Where have I been?

Hi everyone,

You’re probably wondering where the hell I’ve been and, honestly, I’m wondering the same. I feel like I stepped off a helter-skelter in May and ended up in October. I have at least two of these emails in the drafts folder that never made it out. Summer has been so busy. Once Ten Tors was wrapped up, I was off on a trip a month – except this year all of my trips seem to have been back to back with eachother, which is kind of convenient and kind of mental in equal measures.

Adventures

So, where to start… In June I went to Switzerland. I walked the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt. Which was great, except I was a few weeks too early for the season, did almost zero planning and only took a bivvy bag. This was fine until I ran out of food, had to hitch around a section and ended up coming over a pass face to face with a large cornice. I’ve got three blog posts drafted out telling the story. It really was a classic ‘and then… and then… and THEN….’ (Tiny snippet here.)

The reason I was in Switzerland in the first place was to take part in this year’s 100% Women Record. A group of 80 of us from around the world climbed a 4000m peak, making the largest all-female rope team ever (don’t worry, we were in separate smaller rope teams, all walking together). It was a huge PR stunt, of course, but actually a really great atmosphere. It was also the best thing ever to show up to a five star hotel having spent a week in a bivvy bag with no food. It was my first ever stay in a five star and my ‘room’ was about the size of my house.

You can actually read about that! My blog post and my actual commission for MPora.

Then immediately, I went from Heathrow to Conwy (via an unexpected night in Crewe thanks to train delays) and did the Welsh 3000s to meet up with Team Sidetracked in Llanberis. Let’s break that down a little. I have often wondered about doing the Welsh 3000s via train and bus, because it’s a big linear route with annoying parking. Looking at the map, the Carneddau ridge sort of extends all the way to Conwy Mountain. And let me tell you: it was fantastic. My favourite parts were the bits no one ever does. Probably assisted by the Carneddau being completely in cloud. Finally making it up Elidir Fawr, after writing so much about it, was lovely too.

(One of the quirks of writing for a travel company is you often find yourself writing about places you’ve never been - doing enough research that you feel like you’ve been there, but never actually touching it.)

Anyway, I got a bus from Nant Peris into Llanberis, bought the now-infamous curry and Adventure Cucumber and met up with Team Sidetracked and Trash Free Trails. The weirdness of working online is that you can have colleagues you’ve never met. It was great to finally meet Emily Tyson and Alex Roddie. Alex has been a Twitter friend for like five years, but I feel like we’re actually allowed to be friends now we’ve met for real! We bivvied on top of Snowdon for the Solstice and then walked to the seaside, doing litter picks along the way. Again, so much to say about this, blog post incoming, but I’ll leave you in suspense because this email is already going to be a monster.

And that was just June…

In July I went to the US Embassy in London, with a heck tonne of paperwork and got my US passport. I can still barely believe it. This is pretty important (read the full story here) for me to be able to walk the John Muir Trail in 2023. Short story: I was born in the US, left when I was 2 and have to enter the US on a US passport because I am a citizen, despite having a British passport.

In an act of pure decadence, I then went back to Switzerland again for work - this time based in Interlaken. We had three full days of cramming every possible adventure activity they could throw at us. That included via ferrata, hiking, kayaking, SUP, canyoning, white water rafting, zip lining on a mountain, swimming… Basically spent a lot of time getting wet and laughing. It’s just such a cool area too. I saw the Eiger for the first time which, unlike the Matterhorn, whispered ‘climb me’. Around the corner, we drove past the Reichenbach Falls where Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty fought. Lauterbrunnen valley is allegedly Tolkien’s inspiration for Rivendell vale.

I had a big shock with canyoning - I was psyched, thought it would be easy and then proceeded to nearly drown because the water was so cold. It was nice to have a go at SUP again in the daylight (long story…) and all the rest was great, with a fantastic group of writers. Special shout out to Texan tourist Nemo who we accidentally adopted as group mascot.

For the curious, here is my Telegraph piece from that trip. It’s not my normal style, or the angle I pitched but the editing process was very interesting.

Having learnt my lesson from June, I then had one spare day to visit my brother before heading off on my next assignment: test cycling the new Rebellion Way route in Norfolk with Cycling UK. You might have noticed Cycling UK have been launching a couple of off-road routes a year. This is the latest one: some 370km in Norfolk, in a big loop from Norwich, designed for beginner bikepackers.

