Langdale from Crinkle Crags

This post was an idea after one of many long discussions on Facebook with Helen Fisher. We appear to have the same routes and ideas on places to walk like the PCT (Helen calls it the PTC), Wainwrights Coast to Coast and dozens of others, the conversation turned to walking with my dad and how cool she thought it was.

I thought about this and realised that my parents are the reason I started walking and camping in the first place (explained shortly). I have read several books about finding your passion or “Element” and one of them mentioned about looking back over your life, remembering what moments stick in your mind and when you were happiest, this would help find your passion.

Jay & me during camping holiday

From my childhood I can remember our camping trips to Scarborough I loved every minute of them and can remember laughing so much with my best friend, Jay. Although when I kicked the football through the tent we were sleeping in and made a hole, we weren’t so happy. We sat in the tent discussing what to tell my parents, who were in the tent next to us listening to our conversion (doh!). I also didn’t find it quite so funny when Jay started buying studded leather gloves and whips from the joke shop, I got worried (we were 10). On another trip I went with my dad to Scarborough (actually it was nearer Filey) at Easter, I remember waking up and seeing my dad stood above me holding onto the poles of the tent to stop the tent blowing away, he’d let me sleep rather than wake me. He told me he’d been holding the tent up for hours but I don’t know, I was asleep. I think it had snowed lightly when we packed up (but maybe that was my imagination). Those are just 2 of the memorable camping trips, we went to Spain or the Spanish islands a few times but nothing sticks in my mind quite as much as camping, except for being hit on the head by the table football handles by my uncle while I put the money in.

Above Amulree

For several years in the early 90′s we used to stay in a large house in a small village called Amulree in Perthshire, its a fabuous place with a hotel, tiny school and  church. There used to be a shop/petrol station but it was closed when I returned a few years ago. My time here was amazing, there was fishing on the front door step, and hills at the back door. On various holiday I spent time there with 9 different members of my family. Again one of the most memorable parts of the holiday was climbing up the hill behind the house with my mam and uncle (see picture above)

Peakfield where my Mam grew up

Another trip that sticks in my mind is walking in Weardale, where my mam grew up on a farm. I remember dragging a huge branch for miles behind me, or it felt huge and felt like miles. My parents will probably tell me it was half a mile and it was a twig. I used to love being outside as a kid, getting up early and going down to the local farm often hours before the farmer (my god father, not religious but I was christened) arrived. The farm is no more and watching it being pulled down from my window a couple of years ago was very sad. All my memories from being a kid was in the outdoors.

Probably the biggest “defining” moment though, was a trip up Helvellyn with my dad which working it out must of been 2001 due to Foot and Mouth. We left the car park near Wythburn and before we’d even left the trees I was shattered and wanted to give up. My dad encouraged me to carry on and eventually we stopped for a cuppa and food near Comb Craggs (I think) after something to eat I was fine and had no problems after that. As we walked higher we looked down at Thirlmere and watched the RAF planes flying down the valley below us (I could see the pilot lower than me). A bit higher and a woman ran past us with her dog, I’d been struggling walking after a few hundred yards up hill. Upon reaching the top the view was nothing short of breath taking, from Helvellyn you can see so much of the lake district and watching what looked like ants clambering along a knife edge (people on striding edge) which must of blew my mind. I didn’t say a lot of this at the time but that feeling of achievement and the stunning views has never left me.

End of the West Highland Way

There are so many other amazing walking and camping memories that define who I am today. Walking parts of the Pennine way, also with my dad over Cross Fell in almost zero visibility while we stared at the GPS, we were totally disorientated. The following year it was the complete opposite, 36c. Getting to the top of Ben Nevis, completing the WHW, not giving up on TGO Challenge, once I’d finished I could hardly stand my feet hurt so much. Several times this year when things have been hard or the weather horrible I’ve found myself smiling and really feeling a live.

A previous relationship was probably only held together because she loved walking in the lakes with me, she told me recently how much she misses it.

