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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The Dragon's Back 2021 - so near and yet so far...
It’s five hours into day five and I have arrived at the Usk Reservoir support point with just 15 minutes before the cut-off time. The welcoming team of volunteers hustle me towards a chair, give me my re-supply bag and refill my water bottles. They allow Jane to join me...
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Dragon's Back Ultra Race - ready for anything
The Dragon’s Back Race has become an obsession - most of my waking hours are preoccupied with training and fitness, the route and race strategy, kit requirements and all things ultra running. Although multi-day ultrarunning is new to me I am confident that I have done everything possible to get...
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Trad climbing with your kid
I suppose this is a piece of writing about assumptions. For example, I assumed the pandemic would be a wholly negative experience, and indeed it has been devastating for many. But there have been some bright spots on the scene, like the phenomenal effort keyworkers have made in keeping things...
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Tilley Hats Review
A long term investment - or Finders, Keepers! Some products in the outdoor industry are more hi-tech than others. The Tilley T3 hat that I stumbled across back in 2005 is one of the more time-honoured designs. I found said Tilley hat, lost by its previous owner, floating gently on...
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Wainwright’s Coast to Coast to Conclusion
When I previously wrote about our west to east walk following the route invented by the legendary guidebook writer Alfred Wainwright from Coast to Coast, we had reached the lovely market town of Richmond in North Yorkshire on 8th October 2020. Progress was halted shortly afterwards by the current governments’...
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The Dragon’s Back Ultra - Training
5 months to go and Wales is about to open up Splitting logs was not a good idea. A warm house perhaps, but also a muscle spasm protecting a jarred back. This was the first injury since starting my Dragon’s Back training schedule exactly six months ago. Fortunately, it occurred...
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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...