author photo

About the Author

From bicycle touring to backpacking, watercolour painting to clay modelling, the exploration journal captures my journey through many different interests and travel adventures.

I love to find those out of the way places that whisk you away from the concerns of everyday life. Whether this is by wading through an overgrown river or trying new paint techniques is up to you!

Bivouacking at Rutland Water

I have fond memories from when I was little of going on holiday with my parents and turning up at small campsites in a field, pitching the tents and eventually meeting the campsite owner who would happily greet us, check us in and then disappear. It seems that kind of campsite is gradually dying off. Every year I try to…

Backpacking Norway: Hallingskeid to Østerbø

Norway has been on my list to visit for quite a long time, ever since cycling through Sweden and deciding I like Scandinavian countries. A friend also wanted to go and after much debate we settled on flying to Oslo and then catching the Oslo-Bergan train up into the mountains for a short wild camping and backpacking trip in August…

Packrafting the Wye: 1. Glasbury to Preston

One Thursday back in July 2024, I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to pack my packraft and camping gear into the car and head to the Wye Valley for a weekend of packrafting down the River Wye. Spending all day in a kayak can be a bit much, so I planned manageable distances: Day 1 was Glasbury to Locksters Pool (12…

Bivouacking in the Dark Peak

I have always wanted to regularly get away on weekend camping trips throughout the year but have never found it easy living in Warwick. There aren’t any close mountains, and it takes a bit more planning than I usually have time for to get to a wild area. Then in early September an upcoming heatwave was announced and I had…

Wild camping in the Brecon Beacons

For the August bankholiday I decided to take a friend on his first multiday wild camping trip. He was on holiday in Cornwall the week before so we agreed to meet halfway in Abergavenny and do three days of walking in the Brecon Beacons. During the previous week I planned out everything needed for a successful backpacking trip: parking locations,…

Nature Reserve Spotlight: Bempton Cliffs

I have now been to Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire three separate times. And each time the spectacle of thousands of birds nesting on the 100m high cliffs amazes me. The cliffs are a guaranteed place to see at least eight species you may struggle to find elsewhere in England. I have loved Puffins ever since I was little. There was…

Wild Camping on the West Highland Way

I completed walking the West Highland Way in Scotland, from 29th April to 7th May 2023. I had planned to use the double bank holiday for a walking trip for some time and eventually settled on Scotland, as it is before midge season and the route is about the right length for roughly 9 days of walking. I was not…

Kayaks and Canoes vs Inflatable Kayaks and Packrafts

My bicycle tour from Romania to the UK followed Eurovelo 6 along some of Europe’s major rivers, the Danube, Rhine and Loire. I frequently passed people going up and down the river in kayaks and one night spotted a group camping on one of the islands on the Danube. Ever since then I have dreamed of doing a similar trip,…