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Longboiwalks, Manchester (2026)

20/05/2024

Sandstone Trail 2 dayer! 🥾🌄🚜

After a difficult couple of weeks, I spent the weekend out with the lads catching a tan and mooching 34 miles from Frodsham to Whitchurch along the Sandstone Trail.

As someone who grew up on the other side of the county, where the Cheshire Plain meets the Peaks, I've always subconsciously regarded West Cheshire as some sort of ambiguous flatland that never warranted exploring. It has forever been more tempting to head eastwards into the Peak District, rather than the farmland plain to the west.

This weekend was a good opportunity to change that, and walk north to south through the whole county on a well-signposted route. To it's absolute credit - West Cheshire is bloody gorgeous. It's a perfect embodiment of that classic postcard image of Britain we love to romanticise; quaint and lush and green. Thatch roofed houses. Country lanes. Freshly toiled farmland and cheerful, grazing livestock. Senselessly posh small little villages filled with senselessly posh little people. Trees. Lager. 🇬🇧

The absolute highlight was the first half of our second day. Setting off from Tarporley, we rolled over a retinue of local hills, passing Beeston Castle and over Bulkeley Hill, Rawhead, Bickerton Hill, and Kitty Stone. In the blazing heat, walking along sand-lined paths and looking out through the bright blue haze at the hills on the distant horizon, it all starts to make sense.

When William Blake described the landscape of the British Isles as a "green and pleasant land", he wasn't talking about Warrington. I'm almost certain he was talking about the Sandstone Trail. ✍️

31/03/2024

Hiking season is back, and I'm in the hills ✌️

13/08/2023

The Gallows Pole / Cragg Vale Coiners walk 🪙

In bleak pre-industrial 1760s Yorkshire, a remote gang of coin counterfeiters quietly enacted the largest case of fraud ever undertaken on the British Isles. Led by the extravagant "King" David Hartley, the Cragg Vale Coiners clipped the edges of gold guineas, smelted the clippings down into counterfeit coins, and discreetly placed them back into circulation. In the years they operated, the 80 strong gang were thought to have produced the modern day equivalent of £490 million worth of replica coins. It shrank the UK economy some 9% and threatened to seriously destabilise the entire thing.

I have been personally obsessed with King David and the Cragg Vale Coiners for a few months now, in no small part thanks to The Gallows Pole - a historical novel and recent BBC miniseries about the gang's operations. A few weeks ago I ordered an accompanying map to the book, produced in collaboration with the author and a local cartographer, . It details the actual locations used by the gang - including their base of operations, homes, and hideouts, and I've been itching for a good weekend to get out there and see it all for myself. 👀

The day was sensationally moody in just the way you'd want for a day in the Yorkshire hills. It rained near constantly and was profoundly muddy. It was perfect. The sheer ruggedness and remoteness of the landscape is itself important - the fact that the gang operated quietly in the absolute middle of nowhere was a large contributing factor to their success. It made for a great bit of exploring and retracing the gang's steps. I finished with a lovely craft pint in Hebden Bridge before catching the train back to MCR. Perfect Sunday!👌

09/07/2023

TMB day 11: Montagne de Charlanoz to Les Houches 🏁

(Note: I'm writing this from Manchester. I've been back for a week and am very much an actual bed.)

We awoke to the sun casting a soft orange glow over Mont Blanc and the Aiguille du Midi. Today was our final day on the trail, and later we would walk through the finishing arch in Les Houches. We had a quick breakfast and started packing up. Wild camping is semi-legal around Chamonix as long as you're off by 09:00 and take your rubbish with you. Fair enough. 🏕️

Marmots screamed from the hills and the first hiking groups of the day crossed our path shortly before we finished packing up. Canadians, French, a few Italians. After a week and a half of practice, my "bonjour" was on point and I tried some *VERY* basic conversations in French with everyone who passed. 🗣️

We set off towards Le Brévent with little water, and searched for some near an out of season ski lift. We found none, so Greg and Alex agreed to ration theirs with me on the explicit condition that I didn't chug it all. Cowards.

We climbed back into the snowy peaks and meandered our way across rock faces and more ladders, making good progress as we did. An old Chinese man wanted to practice his English with us, but the only phrase he knew was "very good".

