Outdoors since 1983

I started keeping a journal of outdoor activities in 1983. I was inspired at the time by the writing of the great Scots climber W. H Murray. I had obtained an old copy of his great book “Mountaineering in Scotland”, and found his prose style delightful. I considered him a mentor as a writer and deliberately tried to emulate his style. Others must be the judge of whether I can write as gracefully as he could.

Here then, is a collection of accounts and reports from some of the best mountaineering days and outdoor activities I have been on over the last forty years. It is mostly hillwalking and scrambling, with some climbing, cycling and even a little potholing. Some accounts are brief and to the point, others longer and more detailed. Join me on a journey onto the hill – outdoors since 1983.

It is a work in progress and i will add more as and when I have time.

• On foot across the Lakes – from Kirkstone Pass to Great Langdale, May 2022
• Backpacking in the Cairngorms, October 2021
• High Street wet and dry, June 2021
• Wild camping in the Lakes, October 2020
• A walk above Osterbo Fjellstove in the Aurlandsdalen, Norway, August 2015
• A few outings in the Lakes, 2012-2016
• Askeval, Rum – May 2012
• Snowdon via Crib Goch on a Sunday – May 2010
• Tryfan and the Glyders – June 2007
• Cairngorm and Ben Macdui, May 2005
• Hillwalking by night, 1994/5
• Hiking alone: Snowdon and Crib Goch in 1994, Great End and Eskdale in 1996
• Idwal Skyline in 1993, and Striding Edge in 1997 – winter
• Backpacking alone in the Eastern Lakes, June 1992
• Blencathra and Great Gable – the Lakes, March 1992
• A stormy time in the Cairngorms, November 1990
• Scafell and Scafell Pike, and Eskdale in the rain – June 1990
• Cadair Idris, Rhinogs, Carneddau – 22/3/90-24/3/90
• 1987-89
• The Lakes: Helvellyn and Fairfield, Dow Crag, 1986 and 1993
• A walk on Kinder Scout, July 1986
• Snowdon Horseshoe and Idwal Skyline, July 1986
• Winter 1986
• Snowdon Horseshoe, October 1985
• The Lakes, spring, summer, autumn 1985
• Winter season 84/85
• Bidean nam bian, December 1984
• Through the Peak District by Bike in 1984
• A week at the Leeds Hut in Dunnerdale, July 1984
• Benighted in the Mamores, February 1984
• Ben Nevis, 18/2/84
• Caving in the 1980’s
• The Lakes in December 1983
• Idwal Skyline, October 1983
• A late summer trip to the Lakes, August 1983
• Kinder Scout in 1983
• A week at the Leeds hut in Dunnerdale, 1983