Everesting Swain’s Lane

On Sunday 27th September at 7:43pm I climbed Swain’s Lane for the 125th time to finish an almost 22 hour effort to climb the equivalent height of Everest on a small, but steep hill in North London. Hatched as part of a wider plan to raise money for the charity Move (you can donate here),…

Norseman 2021

Norseman is a point-to-point triathlon in Norway that starts with a jump from a car ferry into a fjord and a 3.8km swim to shore, followed by a 180km cycle with ~3,500m of elevation and finishes with a 42km run up a mountain. The 250 general entries to the race are awarded on a ballot…

Swim around Omey Island 14/08/2020

Omey Island is a small island just off the West Coast of Ireland near a village called Claddaghduff where my dad is from. The island can be accessed by “road” when the tide is out and my family once had to abandon a car on the island and wade back to the mainland which was…

Swain’s Lane Everest Attempt 26/09/2020-27/09/2020

“FIENDISHLY SIMPLE, YET BRUTALLY HARD. EVERESTING IS THE MOST DIFFICULT CLIMBING CHALLENGE IN THE WORLD.” That is probably a bit of an exaggeration but when trying to come with ideas for fundraising it was something that struck me as being worthy of a few pounds for charity – click here for fundraising page. WHY? At the start…

Parque Patagonia

In November I spent three weeks volunteering in an organic vegetable garden in Parque Patagonia. The park is owned by the Tompkins Foundation and will eventually be donated to the Chilean state to form part of a larger national park. The garden provides vegetables to the restaurant in the park and the volunteer program not…

Salt Flat Tour, Uyuni – San Pedro

After getting down from Huayna Potosi and back to La Paz Wednesday lunchtime, I spent the afternoon re-organising my back pack which was a very slow job, mostly because my brain was broken after the hike. I grabbed some dinner in the hostel and jumped on an 8pm bus bound for Uyuni which arrived shortly…

La Paz – Death Road & Huayna Potosi 

I arrived to La Paz by bus from Cusco on Sunday at lunchtime and spent the afternoon organising activities for the next few days and catching up with Peter and his new travel buddy (my replacement) Paul who I’d bumped into randomly in the Wild Rover reception. They were on a night bus out of…

Salkantay Trek to Machu Pichu – Flying Solo

How to fit five days worth of walking and sight seeing into three days: 1) Go it alone, 2) Don’t take breaks, 3) Try to keep up with the locals on the uphills, 4) Pack more chocolate than you think you need – it still won’t be enough.  The famous Inca Trail to Machu Pichu…

Santa Cruz Trek, Huaraz, Peru

I’ve just spent four days and three nights in the Cordillera Blanca, a mountain range in Northern Peru. Eadaoin and I arrived to Huaraz by bus early last Thursday morning and after grabbing a few hours sleep on the hostel couches we headed out for breakfast and to plan our next movements. We intended to…

Mancora – Huanchaco – Casa Fresh

After leaving the Galapagos by plane last Friday we caught a night bus out of Guayaquil to cross the border into Peru. At 12.40am we were woken up at immigration and had to stand in a two hour queue to get our passports stamped (😴) before continuing our bus journey to Mancora. We were dropped…