Close to Home Archive

A mid-summer sea kayak micro adventure along the north coast of Penwith.

A local riding and paddling diary from the post-full-lockdown days of June. As the spring wildflowers fade and the dust turns to the mud of the summer, a period of relative peace and quiet prior to the full opening of the tourist industry.

Spring in Cornwall; lockdown cycling as an opportunity to slow down and appreciate just how special this little corner of the world is.

It’s been a month and I probably have enough material for another spell of idle rambling… and with work understandably quiet, it’s not like I have an excuse for not finding the time.  For someone with a history of depression, being able to get out for a ride during an extended spell of fine weather has undoubtedly been key to maintaining my wellbeing during this period. Like a very many people I suspect, I have …

Cornish lockdown riding diaries; time for reflection & reconnecting with my local area – a spiritual place with a deep connection to the ages.

A quick mid-winter coastal campout on the Big fat Dummy to make the most of a scarce spell of fine weather.

2-day bikepacking weekender around Dartmoor National Park. 120km loop featuring open moorland, steep wooded valleys, river crossings.. and some hike-a-bike.

A weekend in north Wales with the Rough Stuff Fellowship, in honour of the centenary of Wayfarer’s snow-bound crossing of the Berwyn Mountains.

The town I live in has been, and still is, the butt of many jokes within Cornwall. With the collapse of the tin mining industry its fortunes declined dramatically and it became ripe fodder for jokes around the perceived lack of ‘sophistication’ of the heart of west Cornwall. It is a poor area, walk inland a couple of km from the wealth on the coast and you’ll find one of the most deprived areas of …

On reaching the mighty age of six my brother and I were given a small secondhand mono tape deck. It was my first exposure to music independence and, despite being extremely basic, was something I found completely marvellous. Along with it came a ‘ripped’ cassette with only a hand scrawled ‘various’ on the paper insert which turned out to mean ‘something of a mishmash of stuff’. The reason I mention it is that this post …

Part two of a week spent exploring the tracks and trails of Dumfries & Galloway in the company of friends.

Part one of a week spent exploring the tracks and trails of Dumfries & Galloway in the company of friends.

I recently caught up with @whileoutriding for a couple of days/nights exploring the trails of southern Dorset on two wheels with an emphasis on great pub and cafe stops, and a good opportunity to do some more bag testing. It’s a part of the world in which I’d not done any riding at all despite it being not much more than ‘just up the road’ (about 4hrs drive). A good time was had. The area seems …

Do you remember as a kid you had, or might have had, those sticky rubber creepy crawlies you could fling at a window and watch them slowly creep their way down… this post is kind of one of those, entirely pointless with the exception that  the rubber toy is just a bunch of photos and the window is the internet. They might stick and work as some sort of mini-adventure inspiration… or they might end …

A super bikepacking weekender / mini-adventure from Minehead home to Cornwall, via Exmoor, Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor.