South Hams Way. Day 3

The day begun with tea in bed. As all days should always begin. The heating-less farmhouse posed no threats to this adequately insulated square of a human. I slept soundly and completely. We dined downstairs with a family of three, who were completing the south west coastal path in stages – we chatted all things […]

South Hams Way. Day 2

We woke after a broken sleep above the rowdy pub- I’m alright with sleeping to noise, any noise as it happens- especially rowdy pubs. As a child, whenever my parents had parties it would be my Dad who would put my brother and me to bed. He made all the noise of the party seem […]

South Hams Way day 1

We woke bleary eyed to a semi frantic bellowing of “DO YOU THINK I HAVE SEPSIS?!” The night before, your old pal Groany Mitchell (you’ll remember her from such blog editions as the North Wales Pilgrims Way) came to visit. It was not an unexpected wake up call as she’d been concerned for her general […]

The Ridgeway – Day 4

We woke to the comfort of our little tent home, the fairly lights clattering up the central pole all night in the relentless, howling winds. Winnie was Sparko and enjoyed having her own bed, until 3am when she had a bad dream and climbed onto my single cot. Sweet girl. We made coffee, abluted and […]

The Ridgeway – Day 3

We woke in our little church home at 6 when the bells told us our time was up. I planned to doze until 6:30 but Kai was up and packed by 6:32. Luckily, I was upright and not in the midst of being half dressed when the warden appeared at the doorway. It was half […]

The Ridgeway – Day 2

Day two was such a nice day everyone, really it was. Well, for me it was. I slept very badly, or, very little. My stupid pillow kept slipping off my stupid slippy air bed, I kept slipping down the very slight hill I was responsible for us camping on and I kept waking with a […]

The Ridgeway – Day 1

Almost two years go while at work on a cool late November day, I learned my friend Max, had died by suicide. I remember the shock of it. I remember imagining his last moments, over and over. I remember how I continuously wondered what he would have been thinking. I wondered and I kept wondering […]

Oregon: Part 2 – On the Oregon Coast Trail

Saturday 2nd August – Fish lake to Crater lake We woke early, packed up and smugly made coffee on the jetty of Fish Lake Resort before anyone else was awake. Snakes and I left Fish Lake Resort by way of a Trail Angel called Mike. For those not familiar with the term, ‘Trail Angels’ are […]

Oregon: Part 1 – On the Pacific Crest Trail

In 2013 I walked 2653 miles from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. It was a life changer, no doubt about it , one of the best and hardest things I’ve ever done. Unbeknownst to me, as a child, Snake Legs, (who was known then merely as: ‘little Shelley’) had a brewing interest […]

EAT day 11

We woke in Richard and Rachel’s garden after a disturbed night. I woke around 10pm to a blazing fire directly opposite the property at the farm. It looked out of control. I went up to the house to alert Richard who was already coming out to check on it. They have horses , as do […]

EAT Day 10

I woke with a start – waking at 5:11 to the dawn chorus followed by falling asleep and rewaking to seemingly bright sunshine at 6am. The morning seemed to speed by in minutes. As hoped, but not as anticipated (by Snakes) our tarp was not vomited on, set fire to, or taken apart by youths; […]

EAT Day 9

We woke to light rain – which had started almost immediately after we slid into our bags last night. The sea sounds and dappling rain had seen to us having a great night sleep. We packed up- experts at this now it takes about thirty minutes – every thing has a little bag of a […]

EAT Day 8

We woke today in the comfort of our room, tired after a good sleep which was helped along by a (two) negroni nightcap(s) last night. I had a hearty and delicious Shakshuka for breakfast with ample coffee which set me right up for a lazy 9am departure. The day was immediately warm. We marched back […]

EAT Day 7

(Actually day 6 continued) We landed at the three swallows pub around 4:30 yesterday (day 6), we were ready for showers, clean linen, some good food and a good sleep. On arrival at the bar our welcome was luke warm and we were seen to our room by a young boy with limited social skills. […]

EAT Day 6

We woke in our snuggly four poster tarp bed. I almost forgot myself and called for room service. We packed up and went to find Majeeda and Molly who had spent the night in the bunk rooms at the same campsite. While we slept soundly they had been kept awake by a raucous party in […]

EAT day 5

I felt like I slept on a cloud in Lou’s ridiculously plump bed. It was 6:40am. I showered again, just because I could, made Eric some meat slice breakfast and brought Snakes a tea to the comfort of our cloud. We meggled for a short while before dressing and packing, we loaded our clothes bags […]

