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Trail Running - What I wish someone had told me

Trail Running - what I wish someone told me. #optoutside #hikerchat #trailrunning #running #getoutside

Running, or more specifically, Trail running is something over the last 3 years I have thrown into heavily. But there are some things I wish someone would’ve told me, or wish I could’ve read somewhere about getting into running, and not just the usual “Have fun” or “Just go run”, because they don’t help, well they do but not really. Anyway, on to the points. One – Shoes The first thing and…

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Your Phone is all the Camera you need

Your Phone is all the Camera You Need #photography #potd #adventure #explore #optoutside

I’m a freelance photographer and I use high end camera equipment (if you want to see more go here www.jackhenstridge.com and here instagram *shameless plug over*), so this may seem weird coming from me, but for the vast majority of the people, and even in most everyday cases, for me too, a camera phone is all the camera you will ever need, and here’s why; It’s simple This literally could be the…

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Gear n Stuff - My Gear Reviews

Gear n Stuff - My gear reviews. Mountain Equipment Ibex Pants. #gear #stuff #review #outdoors #adventure #optoutside #outdoorbloggers #hikerchat #gearreview

So let’s start off with my first review with something everyone needs. A good set of versatile outdoor pants. My choice is the Mountain Equipment Ibex. A pair of pants designed for year round use in mild to cool conditions, from everything to hiking all the way up to mountaineering. Before we get to my views, let’s drop some stats on ya, and show you what these ME pants are supposed to do.��

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My personal 2017

My Personal 2017 #outside #optoutside #adventure #sharetheadventure #photography #hikerchat

Was 2017 that bad? On the grand scheme of things, and looking globally, 2017 can seem like it sucked, and sucked hard. A lot of bad shit happened, stuff you don’t really need me to tell you – especially if you’re into the outdoors and being nice to people. But if you look personally and “locally”, was it that bad? My favorite (Non-wedding) photo of 2017 also available in the BBC country file…

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DITL - Winter Adventuring

DITL - Winter Adventuring #adventure #optoutside #outdoorbloggers #winter #explore #potd

Winter is here, the solstice has passed and in Denver, we’ve finally got a real dumping of snow, with more in the forecast. Maybe I should’ve bought a ski pass after all… Anyway, winter is one of my favorite seasons of the year. Don’t get me wrong I like summer, spring and autumn, but I just love winter. Probably because when I was in the UK we didn’t have snow, just endless days of cold driving…

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New Mexico - The Wild West

New Mexico – The Wild West

Underrated is a word that’s thrown around a lot these days, along with other terms like EPIC, LITERALLY, AND AWESOME. In the day when using hyperbole seems to be the only way to describe things, and anything anyone does seems to be THE BEST EVER, or some other superlative filled descriptor, I was reluctant to use Underrated to describe New Mexico because this is another perplexingly overused word…

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DITL – Day In The Life, make sense right? This is my first post in this format, and as my blog is looking a little sparse I thought this would be a good idea.

So, my first Day In The Life post, and its on a topic I have been dealing with for a while now – injury. More specifically a running injury. Back in June of this year after a pretty intense few months of training, running roughly 80kms a month, I ran into a pretty serious injury, a tib posterior injury to be exact, I had overused my tib posterior tendon and it had become inflamed. (I also had tight calves and weak glute medius which contributed to the injury – a knotted calf pulling tighter on the tendon, and a weak glute cause the tendon to work harder resulting in the injury). So after a few PT sessions and a lot of recovery and rehab I finally got back to running again just as I move to Denver…

BUT, just as this problem cleared up another overuse running induced injury came into play, after a good September and October a Peroneal tendinitis issue raised its ugly head. This one a little more serious. I am unsure what has caused this injury – more than likely overuse, or a sprain on the ankle, or even a incorrect running gait I developed while dealing with the last injury. This has so far had me sidelined for 3 weeks, and it’s only slowly getting better, and its just even more frustrating that I have just recovered from the first injury. So unable to run, cycle, or walk for long distances, how do you deal with injury?

I have to admit, I am an awful person when I’m injured. I need to be active, and when I’m not I get a little stir crazy, I whine, and I moan. So what can you do? What can I do? Or more to the point what HAVE I been doing? Apart from the obvious rest, rehab and PT visits, I’ve been plunging myself head first into my photography (shameless instagram link), pursuing a reeducation, and getting myself settled into life in a new country. I have also become best of friends with a Yoga mat and a Foam Roller. But in reality, you can’t do much but wait.

