3 Amazing Things that happened this week.

My world has been improved this week by the following three things...

1. Ariana Huffington takes her meetings while hiking! 

Tim Ferriss' podcast chat with Arian Huffington has been an absolute highlight of my week. She is a truly extraordinary woman whose achievements are remarkable. Not the least of which is the fact that she has started having "hiking meetings" - scheduling meetings whilst she hikes, whether on the phone or in person. 

You can download or listen live to the podcast here. 

2. 9 Life lessons to make you laugh and learn.

If you don't know what to do with your existence, look no further. I really enjoyed this short speech from Australian comedian, Tim Minchin. It is full of pearls of wisdom wrapped up in a good dose of humour. Watch the video below, courtesy of Goalcast.

3. Knitting 'Knockers' for Kenyan Breast Cancer Survivors

I was really quite touched by this story, illustrating the capacity of the human mind for resourcefulness and compassion. A group of breast cancer survivors in Kenya is knitting prostheses for women who have been affected by the disease.

Check out the video here care of the BBC.

I feel the knee, the knee for speed.

Int he last couple of weeks I had 10 "therapy sessions" on my left knee. I haven’t run for a period of 10 months and I have struggled to deal mentally with my inability to go on a long, brain-cleansing runs across the fields. My normal pattern results in knee pain flaring up on the left side of the knee after almost exactly 2km, irrespective of the terrain.  

I used to talk about it a fair bit on this blog until I began to bore myself.

In the course of this year I have seen 5 doctors; 

• The first of which (private) suggested an arthroscopy to look into it (priced up at a cheeky 4 grand, so I thought I might wait a bit).
• The second (NHS) refused to look at the CD of my MRI scan because "it might put a virus" on his PC. Then said he couldn't help anyway.
• The third (NHS) also refused to look at the MRI but told me I should do something other than running and that he couldn't help me unless I couldn't walk.
• The fourth (abroad) suggested Orthokine therapy, and told me to look it up on the internet when I screwed my face in total incomprehension.
• The fifth (abroad) suggested electro / magnet / laser therapy followed by ACP injections (similar to orthokine in that the blood is removed, jiggled about, made all kinda magical and injected into the knee to stimulate cartilage growth.  

I decided to go with the last one because it afforded the possibility of alleviating pain through a course of electro / magnet / laser therapy prior to any expensive injections (ACP). Also it made me feel like I was James Bond in the hands of a super-villain.

Having completed these 10 sessions (the bare minimum) on Saturday morning, I flew back with hope in my heart. This morning I went for a gym session in which I attempted to run further than I have in the best part of a year. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

I ran 4km on the treadmill, with a minimal gradient to make it feel a little more natural. It is not quite the most I have done as there have been some false dawns this year but I stopped myself just to not stress the cartilage and I have felt no pain all day. Although I am well beyond expecting miracles, this evening I do feel positive.

Running on a trail is altogether a different impact than the metronomic strike of a heavily cushioned foot on a moving carpet, so I will give it a good few runs in the gym before attempting anything outside. 

I am so, so far away from the goal (dream?) of running an ultra that I outlined in my goals for the year but I mustn't grumble. I have been fortunate that this injury has not prevented me tramping up a few hills in 2017 - although the descent has not always been comfortable! 

Right, I am boring myself again... now I promise not to talk about my knee for a while.

And the winner is... Me, whichever way I look at it!

I am nearing the end of a 12 day trip in which I have ignored my usual routines, including fresh air and exercise.  

Then again it is half term so these things are allowed. As a family, we have decamped to the city of Belgrade, to work, to see friends and family, and on a personal note to have some therapy on my knee in the hope of running again. 

In this maelstrom of activity; the catching up, the meetings, the blur of lights, the restaurants, lunch time beers and late nights, I have also largely ignored this blog. I plead forgiveness from myself for neglecting that which often keeps me happy and healthy. 

But a change is as good as a rest and this week I found out I have been shortlisted for the Go Outdoors Best Outdoor Blog, as voted by Go Outdoors Customers. I am delighted just to think that someone might enjoy and be inspired by reading my blog.

...if I thought my blog inspired even just a handful of people...

I have recently been doing some crowdsourcing, listening to the reasons why people don’t go out camping in the wild (article to follow soon) and most “excuses" tend to be around comfort or children.  

Over the last 12 months I have re-acquainted myself with wild places. I have also taken my 5/6 year old daughter out wild camping in summer and autumn, paddling on rivers and on short walks in the mountains. This is not because either of us is super human. Emma is a girl who never showed any propensity towards these things. She is no natural sportswoman, she has no particular love of discomfort, she has only recently started distancing herself from an unequivocal love of pink things. 

