OWPG Award for Excellence for my TGO magazine feature ‘Summits and Skylarks’
This weekend, my wife Hannah and I headed to the Norfolk Broads for the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild AGM and awards dinner. Updated 2019-10-11 with corrected information on David Lintern’s award. This is my first year as a member of the OWPG. I joined due to recommendations from
Change is afoot
Many things are about to change for the better in my writing and work, or are in the process of changing. Although I can’t share details publicly just yet, it is a good time for a reinvention of my online ‘brand’, if you can stomach the word. First, this
Top wild camps on the Haute Route Pyrenees
I camped every night during my 2019 thru-hike of the Haute Route Pyrenees, and 23 of those camps were ‘wild’ camps. In no particular order, here are a few I enjoyed the most. Read more about my adventures in the Pyrenees here 25 July (Image above) I’d diverted from
What I’ve been reading this week, 27 September 2019
Rewilding Britain, the local global climate strike, wildlife in the Colorado Rockies, and why we need to learn to do nothing. Environment Rewilding will make Britain a rainforest nation again – ‘We should continue to mobilise against the destruction of the world’s great habitats, and its terrifying implications. But the
Lincolnshire hates hikers
In my home county, using public rights of way can be frustrating and adversarial. I’ve been hiking in Lincolnshire for about eight years, but many of these issues will be familiar to all those who go walking in the less-touristy parts of the UK – the counties riddled with footpaths
The big routes: Langdale Skyline
From thrilling ridges to long-distance endurance-fests, we all like to push the envelope sometimes. Every mountain hit list has its essential big ticks, and for this instalment in our series on the UK’s most famous gnarly routes Alex Roddie revisits old favourites to make a complete horseshoe of the
What I’ve been reading this week, 20 September 2019
The melting Alps, camping with children as an act of hope, a counterargument to #dontgeotag, and making the move to lightweight hiking. Environment To decarbonize we must decomputerize: why we need a Luddite revolution – ‘We should reject the assumption that our built environment must become one big computer. We should
Two short extracts from my Pyrenees trail journal
I’ve finished indexing my trail journal from the Haute Route Pyrenees. This journal was written by hand, and fills almost an entire medium-sized hardback notebook – 229 pages in total. I estimate the word count to be roughly 30-40,000 words. It’s the most extensive trail journal I’ve
What I’ve been reading this week, 13 September 2019
A visit to Gharbh Choire Mor, a camera for climbers, the great land-ownership con, and a use for Twitter at last. Long-distance hiking and the outdoors “It could be an exciting ending”: the latest from Chris Townsend’s 450-mile Colorado walk – I can’t wait to see more of Chris’
I’ve entered the 2020 TGO Challenge
The TGO Challenge is unique: an annual non-competitive backpacking event crossing Scotland from west to east. I’ve decided to apply for a place in the 2020 Challenge. It’s been on the cards for years now, ever since I really got back into long-distance backpacking in 2014. I’ve
