At this time of year, it’s oh so easy to just hop on to Amazon and make a quick, generic purchase for friends and loved ones and be done with it. But after a topsy turvy year, it’s not Amazon who are struggling, it’s small businesses run by passionate, creative individuals who take the time […]
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And then suddenly, it was autumn. The fells have faded from the rich green to coopers and golds, the swathes of bracken on the hillsides now reduced to crisp skeletons. Misty mornings spent kicking through the invariably wet autumn leaves, the trails I run now thick with mud. Last Friday, after abandoning plans to tackle […]
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Standing in the middle of Booths supermarket in Keswick, I wasn’t quite sure what to do next. Where to go, how to fill the time. Tears of panic trickling down my face. Outside, the rain continued to pour down in the early March gloom. I had two hours before my interview at the youth hostel. […]
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Standing in Crow Park, a short walk from Keswick, I can trace the outline of the fells and recall a vivid memory from many of the mountains which line the shores of Derwentwater and beyond. There’s the towering, imposing figure of Skiddaw, which I summited in an unexpected flurry of sleet the day after my […]
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This is the second part of my ‘Learning to run in the Lake District’ series – from 5k to my first 10k race at Kendal Mountain Festival You can read the first part of my journey on overcoming the stories we tell ourselves and my Couch to 5k journey here. We start on the 1st […]
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Tucked up in the far north west of England just below the Scottish borders, the Lake District is the jewel in the English National Parks crown. Easily accessible by car or a variety of public transport options, it is the perfect place for a short holiday or a stop a longer UK roadtrip. The two […]
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After leaving the Hawkshead valley only once during being on lockdown at the hostel, I was beginning to feel frustrated and restless. At the end of April I also sustained a knee injury from running which rendered my usual adventures to shuffles around the hostel grounds. I missed going to find a random tarn or […]
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“If you feel like it once you’ve unpacked, Latrigg is a nice easy hike, over there’. I followed Helen’s gaze outside my empty bedroom window, across the shallow river to a perfectly shaped hill, shrouded on one side in woods. Despite being around 350m, it looked huge. Whilst one part of me was keen for […]
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One of the things I’m most grateful for during these days of lockdown is the change of my pace in my life. I’m aware how incredibly lucky I am to have this given time, with friends on the frontline and those homeschooling feeling a reverse. Whilst I’ve always loved the buzz of working in hospitality […]
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