Notes
What I’ve been reading this week, 9 January 2020
Snowshoes in Scotland, the Olivetti Lettera 22 at seventy, the aesthetics of editing, and outdoor books to get lost in.
Nature Notes: my last walk of 2020 through Gunby Park
Wildlife, sunshine, frost, mist, and favourite local views If 2020 has been the year of keeping it local, then my New Year’s Eve walk has reinforced that theme. I have walked through the Gunby parkland hundreds of times over the last few years and at least 200 times this
My top images of 2020
Connections, light, and learning: a look at the best of my wildlife and landscape photography this year. In the past I’ve sometimes selected five top images from the year. It’s a useful exercise, but this year I’ve failed to narrow it down anywhere near as tightly. I
2020 in review: surviving shocks, new projects, and yearning for the heights
How I’ve navigated through 2020 as a professional outdoor writer, editor and photographer. About five minutes ago, it seems, I published my overview of 2019. Last year was my most successful to date in what still feels like a relatively new career, and I had high hopes for 2020.
‘The silence roared in our ears’: a selection of quotes from Hell of a Journey by Mike Cawthorne
I’ve recently finished reading Hell of a Journey: On Foot through the Scottish Highlands in Winter by Mike Cawthorne. This is a modern classic of mountain literature and the account of a landmark mountain journey in the late 1990s: the first continuous trip on foot over all 135 of
Outdoor publishing, Europe’s best hiking, the camera I use in the hills, and more: in conversation on YouTube with the Outdoors Station
This week, it was my pleasure to chat with Bob Cartwright at the Outdoors Station live on YouTube. Here’s how it went. As I wrote in my blog post introducing the show, I don’t make many public appearances. It has been over a year since my last talk
When Glen Coe resembled the Himalaya
The perfection of winter in a collection of images from ten years ago It’s easy to forget, when away from the mountains, just how good winter mountaineering can be at its best. There is nothing in the world like it. The anticipation, the planning, the failures, the gradual accumulation
Make a difference for wild places with Wanderlust Europe, Alex Roddie, Chris Townsend, and the John Muir Trust
Today I am launching a fundraiser to help the John Muir Trust by auctioning a copy of Wanderlust Europe and a day out on the hill with myself and Chris Townsend. Bid for a signed copy of Wanderlust Europe, the new book on Europe’s most inspiring long-distance hikes, and
Sidetracked Vol. 19 shipping now
I’ve just received my copies. This one is breathtaking. Working on Sidetracked magazine continues to be a pleasure, and this issue contains some truly spellbinding stories. During the editorial process I was particularly enthralled by the piece ‘Leaning to Listen’ by Luc Mehl, about a long-distance ice-skating expedition in
Five-minute storm
The sky knows more than we do, and it always did. As tier three creeps closer stormclouds queue over the marsh, a fire’s set and for five minutes arrowed droplets dance in Velvia haze. The moon tries to come up while light peels back, laserburned by the taproot of
