Summit and Beyond

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Summit and Beyond

Summit and Beyond offer mountain adventures with a different perspective. We run guided day hikes, multi-day wild camping retreats and navigation courses.

Our mission is to reconnect people with nature, build confidence, resilience and provide the skills to hike safely in the mountains. Message us for more details.

14/05/2022

⛰ Loop of Sacramental Cowardice ⛰

I named it that because Priest Hole is within the route. Although, any Priest who went to hide in this cave was no Coward because if found there is only one escape. You’ll know what I mean when you read the route description, link in my bio.

Click on ‘loops in the Lakes’ and the routes will pop up.

We started at Patterdale playing fields then made our way to brothers water.

Once past Brothers water we negotiated the cows by carrying the dog. The ascent up to priest hole cave is beautiful with water falls and dramatic looking mountain crags.

We stopped in Priest hole for 10 minutes to enjoy the views and just be in Dove Crag which feels pretty special.

Then came the gentle but cloudy ascent onto Fairfield summit. We bounced down Fairfield to Grisedale tarn and then followed that amazing coast to coast trail all the way back to Patterdale.

Massive thanks to for joining me on this loop. We shared some pretty exciting ideas and the near future is going to prove valuable for the folk following us and for us too.

12/05/2022

⛰ Loop of Giants ⛰

Distance - 38.7 km / 24 Miles
Ascent -1961 meters / 6433 ft
Difficulty - Extreme

Go to the link in my bio for the full route description.

This route is ideal for folk wanting a long sustained day hike or a long trail run.

My aim with these routes is to offer something different in the Lakedistrict. I have lived here for a number of years now and know the fells very well.

I have noticed most people go out to bag peaks or crush distance because it is trending. There is little focus on enjoying the areas, finding flow on good trails and keeping the experience fresh.

My mission is to offer routes that provide those fresh feeling experiences and provide the opportunity to explore different areas from a human perspective. I am asking people to leave their ego at the car park, put conquering hills and pushing human limits to one side and simply have fun on good trails.

There are a number of camping options on Loop of Giants which I am creating a separate post about.

Once this post is ready I will let you know where to find it.

02/05/2022

What to do on a Bank Holiday Monday?

The little one needs to do her homework and rest before back to school tomorrow. I have a route to write up and share with you guys, but most importantly I wanted to feel good about myself.

I try my hardest to make the hair and beard look neat but it’s difficult holding a mirror behind my head while using clippers, nevertheless I think I did an ok job 😁

I defiantly feel like I should treat my self to a trim at the barbers next time though.

A day for rest recovery and creativity.

I hope you all had a good bank holiday weekend. What did you get up to?

01/05/2022

I am predictable!

What do I want to do to celebrate surviving another year? Well! Go up a hill of course 😂

Dad made the journey up north in that beast of a car, I should have been cheeky and asked to drive it but he would have said no and I would have spent the rest of the day sulking so I didn’t ask.

We were originally going to go up Cat Bells but as you have probably seen on social media it was very busy. Therefore, I opted for a walk up Causey Pike.

Dad is 60 and still got it in him 💪 there’s hope for me then 😁 We had a lovely moment at the summit before making our way back down to the car.

We desired to go for a bru at George Fisher where the staff are lovely and made us feel welcome. Then we hit the road back home knowing the day had been a success because Isla fell asleep. Isla never falls asleep in the car 💪

After some fish and chips we watched tv and got an early night.

Such a lovely experience ❤️

30/04/2022

You may have seen the huge map of the Lake District on my wall in previous posts.

There is a good reason I put that map up 😁 I have been exploring the Lakes since 2016, before that I spent most of my time in North Wales and the Highlands but didn’t really spend too much time in Cumbria. Nevertheless, Somehow I ended up living in Cumbria. The Lake District captivated me and I love exploring the area.

In the past couple of years I started entertaining the Idea of trying some of the Lake District challenges. May be the wainwright loop 🤷‍♂️ I have been playing on the Bob Graham Round Route and we have started a recce of the Joss Naylor challenge route. last year I fast packed the Cumbria Way in 32 hours solo unsupported and a month after ran the Grand Tour of Sikiddaw 44miles round Skiddaw.

Nevertheless, as the years roll on I find my self less motivated by the challenges I see a number of folk doing and more motivated to be creative.

I don’t want to say too much right now but these photos were taken the other day while Mud and I were out linking trails and making sure the new route flows nicely.

I will be sure to share the GPX when it is ready.

29/04/2022

I returned home from my two day play time on the Cumbria Way and spent the evening leaning over the loo feeling dreadful and in pain, food intolerance to the max. 👈🏻 follow my story for updates on how I am working towards a pain free life using diet as my main medicine.

After a difficult night I had a sleep in and then remembered .rodriguez had said she was free to meet up that day.

I pulled my self together and went to meet Louisa. We hiked a nice loop up over Grisedale Pike from Braithwaite.

As usual the conversation with Louisa was inspiring, but the best thing is that I realised another one of my friends has moved to Cumbria 😁

There’s gonna be more adventures with .rodriguez for sure and I can’t wait.

I got home@inspired to start getting back to work on the route I started creating last year.

The creativity was flowing and the route is now a full loop on the map. It just needs to be tested now 😁

Exciting times.

28/04/2022

Cumbria Way to Keswick time on feet and doggy training.

Day 1 -20 miles
Day 2 - 10miles
It is time to start Catching up on the adventures of the past couple of weeks.

I needed to get out, there were a couple of reasons why but mostly I just wanted to be out and about.

The first reason is I have had a difficult few months getting used to living in my flat and been a solo Dad. Since Christmas I have been focused fully on Daddying and it was my turn for some play time.