Like all children, however, she is curious. And curiosity is like a fire, the flames must be fanned..  

I sense that many people want to try things like camping in the wild - there are after all more and more communities springing up on Facebook aimed at emboldening the meek to go out and enjoy a simpler, more adventurous life, even if just for one night under the stars.  

Getting outside and existing in a slightly more analog way is not difficult, does not have to be particularly uncomfortable and it is possible with children. I would be delighted to win this Go Outdoors Best Blog Award, but if I thought that my blog had inspired even just a handful of people to get outside or to introduce the simplicity, beauty and health of nature to their kin it would surpass any award or prize. 

Check out the others for inspiration

Here, just for good measure, are links to the other nominees, all of whom, I am sure, are not blogging for awards (although they are nice) but for the joy, excitement and wellbeing that the outdoors offers them, their friends and family. 

Camping with Style

The Helpful Hiker

Get Out With The Kids

Views from an Urban Lake

Munro Moonwalker

Cairngorm Wanderer

The Outdoor Dad

Paul Kirtley's Blog

Splodz Blogz

Do I make any money from this blog?

Last weekend I was given an award by the Outdoor Writers & Photographers Guild. It was a great honour and I am delighted that my blog has been recognised as something which promotes the outdoors and inspires others to get outside.

That is after all, one thing I would like it to do. 

It has been just over a year since I started to write this thing in earnest and any form of encouragement, from awards to a friendly comment from wife, is very welcome.

Yes, but do you make any money?

The other day on Twitter someone asked me if I make money from the Armchair Mountaineer. Although I have been asked to write a couple of articles and I make a little trickle of cash from affiliate links, any revenue this web site brings me is very much in the "beer money” category.

But I am ok with this. For now. It doesn't mean I am not serious about it but I recognise that I must earn my stripes, I must grow my following and I must build something that can be monetised  through a receptive and engaged audience, gear reviews or perhaps simply volume of traffic.

I didn’t start out with a curated plan as to how I would earn from it, but I always had an idea to write a book about my love of the outdoors and its role in my life re-design. It is a blessing that I am not in a hurry. It is a blessing that I have other means of income and it is also a blessing that this blog is as much about inspiring myself, and others like me, as it might one day be about making money. 

The outdoor industry; this "business sector”, for want of a better phrase, is not renowned for its millionaires. But I have been struck, in this year of re-designing my life, that I have seldom come across a fellowship of friendlier, more helpful people. The outdoor community is by far the richest I have known in terms of health and spirit.

Here's to another few months of blogging, for love, not money. 

3 Amazing Things That Happened This Week Courtesy of Radio 4

Was this week less great than last week. Nope. Did I have less time than previous weeks for discovering things that amaze me. Yes. So here is a reduced list, all of which I discovered through BBC Radio 4. 

1) Robert Macfarlane on Radio 4

There is never time when I don't want to listen to Robert Macfarlane. This week he shared some of his favourite words with Michael Rosen an dDr Laura Wright, on Radio 4. 

Over the past 10 years, Macfarlane has been gathering a 'word-hoard' of thousands of terms for nature, landscape and weather, in the hope of preserving, enriching and diversifying our language for the living world.

If you don't, you should definitely follow Robert on Twitter where he shares a "word of the day" on.. erm... a daily basis (obvs.). 

2) How Much Water Does it Take to Make a Pair of Jeans?

About 10,000 gallons? After a quick Google, it appears there is nothing new in this staggering data, but it is new to me. My wife mentioned she had heard something on Radio 4 this week in which this subject was discussed. She was amazed. I was amazed. 

Might just have to repair my old jeans. Here is more on the subject and a more recent BBC article on water consumption.

3) Jeremy the 'Lefty' snail has died.

This story comes courtesy of the Today programme. The death of a snail is not amazing. I am pretty sure I kill 50 a year just by walking around in my back yard at night. But Jeremy was no ordinary snail. Jeremy, described as "one in a million", had a left-coiling shell and had been a major news story when he was looking for a mate.

Having finally produced 170 offspring (all with right-coiling shells) Jeremy popped his clogs this week. To be fair, one child is hard enough at times. 

Here is the story from the University of Nottingham.

MicroAdventure on the Lincolnshire Coast [Video]

There is nothing as liberating as not caring if your knees are dirty and it is a form a freedom which is so easily attainable for young an old.

At home I wash my hands and I prepare food with a huge array of clean utensils on various chopping boards. We have devices for all sorts of things; to crush and shave and squeeze and slice, to crack, to grind, to store, to core, for peel or rind.

