
Isle of White Coastline. Source: Wikimedia Commons by Barbara Murdter.
If someone asked you where the best place to go walking or hiking in the British countryside is, whereabouts would you think of? In the UK we have lots of beautiful countryside and we are certainly spoilt for choice. The first place that I would think of would be one of our National Parks, probably the
Lake District, or the
Highlands of Scotland. For countryside which is less rugged, possibly the White Peak or the South Downs would come to mind. One place that would probably not spring to mind is the Isle of Wight. Yet the
Isle of Wight walking festival is advertised as “The UK’s Largest Walking Festival.” As of 2010, it is in its twelfth year and with around 300 walks over two weeks there is certainly plenty of opportunities to do some walking. Indeed, some 24,500 people took part in the 2009 festival!
The Island has over 500 miles of well-maintained and signposted footpaths around 30 miles of Heritage Coastline, while more than half of the Island is recognised as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
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Google is constantly seeking new information which it likes to share with the online world. One of the best examples of this is mapping. Satellite images are available for all to see on Google Earth. Google Maps not only features maps and aerial views, but for many parts of the world we can see what it looks like at street level with Google Street View. An immeasurable number of miles of roads in western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the USA have been photographed at road level. This is done using cars with 360 degree cameras mounted on the roof. The Google cars simply drive around filming our roads and streets.
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Gorple Rocks on Black Moor in the Pennines.
It was a chilly winters morning in December when I was at a loose end in Burnley, East Lancashire. I could have mooched around the town centre shops attempting to procure some Christmas presents. No thanks. A spot of
walking in the bleak
Pennine moors to the south east of the town was a much better prospect. So I headed up to the picturesque little village of
Hurstwood on the edge of the moors, since the map showed that there was a car park.
The plan was to walk past Hurstwood reservoir and join the Pennine Bridleway, following it eastwards across Hameldon Moor up to Black Moor. Then I would make my way back to Hurstwood across Worsthorne Moor past Cant Clough reservoir. It pretty much went to plan.
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Details of improvements being made to the 2010 iROC™ race are beginning to emerge as the organisers prepare for another extravaganza of adventure racing in the Durham Dales at the end of May.

Mountian Biking at iROC Photo credit: © Ryan Edy / iROC™
There was universally superb feedback from competitors after the 2009 iroc event, with the fell race route being described as “worthy of a British Championship course” by elated competitors and the MTB Enduro circuit being described as “the toughest Enduro circuit in the UK” by many (rather tired) competitors.
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Worcestershire Beacon in the Malvern Hills
At CheapTents.com we are always interested to hear from walkers, climbers and campers about what they have been doing and where they have been enjoying the outdoors. For example, Freddy Phillips recently got in touch with details about his wild camping expeditions. In this post, Steve Dempster praises his favourite walking destination: The Malvern Hills.
The Malvern Hills
– The Heart Of England’s Best Feature!
The Malvern Hills straddle the border between Worcestershire and Herefordshire, running in an almost perfect North-South line for some nine miles. Though of relatively modest height – The Worcestershire Beacon is just under 1,400 feet – and virtually surrounded by the town of Malvern and villages such as Colwall, there is a surprising feeling of remoteness once the ascent begins.
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Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team have put together a very cute little video to promote the sale of “Mountain Rescue Teddies” as part of their fund raising efforts. The video which is posted on You Tube is embedded below. It shows the teddy mountain rescue team embark on a heroic mountain rescue typical of the type of rescue the real Wasdale team embark upon in real life.
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A red kite By Sue Trantor, courtesy of rspbimages.com
Being out in the countryside hiking, camping and climbing often gives us the opportunity to see wildlife. A most impressive sight is that of a bird of prey circling high above, in the clear blue sky, sightings such as this have at times been rare, but thanks to the hard work of individuals and societies such as the RSPB something is being done to conserve an important factor in our ecology.
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The Khumbu Icefall at Everest Base Camp is the destination for Khumbu teams 1,2 & 3. Source: Flickr by mckaysavage
The Royal Navy Khumbu Challenge is currently under way in the Nepal Himalaya. This is particularly special expedition, since it is the inaugural expedition for Project Fortitude. Project Fortitude is a Royal Navy / Royal Marines initiative which will help service personnel who have been physically injured or who are suffering from psychological injuries. Through Adventure Training, Sport and Challenging Activities Project Fortitude can bring “Opportunity, Challenge, Focus, and Belonging” to injured personnel, which will help with long term rehabilitation. The Khumbu Challenge was officially launched last year by Prince Harry.
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Today marks the first birthday of the CheapTents.com blog! During this time we have published lots of gear reviews and interviews with outdoor professionals plus news and advice about camping, hiking, equipment and outdoor activities.
Best Ever Outdoor, Hiking, Climbing and Gear Posts!
In order to celebrate this achievement we have compiled a list of our favourite blog posts from the year. Some our posts are informative, providing useful information about gear, outdoor pursuits and travel. Some posts provide ideas about where to go hiking, climbing, cycling and mountain biking. The interviews with outdoors professionals provide an exciting incite into the adventures of people who take outdoors sports to the extreme and/or travel to the remotest parts of the world. And some posts are about things that are just plain daft! This brings me nicely onto…
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