  But what I boils down to with injury or illness, is patience. At some point in our lives, whether we’re professional athletes, aspiring amateurs, weekend warriors, social sportspeople, or just an occasional hiker, we are all going to run into an injury or illness that stops us from doing what we want to do. Rushing through things or just blindly ignoring an injury is only going to make things worse, and when the inevitable happens, like a catastrophic injury or illness, its going to take a considerably longer time to recover than if you just listened to your body in the first place. Believe me its frustrating, but your body is in pain for a reason – listen to it, rest and recover, then get back out there.

DITL - Dealing with Injury #trailrunning #outdoors #optoutside #tbex #photo #tuesdaythoughts DITL - Day In The Life, make sense right? This is my first post in this format, and as my blog is looking a little sparse I thought this would be a good idea.

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My First Crag

My First Crag #climbing #climbon #optoutside #getoutside #outdoorbloggers

I realized that a lot of my posts focus on hiking and less so on my 2 favorite outdoors sports, Climbing and Trail Running. So lets start with climbing, and at the beginning – My First Crag. I was always fascinated by climbing growing up, but because of the geographical lack of crags or even an indoor wall, I was limited to trees, apart from the occasional trip with outdoor clubs to cliffs on…

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Lets Talk Public Lands

Public Lands #monumentsforall #publiclands #outdoors #bearsears #tbex

I recently went on a trip to New Mexico, and am currently trying to compile a write up on the trip itself, but there was this nagging feeling in my mind whilst writing and even before I started; in fact it started on the trip itself. And it was the threat Public Lands are under right now. I know there has been a lot of publicity, but due to various other issues currently happening in this rather…

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Here being Denver, Colorado. I don’t think its really sunk in yet, I’ve been here over a month now, but I’ve been here longer than that before – but always before I had an expiration date, this time there is no expiration, I’m here for good.

I won’t go on too much, I don’t have much to say that’s interesting, unless you want to hear about how I packed my suitcases and what pens I used to fill out my visa and immigration forms. And unfortunately hitting the trials hasn’t been a number one priority, which always sucks. I have done a few hikes, a few trail runs, a few bike rides. Re-familiarising myself with the trails on the Front Range. And within the next couple of days we’ll be in New Mexico for the first time. Taos, Santa Fe, and the North-west of New Mexico. So that’ll be me for the next few weeks. My trip from New Mexico will no doubt get a post and plenty of photo attention. Stay tuned I guess!

  New post #tban #tp #tbex #photo #potd Here being Denver, Colorado. I don't think its really sunk in yet, I've been here over a month now, but I've been here longer than that before - but always before I had an expiration date, this time there is no expiration, I'm here for good.

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Beinn Nibheis - Ben Nevis

Beinn Nibheis – Ben Nevis

Two and a half weeks before I left the UK, I managed to complete what could be the longest time to tackle the Three Peaks Challenge, by visiting Fort William, Glen Nevis, to summit Ben Nevis. As you may see from my previous posts we started this with Snowdon back in May (I think?) of 2016, then onto Scafell Pike in June of 2016 before waiting over a year to hit number 3, in August 2017. A lot has…

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  The ever increasingly popular Isle of Skye, the biggest Island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, is becoming the “new” hot-spot for the weekend adventurer. And I am afraid I am for once, part of that crowd. I prefer adventures to be off the grid and in remote locations, preferably in wilderness or back-country, but Skye, and more generally Scotland, is a place that rightly deserves its ever increasing popularity, and to be honest without getting on a ferry it’s one of the most remote parts of the UK you can get to. It’s a place I’ve been itching to get to for a while now, and with my Fiancee visiting the UK for what could be the last time while it’s still my Home, we had our opportunity, and we took it.

After a weekend in Scotland’s magnificent capital city of Edinburgh we set out for Skye, a mere 5 hours through indescribably beautiful landscapes. The density of breathtaking views is staggering. We headed west to take the route through Glasgow, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, across the windswept Rannoch Moor, on to Glencoe, to Fort William before taking the spectacular Road to the Isles before finally reaching Skye. I have driven through some incredible landscapes, but I have never enjoyed a car journey more.

Arriving late on a Tuesday afternoon at our “Hobbit House” in the small village of Breacais (Breakish), we were greeted with some of the Hebrides famous winds, over 100mph gusts. Our AirBnB host came to tell us he had preemptively lashed the roof and installed some ground anchors on the house, just in case, but he may be back later to lash the porch down – we were in for a stormy night. We went to the local store, got some supplies and settled in, ate some burritos and drank a beer. We spent the most of the night peering out the front door watching the clouds rush over the not-so-distant peaks of the Red and Black Cuillins. Late in the night the winds cleared the clouds and we were treated to some crystal clear skies. I was already in love with Skye.

