Cross Borders Drove Road – Day 4

15th June 2021: Innerleithen to Selkirk – 14 miles Day 4 has just snatched the ‘best day of the walk’ title from day 2! Glorious paths, only 1/2 a mile of tarmac all day, sunshine for most of the morning and total solitude – it’s been a cracking day! I managed to sleep until 5.20am […]

Cross Borders Drove Road – Day 3

14th June 2021: Peebles to Innerleithen – 11 miles I found the bed a bit lumpy last night and the pillows were hard enough that I have a sore ear this morning, but they’re about the only complaints I can make about the Green Tree Hotel, it’s been a great place to stay. I was […]

Cross Borders Drove Road – Day 2

13th June 2021: West Linton to Peebles – 14 miles Well that was one helluva good day’s walking! It’s the best day’s walking I can remember for a long time. It helps that I feel fit and capable again, after a long period of poor fitness and even more annoying repetitive injuries. Today’s 14 miles […]

Cross Borders Drove Road – Day 1

12th June 2021: Little Vantage to West Linton – 10 miles I’ve been trying to walk this path for 2 years – in 2019 I had to cancel all my bookings after an injury and in 2020 I had to cancel all my bookings after the world caught Covid and we were all locked down. […]

Cross-Dales Trail 1 – Day 4

24th May 2021: Reeth to Richmond – 12 miles Well that was another interesting day, something of a roller-coaster (geographically rather than emotionally thankfully today). At the start of this walk, I’d parked my car in Reeth, which meant I had options today. As I’m in the Black Bull again tonight I decided to drive […]

Cross-Dales Trail 1 – Day 3

23rd May 2021: West Burton to Reeth – 14 miles Well that was an interesting day, something of a roller-coaster (emotionally rather than geographically).   I had an excellent meal in the Street Head Inn – having said that, pretty much any meal would have felt great after 3 or 4 days living on toast. I […]

Cross-Dales Trail 1 – Day 2

22nd May 2021: Kettlewell to West Burton – 12 miles My delayed start to this walk seems to have paid dividends, as I only had a couple of stomach cramps today and only a single  false alarm, which occurred when I was in the middle of nowhere and I would have coped OK if it […]

Cross-Dales Trail 1 – Day 1

21st May 2021: Settle to Kettlewell – 15 miles I was supposed to be walking today, but rather than writing this in my B&B in Grassington after a long day’s walk, I’m sat at home with a clear path to the toilet. Some of the following details may be a bit graphic, so close your […]

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 […]