In the wild I use one fork for everything. I drop it in the earth, sand or grass and I pick it up. I may dab a bit of water on it (if I am not rationing it) but as often as not I end up with some crunchy grains in my food. If I light a fire my hands are sooty as are the sausages. I put things down in the grass, I blow dirt off the bread, I eat with my hands and lick my filthy fingers, I share a spoon and I re-use my cup. I wipe my hands on my dirty top. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

In the latter scenario I don’t complain. In fact my 6 year old doesn’t complain that her morning hot chocolate tastes a little of last night's baked beans. She doesn’t complain that she has to wee in the grass or that her shoe is filled with sand. 

• Read about 5 Easy Family MicroAdventures

There is nothing as liberating as not caring if your knees are dirty. It is a taste of freedom. 

This weekend I took my daughter out for another microadventure; her second wild camp. On Friday we jumped in the car straight after school and headed up to Lincolnshire to see my parents and then hooked up with Dan for a night on the wild east coast. 

Here is what happened: 

With thanks to our Adventure Mentor, Dan, for his research.

5 Amazing Things That happened This week

Routines maketh man. It's Two weeks in a row that I publish this post. does it make it a "thing"? Perhaps. 

I do realise the potential for hyperbole - something which is becoming increasingly irritating to the modern online reader. I would warn people against entitling their articles in this way however I will stick with it because there will be "amazing things" in these posts. Can there be degrees of amazing? I think so. 

1. Natural Health Service!

Fortunately I am well aware of the benefits of fresh air and exercise to help my mental health but it is nice to see it written in mainstream media and with increasing pressure for it be prescribed.

Here are two articles I have read this week extolling the medicinal values of nature and getting outside... and one I published a while ago.

• Natural health service: wildlife volunteers get mental health boost.
• What's the ultimate way to defy depression, disease and early death? Exercise
• Reasons Why the Outdoors is Good for your Health

As a volunteer for The Wildlife Trusts I can heartily recommend it and I sincerely hope others will follow suit.

2. "Maybe it was because I was five feet tall, or I was a little blonde girl..."

“... but I remember that clearly — and it didn’t feel good”. This was the reaction when Caroline Gleich said she wanted to complete the “Chuting Gallery”, 90 extremely difficult and dangerous ski mountaineering lines across Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, from the cult backcountry guidebook; The Chuting Gallery.

"Follow Through" is the story of her amazing achievement, who inspired her, the losses along the way and listening to the right people.

3. Rucksack Magazine

I appreciate that this magazine has been around for a short while but it was this week that I "discovered" it. Here is a high quality "online journal and printed bi-annual magazine" which portrays the wild, and adventures, in a most stylish fashion. There are some amazing photos with a sort of haunting quality, even when looking at small details, that is reminiscent of the paintings of Daniel Crawshaw. I assume this I a policy of theirs... and I love it.

Check out rucksack Magazine here. 

4. Feel Part of a Community with Twitter Chats

Occasionally I take part in a Twitter Chat; a conversation, usually based around a hashtag that takes place on Twitter at an hour appointed by the organiser. Anyone can organise it, anyone can take part. It is quite a nice way to chat with those who share a similar interest, for example I might do one for outdoor or travel bloggers, when I can. It is a nice way to learn a little and often just to talk shop - that favourite of British pastimes. 

Anyway, this week I came across this great little article by @VicAdvisor listing Twitter Chats for travel bloggers and it looks like it could be a very useful resource to enable people to "join the conversation" and feel they are part of a community.

5. Forays in Foraging

Having collected sloes a few days before and then frozen them on Sunday night we started the process of making sloe gin.  

"That isn't amazing", I hear you say. Bah... you're probably right, but this is pretty good: Some more boozy foraging ideas from Ordnance Survey, courtesy of @CraftInvaders. 

Access Denied - There is no climbing some mountains [Video]

I am late with this blog post because I have spent the last week in Mallorca doing a lot less than I normally would, which in itself is quite positive for mind and body.  

As I hinted at in a recent blog post I was able to find a little time to explore the wilder parts of the island, walking part of the GR 221 and here is a short video I made on the section from Port de Sóller to Tossals.

As always, before going away, I started researching the high points, interesting walks and areas of nature on the island. I had never been there before and,  although I am way too old to party, I am not too old to climb a hill, rock or jump in a kayak.

I had half an idea to climb to the highest point in order to get, what I imagine would be, the most spectacular views but it turns out that the highest mountain in Mallorca is entirely closed to the public because it is a military base. 

