Simple advice for visiting the outdoors which most will follow. The vast majority of people behave well in the outdoors, a small minority do not. It is no different to every area of life. This has not altered with Covid 19, it just has a media spotlight on it. The Government message The government (in…

Opening the countryside could create division amongst local people depending on how its done. I have set out below a strategy for a staged and, I believe, safe way of opening the countryside . At the present time (in lock down) visiting the countryside is off limits for anyone unless they live there. Even for…

I have listed the best walks in the Yorkshire Dales. If you complete all these walks you will, without doubt, have a full and proper knowledge of the Yorkshire Dales (or Dales, a couple sneak in to the Cumbrian Dales). Completing these 20 will make you want to try more, there is another 150 detailed…

There has been a lot written about walking outdoors during the current Coronavirus. Much of it is serious and reliable, some of it sensationalist and unreliable. I do not want to go into the politics too much except to re-iterate the government rules. However I would like to talk a little about what Where2walk are…

I have listed the 25 best walks in the Lake District. The walks are a mixture of longer walks across some of the higher mountains and shorter ones taking in the beautiful lakeland scenery. If you complete all these 25 walks you will have a full understanding of this wonderful walking country. The choice of…

Mount St Helens is a stratovolcano situated in the State of Washington on the north east seaboard of the United States. It is infamous for an eruption in May 1980 that killed 57 people. The resultant earthquake reduced the height of the mountain from 9.677 ft (2,950m) to 8,363 ft (2,549m) and left a 1…

“The finest 1 day challenge in England” As a mountain guide who lives in the shadow of the 3 Peaks and regularly leads walkers on the 3 Peaks challenge I felt I was in a unique position to write a book on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks. So I did! The Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge is…

I completed the Munros (the 282 mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet) nearly 15 years ago. It took up nearly 20 years of my life, regular visits/weekends from England to click off 4 or 5 summits. Sometimes I travelled alone, sometimes with my brothers and mate JP. It certainly became obsessive. The planning was fun,…

Climbing Snowdon is the most popular mountain challenge in Britain, upwards of 400,000 walkers head for the summit every year. I have only climbed Snowdon once before, that was the full Snowdon Horseshoe over 20 years ago. Therefore I was looking forward to my next visit with the family in which I planned to walk…

I have never completed an organized Challenge walk before. Yes I have walked enough ‘challenges’, day walks including many Yorkshire 3 Peaks, the 44 mile Lyke Wake Walk but nothing which had the size and scale of a “Challenge” walk. However Sadie and Michelle persuaded me to put aside any reservations about being ‘organized and…

Any walk is made much more enjoyable if some element of planning goes in to it. I like to spread my map out the night before and try and picture what is going to happen the next day. It doesn’t always work that way but it helps a lot. Here are my 15 top tips…

I love walking away from the crowds, exploring by myself and finding some ‘Hidden Gems’. Avoid Malham and Horton, the central spine of the Lakes and the Yorkshire Coast and there are some absolute crackers just waiting for you to discover. You may not see a soul all day on these walks and if you…