While I was at my cottage last week, in a rural bit of Somerset, I wanted to go for a walk. I had my daily 2km to walk – yes, even when I’m on holiday – and I’d invested in the cutest map. I knew Ordnance Survey offer custom maps (see my Single Map series… More A custom map, a muddy field and an unexpected hillfort
I think it’s time for the Polar Bear Winter Festival to veer sharply from the wistful (“I miss Iceland and Svalbard and still can’t travel!”) to the everyday. I try to be outdoorsy and walking in winter is definitely a thing you can do. Enjoying the great outdoors is fine in summer. Everyone wants to… More Walking in winter
It is November 4th and I walked 1000km in 2021! (Ok, it’s November 15th and I finished a week and a half ago but I needed my medal to arrive before I posted this) Last year I did a similar challenge, aiming for 500km of exercise in 2020. I achieved that by September and was… More I walked 1000km in 2021!
I’ve just watched someone in all seriousness tell a fairly large following that you can use Google Earth to plan a hike and therefore I need to announce categorically that no, you cannot! And thus here is how to plan a hike.. This is about the route, by the way. It’s not about equipment, experience,… More How to plan a hike
After my last post about hiking solo, today I’m taking you along on a solo hike! I needed a Dartmoor logbook walk (10+km, in Open country – there are lots of other details but that’s the important bit) but I also wanted quite a gentle walk and my guidebook suggested this one, a Princetown branch… More A gentle Princetown branch railway walk | Camping on Dartmoor June 2021
My first post-lockdown real thing was that I met up with my friend Catherine for a countryside walk a couple of weeks ago. Catherine is a nature connection guide and feminine rewilding coach, a retreat host, a wanderer and an artist and all that makes her a very good companion for a country walk. She’d… More A Single Map: A walk and a nature lesson
I haven’t done A Single Map in a while – well, not on the blog. I’ve done walks on my map most weeks in real life. We met a lot of cows on this most recent walk! We were using the Sturminster Newton walks again – the last of the five long ones – but… More A Single Map: walking with cows
I’ll do a real YouTube-circa-2014 “what’s in my bag?” blog next time I go to Dartmoor but today a follow-up to “what to carry while out walking” from the other day: what’s in my first aid kit? I would recommend carrying a first aid kit whenever you go out walking. I mean, I don’t bother… More Outdoors 101: What’s in my first aid kit?
In the last Walking 101 post, I was mainly making the point that you don’t need a lot of stuff or to spend a lot of money to get outdoors and get into walking. This post is “what to carry on a day hike”, aka all the stuff you do need. But you still don’t need… More Outdoors 101: What to carry on a day hike
We’re back on my Single Map today with another country walk and we’re going from Fiddleford to Piddles Wood. One of Dorset’s most endearing qualities is the ridiculousness of some of its names. A few years ago that spawned a quiz called Dorset Village or NFL Player? and I particularly enjoyed that one of the… More A Single Map: Fiddleford to Piddles Wood