Running along the ridge of Liathach, Torridon, at the age of six, is one of my earliest memories. Many similar days followed on the Scottish hills and Lakeland fells, leading to a lifetime of adventures in the mountains and on the sea.

I claim no notable ability as either a runner, climber or kayaker. These pages, which remain far from complete, are simply an attempt to capture at least some of those days, and will, I hope provide a space to record those still to come, as well as a resource for others and perhaps, a rebuttal to the reductive process of commoditisation that our hills in particular have become subject to.

A runner first, my formative years were also influenced by classic mountaineering literature, which led inevitably to the Lakeland crags and before long, to bigger walls in the Alps. Aspiration and reality do not always meet where we imagine and on more than one climb, I learned humility the hard way.

Sea kayaking, which offered something no less committing, and a means to explore where few others could reach, eventually led back to the hills and as obsession with individual pursuits broadened into a greater passion for the wild places that the running, climbing and kayaking had taken me to, I began to combine the various skills acquired.

Fell runs became peppered with steeper sections of rock and if an axe was required in winter, so much the better. Kayaking trips inevitably ended with a long run to retrieve the car and as greater hill fitness was gained, so it became my focus once again.

In 2016, I joined Clayton-le-Moors Harriers and in 2019 completed my Bob Graham Round, fulfilling a long-held ambition, before turning my attention once again to the Scottish hills.