Hiking

Getting out in nature is perhaps the best thing on this planet. I don’t think anything makes me happier. As I get older, this constant desire to be outside just gets stronger and stronger.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my share of outdoor dramas. Of times where I’ve regretted every minute of the stupid decisions myself and friends have made. Until afterwards of course, when these times become great stories.

The majority of my greatest adventures had been with Aberystwyth Caving Club until this year; we’d been all of the Wales, the Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District, the Lake District, the Mendips. But this year has been about doing it solo (or making new friends on the other side of the world to drag up mountains).

The interest in hiking simply comes from a love of nature. A more recently found love of trail running is a natural progression from that, I suppose. I think part of the burning desire to get out in the mountains has been pushed by the fact that it is more of a challenge here; that access to mountains is often restricted, that the mountains here become randomly inaccessible due to rain or, y’know, the fact that they are erupting… and the unfortunate truth that everything is about making money in Indonesia, so natural tourism resources such as mountains do often become a business.

So, that’s where a large part of the motivation to record all these ventures has come from: wanting to get out in to the wild as much as possible!