The Coast to Coast Path runs for 192 miles from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay, passing through some of the finest landscapes in northern England, including the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors. Hayley and I are […]
Coast to Coast Path (Yorkshire Dales) Read More »
Ben Macdui is the second-highest mountain in Britain, oft-shrouded in mist, silent apart from the footsteps of the Big Grey Man stalking lone explorers. Should I be worried? To avoid adding six miles of road walking to the official hiking
Day 328: Ben Macdui & Cairn Gorm Read More »
I read The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd two years ago, but have not ventured into the Cairngorm Mountains until now. The Cairngorm Plateau has recorded both the lowest temperature (−27.2 °C) and the greatest wind speed (176 mph) in Britain. I’m
Day 327: Bynack More Read More »
One of the many pleasures of coastal walking is childlike weaving round incoming waves on a sandy beach. This happens less often than you might imagine, so it’s a real treat to enjoy a fine morning crossing Dunnet Bay. The
Day 326: Dunnet Head to Thurso Read More »
Finally, a glorious morning. The German father and daughter are already up and enjoying breakfast before biking over to Orkney for the day. I try to explain the Old Man of Hoy, despite our language barrier, eventually resorting to hand
Day 325: Dunnet Head Read More »
Westward Ho! First, the obligatory photo at That Sign, free of charge, unlike the rapacious owners of Land’s End. The biting wind is a shock. The photographer, a small, wiry German man cycling round Britain, has also hiked the iconic
Day 324: John o’Groats to Dunnet Head Read More »
My last trip included father-youngest-son bonding with Max. This time, it’s father-daughter, as Hayley is keen to try camping, dreaming of the John Muir Trail. The plan is a few days of coastal walking round John O’Groats, returning south via
Day 323: Lybster to Whaligoe Read More »
Altnabreac railway station … … a place girded round by peat-black lochs and dismal bogs and overshadowed by dark, anonymous plantations of doomed conifers, where nothing of any note has happened these past 70 years save for intense despondent brooding.
Day 322: Berriedale to Lybster Read More »
The Pictish Trail runs through Easter Ross Peninsula. I’m hunting mysterious carved stones. First, I must cross the Cromarty Firth, the sole passenger on the small ferry passing the mothballed rigs, more colourful than the shadowy grey outlines glimpsed through
Day 321: Cromarty to Tain Read More »
With impeccable timing, I return to the East Coast for a yellow weather warning. It’s going to rain — a lot. Cromarty Ferry only runs in the summer, allowing a 47-mile ‘shortcut’ from Rosemarkie to Tain. I’m staying at Inverness
Day 320: Cromarty to Rosemarkie Read More »