Tag: Life

Helvellyn

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This weekend i traveled to the Lake District and stopped over for a few nights. I stopped over in Windermere, but didn’t really get into Windermere this time as the main reason for going up was to go up Helvellyn via Swirral Edge. This was the first chance for a while i could get the crampons on and ice axe out.

I don’t think i could have wished for a more perfect day, the snow was amazing, the sky was clear with blue skies and the sun shining. I hit one patch of cloud just as i reached the summit, but this soon passed. And to be honest it made it a little more cooler to reach the top and be engulfed by cloud!

The sun then came back out and i had a bit of food on the top, there was barely any wind. There was the odd gust, which dropped the temperatures down to around -13c, the temperature out of the wind was about -5c. But this didn’t feel bad at all, bit bad on the hands when eating a sandwich. I actually took my coat off and just had a base-layer, t-shirt and an Arc’teryx hoodie on.

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It was an awesome day out, and on the way back down i made a detour to Catstye Cam. I think it took me about 5 hours, 16km and about 900m of elevation. The weather defiantly made the day, it a couple of weeks i’ll be going back to the Lakes to go up Skiddaw and blencathra. Hoping the snow is still there for some epic adventures.

I would defiantly recommend taking a visit to Helvellyn, whether this is in the winter or summer. It’s an easy hike from Ullswater, about 4miles there and back (14km). And theres a few pubs in Ullswater to grab a beer when you’ve done.

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Christmas in Sydney

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It seems a bit late, but here goes.

So for Christmas and New Year we went to Sydney, Australia. Two years ago my best friend moved out there, so we decided to visit, spend some time with him and some time touring Sydney. We didn’t really have time to venture any further than Sydney as we only had two weeks. Turns out two weeks in Sydney is pretty much perfect.

We spent the first few days in Long Jetty, about an hour out of Sydney, and where my friend and his family live. Long Jetty is an awesome place, its a small village, at one side is a Lake with two, wait for it, ‘Long Jetty’s’. And the other side is the beach and surf!

The BBQ is where we cooked Christmas Dinner 😉

From Long Jetty we ventured into Hunters Valley to try some wine! This is about 1 hour 30mins from Long Jetty and is defiantly worth the drive. We stopped in an awesome place that is a golf/spa resort. We then did a day of touring some of the vineyards or cellar doors as they kept saying! This was an organised tour, we weren’t drink driving in Oz!!

We then went into Sydney itself. We had 5 days in an Air B&B in the centre. We all had New Years Eve together, with my friend and his wife driving into Sydney and staying in our AirB&B. We also met up with another friend, she’s lived in Oz for about 10 years. So it was nice to catch up and spend New Years Eve with them. We managed to find an empty pub with views of the bridge and fireworks! always a bonus knowing folk who live close.

From there we moved onto Manly for 3 days, we also visited Bondi Beach, but in my opinion Manly is soooo much better. The last time i went to Bondi was quite a few years ago and i kinda remembered that there wasn’t much there, which was part of the decision to stay at Manly. Manly has good shopping, pubs and restaurants. The beach is really good, and a little walk away is Shelly Beach. Plus they have a Patagonia shop, that sells Patagonia Manly t-shirts!! of course i bought one.

From Manly we went back into Sydney and had the last few days in the Four Seasons hotel, which over looks the harbour. Although our room overlooked the city, which was a cool view at night, looked like i was living in Blade Runner in 2019!!! Plus its amazing how much hotels drop their prices after New Year in Sydney. The Four Seasons went from around $500 a night before New Year and $150 after!

So we got to explore Sydney quite a bit, The Rocks area behind the Harbour Bridge is amazing, especially the pubs, a lot of them also have roof terraces that have amazing views. We went to Darling Harbour a couple of times, walked across the bridge to the North side. Had a little walk around Luna Park. the ferries they use to get the Manly, Bondi etc are awesome for the views when leaving Sydney too.

Also……….

As a bonus, our flight was delayed for 4 hours in Sydney, which meant we missed our connecting flight back to the UK! Which meant Emirates gave us a free hotel and 24 hours in Dubai, which also turns out to be pretty much all the time you need in Dubai, if you’re like me, that is. managed to do the Dubai Mall, indoor aquarium and underwater zoo! Who knew you could have an aquarium and zoo in a Mall!! Saw the big buildings, fountains, had food etc.

