I spend a lot of time on long, mixed-terrain day hikes — coastal cliffs, heathered peat, stony upland tracks and muddy forest rides. Over the years I’ve learned that being able to walk all day is as much about sensible training as it is about...
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On long, cold marches where the rain never seems to stop and wind bites through layers, keeping your energy up is as much about having the right calories as it is about having food you can eat quickly, cleanly and without leaving a mess. Over years...
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I’m drawn to the edges — where field meets scrub, verge meets meadow, and the thin slice of marginal ground seems to hum with life. On short walks close to home I look for those thin threads of wildflower habitat that punch above their weight...
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Planning a multi-day border hike that relies on public transport and low-impact wild camping is one of my favourite ways to explore Britain's edges. It combines the logistics of moving between towns and villages, the satisfaction of carrying only...
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I spend a lot of time on peat and heather — the flat, lumpy, wind-bent places where lapwings, curlews and golden plovers feel most at home. Often these birds are heard before they're seen, or gone altogether except for the subtle signatures they...
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Fog on a border ridge is a peculiar thing: it swallows the crags I know by heart, turns fences into ghost-lines and reduces the coastline to a memory. I've learned that the moments when visibility collapses are exactly when a compass and an Ordnance...
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I’ve spent many mornings standing on Solway Firth’s sands watching tide lines retreat and return, learning the rhythms that make this coastline beautiful — and potentially dangerous. Planning a safe coastal crossing here starts with one thing:...
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