Staff Blogs
Tall tales from the outdoors. Outside staff are often to be found running over moors, trekking up mountains and climbing up everything from high mountains to Stanage boulders. Occasionally they'll even be caught squeezing under mountains, and every year at least two of them will find some way to climb a frozen Kinder Downfall.
When we can persuade them to stop moving for long enough, we get them to write it all down and share some of the photos they've taken. Welcome to the Outside staff blogs.
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Beating the Lockdown Blues
Shipton, Blank on the Map - a rare 1st edition My strategy for beating the lockdown blues is in two parts. I got the idea for 'bookshelf expeditions' from a book in my bookcase that belonged to my Dad. It is called Blank on the Map and it was written by...
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Lockdown training for the Dragon's Back
It is tempting to grumble about the current situation and how it might be affecting my training for The Dragon’s Back mountain race in September, but of course compared to most I have nothing to complain about. All I have to do is look out the window to realize how lucky...
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Walking Wainwright’s Coast to Coast
The Coast to Coast Walk is an approximately 190-mile, unofficial and mostly unmarked* long-distance footpath in Northern England. It was devised by Alfred Wainwright (AW) and published in 1973. It passes through three delightful and contrasting National Parks: the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, and the North York Moors. Unlike...
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Running the Dragon's Back - training
I am now approaching completion of 9 weeks of my Dragon's Back training plan devised by Dave Taylor. Initially I wondered how I could possibly fit it into my work and home life, but it proved easy to sort out priorities and ignore less compelling tasks and activities. Also, the...
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Running the Dragon's Back
At the beginning of July I began to entertain the thought of running the infamous Dragon’s Back Race in 2021. This 5-day ultra-marathon journey down the spine of Wales is billed as the ‘world’s toughest mountain race’. As expected, Jane was enthusiastic and supportive, but my twin brother Colin was...
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Day return hiking - completing the Pennine Way
Earlier in 2020 I reported on my attempt to complete the Pennine Way for the second time, how the Covid-19 lockdown had thwarted me and how I had diverted the remaining miles to Sheffield parks. Government rules have morphed somewhat since then and at the time of this adventure, you...
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The new Norman: day walks in the Peak District
Our current tranche of politicians often refer to the time when the worst of the Coronavirus pandemic is over as returning to a “New Normal”. Aside from the fact that you can’t, by definition return to something that is new, I would also make another suggestion, don’t go for Normal...
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Helinox Sunset Chair Review - Stay inside with Outside #4
As we glimpse a light at the end of our current lockdown tunnel, James is still filming reviews and advice from his back garden. Here he checks out the Helinox Sunset Chair - a light, well made and super comfortable camping chair. Want to see more? Browse the Outside Helinox range here.
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Walking the Pennine Way in a lockdown
The Pennine Way is the legendary 431km (268 miles) National Trail pioneered by Tom Stephenson of the Ramblers Association that stretches along the backbone of England into Southern Scotland. It begins just up the road from the Outside shop, in the village of Edale in Derbyshire, and it concludes at the northern...
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Building your home board - Stay Inside with Outside #3
Some advice and some mistakes to look out for when you're building your own home training board. Check out our training page for how-to books, climbing holds and fingerboards - everything you need to focus on your climbing training during a lockdown!