I often like to read “about” sections of blogs; it’s nice to fill in extra details about that person’s life. There’s always more sides to someone than the topic they are writing about.
So here we go. I grew up in Cornwall, in the South West of England. After university I spent a year in New Zealand, and I feel like that has set my trajectory ever since, having never properly returned home to the UK.
In New Zealand I spent some time getting to know a couple hiking the TA (Te Araroa), a trail which runs the length of the country. In the course of things they told me all about the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) that they’d hiked a couple of years previously. I never knew such long paths existed. The idea caught in my mind from the start, and I pestered them with many mundane questions about long-distance trail life.
That was in late 2014. I returned to Europe, got a job, lived in a big city, and generally lived a normal (WEIRD) life. I began planning to hike the PCT, and I can say that it became the first real dream I’ve had. Fast forward 3 years to the 16th August 2018 and I was standing at the end of the trail. This is what really launched my love of
long distance self-powered travel in the way I feel it today. Among many other things, this trip taught me that I have multiple qualities compatible with long-distance solo hiking. I didn’t get bored, I liked pushing myself physically and I didn’t miss “real life”.
I realise that at the top of this page I wrote that I think “about” pages are a good place for people to share a little of their lives besides the topic of their website, and here I’ve rambled on about my hiking life. So here are a few details about me that I think paint a loose picture.
- If I had to pick one group of books, it would be modern classics: John Steinbeck, George Orwell, Graham Greene, you get the idea.
- I enjoy nuanced discussion, and by extension am a fan of the podcast offerings of Sam Harris, The Rest is Politics and 80,000 Hours (among many others).
- In my “real life” I’m a mobile developer (Android apps).
- I met my girlfriend at Hobbiton (NZ tourist attraction) where we worked together. We’re both still big Lord of the Rings nerds.
- A few years ago I started watercolour painting, and am glad that I took to it, having not really shown much artistic inclination when I was younger.