Photo by Av Antoni Sureda

It reminded me that last month I was having to find an alternative route whilst hiking in Vojvodina, in Serbia. On that occasion my friend and I encountered a military facility and there was no going around it. It also got me clicking around the internet (avoiding work) and I came across a mountain that has been closed to the public for nearly 60 years and is about to hold a re-opening ceremony.

Mount Umunhum (Um, to the locals) was closed to the public since it was used as a radar surveillance post and subsequently "due to hazardous materials and unsafe, partially demolished structures from the former Air Force station”.

Mount Umunhum from the air.

Mount Umunhum is the fourth-highest peak in California's Santa Cruz Mountains, and actually has quite an interesting and varied history, from Native Americans to the nearby quicksilver mines during the Gold Rush. During the Cold War the US Government procured it to build the Almaden Air Force Station, an early warning radar station that functioned from 1957 to 1980. Since it was closed to the public much has changed in the local area, not the least the “creation” of nearby Silicon Valley.

Whilst its history means Mount Um is far from what you might describe as wilderness, it is an interesting story nevertheless.

10 Mountains you will never climb

Access remains, of course, a hot topic in the world of outdoor enthusiasts all over the world, from the hills the UK to the Sacred Kingdom of Bhutan. Some of it is environmental, such as nesting birds, and some of it is down to landowners asserting their rights. Rights that you would imagine can be fought for… but there are some mountains that you will never climb. So this week we published a list of the 10 Mountains You Will Need Climb (Probably). Enjoy!

Summer Road Trip 2017 - Walking In Zlatibor [Video]

Zlatibor is a mountainous region of pine forests and rolling meadows in western Serbia. Famed locally for its health benefits and spread over an area of about 300 square kilometres it provides a truly different environment for hiking.

The resort of Zlatibor is not in itself beautiful but offers plenty of accommodation as is a great base to explore this spectacular countryside. We stayed in the Mona Hotel.

We chose to double back on ourselves to spend a couple of nights here which gave me the chance to have a tramp in a kind of landscape which someone pointed out to me looks not unlike Tibet or Mongolia. Although it doesn't reach heights beyond 1496 metres (Tornik; the height peak).

Here is a video I shot early one morning, profiting from the soft glow of the morning sun which turns the grasslands a rich golden colour. As I mention in the video information is tricky to come by for any longer walking but I have put a few links below as well a information on other places of interest in the vicinity.

Hike details: This walk was around an 11km roundtrip, from Zlatibor resort to the top of a mountain called Crni Vrh, which is 1177 metres above sea level, so a total ascent of around 35 metres. 

Hiking Trails in Zlatibor region

I will do some more research and attempt to put together a better resource for hiking trails in the Zlatibor region but for the time being the bets place seems to be to follow what others have tracked.

• Best Hiking Trails in Zlatibor on Wikiloc
• Zlatibor Hiking Trails on Staze i Bogaze
• 25 Zlatibor Walking Routes on Map My Walk

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

What else can you do?

Zlatibor is not far from other areas of interest that I have spoken about such as the Tara National Park, which affords much more rugged mountainous terrain, but if you want to mix up your trip with some non-physical activities here are my top four:

1. Sirogojno: An Open-air Museum

A 30 minute drive from Zlatibor resort is the old village of Sirogojno. This perfectly preserved display of traditional Zlatibor living (largely 19th century although the neighbouring church dates from the mid eighteenth century) is essentially and open-air museum. 

View fullsize

2. Šargan Eight: Enjoy an Old Narrow Guage Railway

Šarganska Osmica is an old narrow gauge railway that traces a figure of eight in the mountains. Built in 1925 it is a spectacular ride as well as seriously feat of engineering. When we stopped in this area a few days ago we stayed in Mokra Gora, which is just over 30 minutes down the road from Zlatibor and the main stop on this train line.

View fullsize

3. Stopića Cave

Between Zlatibor resort and Sirogojno is Stopića Cave. The cave entrance is 18 metres high and 35 metres wide with bats flitting about near the entrance. Its is made up of a number of large halls and a spectacular waterfall. The highlight of this vast chasm is a series of pools which have formed in a staircase-like cascade, which at some time of year can be filled with water. Th deepest of these is seven metres. Our experience of this is that you will be pushed to join a tour but it is not compulsory, especially given the fact that it is in Serbian! Once you have your ticket you can just walk in.

View fullsize

4. Drvengrad: a Living film set

Also known as Kustendorf, this is essentially a fake village built by Emir Kusturica (for his film Life is a Miracle) in a traditional style with timber framed buildings, restaurants a theatre and of course holiday lets. Every year it hosts the Kustendorf Film and Music Festival as well s other events and you will notice that each street bears an interesting name - below is my favourite I spotted.

View fullsize