I’ve never done much cycling journalism, despite having spent entire months of my life cycle touring. And it’s something I’d like to get a bit more into. This was a very relaxed and informal way to get started with that. Relaxation courtesy of Stef at Pannier - the hot tub at the first night’s glamp-site was exactly what I needed.

You can read my piece for the Independent here and play Where’s Emily? in all the Cycling UK media about the Rebellion Way. I made it into the guidebook too.

And finally…

Then I’ve also recently got back from the Lakes. A complete washout in Borrowdale - and a shock to realise I’ve been going to that youth hostel for a decade now. When little Emily went there on her first uni weekend away (with a sleeping bag because she didn’t understand what these hostel things were) she had no idea…

I went to the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild Big Weekend in Grange-over-Sands. It was a really lovely weekend, I met some very interesting people and caught up with some good friends. Plus stole rubber ducks from canoes while paddling on the river and tried my hand a watercolours (line and wash). David Bellamy made it look so easy and I was feeling like I could definitely do it until I put brush to paper. (Have a look at his work.)

Also, it amazes me that there are almost no people my age in the OWPG. It is such a useful professional resource - where are you all?

Writing

Other than all the things I’ve already shared, it’s been the usual projects for me. I’ve spent a lot of time on Sidetracked. Volume 25 is just going to print now and before that I was covering for Alex while he ran across the Alps. You know, as you do. I’ve been working on lots of gear reviews and gear guides. The postmen must be really fed up with me at this stage. But I haven’t done much blogging at all.

This is definitely going to change (I have a plan now, not just resolve) in the new year. The biggest update is that the blog page now has infinite scroll, so you don’t need to endlessly press the back button to read my older posts. Yay! In fairness, I have done a bit. I’ve written about the JMT, refuted PowerTraveller customer services, running Couch to 5k, a Haute Route kit list, guidebooks, Breithorn and rambled about why I write fiction (which sort of explains why I haven’t blogged much this year).

I am so close to the final draft of my book (middle grade fantasy). My stay in Borrowdale was mostly to lock myself away and finish it. But my Indie commission (and an unnecessary amount to hoovering) slowed me down. I’m nearly there. It’s hard to set aside the time to just write with all the distractions of work and life. But I’m going to do it, somehow.

This summer has really felt like everything has got in the way of everything. I’ve had some great times - not all in this email - but it’s just one thing after the next. With a little more breathing time in between it might have all been more enjoyable. But we live and learn eh?

Oh, and sort of on the work front, I did my NNAS Tutor Award so I can teach NNAS navigation courses. Part of me thinking about running nav courses on Dartmoor (especially night nav).

Other Things

Well, my other things have mostly consisted of dealing with my house. I had a kitchen painting party and the bright baby-blue walls are now a peaceful white. I FINALLY have a bed in my bedroom after over a year. Sure there are still holes in the flooring but we're getting there! Most things involve hammers, scrapers, screwdrivers and drills. I’m nearly at the point where I can rip the bath out to make a drying room instead. Priorities.

After a long, hot summer, I am so glad that we’re back to Dartmoor rain and fog and gloom. There’s nothing like it.

Friends, well two in particular, have been trying to get me into Terry Pratchett. I avoided Discworld as a child because I didn’t like the covers. They are… well, they’re fine. They’re entertaining but they don’t seem to have that structure and symmetry that I like in a story. There are some I simply can’t get into (vampires) and others I rather like (Night Watch, printing press one). But it really does feel like most of the appreciation is based on the novelty of history happening afresh in a fantasy setting. Maybe I’ll change my mind, I’m only 5 books in…

I’ve also read the first PathFinder book, having loved Angie Sage’s Septimus Heap series. It’s an interesting idea, taking characters you grew up with and having them as 21 year olds in a new series with a new protagonist. But I did like it.

Anyway, enough of that. I’ve taken up quite enough of your time and ought to go and cook some dinner. In an attempt to make this letter more regular, I’ll be writing to you on the first Sunday of each month from now on. That way I’m less likely to forget and a physical date is harder to ignore.

Hope you’ve had a lovely summer and speak to you soon,

Emily