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Litha: The Ridge of Returning Light
Litha: The Ridge of Returning Light
When you have thrown yourself into nature for many years, it shouldn't come as a surprise when conditions flip from pleasant to hostile in a heartbeat.  As we gained height,... Read more...
Skyline Runner 81: The Cost of the Clouds
Skyline Runner 81: The Cost of the Clouds
The first thing I noticed at that start line was a distinct lack of vanity.  I stood surrounded by hardened humans beneath an iron-grey sky, everyone stripped of their weekend-warrior... Read more...
The Stones We Turn, The Gates We Find
The Stones We Turn, The Gates We Find
Some toil, especially that within soil, gives back as much as it takes.  When we step onto a plot of land with nothing but a spade, a handful of seeds,... Read more...
The Bones of the Coast: Finding the Real Yorkshire
The Bones of the Coast: Finding the Real Yorkshire
Half a million birds clung to the vertical sheer rock faces, circled on violent rising currents, or swarmed in massive, floating rafts upon the rippling grey sea below.  The sound... Read more...
The True Cost and Currency of Woodland Leadership
The True Cost and Currency of Woodland Leadership
Volunteering is a beautiful concept on paper.  In truth, it is a heavy burden on time that generates natural friction with the rest of our existence. Every hour spent teaching... Read more...
The Fifteen-Year Loop: Gravity, Grit and the Cold of Buttermere
The Fifteen-Year Loop: Gravity, Grit and the Cold of Buttermere
I slept in the van that night, a sleep of a man with no cares.  I awoke to the honest conditions of the fells.  The sun was out, but it... Read more...
Jack in the Green
The Salt and the Green: Finding the Pulse in East Sussex
The festival never was an "event", but more an invasion, and Hastings had quickly and happily surrendered.  Unlike the plastic bunting of a summer fete, the decorations of the town... Read more...
The Smoke and the Sinew: Beltane’s Call to the Wild
The Smoke and the Sinew: Beltane’s Call to the Wild
And let’s face it; adventure is rarely pretty.  It is sweaty, exhausting and usually involves a fair amount of dirt under the fingernails.  But to celebrate the height of our... Read more...
The Beast in the Blood: Why Bones is Rooting for the Dragon
The Beast in the Blood: Why Bones is Rooting for the Dragon
The dragon isn’t just a creature of myth; it is a master of the three realms we spend our lives trying to navigate.  It holds the earth in its claws,... Read more...
The Sacred Chore: Preparation is the Silent Partner of Adventure
The Sacred Chore: Preparation is the Silent Partner of Adventure
When we sit down to service the zip on a wetsuit or run a needle through the weak seams of a hiking pack, we are not just doing chores.  We... Read more...
640 meters of Cold
640 meters of Cold
I learn more about myself in those seconds of gasping than I do in the hours of lounging that followed. Read more...
The Murky bottom Line: The Filthy Truth Beneath the Surface
The Murky bottom Line: The Filthy Truth Beneath the Surface
"Spills" is a polite word and it is a load of “Crap” in more than one sense.  It sounds accidental, no more serious than a spill of a glass of wine,... Read more...