@tourofengland #running #runtok #runningcommunity #outdoors #tourofengland #journey #tourism ♬ funky house – Close-Wu Journey journal A Day that was supposed to start between 2 flags and with a quiet handshake with Brathay’s head of fundraising was magnificently gatecrashed by Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Newcastle, who stopped for filming and who later in the morning gave…
Journey journal A whistle stop to Bletchley to update me after a previous visit there and made possible by Jill Hawkin’s arch negotiation skills – in which she swapped music a live performance notes with most charming gate porter of the year, Barney Jain. He was a must for the blog, in what turned out…
Journey journal Last minute packing – yesterday consumed with media appointments. I’m officially ‘on the road’ driven this week by my step daughter Charis. An early start for Higginson Marlow Parkrun and such a fantastic welcome there, with a posse of Chippenham Parkrun tourists in attendance and Brathay 10in10er, Rachel Ongs, pictured, also turning up…
22nd June 2024 Journal Journal An early start to get to Dunstable Downs parkrun where I was made very welcome by run director Trish. The route was lovely, not as up and down as it threatened to be though Trish looked aghast when I called it nearly flat. The Tree Cathedral at Whipsnade was a…
My Big Tour of England gets underway on 1st July – 13 days from now. Throughout the tour I will be eating anything and everything. That’s because I am: Trained as an ultrarunner to make the best of any situation. The distances I run can’t be sustained by gels and I have to be able…
(top pic, David Miller) It has certainly been a busy month. I followed up completion of this dark and mesmerising 200 mile race in 54hours and 19 minutes (for context that Tunnel would join Bath to Lake Windermere if continuous) and recklessly followed it up 3 weeks later with 100KM in the bright and…
I’m very excited to be building up to my Big TOE next year and a major part of that is being accepted to run the Brathay Challenges 10 in 10. Brathay Trust is one of two youth support and development charities that I am supporting with the 10 in 10 an amazing curtain raiser ahead…
What an adventure! The Line 300 was immensely deceptive, so much more in reality than it seemed when I signed up for it. Here’s the TLDR bit for anyone either with just a passing intertest or a short attention span. I attempted The Line 300 by Cockbain Events, a 328-mile journey, self-supported, carrying a pack,…
So, I got halfway through The Tunnel, which metaphorically and truthfully is a hard place to stop. I have had 2 meaningful DNFs before, at events I was determined to complete. The first was when horribly exposed to the arctic snowstorm in the wrong kit during the Lofoten Islands 100 mile, a race nearly all…
I actively enjoy ultra running. I got into the sport for the big point-to-point challenges, traversing vast landscapes on foot. I love routes that take me through river valleys, over mountain rocks or across sandy bays. I’m endlessly curious to see around the next corner. That’s not what I’m going to get in The…