Next years running events & plans

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FB4C417E-F055-4ABB-9A0E-6B381C395CE2I finished the last race of the year with the South Yorkshire Cross Country. It was a good race, and with plenty of mud! which is always a plus on a cross country. I really enjoyed these races and will defiantly be doing them next year.

 

 

 

I have managed to book the races i want to do next year, i will probably add on a few more but these will be little club runs for fun.

My first event is the Hardmoors 50 in March. This is a 50 mile race through the North Yorkshire moors, and one i’m looking forward to.

The second race is the Great Lakeland 3 day event, this is in May. A mountain marathon in the Lake District. The rules are more relaxed than a normal mountain marathon and it makes for a good bank holiday weekend. You camp over each night, wake up and start running. Your camping equipment is transported for you, so all you need is your running gear and race vest.

I then have a 55km Ultra in the Lake District, this starts at Ambleside and is in June. It looks like an awesome route, but then again where isn’t there a good route in the Lake District?

So my plan with these two races, and a few other training runs and hikes is to complete all the Wainwrights next year (for people who don’t know, check this out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wainwrights ). The 3 day event should bag me quit a few, and the 55km should get me some too. I plan to start ‘collecting these’ in February, with another trip up in March & April. So i’m hoping to have got the rest of them done by the end of 2019. There is 214 in total and i have already bagged about 20 so far.

81CQw79NJBL._SY606_I have already bought myself a poster for completion of these!!

So… if i can get through the 50miler and can do the 3-day event, doing the elite category. And i survive. My aim is to enter the Cape Wrath for 2020, which is a 400km, 8 day supported race. The Cape Wrath is a trail around the top of Scotland, and looks amazing. The attractive part of doing this race is that it is fully supported.

I also have an 83mile trail event in August, this takes in the whole of the Dales Way, and goes from Windermere in the Lakes to Ickley in Yorkshire. This has a very generous cut off of 36 hours. So in effect, it is walkable in that time frame, or run and have some naps 😉

Thats pretty much it for events i have got booked in, i have entered Stafford half Ironman. But i’m not classing this as one of my main races.

So after August, i’m race free! but i’m seriously considering the Montane Cheviot Goat in December. This is in the Cheviots on the border of England and Scotland, and is pretty much the most remote place in England. Pretty harsh landscape and hills/mountains plus the cold! Sounds good!!

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Image result for cheviots

But first, before any of this, its Christmas and New Year! Which i’m spending in Sydney, Australia. The last time i was there i was 22! Looking forward to going back.

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I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year!

Ramblings on running.

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Yesterday i did the Dark Peaks Trail Marathon. This is a marathon in the Peak District, has around 4,000ft of elevation, and some tough terrain. I enjoyed the race, i did the same race last year so i was kind of using it as a benchmark. I managed to knock an hour off from last year, which i’m happy about. I reckon i could have knocked a little more off too. There were some downhill parts that my trainers didn’t cope well with, due to the slippy mud. Which pissed me of a little, but getting the right trainers for every terrain is pretty hard, so i’ll let slide 🙂

So i don’t know how anyone else is feeling when running trail marathons/ultras over long periods of time. Some strange shit happens, there are a few times when quitting goes through my head, when i feel like i have a ‘second wind’, when my feet hurt, quads hurt, glutes hurt, hips hurt and pretty much everything hurts! I also think about why i’m doing it, that i like the adventure, i like to explore places only running would take me, i like the fact that i want to quit, but i don’t! and i like the fact that when i finish, it’s something i have accomplished and worked hard to do.

It’s hard to know what everyone else is going through while doing the race. My assumption 99% of the time is that it’s only me suffering! and why isn’t everyone else in pain! Now i pretty much know this can’t be true, surely everyone is hurting? I going to start asking people on races 🙂 But i’m not sure if more training is actually pushing the pain further down the line. I mean nothing really hurts now for maybe the first 20 miles on a normal flat-ish run, a run up the hills & mountains is different again though!

Anyway, its been a while since i updated this blog. I have booked the races i’m doing next year and a few other things.

I am volunteering on the Spine Race, which should be epic https://thespinerace.com/

I have a trip planned to the Lakes in Feb to Helvellyn, in March i have the hardmoors 50, May is the Great Lakeland 3 day event, June the Lakeland Trails 55km and then in August i have an 83mile Ultra which encompasses all the Dales Way. So far thats it!!