My spare time was previously spent messing about with computers, often until well after 3am, then would get up at 7 and go to work. A few people in the local pub would call me smiler, not because I smiled, but because like the character in Last of the summer wine I usually looked miserable.

Phil in the Lakes on our first trip

This year especially, walking and wild camping has become who I am. I entered the 2010 TGO Challenge last year after originally thinking about it in 2006 but relationships prevented me from actually filling out the form back then. After getting in, I started to find other challengers and chatted on Twitter with some. I had plans to go to the Cairngorms in the new year and Phil Turner who I met through Twitter said he would meet me there. My efforts to get there were thwarted when I got stuck in the snow at Alnwick. Eventually I returned home and changed the trip to the Lake District, I was amazed that Phil said he’d join me there, we had never met. Anyone who has looked at this site over the last few months will of noticed that myself and Phil have been all over the place since then and can regularly be found taking the piss out of each other either in person or on Twitter.

Hendrik, Me & Phil in Finland

There are several other people who have either played a part in my journey to this point and/or have become good friends, many may not realise the part they played. Obviously my parents who have taken me on loads of walks over the years, but there are others Andy Howell & Bob Cartwright got me interested in the TGO through their Podcasts. Mike Knipe also after his stories of the challenge while he took me on my local ranger training, we’ve never actually seen each other since to speak to even though we live a mile from each other (his blog keeps me entertained though). Hendrik was an amazing host and guide when he invited myself and Phil over to Finland, hope we can meet up again soon, hopefully on a trip to Scotland. I could keep going on, but some others that I am pleased to call friends who I met mainly through the internet or on the Challenge:
John Garner – Shed Dweller Moments
Helen Fisher – Helen’s Wondering Wanderings
George – Londonbackpacker
Darren Christie – Whitespider1066
Joe Newton – Thunder in the Night

I could go on and on, but while I like lists (or so it would appear, I have hundreds of uncompleted lists of stuff to walk) I don’t want to completely put anyone who’s made it this far through the post to sleep.

The most recent book I read was Ken Robinsons – The Element which is good, but you are far better watching one of his online talks. He talks about finding your Element. For years I thought my element or passion was computers, which I am good at and they satisfied my desire for new subjects to learn, things move so fast that it suited me. When I got bored with one subject, there was always something new to learn. I realised I became bored because I wasn’t interested enough. After years of searching I know my “Element” or passion is being out walking, exploring, camping, basically having an adventure. When in that environment I am surrounded by people I connect and feel “at home” with.

My dad last weekend

Who knows what the next stage in my life will bring, I hope that the memories and people that I’ve mentioned and so many more will guide me in the right direction…

Me on Suilven

Distance: 19ish miles (over 2 days but easily done in 1)
GPX File

This trip was planned as a test to try two people in the Trailstar. My dad and I set off from Garrigill at lunch time on Saturday to walk the planned 19 miles. The aim was to camp somewhere before Great Dunn Fell, but no firm plans were made and would just see where we found.

The weather was sunny on the Saturday but with a breeze. I had only had a quick look at the route and clearly neither of us had studied the map when a road extended all the way to the Tees, making the walking a lot easier than expected. Once the river Tees was reached the path was as expected, over grassy moorland. About a mile from Great Dunn Fell, we found a suitable camp spot and setup the Trailstar. My dad has only recently restarted wild camping (probably Scouts in the 60s) and was expecting the night to drag with the Trailstar pitched just after 4pm. The night flew by, my conversation is obviously so great (or put him to sleep).

There was no problem with the Trailstar and we had plenty of room for us and our gear, it was breezy on Saturday but on Sunday when I eventually woke up it was a lot windier (see video). I strangely enjoyed the wind and rain, it makes you know you really are alive. The low visibility wasn’t quite so good, this was the third time we’d walked over Cross Fell together, the first time visibility was even worse (4 feet), the last time was in 32C+ sun.