How are you?
Very good.
What do you think of these views?
Very good.
Yeah they're great. See you later!
Very good.
10/10 best conversation of my life. 🔥💯👌

We crossed the summit and head back down the other side towards a tourist station. We bought Powerades and tried to rehydrate. Again, we looked a little out of place. Here were civilised jetsetters who had ridden cable cars up from Chamonix. And there we were, sunbaked and dehydrated, stinking of 11 days on the trail. Civilisation was nigh. 🌇

We set off on a winding footpath down from the mountains. It fell for hours through alpine forests, and past weatherworn stone monuments. By the time we reached the arch at Les Houches, we were thoroughly knackered.

We had finished the Tour du Mont Blanc. Hundreds of miles, 3 countries, and more elevation climbed than Everest. I needed some orange juice and a poo. 🍊💩

30/06/2023

TMB day 10: Tré-Le-Champ to Montagne de Charlanoz 🏕️

The day broke and a herd of Americans left the campsite loudly. In their wake, sleepy heads poked out from tents across the Auberge la Boerne camping fields. International eyes met each other. Brits looked at Irish, looked at Italians, looked at Poles, looked at Latvians, looked at Argentinians. All of us were tired - but ready for a scenic, albeit complicated, day on the TMB.

Stage 10 featured two variantes - both are perilous, but lead to allegedly some of the best scenery of the whole trip. Our mothers raised no quitters, so we decided to do both. 🦵

Calum departed, his time with us short but sweet. Myself, Greg, and Alex immediately embarked on the first variante - the "passage délicat" and the infamous ladder section of the TMB. The ladders were simple, but the exposure to the sheer cliff face was a touch daunting. 🪜

We flew up the second variante to Lac Blanc, a glacial alpine lake that vaguely resembles that snow level from Super Mario 64. Instead of pixelated penguins, we found ourselves confronted with a freshly washed horde of day trippers. Many people had taken a cable car directly up from Chamonix and made the short walk to the lake. We stuck out, stinking of a solid week and a half of trail living. Our skin tanned and bitten. Our clothes humming of multiple wears and rough washes in campsite sinks. It was an unexpected reminder that we were closing back in on proper civilisation.

We soaked in the lake for a short while, and walked another two hours to Refuge La Flégère. We had to wait for the sun to get lower before we set about finding our wild camping spot. We charged our phones at the refuge and sank a glass of the Vin au Jour for €5. The lady serving must have taken pity, and threw us some unsold sandwiches for free. Red wine, a sandwich, and a view across the valley to Mont Blanc. Not a bad use of €5. 🍷🥪🏔️

The Refuge closed and we walked up the trail. I made eye contact with a Chamois and we set up camp on some flat(ish) ground high in the mountains. The moon was high and so were spirits. We had one day left.

29/06/2023

TMB day 9: La Peuty to Tré-Le-Champ 🇫🇷

The Swiss leg of the tour had featured some of the most luscious and sweeping scenery we had encountered, but the time was nigh to get ourselves over the hills and back into France.

This leg would be much easier than yesterday - although we still had to tackle 1000+ metres of ascent to reach Col de Balme and the Swiss / French border. We started by weaving through a meandering uphill zig-zag of forest paths, and stopped only briefly to complain about the searing heat with some passing Americans. "My grandfather used to walk this way to school" joked one. 👴

Before long the forest cleared and the landscape changed. We found the furthermost frontiers of the forest but forged on farther. High green fields, resplendent with newly blossoming flowers of the alpine spring, stretched as far as the eye could see. We walked for another hour until the hilltop levelled out and before us stretched the vast expanse of the Chamonix valley. In the far distance to the left, the Aiguille du Midi and Mont Blanc stood. To the right, the Montagne de la Flegére and le Brevent. It is not a view that mere words or pictures can ever do justice. As Robert Lock Graham Irving wrote in 1938; "If that view does not thrill you, you are better away from the Alps". Too right, lad. 👌

We scored a coffee and a brownie from a refuge at the peak that perfectly straddles the Swiss / French border. One side of the bar favours neutrality, the other surrender. Both sides love cheese and coexist in perfect harmony. 🧀

For the rest of the day we crossed a slightly smaller hill, which we noted was still taller than any mountain summit in the UK. The elevation really do be wild out here. Then we bounded down into the French hamlet of Tré-Le-Champ. To our delight, we quickly figured out that you can perfectly sing the name of the hamlet to the tune of All Night Long by Lionel Richie. 🎵

It was our final night with Calum. We laughed and sang and ate and I drank an entire litre of Strawberry Yop and was almost sick. It was another incredible day on the TMB. We had two days left.

