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A wild night in the north-west
A little over seven years ago on a trip exploring the far north-west corner of Scotland I found myself facing difficult conditions on the outer coast with strong northerlies and endless heavy swells...
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Black Combe in black and white
Despite its relatively small stature - a Marilyn at 600m - Black Combe dominates the south-west corner of The Lakes, standing in isolation above Cumbria's west coast. Lacking the sharp ridges or major...
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Lazy beds and empty beaches
I have written of Clachtoll before - it is a place I have been returning to for the best part of two decades. The campsite is very different now and inevitably its character has changed. There are a...
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Back on the bike
Whether by design or accident, looking back on recent years it seems each has had a particular focus - 2011 and 2012 were both years in which I had a rather singular focus on the kayak. In 2013 the...
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The Meetings
The tides were wrong for the round trip, but a F4/5 northerly promised a fast run down the west coast of Walney, and so we headed up the channel on a rising tide, hoping by the time we reached The...
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On the edge
When the Millennium edition of the Yorkshire Gritstone guide was published (1998), Rylstone was well established as one of the best crags in the area: home to all the horrendous wide, flared crack...
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From Blazing Paddles to Burrow Head
It was on the way north on a climbing trip perhaps a decade ago that I came across Brian Wilson's 'coastal odyssey'. Breaking the journey at Fort William, I stood in the shop clutching a bag of chalk,...
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Day of the dolphin
Some time before my first encounter with a dolphin on the water, a friend told how he had spent an hour watching a small pod from the cliffs at South Stack on Anglesey. For what seemed an age he had...
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Passing Rock Bottom
I have passed Deer Gallows many times while running above Embsay Reservoir (and never yet managed to find an entirely dry route) but only occasionally visited with rock shoes, which after spending a...
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A glimpse of the Glyders
I remember well my first trip to Snowdonia - driving through The Pass as it was known to most, the ridges above more rugged than the softer more familiar lines of the Lakes, the crags starkly obvious...
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An autumn day in The Dales: Buckden Pike and Great Whernside
Despite running more in the last year than is usual - I still think of it as more of a winter thing - with one exception I have done little in the last couple of months. A fine autumn day in The Dales...
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Falling into the Valley of Desolation
During the floods of 2009, I remember running in the Wharfe valley, the river swollen beyond recognition - the strid, upstream of Bolton Abbey, several metres below a standing wave that would not have...
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First snows of winter
Langdale - Pike O'Stickle, Gimmer Buttress and Harrison Stickle, dusted in the first snows of winter......seen from Cold Pike while running over Crinkle Crags. More to follow.
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A cold day on Crinkle Crags
The path which leads from Wrynose over Crinkle Crags to Bowfell is one I know well and one I have enjoyed running in all weathers.In between the gales and rain that have dominated the weather of late,...
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Clean lines at Cayton Bay
After weeks of high winds, rain and yet more gales, a brief interlude on the east coast was too tempting to miss. The promise of light winds, a little sun and a low swell with the surf running at 5ft...
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Clear skies above Cracoe
A late start after negotiating the floods, but just enough time to enjoy the first clear skies in some time, running the edge between Rylstone cross and Cracoe... ...the Obelisk above - a familiar...
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Huge jugs and Green Lipped Mussels
With waterfalls forming in the streets of late and record flooding very close to home, heading out deliberately to climb through the falls at Gordale may seem a little odd, and certainly attracted some...
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Cold and wet
At last the seasons appear to have changed. Winter has arrived in The Dales - at last, an end to the unseasonably warm and wet weather. Now it is cold and wet instead. Still, the cold snap has brought...
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High above Hag Dyke
Another wintry day in The Dales, this time the ground hard, the snow dry and light lying atop frozen peat which made for fast progress on the ridge of Great Whernside, high above Hag Dyke.Following the...
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A view from Firth Fell
The broad ridge which runs from Birks Fell, along Firth Fell and down Old Cote Moor Top provides grandstand views of The Dales and its higher summits - Buckden Pike and Great Whernside to the east,...
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Another day, another gale
For three months now it seems there has been little change, the Dales and Lakeland fells battered by a succession of gales, the ground unable to soak up any more of the incessant rains which have been...
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A roll or three at Rhosneigr
There was little sign of the forecast surf early on, clean but small waves of around one foot rolling in gently, washing against, rather than breaking upon the sands, but as the tide flooded the...
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Waters, lakes and meres
I was never very good at pub quizzes. Not that it's something I've done much of. But there are one or two questions that seem popular. And for which I know the answer. The mainland's most westerly...
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A welcome return to winter in Wasdale
A day of calm, of blue skies, snow clad summits and frozen paths - after long months of incessant rain and endless gales it was a welcome return to winter in Wasdale. A few shots from a beautiful day...
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Horseshoes, whalebacks and windy gaps
The horseshoe ridge high above Mosedale, the valley which lies immediately north of Wasdale Head, makes for a superb fell run taking in Red Pike, Steeple and the whaleback ridge of Pillar. Yewbarrow...
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