There's a fair chance that when I'm not taking other people out on guided trips then I'm probably taking myself out on some mad trip somewhere. Over the years I've spend thousands of nights under the stars, traversing landscapes over long distances on foot (with the odd bike trip occasionally too). I love to travel light and far, carrying as little stuff as possible, which enables me to go relatively long distances in a day, anywhere between 25 and 40 miles. I almost always sleep outside under a tarp or bivvy and travel with everything I need with me in a load weighing 5-10kg depending on the trip. I live with the sun and am usually walking by sunrise, and won't stop until dark. People say there's something wrong with me (and they're probably right!), but I get my kicks out staring back deep into a landscape and seeing how far I have come under my own steam. There's just something that awakens in me, something primal that I feel when being out there in the wilderness all alone. Whether it's drinking glacial meltwater from a stream, navigating with compass in the fog, or searching for the best site to put my tarp after sunset, there is something so beautifully simple and primative about it all. Wake up. Walk. Sleep. Repeat.