28/06/2023

TMB day 8: Champex to La Peuty 🏞️

Cometh the hour, cometh the mountain. The Tour du Mont Blanc is a lot of things, but one thing it isn't is consistent. Over it's 250+ year lifetime, the route has constantly evolved. Hundreds of years of footfall has carved "variante" footpaths into the mountainscape, which detour from the "official" route and off to exciting alternate places that are harder to reach, but yield bigger rewards. 👀

The route through Fenetre d'Arpette is one such variante. It's an alternative version of what is traditionally stage 8 of the tour, a daunting mountain pass that takes you up to the imposing Trient Glacier on high slopes of the massif. At 2,665 metres, it is roughly twice the altitude of the UK's tallest mountain (Ben Nevis).

In previous days on the trail, people had spoken of the Fenetre d'Arpette variante with a stunned mixture of fear and awe. Most said it was too high, that the snow hadn't melted and that it couldn't be passed safely. We reckoned it was worth a go. 🦵

The day was scorching hot and the climb was unforgiving, but with one step after another step, we slowly advanced towards the pass. I am typically very good on ascents - but this one was something else. I struggled, panting and sweating my way up the rocks as the sun bore down from above. We reached deep snow in the higher reaches, and carefully crossed it by squinting through reflected glare shining up at us. ⛄

The view from the top was entirely worth it. The pass straddles these two enormous glacial valleys that take hours to crosson foot, and it's impossible not to be humbled by the sheer scale of the Trient Glacier before you. It's a truly monstrous landscape of ice and rock, and marked the highest altitude I have personally every walked to.

Was it sketchy? Very. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Going off the beaten path is absolutely worth it.

26/06/2023

TMB day 7: La Fouly to Champex 🌄

On paper, this was set to be the easiest and most serene day of the overall Tour du Mont Blanc. It was a day of pure, unadulterated cliffside pine forests and picturesque swiss villages. It also marked the northernmost point of the tour, before we turned south and spent our final few days returning to Chamonix.

We set out from La Fouly relatively early, having wished a keen and spritely hiker from Chester well on his mission to run the rest of the tour in 2 days before his flight back to the UK. He had ditched his friends, and reckoned he could move faster alone. God speed, you mad, mad bastard 🙌

The big draw for the day came half way through, when we stopped in Praz-de-Fort for a coffee and met up with who was thankfully joining the trek for a few days. Calum is not unlike the rarest of Pokémon - only emerging for occasional encounters but incredibly exciting on the odd chances you do get to see them. He also lives in France full time so we immediately thrust our translation responsibilities upon him. 🗣️

We carried on the day up through a woodland path, marvelling at the sheer scale of the forest and overall splendid Swiss scenery until we reached the tiny town of Champex. We took out a small mortgage for a spot on the campsite, and then took out a slightly-less-small-mortgage for some essentials at the local shop. Switzerland, as it turns out, is very expensive. Then we missed down to the lake for a few local sunset beers to round off the day. All in all it was a very very good. 👌

25/06/2023

TMB day 5: Les Contamines to Tronchey ⛈️

The funny thing about luck, is that eventually it runs out. We had enjoyed 4 generously bountiful days of alpine weather, with only a scattering of showers on the first day of the walk. Sadly, that lucky streak had to end. Jake was leaving, and the weather was turning.

The staff at Rifugio Elizabetta has spoken about the coming storm, and so too had some fellow campers at Camping Hobo. Now the weather forecast was clear and there was no avoiding it - a severe thunderstorm was nigh. ⚡

The Tour du Mont Blanc isn't easy, and it comes with risks. Avalanches routinely kill people out here. Mont Blanc itself claims the lives of about 100 hikers each year. Even as recently as last week, a woman died on the route when a snow bridge collapsed under her, and she plummeted into the freezing alpine river below.

