Thoughts Who are green lanes for? Off-roaders have a legal right to drive on Byways Open to All Traffic. So ill-feeling towards them is a symptom of a wider problem.
Rides Cycling with Grandpa Spinning along the smooth gravel of the Peak District rail trails, three generations found our flow.
Walks The incident of the curious dog on the Thames Path A two-day family walk with an excitable pup. What could go wrong? We got our answer a couple of kilometres into the walk.
Rides Finding peace in the Galloway Forest Park We left fears, anxieties, work and chores far behind for a week exploring the forest around Glentrool.
Thoughts The landscape of private names Pig Path. Blue Gate. Muddy Path. The prosaic names I gave to my childhood landscape embodied a world that no map could ever properly capture.
Thoughts It’s time to set kids free from cars We’ve created a society where kids don't travel actively or independently, and it’s affecting their wellbeing.
Rides The dog trailer days We wanted to get our new puppy used to travelling by bike, so we hired a trailer. Spoiler alert: she loved it.
Thoughts The right to wild camp on Dartmoor: gone but not forgotten The outcome last week of a wealthy landowner’s high court case was sadly predictable: he’s stripped people of their legal right to camp on Dartmoor.
Walks As I walked out one midwinter morning One January morning I stepped out of my front door and didn’t return until the sun was setting and I’d walked 30km.
Rides Edgelands: neither here nor there I’m no lover of cities, yet I'm drawn to edgelands – those transitional spaces that are neither urban nor rural.
Walks White clouds in the Black Mountains We drove through thick fog for an hour before turning onto the mountain road. Was this it? Would the weather spoil our view?
Walks Walking has become a radical act Choose to walk and you're resisting pressure to conform and embracing a mode of transport that is free – in more ways than one.
Rides A week of Wiltshire byways Our leisurely exploration of this ancient landscape took us from the stones of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages to the concrete of the 1930s.
Rides Big country for an old man Racing the rain along the forest roads and quiet lanes of Galloway. (And hoping my family had saved me some biscuits.)
Rides Glorious Glentrool gravel Forest roads wound for miles across the hillsides – built for logging lorries but ideal for our needs. We'd found the perfect place for some family cycling.
Walks Walking behind a waterfall For a moment we are immersed in Sgwd-yr-Eira, the Falling of the Snow. The narrow path cocoons us between the waterfall and the rock.
Rides Elan Valley: the rough and the smooth Not every family rough-stuff expedition we attempt goes smoothly but an October ride in the Elan Valley proved to be a hit, despite the conditions.
Rides A ride through Dartmoor’s industrial past When a drive back from Cornwall took us past the start of the Granite Way in Okehampton, we stopped off for a ride with a unique perspective on Dartmoor.
Rides Swapping the car for the Camel Our largely car-free week in Cornwall showed what’s possible when people have access to good cycling infrastructure.
Rides A weekend in the forest Following a year in which Covid-19 had kept us close to home, a few days pedalling along tracks by the River Wye felt like a distant adventure.
Rides Return to Mortimer Forest It had been six months since we’d been to Mortimer Forest and it felt good to be back. Whenever we ride into the trees here we feel free.
Rides Riding further (for fruit) When the fruit farm’s website announced the ripening of the strawberries, we knew exactly where our family ride that Sunday would take us.
Walks Walking the South West Coast Path The adventure spanned 14 years, starting in Minehead when I was a teenager and finishing in Poole as I was about to become a parent.
Walks The first footprints in the snow Peering into the predawn gloom, we saw our street deep with snow. The hill beyond was obscured by cloud but we knew we’d soon be up there.
Thoughts Land access rights in England are wrong Around 92% of land in England is off-limits to the general public and where rights of way do exist, cyclists can only ride around 20% of them.