Endomondo Running Workout

Endomondo Running Workout: "was out running 4.22 km in 21m:56s using Endomondo."

Endomondo Running Workout

Endomondo Running Workout: "was out running 4.39 km in 22m:30s using Endomondo."

More shiny things.....

I'm amazed.gobsmacked, stunned blown away. I couldn't be more shocked even if England won a match!!!! Go Outdoors actually had something in their sale that I wanted IN STOCK!!!!!

And it arrived today!! I am now the proud owner of a Mountain Equipment Starlight Micro sleeping bag!! Get in! I needed a smaller and lighter bag for the summer...... my Alpkit Pipedream 800 is probably a tad extreme for the current summer conditions, so when I saw this in my inbox, I had to get one. It weighs in at under 900 grammes and packs a fair bit smaller than my PD800, but of course its summer use only.

So, now just need to get out and test it!!!! Watch this space for a review soon.

Endomondo Running Workout

Endomondo Running Workout: "was out running 4.95 km in 25m:50s using Endomondo."

Endomondo

Well, finally got phone sorted, couldnt fix mine, and was lucky enough to be given an N95 by a mate, so all good!

As I was setting up my new one, well, old new one, I was well miffed to disover that Nokia is no longer supporting Sports Tracker in its current form, they have released a new version of the software which is really geared to their touch screen phones, and have also canned the Sports Tracker website as of the end of June..

Endomondo Running Workout

Endomondo Running Workout: "was out running 4.38 miles in 43m:23s using Endomondo."

Gutted.................!

Last night, I decided to see my week off work out on style, and got the train to the nearest town, Welshpool, 14 miles up the A483, and ran home along the Shropshire Canal. A mix of grass, footpath, and a few muddy bits, but they were mostly dried up from the recent weather. I thought it would be a good test of the Salmon XA hydration pack too........

Salomon XA20 Hydration pack - first look

A trip to the nearest town with any decent shops today found me eyeing up shiny things, and another purchase, a Salomon XA20 hydration pack.

To upgrade, or not to upgrade, that is the question......

So, me and my limited tech knowledge on bikes!!!! After recent rides, I decided I need to upgrade the forks and brakes on the bike to get the best out of it, and found a cracking set of Manitou air forks on eBay for £60. Bargain........ or so I thought.....

Blood and sweat, but no tears.........

What with having a week off, and the weather so good, it seemed rude not to get out for a ride this week. After Bics little scrape with a wall, we had to bin our planned trip to The Long Mynd and Cannock Chase, so I decided to have a blast on the Mynd on my own........

Sports Tracker

Anyone else use it? Been using it along with other GPS tools on my N95 for a while now, and its very good. I use it mainly for running, but its good on the bike too, walking I tend to use the track function in UTM data - more of that later........

Chain Reaction Cycles

For all you bikers I just want to give a big shout out to Chain Reaction Cyles - cool name for a bike shop, but, just about the best service I have received anywhere, ever!!

Another order placed yesterday morning arrived today from Northern Ireland where they are based, amazingly quick, and their customer support and advice is second to none. And the prices are excellent too, so well worth a look if you are after some new bike bits. gear, or even a bike...... those Ghost bikes featured on the front page dont half look tasty :0)

Bike epic on the Long Mynd

The Long Mynd is not too far away from me, around an hour by train, and I’d read loads about the quality of MTB riding there, so I recently decided to take the bike for a blast there. Readers of Trail will know of Tom Hutton, and he has written many guide books on MTBing in Wales, and the Long Mynd was a “bonus” route in one of them – not in Wales, but so good it would be a travesty to omit it!

It stands proudly above the town of Church Stretton, a pretty little town just Southeast of Shrewsbury, and has some fantastic scenery nearby – Wenlock Edge guards the opposite flank of the town, and the Wrekin and Stiperstones are both fairly close by. Its well known for the gliding club on the summit, and is well used by paragliders and microlights too, but is less well known for its MTB routs, except perhaps amongst locals........

New toys......

Just blagged myself a Oregon Scientific ATC2K helmet camera on eBay, for the princely sum of £25!! I can start using it on bike trips now and record some clips of the fun descents, and link them to the blog via YouTube. You gotta love eBay ;0)

Tryfan, Bristly Ridge and Y Gribin

One of my work colleagues has been asking me for ages to get him out on the hills with me, and, after discovering he was pretty keen on climbing and bouldering, I thought Tryfan would be a great starting point for him. So, yesterday, we set out in glorious blue skies for Ogwen Valley, and picked up another of my hill walking buddies, Bic, on the way.

We arrived at the foot of Tryfan around 9.30, and set off straight away. There were a lot of cars around, and with the scorching weather, I figured the hills would be busy today, and Tryfan likely top of the list for many, so it was a surprise when we saw relatively few people for quite some time. 

Trail meets..... in the beginning

July 2007, Edale, the place where a lot of this really kicked off for me. I'd started to read "Trail" magazine, and joined their forum. We had some good times on there in the old days, and I decided one evening, "look, we all talk to each other, why not get together for a walk?" Which in hillwalkers parlez of course meant ""piss up"

So, I put a post on the forum, and before we knew it, 15 of us had arranged to meet at Edale for a walk around Kinder. I met a local, Derek aka Robbo, and travelled with him from Wrexham.

 Meeting folk for the first time can be an experience, doing it in a Tesco car park with a weekends camping kit, doubly so! I had hardly any gear of my own, so I begged, borrowed and stole, and kitted myself out for a weekend of camping, walking and hangovers! 

Where it all began........

Back in 2006, my youngest daughter asked me “Dad, why do you smoke…..?” And I couldn’t give her an answer, other than, “because I do………” And it got me thinking. I decided that at New Year, I was going to stop. I carried on as normal for a couple of months, and then, on New Years Eve, we were at a party at a mates house. At midnight, I went outside, lit my last cigarette, smoked it and said to myself “that’s my last one, ever”. I told no one, and it didn’t click with my family for nearly a week!

After that first week, I felt healthier, could taste my food better……. And I decided I needed an incentive to make sure I stayed off them. What? I didn’t know, but I wanted to regain some fitness too. One day in work, some friends asked me if I would take them up a mountain, they wanted to get into walking. They knew I had done a bit when I was younger, and that I was pretty nifty with a map and compass…… so, I dug out my maps of Snowdonia, and looked for a fairly easy walk to take them on as a starter. I settled on Y Garn, and on a fantastic morning in February, we set off, up the Devils Kitchen steps.

Hi, and welcome!!

Following some of my mates escapades in our wonderful great outdoors on their blogs has bought me a lot of joy, so I decided it was time I did one myself!!

As my friends will know, I've been hillwalking for around four years now, and after inspiration from a few mates (you know who you are!!) got into wild camping too!

In pursuit of much needed hill fitness, I started running last year, and Im currently training for a half marathon in Cardiff in October. I also recently bought myself a second hand mountain bike, and have been bitten by that particular bug too!!!

So, these pages are an attempt to share with my friends, and anyone else who cares to read, my time out in the hills be it walking, wild camping, MTBing or running. I hope it brings readers some joy and inspiration.