Hiking, Portugal, Travel

Fisherman’s Trail – Four Days of Hiking in Beautiful Southern Portugal

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A month ago, my buddy Pete from The Man Who Hiked The World, was invited by Ricardo Estêvão from Vicentina Travel to check out their self-guided, four-day Fisherman’s Trail package. CHIPPING IN After Pete’s plus-one had had to bail out from the Fisherman’s Trail on very short notice, Pete asked roughly two dozen friends of his if they wanted to join him instead. Fortunately, they all had to decline because of conflicting commitments. This meant that I got a chance to join him on the trip. Throughout the trip it was one of our running gags that I had been so far down the list. Of course, I made sure that Pete got a good run for his money, too, banter-wise. Pete and I have only known each other for a short while. We met on an organised group hiking weekend in the Peak District with GO London end of […]

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Caving, Climbing, England, Fun

Caving in the Yorkshire Dales with Lost Earth Adventures: Alum Pot & Sell Gill Holes

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A couple of weeks ago, Lost Earth Adventures invited Ellie on a weekend of caving in the Yorkshire Dales. I tagged along, of course. CAVING WITH LOST EARTH ADVENTURES The train ride from London to Giggleswick takes 3.5 to 4 hours. Then there’s a 15-minute cab ride to Horton in Ribblesdale. This tiny hamlet seemed particularly well-placed for the caves we were planning on doing with Lost Earth Adventures. However, you could equally book yourself a B&B in any of the other near-by villages. JUST ON TIME FOR DINNER We were lucky to arrive minutes before the kitchen at our tavern closed. At least off-season and on the weekend, there were no open shops in the vicinity. We felt rather pleased that we had brought sandwiches and vast amounts of muesli bars from London. Our aluminium bottles could be filled from the tap.   PACKING OUR BACKPACKS FOR THE NEXT […]

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Fun, Scotland, Winter

Indoor ice climbing course here in the UK

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A week ago, I took part in a four-day winter skills mountaineering course in Scotland. The trip was a lot of fun. Great group of adventurous people from all types of backgrounds and of all ages, men and women. Only problem was the weather. Not enough snow to actually use ice axe and crampons. Too stormy to attempt the Ben Nevis summit via the ridge. As luck would have it, the day after we left the conditions became perfect. UPDATE 29 March 2023: According to various news reports the Indoor Ice Climbing Wall seems to have closed for good. So sad. No more indoor ice climbing course UK.     MORE TIME AT OUR HANDS THAN EXPECTED AT THE INDOOR ICE CLIMBING COURSE UK We managed to get a fair bit of hiking done nonetheless. However, all days were cut short and we usually returned mid-afternoon, beaten by the hail […]

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England, Fun, Water sports

Paddleboarding with Somerset Adventures in Creech St Michael

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During a recent trip, Somerset Adventures very kindly invited me to go paddleboarding in Somerset with them. As usual, whenever Ms B and I go on a trip these days, the weather forecast was horrific. Then the forecast was gradually amended when it came closer to the day. It turned even more abominable. YOU CAN’T CHOOSE THE WEATHER WHEN PADDLEBOARDING IN SOMERSET Obviously this is not Somerset Adventures’ fault. To the contrary, I very much appreciated them acting responsibly and not taking any risks. That said, the weather forced us to reschedule the trip twice. Initially I had been looking to do some paddleboarding in Somerset in the sea along the cliffs. Then we had set our minds on a canyon-like fast-flowing river inland with some of the county’s best beauty spots.     LET IT RAIN During the day when my paddleboarding in Somerset experience was scheduled, one month’s […]

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England, Fun, Water sports

Stand Up Paddleboarding the Cuckmere River Source to Sea (4h)

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Stand up paddleboarding the Cuckmere River in East Sussex had been on my and my buddy Markmeister’s mind for several months. According to Wikipedia, the reliable source of half-truths, conspiracies, and myths, its length is 5km. In actual fact it is more like 30km, of which we paddled about 15km. BEST ENTRY POINT WHEN STAND UP PADDLEBOARDING THE CUCKMERE RIVER We took the train to the tiny hamlet of Berwick (1.5h from London with one interchange). From there we walked 1.8km along country roads to the river, nearly getting run over by fast cars on two occasions. GETTING OUR GEAR READY As soon as we reached the river, we got our gear ready and changed into our wetsuits. I wasted nearly half an hour trying to find a hole in my inflatable board. Then I realised that the problem was not a deflating board but a malfunctioning pressure indicator on […]

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