 2023 – Day 6 Read More »
1st August 2023: Lauder to Longformacus – 15.0 miles I thought I slept pretty well last night, but my omniscient watch tells me I didn’t have enough REM. I’m not quite sure what the impact of this will be, but I feel fine, apart from a slight muscle twinge behind my left knee, which wasn’t …
Southern Upland Way 2023 – Day 5 Read More »
31st July 2023: Galashiels to Lauder – 16.0 miles Two things struck me at 4.30 this morning. Firstly, I’m amazed I get any sleep at all at home – I must be very lucky and there must be almost no ambient noise once I drop off, because I’m very rarely woken up dead early in …
Southern Upland Way 2023 – Day 4 Read More »
30th July 2023: Innerleithen to Galashiels – 15.0 miles I needed to use my ear plugs again last night. Not church bells this time, but random and very noisy pipes, which would click loudly for a couple of minutes every now and again. I knew for a fact that they’d either wake me, or keep …
Southern Upland Way 2023 – Day 3 Read More »
29th July 2023: Scabcleugh pickup to Innerleithen – 18.5 miles Even before starting the eastern section of this walk, I was of the opinion that the Southern Upland Way was the jewel of Scotland’s Great Trails. If I thought I had the mental stamina for 15 days away from home I would have quite happily …
Southern Upland Way 2023 – Day 2 Read More »
28th July 2023: Moffat to Scabcleugh pickup – 15.5 miles I didn’t think I slept much last night, although my watch says I got 8 hours, albeit quite interrupted. I woke at 2am and 4am and again at 5am. As I was watching a film on my tablet last night, I heard the dreaded toll …
Southern Upland Way 2023 – Day 1 Read More »
27th July 2023: Home to Cockburnspath to Moffat It’s probably worth taking a couple of paragraphs to put this walk in perspective. Today is 10 years 2 months and 29 days since I first set out from Portpatrick to begin the Southern Upland Way. I walked for eight days and finally gave up thanks to …
Southern Upland Way 2023 – Day 0 Read More »
I must have written more posts about boots than any other piece of walking equipment I’ve ever owned, and I don’t imagine this will be the last one either! It seems my search for the right pair of lightweight walking boots continues. I’ve long since given up looking for the ‘perfect boots’ and over the …
Another Post About Boots Read More »
