Places, expeditions, articles
This section contains some of my recent articles, written for magazines like tgo (The Great Outdoors) or Lakeland Walker, including a couple that have won awards plus others that I've particularly enjoyed writing.
Here also are words-n-pictures web journals of my recent trips to the Spanish Sierra Nevada; the American ditto along the John Muir Trail, California; and to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
Further down the page are some interviews with me, links to one or two podcasts from the Outdoors Station, and captioned images from an Edinburgh talk/slideshow on bivvy bags.
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Places, expeditions, articles
Mountain Literature Classics
A series of almost 50 short reviews of books which I consider to be classics, in fellwalking as well as mountaineering, from Coleridge by way of WH Murray to Bill Bryson and Muriel Gray; published on UKhillwalking.com
how to walk across Scotland
A bit of lockdown nostalgia written for the Cicerone Extra website here (and the basis for a future book, who knows?)
winner, Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild Awards: best technical feature 2021
Austria Hut to Hut
A tour of the Stubaital Hohenweg, a great introduction to the thoroughly enjoyable art of Alpine hiking. Plus some commentary on Unna's Rules on access in Scotland and their adaptation (read: complete reversal) for Austria. On UKhillwalking.com. (For the article itself, click the image.)
Nights in Green Nylon
Bivvies can be the nastiest nights there are; but when they're not, they're the nicest nights of all. In this article at UKhillwalking.com I examine the rationality of my bivvy bag habit, and passe on a few tips for bivvy beginners.
A Long Walk -- and a Broad Stand
Coleridge and his 9-day fellwalk of 1802, which I rewalked in 2002 for Lakeland Walker magazine. Coleridge's own description of Moss Force, Newlands - to my mind the finest piece of outdoor writing so far - is only in print in academic works, so I've put it on the web.
web page words and pictures
Moss Force, Newlands from Coleridge's hill journal 1802
The Spanish 3000s
A 5-day walk along the Sierra Nevada of Spain in June 2013 with more snow than usual for the time of year. Web journal (words and pictures) and a detailed route description for this remote and rather rocky walk across Europe's highest mountains outside the Alps.
John Muir Trail
Perhaps the best 200-mile walk in the world, from Yosemite to Mount Whitney in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. My walk along it was in September 2007.
web journal words and pictures
Does Muir matter?
Short centenary article about the man, his walks, and his nights out with President Teddy Roosevelt at
UKHillwalking.com
Blue Ridge Mountains
Can trees please? Americans seem to think so, but I had my doubts on this 100-mile walk along part of the Mountains to the Sea Trail in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.
web journal words and pictures
A Cairngorms Crag and Bag
The Cairngorm 4000-footers, over three days, by scrambling routes or easy climbs. Article published in TGO and winner of the OWPG Cicerone Award for Best Words-and-Pictures Feature 2006
pdf download 600k file, screen resolution
Dragon's Back Race 1992
The five-day race the length of Wales. Glyn and I came approximately last -- but we made it. The race is being re-run in 2012, with an entry fee multiplied by fifty. The first edition of Welsh Three Thousand Foot Challenges had a 12-page account of the run. This has been shortened for the current edition but you can download the original here.
pdf download 800k file, screen resolution
Interviews and podcast
I want that job – guidebook author
Me, interviewed about being a guidebook writer by Dan Bailey. Posted on UKhillwalking.com. It's not all glamour and it'll never make you rich. But then that's really not the point. Dan Bailey talks bivvies, bad puns and sleeping in the car with prolific walking writer Ronald Turnbull, an author with 30 book titles to his name and a regular contributor to the outdoor mags.
immersion in the outdoors
Live stream from Cicerone Press, hosted by Amy Hodgkin, celebrating the 20th anniversary new edition of Book of the Bivvy. 60 mins, with some pictures at the beginning.
Bivvybag chat
Me, interviewed about bivvying by Bob Cartwright of The Outdoors Station. From 2012, now only preserved here. About 30 mins.
Cornerstones: Sandstone
15-minute talk on Radio 3 'The Essay' about the Old and New Red Sandstones, recorded at Portishead, Somerset 2013: listen to (or download) podcast
Night of Adventure
A talk in Edinburgh (for the charity Hope and Homes for Children) in 2011 where the brief was 20 images each appearing for just 20 seconds on a full size cinema screen. The 'Night of Adventure' comprised 11 outdoor adventurers. I was the tame one -- but at least my adventures, being hilltop bivvies, did indeed take place at night.
web page 20 images and their captions
video [external link] the images (squashed a bit) and me talking
Book of the Bivvy podcast
A podcast of me discussing The Book of the Bivvy can be listened to with the link below. The interview is 25 minutes or so.
podcast
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