Totally unrelated to the Channel Swim or the book... I trekked up to a small town in Tenerife called Masca on Sunday 20th August 2017.  Here is a video capturing the experience.  It's a 13km round trip.... half of which is all uphill!  Video here

In 2018 I decided I very much wanted to visit Nepal, hike up some of the hills, and lay my eyes on the famous Himalayas.  Unfortunately, this was not something the family were very keen on doing, so we compromised and agreed that I would go for a short break on my own.

The shorter duration immediately ruled out the more common treks such as the Everest View or Base Camp routes, but it still meant plenty of time for some serious up-hill walking.  After a bit of research I decided to do the newer Mardi Himal route, flying into Pokhara and making my way to the start of the trek, all independently and without a guide.  I took my Go Pro camera, filmed just about everything that I could, and then had Connagh professionally edit the footage.

​Here is the resulting film!

I head to Nepal next week for six days of hiking over the Himalayas. There was just time for one last local walk in Worcester, and I was joined on this one by my sons Connagh and Lewis - the latter of whom had a bit of a tough time at the end.  Great to have them along though!

The one where Lewis breaks

I love walking over the Malvern Hills.  I'm more than happy to do it alone, but it's even better to be able to hike with family or friends.  So when Becky and Simon told me they were planning on hitting the hills, I happily went along to join them.

Hill Walk

The weather should be nice and warm when I get to Nepal.   But that doesn't mean I can't get outside in the snow in the UK and enjoy a good hike.  This walk didn't go all to plan to begin with...

Snow hike

I never intended these videos to be map reading lessons when I started producing them, but in many cases it makes sense to add a few tips in along the way as I show where I'm going and what I'm doing.  This video includes understanding map scales and grid references, and includes a simple demo on taking a compass bearing to a destination:

Map Reading

Not all walks go as planned, which in some way is a good lesson.  It can be frustrating to have to take detours though.  This is what happened on one hike out across the Worcestershire countryside:

Detour Walk

​My Nepal trip is not far away now, and I went out on a ten miler today.  A few lessons learned, as you'll see from the video:

Ten Miler
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At the suggestion of a work colleague who watched my Masca Trek video on here and commented how slow it loaded, I've now begun a You Tube page.  

From my house, I do a run along the Worcester Canal to David Lloyds, next to Sixways.  Here's a video of it:  ​

Canal Run 
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