From 5th April 2010, Phil and Alex (and my dog) will be walking the 177 mile Offa's Dyke path to raise money for The Multiple Sclerosis Society (MS) - read more about our challenge

The Grafton Way – Northamptonshire

The Grafton Way is a 12.5 mile walk between Cosgrove (actually looking at the Ordnance Survey website, it seems to continue down the canal to Wolverton) and Greens Norton, passing past Towcester. The Grafton Way is joined to the North Buckinghamshire Way, The Grand Union Canal Walk, and Ouse Valley Way to the South, and turns into The Knighton Way at Greens Norton. The route is named after the Dukes of Grafton, who were large landowners throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.…

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First walk of 2010 – Circular walk from Everdon via Woodford Halse

After the excesses of Christmas and spending a lot of time in bed with various bouts of illness (what is it about evolving colds that won’t go away this winter!) the Offa’s Dyke team (well everyone except Alex) decided to break in the new year  with a 13 mile walk around the Northamptonshire countryside South of Daventry.…

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Shopping Spree

Having put together an equipment list for Offa’s Dyke before Christmas, and crossing off a few items friends and family kindly bought me, I took advantage of the sales (and in some cases a VAT freeze) to pick up a few items I needed.…

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Offa’s Dyke Equipment List

Just before Christmas I took the opportunity to have a look around a few outdoor and camping stores to put together a rough list of equipment that I would need for Offa’s Dyke in April.

I don’t think the list is particularly comprehensive – it was more a list of things that caught my eye, but if you can spot anything missing let me know!…

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The Tent Saga

Within a few minutes of posting “Help needed in choosing a hiking tent” to twitter a few weeks ago, a good friend of mine, who is emigrating, kindly offered to donate his 2 man North Face Tadpole tent to the cause.

The tent seemed ideal, all I need to do was head into London to collect it………

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Help needed in choosing a hiking / backpacking tent

What backpacking tent to choice is proving confusing

I don’t really know very much about tents – I have owned three over the years, but they were all pretty much impulse buys.

I know even less about backpacking / hiking / expedition tents – I am assuming that being light and compact is important, but beyond that I haven’t got a clue!

Hopefully that is where you come in! This is an open invitation for suggestions and recommendations on what hiking tent I should get for Offa’s Dyke.…

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Circular walk from Beddgelert

Circular walk from Beddgelert

This is a beautiful, enjoyable and not too strenious (well moderate) circular walk from Beddgelert. The walk goes along the exciting Pass of Aberglaslyn, then up the hill overlooking Beddgelert, before droping down sharply to the lake Llyn Dinas, and finally making it’s way back to Beddgelert, via the Sygun Copper Mine.

This walk gives an excellent taster to Snowdonia – part scenic gorge walk, part upland boggy moorland with glimpses of Wales’ mining heritage and with beautiful views across the valley to the mountains around Beddgelert. It is perfect to escape from the tourist trap of Beddgelert, or if you want to avoid the higher mountainous areas (due to weather or fatique!)…

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Where did the time go?

Subtitle – an Offa’s Dyke 4 MS Update

My dog looking out towards Snowdon

When I first announced our plans to walk Offa’s Dyke in aid of MS, back in March, it seemed such a long way away (over a year in fact). I had great plans – regular training walks, blogs about the best equipment to buy, interesting hours spent pouring over OS maps of the route….

Things started well – a trip to Snowdonia in June, Bodmin Moor in August, and back to Snowdonia in September… and then things went a little quiet…. to be honest I had kidded myself that I had ages, and I didn’t need to worry about the preparations.

Then it occurred to me… we are actually starting the walk in about 100 days time…. and we haven’t prepared anything…..

It was just the kick up the backside I think I needed!…

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“Map Addict” by Mike Parker

Map Addict - Mike Parker

Map Addict, by Mike Parker, is a enjoyable, often funny, well written, and well researched tour of all things map related.

A few of the final chapters are a little weak in comparison to the rest of the book, and I think the book could have done with some colour photos to bring them alive (some of the black and white ones aren’t very clear), but nonetheless it is well worth a read!…

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Mena Caravan & Camping Park – Bodmin, Cornwall

Mena Caravan & Camping Park – Bodmin, Cornwall

Mena Caravan & Camping Park is a lovely, very friendly, spacious and secluded camp site situated on a hill just to the South West of Bodmin, Cornwall.

I was quite lazy when choosing this camp site – I basically did a Google search of camp sites near Bodmin and picked one of the top results – and I was not disappointed!

Best points: friendly, spacious, great for dogs & local meat
Bad points: none (honest, I really can’t think of any!)…

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