These are a few snaps from the last few months, twice did the Yorkshire 3 Peaks, South Yorkshire Cross Country League, Round Rotherham Relays, training runs etc.

Helsinki trip…..

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Went to Helsinki with my mate Bo, same guy i went to Norway with last year. The trip started for me in London, where Bo lives. He lives in the Queens Head, a pub in Piccadilly. He owns the pub, just to clarify that. Spent the day/night in London then headed to Heathrow to catch the plane.

Leaving London, and arriving Helsinki!

We had a day/night in Helsinki to start, we had an Air BnB in the city, which was a really nice apartment and about a 5 mins walk from the main city centre. The city is not really that old, its around 200 years old, but then there was a fire, so most old buildings are around 150 years old. So in city terms its quite modern!

The city is quite, well compared to the likes of London or Paris its quite. Which is good, they have everything you’d expect a European capital to have, its just easier to walk around, get a table etc. They have a metro, which has one line! can’t get it wrong, they have trams running through all parts of the city and the trains are fast and cheap! As we didn’t really have much time on the first day, i dragged Bo into Hard Rock cafe Helsinki, on the basis he’s never been to Hard Rock Cafe. And taking him their made me laugh!

The next day we were picked up to be taken to a hotel we were staying at about 30mins form the city centre. the hotel was awesome, hidden in the trees, and right on the lake. All wood and glass! was brill. We started our Kayaking from there. Around Helsinki is 100’s of islands, so we kayaked the Baltic, around some islands and then got off and had a walk around an Island.

After the Kayak we went back to the hotel, and had a swim in the baltic. The sea was an amazing 25 degrees (Celsius). Finland also has an extraordinary amount of Saunas. Population 5.5m people, Saunas 3m!! they like saunas. So we embraced this and had a sauna, after 10 mins in the sauna, jumped in the Baltic and repeat. Ok the desired effect doesn’t really work when the fucking sea is 25 degrees!

The day after the Kayaking we went bike through the forest and along the coast line. In winter you can actually bike on the sea as its frozen!

 

After these activities we went back to Helsinki and had a few days there. We went to the 1952 Olympic swimming stadium, and had a swim. 50m pool too which was a novelty to swim in. It’s also outdoors, so i can only imagine they use it for 3 months of the year.

We went on a boat tour around the islands which was good, we also went on the stupid red tourist buses and did some exploring. We found some good bars and nice restaurants. One of which we had Reindeer, well worth it if anyone ever comes across it, very nice. They have a few bars that have outdoor swimming pool areas, and surprisingly saunas. One bar on the harbour had a sauna, and little jetty so after the sauna you could jump in the sea! then grab a beer! We somehow managed to walk into Helsinki’s football clubs ground, and there training pitch, while they were training! We went paddle boarding twice! as paddle boarding for two hours is cheaper than a beer! From where you start paddle boarding you can make your way into the Baltic sea! I’d highly recommend doing that!

Helsinki is a awesome city, and if you like outdoors and outdoor activities you should defiantly go. If you want to go for the night life and beer, don’t bother, there isn’t much and the beer isn’t cheap. Apparently the locals get a ferry to Estonia, as its cheaper. Its also pretty much crime free.

Feeling fit, bit bored of Triathlons though!

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Soooooo, i haven’t updated this for a while! I can not be bothered to fully recap everything in the last few months. I’ll do a quick recap of what i’ve been up to, a few picks, then i might rattle on about stuff.

  • May – Maltby Sprint Triathlon 1:16:41 – Was really happy with this and enjoyed the race.
  • Ripon Triathlon 2:48:08 – Swim = 31:19 – Bike = 1:21:17 – Run = 52:44 – I enjoyed this, bit warm, but was a nice day. I fucked up for about 10km on the bike, i couldn’t work my new hydration bottle thing!! And it was fucking baking, so i panicked a little! Yes, i’m the big dickhead who didn’t test things before a race!! No fucking medal either!!!!!!! Gutted!
  • Castle Howard Triathlon 3:08:25 – Swim 24:13 (Ripon was a non-wetsuit swim, hence the time difference) – Bike = 1:40:37 (This was about 7km longer than 40km, hence the 20mins time difference from Ripon) – Run = 55:57 – The swim was dirty and full of reeds, then a 600m run up an hill to T1 (T1 took me 6 mins!!!), i hated the bike, but again this is my dumb fault as the weekend before i did a 110mile bike from Filey to Barnsley! I could feel the fatigue in my legs. I loved the run, it was all off road on trails around Castle Howard, it was mainly up hill too! I might, next year just do the half marathon run as the weekend festival was good. I hate my time result on this, the 6mins in transition and extra 7km on bike ruins it!

