Who Am I?
An ex Falklands, Rhodesia veteran, police firearms officer, sniper, karate 1st dan, teacher, runner, canoeist, kayaker, hiker, climber, triathlete and avid traveller. I live in the beautiful Brecon Beacons in South Powys, Wales in the UK.
I have been retired from the police since 2010. Since that time I have been a freelance outdoor professional. I have dedicated my free time to travel and mountain trips. The purpose of this website and mountain blog is to link it to my travels and my goal lists which are quite extensive. In the main my goals are as follows;
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Wales - My aim is to hike around Wales, to hike it North to South, East to West, to cycle the same, to hike all of its Nuttalls. Marilyns and Hewitts. To finish off I intend to sea kayak around Wales and visit all of its islands.
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England - My aim is to hike all of England's glorious Nuttalls, Marilyns, Wainwrights and Hewitts.
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Scotland - My aim is to hike all of stunning Scotland's Munros, Corbetts, Grahams, Donalds and Marilyns
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Ireland - My aim is to hike all of the Hewitts and Marilyns in Ireland.
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101 World Country High Points - My aim is to hike or climb the 101 UN member state and World Country High points.
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193 UN Sovereign States - My aim is to visit all of the world's 193 UN designated sovereign states.
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World Heritage Sites - My aim is to visit as many of the 1,121 world heritage site as possible as per the Wandr.me website
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World Cycle Tour - To cycle round the world.
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Adventure Bike - To tour South America, North America, Europe, Africa and Asia by Adventure Motor Bike.
Well there you are. I am going to be busy!
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In addition I intend to avail myself and the information provided on this website as a free source of reference to all and sundry.
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NOTE: Due to Wix now charging after five years of free use I cannot now continue this site. From May 2023 all of my journeys will be recorded on Komoot. All historic hikes are also on Komoot. See here for my profile link David Howells.
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Recording Guidelines
I have hiked and climbed extensively in the past but in the days when using a gps device was not so commonplace. In regard to this blogsite unless the journey is recorded by gps then it will not be included. All ascents are primarily recorded by a GPS device and then automatically uploaded to my travel accounts namely Wikiloc and Komoot. Routes are then cross loaded onto my Peakbagger and Outdoor Active accounts record the ascents in an OS format and to record the peaks by way of a formal list. All of the aforementioned sites have a route search and gpx download capability but I find the best download site is Wikiloc as it has the facility to download compact gpx files with only 500 track points. This allows any route to be uploaded to any web based mapping system or gps device which have trackpoint limits. The gpx files available on all sites are the routes I have actually taken on that particular peak with any associated diversions. Should you have any problems with any downloads or wish further information then please contact me.
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My Recording Forums - Links take you to my homepages.
User guide
Peakbagger - Is my primary peak bagging site which has a multitude of world wide and UK ascent lists. I embed Peakbagger lists within the thread of this site. However it has very limited photo uploading facilities, normally one per entry.
Wikiloc - Is a world wide multi activity travelogue site which I use as a route resource and for logging my monthly and annual hiking statistics . This also has limited photo upload facilities (6 per entry).
Komoot - This is also a world wide multi activity travelogue site. I now use Komoot as my primary travelogue site as it has infinite and easy to use photo upload facilities and geo tags them to their taken locations.
Bicycling
I also have ambitions of completing quite a few long distance bike touring journeys over the next few years at home and abroad. There are a number of journeys I wish to complete, these include a circumnavigation of New Zealand, Taiwan and Japan. I also want to cycle across the USA on the Southern Tier Route.