RUMBLINGS…

It’s not every day a pike-bearing helmeted soldier walks straight out of the English Civil War into the Yorkshire Dales.

And it’s definitely not every Civil War soldier who travels the country armed with a pike, a sword and a GPS-enabled Blackberry phone!

Meet Malcolm Cray, aka The Pikeman, who’s walking from John O’Groats to Land’s End to raise funds for the charity Help or Heroes. He’s walking the entire route in the uniform of a Parliamentarian pikeman – which includes heavy chest and back armour, a weighty iron helmet, and rather authentic clothing, all of which weighs a ton… well, not a ton, but when he left Dunnett Head almost 40 days ago he was struggling under 80lb of gear.

His kit isn’t the usual mix of outdoor gear you might be familiar with. Take my word for it, walking in the sweltering heat we’ve had this week, bearing a burden like this, takes extraordinary commitment and resolve.
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This is Sierra Jane Manning, born on Monday, March 16. This is supposed to be a (rare, occasional) outdoor blog but I suppose her name is as good as an excuse as any!

The birth was perfect and very swift. As Sierra was two weeks overdue, Steph was due to be induced but there wasn’t even time for that; less than four hours after contractions began, Sierra was delivered in the induction suite before there’d even been chance to get to the labour room.

In fact, Sierra was very nearly born on the ward’s bathroom floor. Steph delivered with only the lightest gasp of gazanairre – there wasn’t time for anything such as proper pain killers. Thankfully she didn’t need stitches afterwards either. Mother and baby came home yesterday and are doing perfectly; Sierra’s feeding well. No doubt I’ll get a hunger for outdoorsy again soon but for now every thing’s family flavoured and it tastes great.

Sierra’s name, of course, refers to the Sierra Nevada in California, the “range of light”. Steph and I hiked there along the John Muir Trail a couple of years ago. It’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and a place that holds special memories. Sierra is a fairly popular name in the US – and it’s also a very beautiful name! Ron “Pathfinder” Strickland who I met on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2004 suggested it a few weeks ago during a Skype chat we had… to him we say a very grateful “thank you” for such a beautiful suggestion. We owe you a pork pie Ron – it’s on its way, also via Skype!

And congrats to the wags at TGO who correctly predicted that Sierra’s name might have a PCT connection – by the way, the fluffy rabbit’s great folks!

To everyone who’s sent messages and presents, Sierra says “thank you - see you at the bar!”

Morning all, I hope I’ve solved the spam probs and have re-opened the facility to post comments again. The only difference is thast you now have to register -  apologies for that, but it’s better than having a site overloaded with links to gambling sites. You can register by clicking the comments button at the foot of each blog entry, or in the Meta index at the foot of the right hand column. You should then be sent a login password and all will be well in the world. Thanks to everyone who got in touch while the problems were overcome. Now, sign the wild camp petition! (link to the right).  

Ever since I thru’ hiked North America’s 2653-mile Pacific Crest Trail in 2004, I’ve been itching to get another long distance route under my belt – or rather, beneath the soles of my trail shoes.

It’s been just a tad frustrating to come to the real-life realisation that I can’t just drop everything and fly off to the States again to hike, say, the 3100-mile Continental Divide as easily as I did the PCT. The PCT hike was a dream come true; right now I’ve other dreams to be living out – exciting ones, yes, but dreams that can’t be measured in miles.

So I’ve been paying more than a little attention to the Government’s proposal to increase our “rights” of access to the English and Welsh coastlines. Here, by-the-seaside-beside-the-sea, is a hiking challenge on our own doorstep that’s longer and more demanding – certainly in terms of the weather likely to be encountered! – than any of North America’s Triple Crown trails: imagine setting off to walk the entire UK coastline.

Marry a UK coastline walk with a Land’s End to John o’ Groats hike and a Cape Wrath to Dover epic and you’ve a trio of routes that should keep long distance backpackers busy for years.

I’ve outlined my proposal for such a UK Triple Crown elsewhere on my website. If we can get such a challenge recognised, and up and running, I reckon it’d be a worthy rival to the American triptych, one that doesn’t demand an environment-damaging flight across the pond; that doesn’t involve the frustration of making plans to hike in a foreign country; and one that you can nibble away at over several years if you can’t afford the time to hike one of the trails in one fell swoop.

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