Always take a compass

Well there we have it, 2014 is (almost) over and done with and all that's left is to do now is to watch Jools Holland's Hootenanny on BBC 2 - if I can stay awake that long!

So, 2014.  What a year - moving house and a new arrival to the family.
The birth of our daughter, Isabelle, has been a huge change for both of us; it's made us (well me!) less selfish and given us something to nurture, support and love in a way that neither of us had expected or could understand before having her.  It's been seriously tough at points but pretty bloody amazing all told and we've started taking her out walking with us (the Old Man of Storr was her first real mountain, what a place to start) and next year have some camping planned already!

Izzy has given Donna the inspiration to set up her own photography business, IsabelleFearne.com, which is doing great things already - who knows what the future will hold there.

As for walking, mountaineering and all that's outdoors there&#…

Training walk #3 - 20 miles on the Ox Drove Way

Continuing from my last post (read it here - Training Walk #2) on our training for the 53 mile / 24 hour "Crosses" walk in July 2015 we'd decided on and planned a 20 mile circular route in the mid Hampshire countryside, on parts of the Oxdrove Way and utilising 20 miles of the 24 mile off-road cycle route mapped out by Hampshire County Council (link to their PDF route here).

Walk Stats
Distance - 20.4 miles
Average speed - 2.74mph
Total time - 7hrs 24mins
Altitude gain - 1725ft
OS Map - Explorer (1:25k) 132 - Winchester, New Alresford and East Meon
GPX file from the route (recorded via Viewranger) can be downloaded by clicking herePDF route card of the walk can be downloaded by clicking here We had baby sitters lined up in the form of Donna's parents who were staying for the week so planned to set off early, by 7am,  to make the most of the daylight and had allowed around 9 hours for the walk based on a rough average of 2…

It wasn't a planned walk but we decided to take advantage of the cold snap that we'd had overnight so headed up to Old Winchester Hill (nr Warnford, Hampshire) for a short family walk..... that turned out to be slightly longer than planned!

The walk was a great excuse to get some of the winter kit out again (Scarpa Charmoz Pro GTX, Rab Vapour Rise Guide pants, Montane Prism jacket) and also to try out our new child carrier - the Deuter Kid Comfort 3.

Arriving at the Old Winchester Hill car par at around 10am we were just going to walk to the hill fort and back (a walk of around 2 miles) but decided on a circular route that followed short sections of the South Downs Way and Monarch's Way.

Walk stats 
Distance - 4.04 miles
Average speed - 2.65 mph
Total time - 1hr 31mins
Altitude gain - 526ft
GPX file from the route (recorded via Viewranger) can be downloaded by clicking herePDF route card of the walk can be downloaded by clicking here The route starts from the car park and h…