The above are the races i’ve done, i’ve also do the Great Yorkshire Bike Ride which is 80miles, the Filey to Barnsley, about 7 Oxspring Trunces, which is a local fell race. The Dam Flask relays, which was awesome and Stan’s Toffee Run, which is a local trail race.

 

 

I’m getting bored with Triathlons, not so much the actual events but the training for them. I enjoy the swimming, the biking and the running. What i don’t like is that sometime its feels restrictive in how i train and what i want to do. Its mainly the biking and the running. The road biking i like and enjoy, i find nice rural roads and kind of just explore, which is good as there is plenty around where i live. The problem is that just training isn’t about a nice amble out. It has to be functional on the bike whether this is endurance or speed etc. So most of the time its head down and get the numbers right! And the running!! i love running, but i love running in the middle of hills, mountains and trails. I like to stop at the top and admire the views! I like that n one is around and its kind of just you and nature! i also like the kind of self sufficient thing about it. You put on your race vest, few snacks, water, rain coat and just fuck off somewhere! Training for flat road and speed gets boring.

I’ve been doing a few more trail runs lately and kind of neglecting the bike. I have about 4 to 5 weeks until Ironman Weymouth, so i need to get some biking in.

The plus point is i do feel a lot fitter than say 6 months ago. I did a 16 mile run in the Peak District the other day with 3,500ft of elevation in it. I felt brill, and i’ve not really done that for 3 months, and i have’t run over 10 miles since start of May. So i was happy with the progress.

Currently my training week breaks down into

  • Monday: Swim 2,000m (am) / 1 Hour turbo on Sufferfest (pm)
  • Tuesday: Swim 2,000m (am) / Speed work 5 – 10km (pm)
  • Wednesday: 1 hour Strength & conditioning (am) / 1 Hour turbo on Sufferfest (pm)
  • Thursday: 2000m (am) / Club ride 30km & 5km brick (steady pace)
  • Friday: 2000m (pm) / 30mins Yoga (pm)
  • Saturday: 100km bike ride & 5km brick
  • Sunday: 10 – 20km steady recovery run

Sometimes i miss shit, sometimes i swim less than 2,000m etc but i try and roughly stick to this. If i’m feeling tired or that i need a rest then i’ll take a day off. I use Training Peaks to plan shit and review my form and numbers etc. It works out to around 10 – 15 hours per week, depending on how i feel.

I do think though 2019 will be a run only year though, i’ll still swim and ride, but the comps will be run only!

Running Adventures

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So….. my plan of updating this thing every week properly backfired! about once every 3 months currently!

Anyway, lets say I started the Hardmoors 55, seems better than saying i did it, as ‘did it’ would imply a finish! Which i didn’t do. It was my first DNF, thought i would feel a lot worse for having a DNF. It bugged the shit out of me at the time, felt like a failure and that maybe i had overreached  “The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” Arthur C. Clarke

So i beat myself up a little bit (the exact same way i do when i start a sentence with ‘so’), realised that i just need to slap myself, have another go and train smarter! I think the training is the area i need to improve. I dropped out at around mile 30, just before the 3 sisters. My hip started hurting around mile 15, which didn’t bother me too much until about mile 25. I must have been compensating for my left hip on my right side, as my right hamstring and glute started hurting. I just thought dropping out was the most sensible option, to not get too drastically injured and still be able to do the other events i’ve entered. I also pretty much decided the moment i’d quit that i was going back next year. To fucking smash it 😉

Now the weather was bad, with snow, sideways sleet and wind. But i had the right gear and never felt cold or wet, i can’t even blame the weather for sucking!

So the positives and lessons learnt are that, i did 30miles, no small feat in itself. The course is worth running more than once, and i’ll get to! The weather makes the adventure. Fucking stay over, getting up at 3 in morning to run 55 miles is fucking dumb. My flexibility and mobility is zero, i need to work on this. Just because on a training run you can comfortable do 20miles, does not mean you can do 55miles, and doing 40-50 miles per week is not enough. One long run a month of a marathon or more is on the cards when in training for an Ultra.

