To St Kilda on the Wylde Swan

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to take a trip on a Dutch tall ship, the Wylde Swan. Sailing from Ullapool, we spent four days aboard and visited the Shiant Islands and St Kilda. I couldn't not write about the trip and it has been a great way to look back and …

Making the Move to Lightweight Hiking..

In May I completed my second back-to-back, coast-to-coast hike across Scotland, hiking from west to east and covering more than 300km in the process. The Great Outdoors (TGO) Challenge is a unique event that runs every year. This year was its 40th year, and around 350 hikers of all shapes, sizes, ages, and nationalities trudged …

TGO Challenge 2019 Days 8-10

  Day eight, a Friday, was the last full day of good weather on this challenge. The weather was to turn the following day and our plans of passing through the Lairig Ghru to Braemar were looking dismal at best.  After a lot of chat the previous evening, Laura had decided to head through Glen …

The Cluanie Five (28/29 June)

What else would I do on the hottest day of the year so far than climb hills… Unlike my previous forays into hiking in hot weather, I felt prepared for this route. Firver Munros over 15 miles, which I had decided to split over two days – ensuring plenty of time for rest and snack …

TGO Challenge 2019 Day 5-7

The good weather continued into day five, too good, I was suspicious. The second year in a row of near perfect conditions, this surely couldn't last. After a fairly mediocre breakfast, Laura and I left the Aonach Mor Hotel around 10am, not our earliest start but we'd enjoyed the luxury of a bed a little …

TGO Challenge 2019 Day 1-4

TGO Challenge 2019 - Part 1  It’s taken me a long time to sit down and start writing this. I haven’t stopped since I got back from Montrose a couple of weeks ago and I’ve almost avoided starting to write this down. I’m not sure when I made the decision to apply for TGO 2019 …

A second TGO Challenge..

Oh the people you will meet and the memories you will make. Those words have never rung so true with me as they do at this moment. I needn't have spent so time worrying about whether this years TGO Challenge would live up to the last one, they were both completely different experiences and both …

Battles

I haven't written a blog post for a while, I've been writing but not putting anything together for an actual post. I miss it but I've found it hard to sit down with enough head space to make any sense. For the last year i’ve been fighting battles. Battles with fitness, weight, the way I …

Friday is for Hiking

Last year I decided I wanted to work a four day week - for my own sanity and for hiking. For the most part this year I've used it well - conquering a fair few Munro's on my Fridays off and racking up a few miles on trails too. Recently I've been lacking motivation - …

The Moray Coast Trail; A Lesson

In April this year, Laura and I decided to spend the weekend hiking the Moray Coast Trail. Since completing the West Highland Way together in 2016 we’ve become firm hiking friends, I don’t think there are many others I could walk 96 miles with. Last year we hiked the Affric Kintail Way and the Dava …