Nature is definitely waking up. A queen wasp in the living room. Sleepy and gentle. (good job she was gentle as last year I had two allergic reactions to wasp stings which is a bit rude)

New long #ThamesPath diversion btwn Marlow & Henley on 14/15 March, 11/12 and 18/19 April while Marlow Bridge closed to walkers. @buckscouncil.bsky.social recommend route with traffic management on A4155 at Mill End due to no footway. Map 👇 www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/short-... @mymarlow.co.uk

Oooh! Frog spawn in our little pond. ❤️

Hegseth: "We are only four days into this and the results have been incredible." - Middle East engulfed in regional war - 11 countries attacked by Iran - Oil & gas prices skyrocketing - Strait of Hormuz now a conflict zone - Terrorism threat raised across the world - No sign of Iran regime collapse

While parts of the world blow each other up, getting outside for a chatty hilly 10k run in the Spring sunshine was a good MH break. But my garmin is being rude the past 3 days. Strained indeed. I'm just a bit tired. #ukrunchat

Apologies to @zoejardiniere.bsky.social for crossposting her tweets from the nasty place, but I felt this deserves airtime on bluesky because of how emphatically they prove the nasty, immoral, opportunistic politics of Reform.

Last long run (18 miles) before my 50km race. It seems that my legs are a bit cooked. 🤣 The canal and River Blackwater were lovely, though the Blackwater makes me sad as its blighted by the A331 for a good way. #OneSpecialThing - pretty primroses. And my favourite rude graffiti.

If you need a distraction... 25 soothing minutes from an estuary landscape in remote Essex with skylarks and dry reeds swaying in the breeze. Episode 116 - Sissing plantations in open country > bit.ly/LenCrop

A loop around the Isle of Sheppey. 16 miles. Starting in Queenborough, on the island, we were followed the England Coast Path. Since we came through this part of Kent more parts of the path had been added, so we wanted to take a look.

Slightly more adventurous 10k this morning than planned. Mud has obtained the consistency of shoe sucking level. I had to retrieve one that was pulled off. A few trees to hurdle and then a root felled me footballer dive style. Only pride injured. 🤣 4 weeks to my 50k. Egads.

My first Slow Worm of the year. Found this one in the garden. #Devon #UKReptiles

A recent find in a second-hand book shop. I look forward to the ending.

Leeds and Liverpool canal Day 5. Blackburn to Chorley. The end of 85 miles of walking. It seemed to take quite a while to escape Blackburn, looping around the south of the city. The houses grew fancier and the bobbing litter petered out. I said hello to many geese who hissed in return.

Leeds and Liverpool Canal Day 4. I waited until it was light before heading out from Burnley. Burnley Embankment is something to behold, one of the seven wonders of the waterways. As you might have noticed, I wasn't quite in the mood to appreciate it yesterday. Consider it now appreciated!

The first half of todays walk along the Leeds and Liverpool canal was lovely. The canal coiled around hills. I passed from Yorkshire into Lancashire. The sky was blue and the path in places, icy.

Leeds and Liverpool canal day 2. Keighley onwards. A relatively early start with an eye on breakfast near the Travelodge (affordable and friendly staff at that one). Alas, the cafe turned out to be filthy and the owner had grimy fingernails, so I walked on...

Sheltering from repeated heavy rain showers. Who thought hiking through the Pennines in Feb was a good idea? Bloody freezing. 😂 Still its not a bad place to shelter. (and you know I love it really)

Leeds and Liverpool canal Day 1. Woke up to wet snow. Excellent small adventuring weather. 😂 Stepping onto the towpath where I left it last summer, I found myself in the middle of a trail race. Runners pelted up and down. I wondered whether I should join them but instead offered encouragement.

An otter on the first day of this small adventure along the Leeds and Liverpool canal. @iwa-uk.bsky.social Up by Salt Mill, Saltaire with quite a little crowd watching. My third otter encounter along the #UKCanals. My heart sings.

Well this is an interesting start to my small adventure.

