Favouritism….

Favouritism can be a fickle business. I can change my mind about my favourite mammal, amphibian or bird in an instant, so diverse are the triggers. Stoat, otter or beaver? Frog, toad or newt? It must be something to do with the cocktail of hormones that reconfigure the system when you’re engaging with nature. When […]

Pandemic pedalling….

Pandemic pedalling is an eye-opener. My rides have evolved into a whole new experience, multi-faceted and mind-expanding. Which is weird. I’m retired and, therefore, the new normal is the old normal for me. I ride when I like. But there has been a subtle change, a realisation that the time I have at my disposal […]

Beer talk….

“No, just look at it will you!  It’s at least a fifth smaller than the right one.  Hell, if my right bicep is Arnold Schwartzenegger the left’s Kylie Minogue.  My training must be wrong or I’m doing too many right handed undercuts or I’m a freak.  No, don’t laugh!”  Perry grins and takes a big […]

Lapwing….

Wrestling the binoculars from my bag, I hurried to focus, desperate not to miss this treat.  But I needn’t have worried, my target was stationary, head held high, plume erect and elegant. A posing lapwing. I was overcome by a sense of relief. Eight years ago I’d spotted one nesting in this corner of the Peak […]

Just write….

In the end, if you want to write, you have to just, well, write. When the early morning urge to hurry breakfast in order to attack an empty page has long departed, it is an agonising process reawakening that determination to winnow out from the recesses of the mind a pithy phrase or an original […]

National Parks – National Tragedy?

Bear with me because I’ve come over all John Lennon. Imagine for a moment there are no national parks. Imagine what it would be like if the access we hold dear was a pipe dream, if the ecology of our wild areas wasn’t protected, if unimpeded development was taking bites out of the Peak District, […]

The peak district adventure files

The Peak District is special is one of those trite statements, a bit meaningless and fluffy. Special how? In habitat terms? Because its cream teas match those of Devon? Because it’s popular? More special than the Lakes? Less special than the Cairngorms? Which leaves me relying on personal experience to flesh out a meaningless platitude. […]

Does Sport England understand climbing and mountaineering?

The Peak Adventure Sports Alliance campaigns on behalf of outdoor pursuits enthusiasts and is determined to impress upon Central Government and the National Park Authority just how crucial adventure sports are both to the economic viability of the Peak District and the health of the nation.     Many column inches have been devoted to […]

Mountain biking – going downhill, but in a good way….

When someone as steeped in the world of mountain biking as Andy Waterman suggests that the sport is in  decline, it’s got to be worth taking seriously and, in an article entitled ‘When Did it all Start to go Downhill for Mountain Biking‘ in the Independent, that’s exactly what he suggests. However, the picture he […]

Sometimes I hate mountain bikers….

  It’s not just any old frost that excites the committed mountain biker.  It really needs to be three days of minus four frigidity, weather that will prompt cataclysmic predictions from the Daily Express of thousands of deep frozen grannies and empty shelves at the supermarket.  Only then can we be sure the bogs will […]

Johnny Dawes interview….

Johnny in full flow explaining the motivations behind and the challenges of writing his superb autobiography.

Peak seasons….

Sheffield Moors Partnership Access and Recreation Focus Group Meeting, June 26

The Sheffield Moors Partnership has brought together all the bodies who manage moorland on the fringes of Sheffield.  The National Trust, RSPB, Peak District National Park Authority, Sheffield Wildlife Trust and others have joined forces to see how much they can synchronise their management policies across some of the most popular and important moorland in […]

Pat adrift in a sea of rock….