We awoke to find that we had not been blown back to Edinburgh and the roof was still on, but, unfortunately with the taming of the winds came low, dense, hanging clouds. We were not to be deterred, well I wasn’t to be, so we set off to the Elgol peninsula for our first walk. It was to take us across the foothills of the Cuillins down into Camasunary Bay, a remote bay surrounded by the towering Black Cuillin Mountains, the only true mountain Range in the United Kingdom. The weather had some very different plans to us. We had checked the forecast but in these parts they’re only to be taken as a very vague guide, as we were walking the weather well and truly closed in. Within minutes we were engulfed in low cloud and the rain was thick and heavy; on the crest of the ridge where the view was supposed to be panoramic and splendid we could see almost nothing apart from slow moving fog morphing around any outcrop, obscuring it from view. With no signs of it clearing and more than half the hike to go, with only a bothy to greet us and warm us we made the decision to head back to the car and back to change, dry, and warm. It wasn’t all bad though, this meant we had the afternoon free, so we headed to the Talisker distillery took a tour and tried some glorious scotch. We also found a rather hidden gem on Skye – Talisker Bay, a volcanic black sand beach, and for about an hour we had it to ourselves, it was magnificent.

The sun rose on what was to be our best-weather-day, according to the not to be trusted forecasts, so we planned to get out and see some of the most famous sights – the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing. The sun was out, and the closer we got to the Trotternish peninsula the sky became bluer and bluer; it looked promising. We pulled into the small roadside parking spot and started our hike up to the Storr. Although not before I was commanded to halt the car immediately so we could could stand and speak to some Highland cattle. I didn’t complain, those guys are so cool. By the halfway point of this hike up the sky blackened and gave us a pelting with some sizable hailstones, but just as quickly as it came it had gone, and the crystal clear blue skies returned. We managed to get up close and personal with the Old Man, as well as exploring the alien like landscape around him. This whole area was formed by a gigantic landslip, I imagine sometime well before anyone was around to see it. Random chunks of Gyrolite rock protrude out of the green hillside just below the towering face of the Storr, of which the most famous is the unmistakeable Old Man of Storr. We wandered around this otherworldly place for quite some time before we were bombarded again by hailstones, but this time instead of a brief storm it turned into a blizzard, driving wind and snow made us seek shelter against this monoliths of stone before it died down enough for us to speed off down the hill to the warmth of the cars hot air blower.

On the way to the Quiraing we took a quick stop at the view point for Kilt Rock and Mealt falls. The Sun was back as was the ever present wind. We stood on the exposed cliff for a little while looking at the awesome volcanic formations of kilt rock and the spectacular Mealt Falls before getting back into the car and negotiating the narrow winding single track pass to the summit of the Quiraing pass. Parking at the summit, we began our hike out onto the Quiraing.

The wind was mighty at the top. It was all we could do to open the doors and plunge forward into the wind to try and make a headway. We passed another walker who kindly told us that as soon as we’d get into the Quiraing we’d be fine, “The wind just drops off down there, it’s so weird. I hiked the whole loop, no wind until I got to here – you’ll be fine”. He done well to enforce the kind and helpful nature of Canadians. He was right too, as we crested over the first bump and took the trail north and down onto the Quiraing the wind mellowed to barely a breeze. The trail meandered its way through this fairy tale land, it’s course plotted by the many landslides that have formed this part of the island. This whole peninsula is called the Trotternish, and these mountains, along with those of the Storr come together as the Trotternish range. I can honestly say I do not think there is another place like it on Earth. Once again halfway into our hike the clouds began to darken and, again the bright sky turned a dark black and the hail began to pelt us. We didn’t have many places to hide, so we just cowered against the hillside and waited the 15 minutes for it to pass. Afterwards the sky turned back to its bright blue and the air became crystal clear, the only sign of the storm was the thousands of ball bearing sized hails that covered the landscape. The unpredictable Hebridean weather at its finest.

After battling the wind back to the car we drove over to the other side of the Peninsula to the Small port town of Uig and popped into Skye’s own Brewery. We stocked up on a few beers and drove on back to the Hobbit house. I was extremely happy with the day’s exploits, and extremely tired. I landed on the bed and decided I didn’t want to move other than to raise the beer bottle to my mouth and fell into a semi-comatose slumber.

And so the day came, our final day on Skye. We still had so much to do, and so much we wouldn’t be able to do. We picked a couple of things off the list and set about them. Our first hit was to drive back up to Uig, and wander around the erie Fairy Glen. Another area formed by a landslip, the area is littered with grassy hills and cones, dotted with exposed rocks and boulders. We spent a while wandering in the mist, the Glen was framed by the backdrop of snow capped mountains from the Trotternish range. The night had been a cold one, and the day wasn’t indicating it would get any warmer, or dryer.