Somewhere, out there in a wood in Morgan County, Tennessee one of our co-founders is out for a long bimble. Go Damo go! @ultradamo.bsky.social #BM100

The #BM100 sheet has a 2026 tab now! - Not a primary source, and neither are most of its sources, WILL contain misinformation - Don't share screenshots, share the link, so people see corrections - Refresh the page manually even if it says it can do it automatically docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

After a brief memorial, laz lit the cigarette at 6:00am. The 2026 Barkley Marathons has begun. #BM100

Brimham Rocks is simply stunning today.

Headed 'up north' for a small adventure. Fields up here look like fields 'down south'. Anyone got a canoe?

Off on a small adventure (via visiting family). Only LNER in their wisdom have cut the number of carriages in half. Running at 120% of booked seats... I have a seat. Now they are warning people not to abuse staff. What a wonderful world we live in.

No it's not your imagination UK weather is getting wetter

Looking through old emails I found one from my daughter to Sainsburys age 10....

Mit unserem neuen Data Viewer machen wir unsere Untersuchungsergebnisse gebündelt auf einer interaktiven Karte sichtbar. Er beinhaltet Schneisen, Schadenspunkte, Wirkungsrichtungen & einen Filter/Datenbrowser für gezielte Selektionen und Auswertungen. ➡️ torkud.de/2026/02/08/d...

It's a long way away from Baltasound in 1940 though, which apparently had a streak of 198 days. This is from the official MIDAS dataset, although not sure how realistic it is!

Today's #OneSpecialThing during 18 miles of swamp running. Gorse flowers brightly glowing against the gloom.

Yesterday's walk was a Lewis Carroll themed walk. Ive run out of oomph for posts, so here have pictures. 😁

Guess where my walk is taking me today. (hint: its in Surrey)

(1) I always try to enter meetings in good faith, and so, I don't appreciate being misled by people hoping to keep me quiet. Only days after the Trustees of the Grange Estate assured me they would work to find a compromise, do they confirm that bulldozers will be entering the estate within weeks.

2/3 The river Bovey at Parke in full flow, leading to footpath closures and an increasingly eroded bank.

The swamps are getting swampier and everything getting churned up. Todays run more wading than running. Still the sun is out and here is todays running #OneSpecialThing. Bracket fungus on a tree stump in a seasonal pond.

#Metoffice yellow warnings ⚠️ for #rain/#snow and #ice in force over the next 36hrs #weatheraware www.metoffice.gov.uk

#FootIt 2026 is over. Thanks to the @footit.bsky.social crew for the inspiration & motivation. Challenge was to see or hear as many species of birds in January, all on foot from home (Topsham, Devon). I walked & ran 390km, taking 425,000 steps around the Exe Estuary. Total number of species = 107

Cowes to Yarmouth. A few flat easy miles to start. Picking up a just in case lunch (of a sort) we walked round Egypt Point to Gurnard Point, taking in fine views of the Solent. Life was good. At one point we tiptoed along an oh so slippery seawall. The warning sign did not lie.

I'm staying at a very strict hotel tonight.

@ramblers.org.uk thank you for your campaigning on this section of missing coastpath. Solidarity!

It was such a promising start this morning. Train to Portsmouth. Ferry to Ryde. Lunch outside.

Decided a short term motivator for these winter runs is to look for one thing special on each run. Today's was Turkeytail on a mossy log.

So much poo in our local waterways at present. :(

Who thought training for a spring 50k race was a good idea? Serious lack of motivation today. Metallica on loud helped. #StormChandra

Yesterday's (26th Jan) daily #sunshine totals from SYNOP observations. #Stornoway Airport was the sunniest location with 2.0 hours of #sun. https://www.roostweather.com/ukobs/dailysunshine_map.php?date=2026-01-26

A question that a student wanted to tackle today. It was nice to know that my mediocre running speed would make the 1st or 2nd in this race.

Storm Chandra has been named and will bring heavy rain to the UK this evening and tomorrow. But how is climate change influencing extreme events like this in the UK? www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/cli...