What shall I wear on the mountain?

We were crossing the French Alps and I had brought a single pair of underpants, washing them each night where we slept. I would dry them beside my warm body, so they were ready to put on in the morning. On this occasion, they had escaped and landed on the bunk beneath me….

Fitting the perfect rucksack

There I am, an International Mountain Leader, and even I cannot decide about a rucksack. What chance is there for the occasional walker?…

A lifetime of walking boots

For a day’s walking in the mountains, especially when carrying a rucksack, my trainers struggle. Should that happen, on go my boots. I try to be lightweight, which means synthetic, as leather is generally heavy. Lightweights can wear out quickly, so I buy a new pair each year….

You are never alone on a mountain

The pandemic lockdown, for all its difficulties, has allowed me to take to the Lakeland hills daily – for that is where I live – and walk routes that would normally be teeming with visitors….

Health, open space and walking

What is it about open space, indeed about walking, that lifts my spirits and adds a spring to my step? The other day, when I escaped briefly from my lockdown, pandemic purgatory for some outdoor exercise, I instantly felt happy….

Hearing ghosts in Bodelwyddan

I strained, listened hard, and concentrated on the unfamiliar. After all, I had never listened for a ghost before. At first it escaped me, then it came, the distant, rhythmic sound of crunching feet as the iron-studded, leather soles of ammunition boots marched in my direction….

The Lake District Ski Club

I am a skier, utterly obsessed, and somehow I was not expecting to find such perfection in the English Lake District. Yet it is there, hidden in a remote valley, far above the village of Glenridding….

Diluting whisky at The Lakes Distillery

The distillery is one of English whisky’s newest additions, housed in now renovated farmhouse buildings at the top end of Lakeland’s Bassenthwaite. It is a classy operation aimed at the premium end of the market….

Brownrigg Well – the mountaineer’s secret

There was something about the mountain spring that made me relax. I was alone, sitting on spongy grass, somewhere on the western slopes of the Lake District’s Helvellyn mountain….

Neolithic Lakeland

There is something about a craggy peak that lifts my spirits and makes me feel I want to be out there, savour the peace, breathe clear air, and spend time alone in my otherwise crazy existence….

Turn off your mobile for the Ceremony of the Keys

The formal locking and unlocking of the Tower at sunset and sunrise began in the fourteenth century, but in 1826 became more structured. Since then, the Ceremony of the Keys has been held nightly, at precisely 9.53pm and nothing stops it, not even warfare….

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