Skye has a long history associated with Fairies, mainly tied to the Dunvegan Clan and their Fairy Flag, and this next place seems to have adopted the Fairy prefix because of the island’s mythical tie to these creatures. The Fairy Pools are arguably the most beautiful spot on the island, not only are the pools splendid by themselves, but when you pair them with the savage looking backdrop if the knife edge Black Cuillin ridge, it’s something straight out of a fantasy novel. The walk begins half way down the narrow rutted single track road to Glenbrittle, in a forestry commision carpark, high on one side of the valley. You descend down and wander up the opposite side, tracing the route of the river up and up until it feels like you might start climbing the ridge if you go any further. As much as I would have relished this, I was kindly reminded that we were not only on the wrong trail but grossly under prepared and equipped to tackle the task. Ah well, next time. The “consolation” prize would just have to be this incredible labyrinth of waterfalls and crystal clear plunge pools.

Our final adventure would be one I couldn’t find that much information on, and one I had just been told about in passing by a friend who had gone to Skye himself. He didn’t manage to find his way to Spar Cave, but he gave me a higgledy piggledy set of directions to find my way down there. This was all I had to go on as there was not much more information around. Spar Cave is essentially two massive cathedral like caves on the very end of the Eigol Peninsula, in a the tiny hamlet of Glasnakille. Even though the information was sparse, what I had heard was that the cliffs and the caves on this part of the island were truly spectacular, so we were excited to see what was there. We spent a good amount of time wandering around on top of the cliffs wandering around trying to find the trail down to the cave, there are no signposts, obviously, so we took a gamble on a style over a fence and a vague path towards the cliff edge. It turned out to be the right way. The path became incredibly steep and required some handwork, especially as the day was predictably damp. Once we got down onto the shore the rumours about the cliffs were true. They were made up of layer upon layers of porous and lethally sharp volcanic rock, but it was beautiful. We scrambled around the cliffs around two headlands, struggling to find the entrance to the caves, until we bumped into another couple who kindly pointed us in the right direction, and after some more scrambling we found the caves. Without a proper torch we didn’t manage to explore much of them, or manage to get any photos of them, you’ll just have to trust my word.

We had a mammoth drive ahead, a full 12 hours back south. I had never been to Scotland before this trip, in my 27 years on this planet I have lived in the same country, England, for all of them, and lived this close to Scotland but never gone until now. I’ve been to the USA, Spain, France, Italy and other wonderful places, but for some reason never Scotland. And for the life of me, having now been, cannot understand why. It’s the same story for a lot of people I know, and a lot I don’t. Scotland to the British is just seen as “the North”, the cold and wet storm battered head of the British Isles. But what Scotland actually is, is possibly one of the most beautiful countries on the face of the Earth. The sheer amount of stuff Scotland has to offer, for such a small country boggles the mind. That drive from Edinburgh to Skye, was by far one of the most incredible I have driven. The amount of head turning views was innumerable. And in all honesty, this isn’t even all of it, not by a long shot. To have this, globally speaking, on my doorstep, and to have neglected going for so long bothers me. I urge anyone to go. People travel the globe for places like Scotland without realising it is right there, a mere day drive away. My time in the UK is slipping away, I’m soon to move to the US, and if there is one thing I want to do before I go, it’s go back to Scotland. What an adventure we had. It may not have been as desperate, as remote, or as far flung as some of our others, but it was still incredible. I couldn’t have picked a better adventure partner for this or any other adventure If I had tried.

To see more photos from this trip, and there is a lot more to come, keep an eye out on My Portfolio for a more photo-centric post.

  My trip to Skye #skye #explore #hikerchat #photo #photog #optoutside #getoutside #scotland The ever increasingly popular Isle of Skye, the biggest Island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, is becoming the “new” hot-spot for the weekend adventurer.

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The Yorkshire Dales National Park. The name conjures up images of endless dry stone walls, sweeping country lanes, green fields full of sheep, and expansive breathtaking quintessential British landscapes. It was to be our midway point on our way to a week in Scotland, (that to come later).