 

The above stories are a huge over reaction and absolute bollocks. Whoever Bethany Lodge and Graeme Hetherignton are maybe they should have asked the runners, or got off their lazy arses and run it themselves to find out. Useless twats, being good at you job and having some integrity would help.

Last weekend i did the Great Lakeland 3Day event, this is a Mountain Marathon event 3 different classes (as with most mountain marathons). The event is 3 days in the Lake District, Run/Hike camp everyday. You get given a map and have to navigate to the check in points, these are just electronic markers, no people. There is no aid stations so you have to be self sufficient on the Hills/Mountains.  The event was brilliant, on day 1 i did the the Elite class, 30 miles with 3,000 metres of elevation. Day 2 and 3 i dropped down to the lowest class, covering 20 miles on day 2 and 10 miles on day 3. I’ve been to the Lake District before, but not like this weekend. This was up in the Western Lakes, a place i’ve  never been before. It’s part of the Lakes that isn’t really busy compared to Windermere or Keswick way out. There is basically no one on the hills. We started from Ennerdale, went up Hen Comb, down to Crummock Water, up on to Dodd and then up again onto Whiteside running the ridge past Hopegill Head onto Grisdale Pike, back down and then up to Barrow, from their along the ridge onto Scar Crags and Sail, then a steep down and up to Knott Rigg. Down from there all the way over to Dale Head, over to Hindscarth and onto Robinson. Finishing at Buttermere, the new camp site. Second day was backup to Hindscarth along to Dale Head, and down into Little Town, where i had Soup and a roll 😉 From there up back onto Knott Rigg and back down to Buttermere. The 3rd day i just walked it back from Buttermere to Ennerdale. I would defiantly recommend the Great Lakeland 3Day, the adventure and exploring is amazing.

 

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Now it’s onto some triathlons…………

1 week to go Hardmoors 55 – Kit List

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Well thats it, if i haven’t done the training i’ll soon find out, and a week isn’t going to improve anything! This week is pretty much relax week, eat well, drink plenty of water, stretching and Yoga, with maybe one run thrown in to keep the legs mobile.

The last longish run was yesterday, 10mile around the Upper Derwent & Howden reservoir. This is a amazing place to run around, the views alone are amazing, but the roads and trails around the reservoir’s are easy going and undulating making it a good, quick run on trails.

I spent the rest of Saturday checking the kit, i ordered a new top for race day, and i’m hoping it gets to me before Saturday 😬

There is a mandatory kit list, as expected. Its the usually stuff, waterproofs, map, water, bivvy bag etc.

He’s my kit list and some of the gear i will be wearing.

I have the Petzl ACTIK head-torch, the race starts at 9:00 in morning, so we could potentially be running in the dark, the sun is setting around 18:00 here in England. Map, spare hat and a buff, plus a few gel’s and some Made Good chocolate chip Granola bars. These are good, and contain all natural ingredients, they even have one portion of veg in them! sounds rank but you can’t taste the vag shit!

Headtorch
Map and compass of the North York Moors
Food & Gel’s
Spare hat and a buff

 

For the waterproof jacket i have the Salomon Bonatti Pro, best waterproof for the trails i’ve had. Awesome coat, highly recommend. Its windproof with taped seams. A pair of Compressport calf sleeves, i find these really work and help on long distance runs, i also tend to keep them on after runs for quite a while too. I have a Salomon Advance 12 Skin Set race vest, i have tried a few race vests and this one, so far, seems to be the stand out vest. It is really comfortable to run, the front pockets and rear pockets are really easily accessible, which is good for food and waterproofs. There is a few zip pockets too which i like, the pouch at the rear is plenty big enough for any race needs, and the hydration flasks are easy to get to. I am also taking a pair of Black Diamond Distance Z poles, i’m not sure if i will use these or not, but i’m going to pack them. They’re light enough to not care about.

 

I’m taking 2 pairs of trainers, i’m lucky enough that a few people are following us around the race (in their cars) and will carry spare kit for us. I’m starting the race in my Inov8 Terra-Claw 250, they are really roomy and comfortable, but i’m not sure how they will feel after 55 miles, the soles are pretty thin with not much cushioning, so i’m pretty apprehensive to do 55miles int them, i’ve done 32 miles in these, but my feet aching for a few days after. I’m going to take my Inov8 Park-Claw 275 GTX shoes, just incase things get a little too rough for the feet! I’ll be taking spare socks too, i love the injinji socks, so will be wearing these and taking a few spare pairs too.