We made quite rapid progress over Great Dunn, Little Dunn & Cross Fell before descending down to Greg’s Hut and the wamth of the bothy where someone had just lit the fire. We sat in there for maybe an hour, having something to eat & drink along with ringing and organising our lift (my mam) for 2 hours later.

I enjoyed the trip and everything worked as planned, my dad I think wanted to see how it would be walking with me. The Wainwright Coast to Coast walk is rapidly approaching in September which we are walking together, I can’t wait

Skydive from Steven Horner on Vimeo.

I was going through some of my video and found this, its the video from the tandem parachute jump I did at the end of 2006 (I think). I look quite miserable (and fatter), maybe I was nervous, but I can remember being strangely calm. I tried uploading this years ago to YouTube, but it was over their 10 minute limit.

Today I went for my first run in months on my lunch break. I struggled, which isn’t surprising considering how long its been and the enforced recent lack of exercise due to my feet. This probably wont be a regular posting on the website, but thought I’d checkout how Garmin Connect looks embeded in a website which is below. You can use this for walking, cycling, running, etc…

If you really want to keep track of me, you could click view details and from there follow my progress if any at all. Oh and you could check out how my heart rate is, if I’d left it tracking you would of seen it spike to 238bpm a few minutes after the run finished.

It takes me ages to write a blog post, which is why they are so infrequent and the draft posts list for this blog is so long. I dabbled with video on the Loch Lomond Adventure and decided to give it another go. This may not be exciting I’m afraid, but let me know what you think.

To make it more interesting count how many times I say “fantastic” and thought about adding Vic Reeves- Dizzy at one point but decided against it.

The boat was named Doris by John at Shed Dweller Moments, because I said I would need to mug some old grannies to afford it. He said it should be named Doris in memory of all the grannies who fell for me to buy her (I didn’t mug anyone).

Photos here.

I recorded a few videos on the challenge, none very exciting. I really wish I had done more but was unsure how the camera battery would last. All veyr boring but they’re embeded below anyway. I’d recommend you check out Phils videos a few have me in (oh no), like this.

I have been thinking about how light I could actually go for a day trip or 1 night wildcamp. I bought a Terra Nova Laser 20L pack to try as a daypack before I went to Finland but never had chance to test it before doing the TGO Challenge. When I got back I read a post Darren had done about getting everything into a SeatoSummit 20L pack. So while I still had everything lying about I thought I’d test my laser pack. Sorry the pictures are rubbish they were taken on an iPhone, as main camera was in the picture.

Packed

Unpacked

I never really really tried to make this lightweight, it’s 4.5kg.

• Terra Nova Laser 20L Pack
• Mountain Equipment w/proof trousers
• Montane Quickfire w/proof jacket
• Berghaus Infinity jacket and drybag
• Caldera Keg, Gram cracker, lighter, spoon & esbit
• 1L Buxton water
• Platypus 1L
• Thermarest NeoAir Short
• Petzl Tikka Plus
• Wickes Double Glazing film in bag (ground sheet)
• Camera & Case
• PHD Minimus in drybag
• Stakes/pegs in Akto bag
• MLD Trailstar
• Silva Compass
• 1 dehydrated meal
• Assortment of cereal bars
• Kuksa (Finish wooden cup)
• iPhone (not in pic as I used it for photo)

As you can see I’ve hardly tried to keep it lightweight, it easily fits into the bag even though for the pic I just threw everything in. I never used the outside stretch pockets on the back, but for a wet shelter they’re perfect. The only problem I have is the stitching isn’t the best on the Laser pack, if trying to cram it full, it may come apart.

You could easily use this for a couple of days, just increase the food. If I was confident of good weather I wouldn’t take the waterproofs (rarely in the UK) as they take up more room than I’d like.

Below are a few of the pictures from the TGO Challenge, you can find the rest here.