We had booked an AirBnB on the south border of the park in Addingham. We were right on the Dales Way national trail and about 5 minutes from Bolton Abbey. Arriving mid afternoon on a Friday we dropped our gear off at the AirBnB, retaining only camera equipment, and headed off for a walk around Bolton Abbey. This part-used part-ruined Abbey is surrounded by some pretty mellow trails, which I was in need off as I seemed to be suffering from what felt like a 30 stone man pressing on my chest anytime I dared breathe. We spent the afternoon strolling with no aim in mind, before we turned heel and returned back to the car. The next day we had a route planned through the Dales that would give us a great scenic drive and allow us to hike and take in a few of the Dales many many features. We planned to drive north through the park and make 3 stops; Malham Cove, Ribblehead Viaduct, and finally Hardraw Force Waterfall (I love that name, what a name for a waterfall) England’s Largest single drop waterfall. Each hike should take no more than 30 minutes to an hour, so we had plenty of time to see each one properly before we sat ourselves on the motorway and pushed into the Scottish Borders and onto Edinburgh.

Pulling up early into the modest, unassumingly beautiful village of Malham, we hiked the short way across the open moors to arguably the most impressive natural sight in all the Dales, the giant Limestone scar of Malham Cove. Carved by a giant glacier at the time of the last Ice age, this once giant waterfall is now just an incredibly impressive sheer limestone face, perpetually weeping as the water seeps down through it and flows out under it. We took a while to stand and stare, we were one of the only people there so early. The trail continued off, around and up to the top of the cove and onto Malham Tarn, the source for all the water. We would’ve loved to continue on, but we had places to be!

A short further drive on through narrow lanes we pulled up to possible the most impressive un-natural sight in the Dales, Ribblehead viaduct. On the Settle to Carlisle railway line and built between 1870 and 1874 the viaduct stretches 440m across and stands 32m above the valley floor. We didn’t hang around for long, and only took a quick stroll to the viaduct underneath the 24 stone arches that make it. After this, it was off to Hardraw.

Hardraw Force waterfall is England’s tallest single drop waterfall. It’s discreetly tucked away almost in the centre of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. After a quici detour when the trusty sat nav took us up a road to where the top of the waterfall would have been, we arrived in the tiny village of Hardraw. Getting to see the waterfall is quite the journey in itself. You have to enter the Green Dragon Inn, pay a small fee to the Bartender or Landlord, make your way through the pub out the back door, then continue up the path until you finally reach the waterfall. You ca hear the waterfall almost the entire way and then it finally springs into view. Its really rather nice. The whole experience is slightly surreal. I enjoyed it.

After this our Day in the Dales was almost over, apart from the short drive out. We made a hasty lunch of Peanut butter and Jam sandwiches, and headed on our way down the remaining winding roads out onto the Motorway and settled in for the 5 hour drive to Edinburgh. A day in the Dales isn’t long enough.

            A Day in the Dales #tbex #yorkshire #potd #adventure #explore #getoutside #photo #photography The Yorkshire Dales National Park. The name conjures up images of endless dry stone walls, sweeping country lanes, green fields full of sheep, and expansive breathtaking quintessential British landscapes.

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Tryfan - Three Rocks

New Post: Tryfan-Three Rocks #optoutside #getoutside #microadventure #tban #exploremore #potd

I had been studying the weather for this weekend feverishly hoping against the typical, rather predictable, usual February weather of cold and rain for at least some clear patches to get this weekend to happen. I had been wanting to tackle this mountain, this sharp rocky fin of a peak for some time and was determined to go almost no matter the weather, but luckily it somewhat turned favourable,…

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Brecon Beacons

New Post - Brecon Beacons #optoutside #wales #sundayblogshare #hiking #hikerchat #potd #tban

This was my last trip of 2016. I tried to write about it before the new year, but things happened and I didn’t. It was one I’d been meaning to take for a long while but just never got round to it. The Brecon Beacons are only a couple hours from where I live, but for some reason I just kept putting it off, for the sake of more mundane things or that I was going other places while thinking, “It’s…

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Durdle Door - Jurassic Coast

New blog- Durdle Door #omgb #dorset #photography #microadventure #hikerchat #optoutside #ttot

Englands pre-historic Jurassic Coast is packed with Millions of years of geological history, 180 millions years to be exact. It’s such an incredible place that it’s actually a world heritage site, designating an area of extreme significance. I spent a large amount of my childhood there, and am well aware of how beautiful and significant it is. I spent days and weeks over the years with my family,…

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Golden Gate Canyon State Park

Golden Gate Canyon State Park #parkchat #nps #findyourpark #explore #tban #colorado #hikerchat

I’m back in the UK for now, for the time being. Ultimately I’m only here waiting for my Visa. But that could be some time. Although I’m back I’m still sitting on plenty of “stories” and more importantly, photos, from Colorado. So expect some pretty different posts coming up, split between the wet muddiness of the UK and the remaining few trips I took while in Colorado. Twice I visited Golden Gate…