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.