Outdoors
My photography – November 2019
Thanks to a combination of getting out more than usual and some excellent conditions, I’ve had a strong month for photography both on and off the mountains. In no particular order, here is a selection of images from November 2019. Tip of the hat to my brother James Roddie,
Down the Rabbit Hole with James Roddie and Mike Webster
On 10 November 2019, I attended the world premiere of Down the Rabbit Hole, the new film by Mike Webster about my brother James Roddie and his complicated relationship with mental health and the outdoors. From the film’s page at Spiral Out Pictures: Down the Rabbit Hole is the
The Blue Hour
This year, I’ve been starting my morning walks half an hour earlier, and as autumn progresses I find myself a daily observer of that quiet time just before dawn. For the last couple of weeks now, darkness has characterised my morning walks – or so it appeared at first. I’
Summits & Skylarks
After a winter of painful loss, Alex Roddie returned to the hills early in 2018 for a poignant journey over Fairfield and Helvellyn. This feature was first published in the February 2019 issue of The Great Outdoors. In October 2019 it received the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild Award for
OWPG Award for Excellence for my TGO magazine feature ‘Summits and Skylarks’
This weekend, my wife Hannah and I headed to the Norfolk Broads for the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild AGM and awards dinner. Updated 2019-10-11 with corrected information on David Lintern’s award. This is my first year as a member of the OWPG. I joined due to recommendations from
Top wild camps on the Haute Route Pyrenees
I camped every night during my 2019 thru-hike of the Haute Route Pyrenees, and 23 of those camps were ‘wild’ camps. In no particular order, here are a few I enjoyed the most. Read more about my adventures in the Pyrenees here 25 July (Image above) I’d diverted from
Lincolnshire hates hikers
In my home county, using public rights of way can be frustrating and adversarial. I’ve been hiking in Lincolnshire for about eight years, but many of these issues will be familiar to all those who go walking in the less-touristy parts of the UK – the counties riddled with footpaths
The big routes: Langdale Skyline
From thrilling ridges to long-distance endurance-fests, we all like to push the envelope sometimes. Every mountain hit list has its essential big ticks, and for this instalment in our series on the UK’s most famous gnarly routes Alex Roddie revisits old favourites to make a complete horseshoe of the
Two short extracts from my Pyrenees trail journal
I’ve finished indexing my trail journal from the Haute Route Pyrenees. This journal was written by hand, and fills almost an entire medium-sized hardback notebook – 229 pages in total. I estimate the word count to be roughly 30-40,000 words. It’s the most extensive trail journal I’ve
I’ve entered the 2020 TGO Challenge
The TGO Challenge is unique: an annual non-competitive backpacking event crossing Scotland from west to east. I’ve decided to apply for a place in the 2020 Challenge. It’s been on the cards for years now, ever since I really got back into long-distance backpacking in 2014. I’ve