EAT day 4

We began the day with Eric barking us awake as an ‘intruder’ walked past the church door. We’d erected a tarp on the iron gate for privacy so no one could see in, but this would have peaked the locals interested on their early morning walk, and peak it did. Eric was refusing the breakfast […]

EAT Day 3

It was a warm night in the dense pine forest, I woke as usual just before 6am to the relentless chirp of birds all around. Eric is keenly consuming the dehydrated food she usually doesn’t like – we use a brand called ‘Pure’ who think they’re the best bet after raw food. It’s powder which […]

EAT Day 2

We woke in our little Coppice just outside the town of Diss, being closer to water we’d amassed a considerable amount of condensation on the inside of the tarp. I slept excellently thank you. It was 4 degrees overnight and I was toasty warm in my cocoon. We use British army bivi bags and we […]

EAT Day 0 – 1

It’s not really surprising I turned out the way I did, I grew up in the remote mountainous region of Suffolk, East Anglia. After a childhood of raw, unbounded adventure, knife-edge derring do and multiple first ascents , all thwarted by the unpredictable weather patterns in the East; I relocated to Somerset, South West England, […]

North Wales Pilgrims Way Day 7/8

We spent a good hour abluting, in all the ways the amenities of a church would allow, which isn’t a great deal. We departed at 7.30 and the air was still, I know I’m getting repetitive here, but it’s unseasonably warm. Speaking of repetitive, Lou’s leg is still Gammy and after personally taping up the […]

North Wales Pilgrims Way – Day 6

We awoke in all the blissful comfort of normal human life. A bed, Eric lying diagonally across it,l clamping down the duvet leaving my skin half covered in duvet and half exposed. Lovely. We packed up and applied new clean clothes to our new clean bodies, strapped our bruised and scraped feet where needed and […]

North Wales Pilgrims Trail – Day 5

After all the moaning from Snake Legs and Lou, not wanting to leave the warm greasy confines of the cafe as dark set in last night, they both confessed that they were glad to have slogged their sweaty selves up the hill, to enjoy a wicked firey sunset and a night in our tents. Lou […]

North Wales Pilgrims Trail – Day 4

We awoke in churchy bliss. Eric was bright as a button and demanded breakfast immediately. Lou and Snakes performed TubTime in the kitchen (I’d completed mine last night ) and we all regretted making fun of Lou for bringing shampoo. Sorry Lou. The church had an arrangement with the pub regarding the use of their […]

North Wales Pilgrims Way – Day 3

We all had a most peaceful night, waking only to the grumbling of ancient plumbing as the heating kicked in. At 6.45 we made tea and packed up. We were off on our way by 7.30am. The weather forecast gave 90% chance of rain. We were fortuitously in the 10% for 90% of the day. […]

North Wales Pilgrims Way – Day 2

Tremeirchion to Llansanan We woke to all the wonderful hospitality that gods house provides. The candle was still burning and the air was oddly warm. We made tea and packed up, Lou was grateful to have a small curtain and mirror to perform her morning ablutions by, she ran the hoover around and we departed, […]

North Wales Pilgrims Way – Day 1

Oh, hi everyone, always a pleasure. Our pal Lou is attempting to walk all 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail next April, she’s never done anything similar, so what better way for her to test her gear, physical capabilities and abstinence from makeup, showers, hair dryers and multiple outfit choices , than to join […]

Isle of Wight Coastal path. Day 5.

Nikki had left us tea and coffee and cerial out for breakfast. Sneaking about barefoot in a pub kitchen at 6.45am felt a little naughty. We were gone by 8am, out into the quiet country lanes on a 3.5 mile romp to Shalfleet. We talked about how grateful we were to all the hugely trusting […]

Isle of Wight Coastal Path. Day 4.

After the ridiculous decadence of tea, biscuits, croissants, fresh coffee and another shower, we hit the road, wonderfully late. It was a windy start with rain constantly being beaten back by the sun. Good old sun. Today was a big tarmac day, cycle paths, country lanes, bridleways and little tucked-away side streets behind houses. Our […]

Isle of Wight Coastal Path. Day 3.

After an exceptional night’s sleep we woke to a poodle towering above us, demanding that we get up immediately. After a sufficient amount of tea and meggle time, we went for a hearty breakfast at my new favourite hotel. Eric wasn’t allowed but she did receive a takeaway upon our return. The day was windy […]