Terra Claw 250
Park Calw 275 GTX

So all i have now is 6 days of waiting! really looking forward it, i’m confident i/we can do it in around the 12 hour mark.

Hardmoors 55 – nearly there!

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So its 11 days until Hardmoors 55. Really looking forward to this, it’ll be the furthest i have run, and its going to hurt, but, still looking forward to it. We did a recce run of the last 10mile or so, this was from Kildale to Guisborough (we ran back, as we’d parked in Kildale).

This was a good part to recce as this could be the bit done in the dark!! Its a bit of a climb from Kildale up to Captain Cooks Monument, theres a few flats thrown in though. Its then a nice downhill from there, then back up a little hill to the start of Roseberry Topping, this kind of reminds me of WinHill, but its easier to run than WinHill. Its then back down, and a nice run into Guisborough from there, around 5 mile of undulating trail. I’m still hoping for around 12 hours, and i’m hoping the snow has gone, as nice and cool as it is to run in and have fun in, running 50miles in snow would be wank!

As well as this recce run theres been training runs every week, well quite a few runs every week to be honest! A few snippets are below.

 

Few runs on the Trans Pennine Trail, its pretty flat, so normally a faster run. A few runs in the Peak District for the hills and undulating trails. Through the week just thrown in some hill repeats, recovery runs etc. Along with this i’m trying to keep up the strength training with Squats, lunges, plank, press-ups etc. Added in Yoga and stretching. Plus swim drills once a week on a Sunday, and up until a week ago i was on the turbo trainer once a week!

I have all the kit ready, i have a slight foot issue though. The top of my foot is sore, i think this is from my trainers being too tight! its now a decision on what trainers i wear on the day. The ones that hurt me are the specific ones i bought to run this race, ahh!!! I’ll try them this weekend again and see how they go, if not i’ll have to revert back to the Inov8 Terraclaw 250.

Anyway, few easy runs this week, one last proper run this Saturday, a hike on Sunday then chill for a week!

Holiday in Amalfi

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In August we went to the Amalfi coast, we stayed in Amalfi, went to Positano for a day, then we went to Sorrento for a few days, and had a day in Capri.

Amalfi itself is pretty amazing, its big enough that there is plenty do, with bars, restaurants, shops and beaches. Yet small enough that you don’t get overwhelmed by everything, it is just the perfect way to actually see how nothing on the Amalfi coast has really changed (especially the roads). Amalfi is defiantly one place worth a visit.

 

We found a bar that makes its own Amalfi Gin, which, if you like Gin is well worth a find (its easy to discover these things in Amalfi, me telling you will only ruin the adventure).

We stopped in the Grand Hotel Excelsior, which is a really nice hotel, you have to be prepared that there is no modern/new hotels knocking about, nothing new really gets built, but what they have is pretty good and the views are pretty sweet.

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That is our hotel, top of the hill. Its like a 15 minute bus ride into Amalfi, the busses are free and put on by the hotel. There is also some steps all the way down, now me being me, i used the steps and created a Strava Segment! They guy in the hotel says it took around 45mins, smashed it in 12mins. Please don’t try this on my very bad advice, if you fall and die it is not my fault! I literally passed no one! i also reckon i now own the record for most trips u and down the steps in 4 days, 9 down and 7 up.

The beaches and seas get pretty packed, but our hotel had a private beach which was pretty awesome, it had a bar and a snack bar on there too. The sea is amazing, and warm (in August).

We also went to Sorrento, there we stopped in Hotel Plaza. Sorrento is much larger than Amalfi and is basically and small city/large town!

They had a pool and bar on the roof which was pretty good, and a gym in the basement, and yeah i used this!

From Sorrento we got a ferry over to Capri, this is well worth a visit. The island is unreal, it is defiantly a millionaires paradise! The little town up the hill is amazing. Basically you have a square that overlooks the harbour and the sea, another square that is full of bars and restaurants, and off this is streets full of shops. However these shops are literally all designer shops, all the way down.

The Amalfi coast is definitely a place everyone should visit.