2024 Planning

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 […]

2023 Planning

It used to be that planning my walking itinerary for a year was a relatively quick and simple process – I only had one walk to think about, and the planning was normally all over and done with by Christmas, or New Year at the latest. Admittedly, I dragged out the planning – it’s something […]

Memory Map for All

Regular readers will know I have something of a love-hate relationship with Memory Map software. I absolutely love the Windows desktop app, it probably gets used most days and it’s certainly the most used app on my PC after my web browser. However, my relationship with the mobile app (specifically the Android app) has always […]

Looking Behind (and Ahead)

Looking Behind This time last year we were just coming out of what was hopefully the final lockdown in England – I was also just coming out the back of yet another foot injury. On the upside I’d lost a lot of weight and even though I’d been unable to do much training for the […]

A Dales ‘Adventure’

If you’d have asked me last week if it was possible to have a proper ‘adventure’ in somewhere like the Yorkshire Dales I’d have probably laughed in your face. According to the dictionary, adventure is defined as ‘an unusual, exciting, and possibly dangerous activity, such as a trip or experience‘. I like to think I […]

I’ve Bought a Campervan!

I’ve been toying with the idea of buying myself a campervan for about 3 or 4 years, but never had the funds to buy or build something that I thought I’d be happy with. So I’d pretty much resigned myself to having to wait until the mortgage is paid off in a couple of years […]

Injury Frustrations

This is one of those posts that’s mainly for me, a stake in the ground for my future reference, something to record my current state of mind and body – but perhaps it’s also a post that will resonate with some readers, if so, all the better. Despite being a pessimist my whole life, I’ve […]

Cross-Dales Trails

Last year was a disaster. The death of 75,000 Britons, in any context is a disaster. We aren’t out the other side of this yet of course, but 2021 looks like it could see the tide begin to turn. We have two vaccines being distributed and more in the pipeline. I’m hopeful that this coming […]

Memory Map – An Update!

As regular readers may know, I’m a huge fan of Memory Map for planning my long walks. For those that are not aware, Memory Map is a digital mapping application for Windows desktop PCs and Apple Macs. It allows you to easily create routes, tracks and collections of POIs to aid you walk planning exercises. […]

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

I guess an awful lot of walkers and outdoor enthusiasts are thinking the same thing as me at the moment… should I carry on with the holiday I have planned, or should I put it on the back burner and pick it up later in the year?