Also Mud the Collie Dog joined us in January and he has had a roller coaster ride.

I didn’t plan on keeping Mud but there’s something about him that I have connected with. That connection is annoying because the past few months have been a Dog training mission and a half. I know I am the best version of myself in the hills so I figured that it was time to start giving Mud more of that too. Apart from a few heated arguments over why we can’t play with sheep Mud and I are beginning to flow much better.

My plan was to walk down the CW until I wanted to walk back home or another route caught my attention.

On route I met who is cycling to Lithuania 💪 top guy on an amazing journey

Then I bumped into Stu for a quick chat but no Stu said Hayley had gone rouge teaching kids how to run away to the hills with flammable liquid and tents 🤷‍♂️ apparently they call it D of E 😜

Mud and I stayed in Lingy Hut which sounded like it was going to take off with the wind.

In the morning my phone rang, which surprised me, it was a phone call about an important appointment. I had landed a phone appointment at 3pm that day.

Mud and I hit the trail into Keswick where I could have my appointment safe in signal and we popped by to see

Amazing packs and Dexter is 100% Home Boy from the Hudd so the walk to Keswick was well worth it 😁

Then Mud and I hopped on the bus back to Carlisle to prepare for our next days outing 🤙

29/03/2022

It was an absolute pleasure to spend the day guiding this Gentleman around the Coniston Fells.

The clag left all the views to the imagination and tested my navigation / conversation skills. After months of doing my own thing keeping an in-depth conversation flowing while following the contours and compass through clag that seemed to keep playing magic tricks on my eyes was a lot of fun.

We went to the Halifax Bomber crash site which I nearly walked past because the fog was so thick, hence the big smiles when we got there 😁 Then reading the plaque the smiles faded because it mmmmm the reality of the fear those young men must have felt comes into focus.

Then we stood on top of the Old Man of Coniston before looping round Dow Crag and back into the valley.

Our conversation gravitated around the trials life throws at us and how we cope with them. We agreed the best competing strategy is exactly what we were doing in that moment, walking in nature and sharing our experiences.

23/03/2022

A quick trot up High Pike with and Mud.

15/03/2022

Everybody meet Mud.

Isla, the daughter, and I went to meet Mud back in January with no intention of bringing him home.

Unfortunately, Mud was covered in mange and he smelled like he had just crawled out of a skunks A-hole. Also he had had no training what so ever.

Mud is 3.5 years old and was left in a yard for long periods of time. His previous keeper was affectionate towards Mud but the Doggy clearly hadn’t been trained or visited the vets.

Needless to say we brought him home, bathed him, took him to the vets and then spent the next few weeks dealing with a confused and anxious but lovely natured dog.

My aim is to take Mud to work with me but we have a long way to go before We are a seamless team. 3.5 years of bad habits take some effort to iron out.

Any way! I was wondering if you would like me to update you on Mud’s progress?

I can share how I am approaching his training to get him ready for work and what we get up to day to day alongside my usual Mountain Leading adventures….. what do you think?

07/03/2022

We move together like hunting tribesmen and that magic never leaves us.

It is true what they say. The lads you serve with become brothers 🔵🔴🔵

It doesn’t matter what happens in life on a personal level, we are always here for one another.

When my service was complete I left the Coldstream Guards thinking I was going to embark on some kind of civilian Rambo mission to change the world. I was going at it alone and wanted to prove I had what it takes to be successful as an individual.

I am sure I speak for most of the lads when I say that I lived with a deep set guilt for a long time after leaving. It is the similar kind of guilt we feel as parents. Even though as a Dad I do as much as I can to support my child’s development, I still beat my self down for all the mistakes I have made.

The only reason I felt guilty for leaving the Army is because I left the boys. I broke away from the pack and went rouge. It felt exhilarating at first until I realised that life in civi street is routine and the only way to find a similar level of excitement is to create my own opportunities. This is tough, because for years all my adventures were given to me and all I needed to do was turn up and let my training kick in. Keeping eyes on the man to my front and the man to my rear knowing they were doing the same for me brings a feeling of flow and precision.

Eventually I realised that it doesn’t matter how much distance I try put between the lads and I out here in civi street, or how much I push that guilt to the dark corners of my mind because the truth is our bond cannot be broken. We are trained to remain connected with one another through chaos. That flow and precision we experienced together is something men have been doing forever, it is built into our DNA and once tapped into it can’t be forgotten.

They are my brothers and with these fellas in my life I feel a sense of duty to live as well as I can. We push one another to keep working hard at life be better people, better leaders, better partners and parents.

I have learned to keep looking forward to the man in front and to the bloke to me rear. Even though we are live apart we still flow forward together.

05/03/2022

⛰Skiddaw⛰

Skiddaw stands at 931 meters / 3054 feet. Even though Skiddaw is one of England’s highest peaks it is also one of the most accessible summits to reach.

The main path to Skiddaw summit is one of the most developed in the Lake District and doesn’t leave much room for adventure.

Nevertheless, an approach from the east or the north makes the adventure a totally different experience.

Looping round and up onto Bakestall opens up the wild and remote feeling northern fells. Then the ascent of Skiddaw feels gradual until the summit.

It is nice to approach the summit from the north, hardly anyone ventures that way because it requires confident map reading skills. Usually when you reach the summit there are plenty of ‘main path’ (motorway) hikers, it is nice knowing we saw a different scene on Skiddaw compared to the majority. Although, today we were the only people at a very cold, damp and eerie summit.

Missing out the ‘motorway’ again we descended the steep slate slopes to Carlside before descending back into Keswick.

As we descended the clouds cleared and gifted us a beautiful view out to the west 🙏🏻

Address

Keswick
CA125DN

Website

http://www.summitandbeyond.co.uk/

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