I am stubborn, and always have been stubborn. My mum still occasionally makes a point to remind me "You're a Bosson, and all Bossons are stubborn". When faced with an imminent thunderstorm, on an already dangerous walk at altitude, with metal hiking poles clasped in each hand, being stubborn could prove fatal. We reluctantly agreed to mitigate some risk, and skip some of the walk. 😤

The morning broke and we said goodbye to Jake, who sadly had to catch a bus and return to normality. Then myself, Greg, and Alex trekked some 8k uphill to the Tronchey campsite as quickly as possible, hoping to pitch before the weather got too bad. We managed to get there early enough to pitch before the worst of it started, and spent the day cowering in our tents and waiting for night to fall.

There were miles to make up the next day. 🦶

23/06/2023

TMB day 4: Rifugio Elizabetta to Courmayeur 🏞️

We woke up in our sweaty bunk and descended from the attic of the Rifugio. Sadly, it was Jake's last full day with us. For breakfast the staff served us a traditional Italian fare - dried bread and butter, fruit, and blueberry tarts. "That s**t was straight fire" I told one of them, who had literally no idea what I was trying to communicate. 🙃

We set off down the glacial valley, and stopped to admire a marmot who had poked it's head out of some rocks. What odd creatures. After some walking, we turned off the beaten path - opting for an optional variante of the traditional TMB route. It took us high into the ridgeline encompassing the valley, and into some of the best views we had come across so far. ⛰️

We stopped to rest near a collapsed old mountain hut, and a group of British runners caught up with us as we took the chance to eat. "Are you Yorkshire lads?" one of them asked. "No but we're from nearby - Macclesfield" Greg answered. They didn't know where Macclesfield was, but were still very nice about it. We wished each other well and carried on our separate journeys.

After a couple hours of waking, we rolled through the ghost town of an out-of-season ski resort. It was eerie, like when you could have sworn you had one more bagel in the pack than you thought, but now it's nowhere to be seen. The path led us down off the mountains, and through the hamlet of Dolonne. The church bells rang out, and we weaved through the cobbled streets into Courmayeur. We checked into an exceptional campsite (Camping Hobo) and I shaved my head and drank several pints like any good British tourist in a beautiful foreign country would. 👴🏻

22/06/2023

TMB day 3: Les Chapieux to Rifugio Elizabetta 🇮🇹

After two deliciously mountainous days in the French alps, the time was nigh to shake things up. Stage 3 would see us pass over the Italian border, and stay in our only Rifugio of the expedition. Time to get those 1s and 2s in! 🤙

The elevation profile of the day was almost a straight diagonal line up. Col de la Seigne was our main aim, which marks the historic French / Italian border and sits at an imposing 2,516 metres (a little under two and a half times the height of Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa). It was, in a nutshell, STEEP. 🏔️

On the intense and sweaty climb up we made a few river crossings, which we tackled by taking our shoes off and wading barefoot through the freezing glacier-fed waters. It was cold and shocking in the moment, but weirdly refreshing for the feet that had carried us this far. Maybe we'll make a point to do it again.

When we finally hit the top of the col it was in near white-out conditions. The cloud was thick, the wind was offensively choppy, and visibility was oppressively low. I was in shorts because I'm either an absolute unit or a silly old idiot. Maybe a little bit of both. ⚖️

We didn't hang around for long, and fled from the summit into the calmer confines of Val Veny where Rifugio Elizabetta awaited. Rifugios are widely regarded as an essential part of the TMB experience. Elizabetta itself is (allegedly) a repurposed WW2 barracks. Now it's converted, and caters to weary TMB hikers during the summer. We were served multiple portions of risotto, roast pork, and pana cota. We sank a few Birra Morettis whilst we marvelled at the mountainscape around us. It was as Italian as it gets. 🤌

When we finally went to bed in our allocated corner of the attic, we were amongst 40 other hikers spending the night up there. The quarters were close and the snores of a nearby middle-aged Chinese lady added a certain *something* to the atmosphere. Say what you will about rifugios, but they're definitely memorable.

Longboiwalks

20/05/2024

31/03/2024

13/08/2023

09/07/2023

30/06/2023

29/06/2023

28/06/2023

26/06/2023

25/06/2023

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