All Blogged Up!

'...down the path from the 1950's or 1960's - bit 'interesting ' in places, lots of bush bashing and clinging to the occasional semi vertical rock precipice above the river, hanging on and not letting my pack get caught in the vines!! '

'The first few fells were taken slowly, listening to my heart and lungs, and gently reminding my body that this level of sweating was normal.'

'i suppose i forgot how much i love walking over the last 10 years and over the last 6 months have forgotten how much i loved biking and how much i need my fix of mother nature to keep sane in a otherwise grazy urban world.'

'My evening in the hills was to be a tarp evening, a fantastic system for an over-nighter. Using a tarp means that I can get all of the gear needed for an overnighter in my diminutive ULA Relay pack.'

'The weather was perfect and then we found a pub. Three pints of Black Sheep sorted most things out and we got to discussing old girlfriends. I will leave it there, as Debbie and Lynnie read this blog.'

'Please join me in saying goodbye to Judy Armstrong and wishing her all the best on her epic 5500km (3417mi) hike around the Alps!

For those of you who don't know her she is quite a terrific and determined lady who not only quit her job and sold her house, car and belongings in order to make this trip but does it also in memory of two good friends of her who died from cancer.'

'What matters is the days out on the hills and being with friends, and inside I'm still at heart the lightweight camper - but in its place. You can't recreate the feeling of wild camping on an organised camp site - so why try!'

'100 yards down the road, the co-pilot chimed up with "Do you know the way?'

'Oh no. Had I inadvertently done away with him? Sucked deep into the notorious New Forest bogs. Another sad statistic that the local tourist office play down 'Well yes sir, we do loose a few people each year but they tend to be mostly the infirm whose families take them off the waymarked paths when their time has come. We try not to publicise it too widely as the bogs do fill up so quickly.'

'Well, a tarp is a tarp and from a simplicity point of view not comparable with a double wall tent but it performed flawlessly in a chilly night (2C / 36F) with moderate winds. Not a stormy and rainy one which would put it through a real test and I expected no problems but if you hold it in your hands for the first time it is so light and seems so fragile that I was really looking forward comparing theory with reality.'

't's a eerie experience following a path while only having visibility for several metres around you: thoughts of the results of a misnavigation were hardly enjoyable. Thankfully, the Pennine Way offers a good clear track to follow and any navigational questions were quickly resolved with inspection of a map.'

'You haven't heard from me for a few days so thought I would let you know the cows haven't got me yet although they follow me everywhere. Sun goes down, the cows follow me. The sun rises, the cows follow me.'

'One of the most controversial discussion topics amongst hikers is the usage of technical items during a hike. The Purist might say: I'm out there to get rid of all this technical stuff that surrounds me in my daily life, so I leave everything battery powered at home.'

'I've never really seen the point in walking before (shoot me down in flames, dear Trail readers) - you get to the top, it looks nice, and you walk down again. But now there's a photo in everything - a new thing to focus on, a new abstract to find, so much to learn before you can make it look as good through your lens as it does to your eye...'

'If it is hot I will suffer. There is no doubt about that. So I am hoping that it will cool for May.

But is does seem now that nature is springing into life. And it all seems to be in the last week or so. Leaves are all of a sudden on the branches, blossum is out. It's magical, almost awe inspiring..'