Author Archives

Jools

UK backpacker, striving for lightweight while body gets increasingly heavyweight. Completed all of the UK national trails while fitting in local day hikes and other multi-day trails both in the UK and overseas. Walked across mainland UK on five month 2500 mile 'Three Points of the Compass' hike in 2018

ditty bag

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- my gear

Three Points of the Compass takes a glance at the gear he carried on a recent walk across northern England on the Coast to Coast Path

Trail talk

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- the Moors

Three Points of the Compass enters the final part of a walk across northern England. The Coast to Coast climbs back up into the hills of the North York Moors, heading to Robin Hood's Bay.

National Trail

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- the Vale of Mowbray, the ‘flat bit’

Three Points of the Compass heads toward the least demanding part of the trail- a couple of day's hike across low lying agricultural farmland, prior to a final National Park on this two-hundred mile walk across northern England.

National Trail

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- the Dales

Three Points of the Compass continues his Coast to Coast. Leaving the Lake District behind to enter the Yorkshire Dales, the second of three National Parks on this two-hundred mile walk across northern England.

National Trail

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- the Lakes

Three Points of the Compass sets off on the Coast to Coast Path- backpacking across northern England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, taking in three National Parks en-route.

map measurer

Map measure of the month: a mystery opisometer

This is a simple and easy to use little instrument capable of just one thing- measuring a line. But who made it?

navigation

Trail talk: Ordnance Survey’s original Outdoor Leisure 33 and 34 maps

These now hard to find sheets were specially designed strip maps for Wainwright's famous Coast to Coast Walk.

Trail talk

Trail talk: Skye Trail- the Storr to Broadford

After a tough day on the Trotternish Ridge, Three Points of the Compass continues his hike on the Isle of Skye. Missing one of the most magical of natural phenomenon in the process!

map measurer

Map measure of the month: Morris’s ‘Patent Cartomètrè’

The Cartomètrè is a miniaturised metric version of the innovative mechanical measures invented by Englishman Edward Morris. Despite its modest dimensions, it had remarkable capability for its time.

Gear

Gear talk: a visit to Atom Packs

Three Points of the Compass was driving to Scotland to tackle the Skye Trail. An ideal opportunity to stop by the Atom Packs workshop deep in the Cumbrian fells, both to see what was going on, and get measured up for a custom pack.

Trail talk

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day eleven. Cold Ashton to Bath

Our final day- a walk through pastoral England, wide views, ancient battlefields and a racecourse ahead, before a final descent into an historic city, with it's Roman Baths and the architectural splendour of the Abbey.

Trail talk

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day ten. Old Sodbury to Cold Ashton (Pennsylvania)

Easier walking today with few hills. Crossing busy roads, a deer park, ancient strip lynchets and passing a hill fort where English history was redrawn by the establishment of new political and cultural boundaries.

Trail talk

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day nine. Wotton-under-Edge to Old Sodbury

Today took us first to one of the oldest houses in England, then on to the ramparts and ditches of the most impressive of hill forts on the Cotswold Way. Later, we would pass through parkland landscaped by Capability Brown in the mid-eighteenth century

Trail talk

Three Points of the Compass

Long Distance Trails, lightweight backpacking and gear, map measures and anything outdoorsy

Author Archives

Jools

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- my gear

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- the Moors

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- the Vale of Mowbray, the ‘flat bit’

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- the Dales

Trail talk: the Coast to Coast- the Lakes

Map measure of the month: a mystery opisometer

Trail talk: Ordnance Survey’s original Outdoor Leisure 33 and 34 maps

Trail talk: Skye Trail- the Storr to Broadford

Map measure of the month: Morris’s ‘Patent Cartomètrè’

Gear talk: a visit to Atom Packs

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day eleven. Cold Ashton to Bath

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day ten. Old Sodbury to Cold Ashton (Pennsylvania)

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day nine. Wotton-under-Edge to Old Sodbury

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day eight. Dursley to Wotton-under-Edge

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day seven. King’s Stanley to Dursley

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day six. Painswick to King’s Stanley

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day five. Birdlip to Painswick

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day four. Dowdeswell to Birdlip

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day three. Winchcombe to Dowdeswell

Trail talk: Cotswold Way- day two. Stanton to Winchcombe