Heading for the sky (Bealach an Sgairn)

1st Night wildcamp at Loch Affric

View as I woke up on Day

Dark and Moody

Loch Ness

Garva Bridge

View back towards Laggan & Garva Bridge

Phil walking through the Lairig Ghru

Derry Lodge camp

Marr Lodge

Bridge of Dee

Balmoral

View from Mount Keen

St Cyrus

I will break the roundup of the gear I carried on the challenge into multiple posts. My pack weight minus food and water was 7.51kg, this was at the end. This includes several things most would class as wearing like hat, gloves, buff and several other things. There are lots of items that I probably wouldn’t take again and could get this under 7kg. Here’s the first post with the major items.

Pack – Golite Jam 2009: I bought this a few months ago when Go Outdoors were selling off last years model for £35. I’ve now used this on the Challenge, West Highland Way, Finland and a couple of other shorter walks. Its fantastic, light comfortable and holds everything I need. I wish it had a see through mesh pocket at the front as it can be hard to find your stuff in the big front pocket. Otherwise I have no complaints with it and doesn’t look too worn either. (732g, you could remove some straps to save weight)

Shelter - MLD Trailstar : This is amazing, I first saw this when Phil Turner used his in January in the Lake District. After seeing it on another trip I decided I had to have one ($155/£115). Its amazing value, you can fit 2 people in comfortably with all their gear and still have room to spread out, its possible to fit 3 or 4 in if needed. My idea of a tarp or single skin lightweight shelter before seeing this, was of something flapping in the wind with both ends open. You really need to see the Trailstar to understand just how rock solid it is in wind, flaps less than my Akto. Weight was initially my biggest reason for looking at this (560g seam sealed with guys attached and in supplied bag). I use the stakes you can buy with it, five 9″ Easton stakes & five 6.5″ Titanium Skewer stakes, also one titanium V peg for front pole guy (total 141g in Akto peg bag). So a total of 701g for shelter and pegs. I use my Pacer Poles which I am already carrying, so wouldn’t include them in weight total. Everyone who saw this on the challenge appeared to be impressed, with a few thinking of buying one of even making one. You can find an excellent PDF by Colin Ibbotson all about the Trailstar here on Andy Howells site, an essential read.

Sleeping Bag - PHD Minimus: My Minimus has a couple of options added, I got it with 900 down and in MX fabric both to save a few more grams. I was slightly worried about taking this on the challenge when I’d not had chance to test it. When looking at it compared to my normal Alpkit Pipedream 600, I thought I’m going to be freezing. It weighs 427g (30g over what is quoted with the options) I carried it in an Extra Small Exped Drybag (35g). The first few nights I used an Alpkit Hunka Bivvy bag around it and my legs were slightly chilly. Then I tried it without the Hunka and I was lots warmer, the bivvy appeared to be compressing the down. I never used the Hunka again.

Bivvy bag- Alpkit Hunka: This is incredibly cheap (£33),I bought this ages ago and never used it until this year. Its not exactly lightweight at 385g but its functional and was bought for summer wildcamping. I have always taken it when using the Trailstar in case I got wet, wasn’t sure about my seam sealing. I have some problems with it, it looks quite big but it tapers down to your feet andI tend to sleep on my side, when you do this I find it tighter around your hips and this compresses the down in your sleeping bag. I also find the hood too big, no matter how much I pull the draw strings. In the end I stopped using it and found I was much warmer. I will probably test it on a summer night with no shelter. For a cheap bivvy it is excellent, but not really needed on this trip.

I’ve been back home for 3 full days now, nearly all that time has been spent with my feet up, literally. I have hardly been able to walk since finishing the challenge. I will hopefully be seeing a doctor tomorrow to find put what’s wrong, possibly a sprained right ankle but i will see…

While sitting about I’ve uploaded the photos to picasaweb and along with captions, I’ve manually set the location of each photo (5 hours for that). There’s a few YouTube videos uploaded with another two to do. These could all be found from the links at the top right but I will do a post with links and the best bits embedded, but thought I’d give a quick update.

I have at least 2 other blog posts to write up, one being Gear the other is a better response to a question I was asked in the comments.

It’s been good to here that people I met on the challenge have also been finishing yesterday and today. Congratulations to everyone