Philippe Galland, Product Manager at brasher can't stay still at home!
Along with his wife Claire he set off to enjoy a quick break in the weather for a trot up the wonderful Grisedale valley, up to the Grisedale tarn and then onto St Sunday Crag.

From the summit it is all downhill back into Patterdale.
A pleasant 8-9 mile walk and a bit more than a 2,000ft ascent that can be done in around 4-5 hours depending on fitness levels...and how long you fancy stopping at Grisadale tarn!

"Unfortunately, the cloud level on St Sunday crag didn't allow us a great view over Ullswatr lake but we were in good spirits in the dense fog giving us the perfect opportunity to practise our compass navigation skills in preparation for winter."

If you would like to share any ideas or walks you have been on please let us know!

During October John Cole from Warmington will be continuing with his 1500km walk along the pilgrim paths from Le Puy-en-Velay in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain to raise funds for Katharine House Hospice in Banbury.

Earlier this year John started the route, walking the first 270km in 12 days. He will return to Spain in mid October to walk a further 476km and complete the route in March next year waling the remaining 790km through northern Spain to Santiago.

John will stay in hostels or refuges, established for the pilgrims and his 'pilgrims passport' which is supplied by the UK Confraternity of St James will be stamped at each night's stay along the route.

If you would like to support John you can find more information on www.justgiving.com/johncole.

Zoe Brookes, Marketing Manager at brasher decided to put the recently published brasher explorebook to the test whilst on holiday near Padstow, Cornwall last month.

Looking to enjoy a walk on the South West Coast Path the explorebook provided just that.
The linear walk was from Boscastle to Tintagel, nr Camelford.

Parking at Tintagel the hourly hopper bus was a great way to travel to Boscastle. Dog lovers, please be warned not every bus will take your pooch on the bus, it is at the driver's discretion. Luckily Benjie, Zoe's black labrador was allowed and she showed her appreciation by tipping the driver!

Boscastle, victim of the 2004 flash floods was a lovely village to start the route, with a low level river walk to enjoy before heading down the coast. The coastal line is very dramatic and Zoe was very lucky with the weather, enjoying great views. The route has lots of ascents and descents up on the cliffs but makes an interesting walk.
You cannot miss the "Ladies Window" a window like hole in the rock - an ideal photo opportunity as you can see!

The walk finishes in Tintagel, a great stop off to enjoy cream tea before heading back to your car.

A great walk enjoying the variety of woodland paths, field tracks and the South West Coastal Path for the return leg - check out the brasher explorebook, page 5 for the full walk description and map.

Zoe only has another 9 walks/bikes/scrambles to complete if she is going to try and test the remainder of the explorebook!

 

The Forestry Commision has linked up with The Kennel Club to design the first ever dog activity trail.

The one mile trail has been set up in Coatham Woods which is near Long Newton in Teeside and involves lots of activities such as beams, steps, hurdles, pipes and tunnels and makes a great change from our usual dog walking and is sure to excite our four legged friends!

The trail will help promote the Forestry Commision's Walk in The Woods campaign and Active Woods and is a great way to get involved in regular exercise.

 

 

 

Over the last couple of months we have been keeping you updated with the guys from Dale Studios, Dale, Ben, Andy, Owen and Oscar who were taking part in the Three Peaks Challenge to help raise funds for Macmillon Cancer Support.

After all of their hard training the day finally arrived as they took to the hills on Saturday 30th August. Dale sent us through the events of the day.

"After much anticipation team DS left Leicester at 6am and travelled to Ben Nevis. We had a good feed on route of bacon cobs, pasta, flapjacks and bananas.

We started Ben Nevis at 3.40pm-keeping a good pace all the way up, hitting the summit in 2½hrs. We ran/jogged most of the way down and got back to base in 1½ hours. Everything was going to plan.

We were all tired but still confident. It was a very hard climb and we were all feeling the burn- a few more bacon cobs and bananas before we tried to get our heads down on the way to Scafell.

The longest section of the drive was Scotland to Cumbria. Andy kept a steady pace and we got to the base of Scafell at 2.20am. With our head torches on we headed into the darkness. Visibility was down to 5m, the tracks were very hard to find and unfortunately we ventured off route. After consulting the map we took a bearing and headed back towards the path.

At this point Dale damaged his knee -he tried for 30mins to soldier on but was in a bad way and decided to stop. Dale made the decision that we had to carry on without him - we packed him in a survival bag and headed towards the summit. By this time it was cold, wet and the fog was setting in. We got to the summit a couple of hours being schedule, after taking a quick pic at the trig point we headed back down.

Dale had waited for it to get light and hobbled back to the car park. Andy drove us through the morning and we got to Pen Y Pass , the base of Snowdon at 12.30pm. With 3 hours to get up and down we got straight into it. Dale's knee was too bad to carry on so we were down to 3. We set off at a decent pace, with still hope of completing the challenge. It was raining in Wales but it kept us cooler. With a quick picture at the top we set off straight back down.

We got to the base with 17mins left, with at least an hour to get back to the car we realised we had no chance of making it in 24hours but kept up the pace regardless.

We finished in 24hrs and 53mins - we were all really gutted that we didn't make the 24hrs but proud with the effort we put in to raise over £10K for a great cause."

Well done to the guys for all their hard work and effort!

You can still donate online at www.justgiving.com and view all of their photos from the day on flickr.