When I was a kid, I loved collecting all sorts of things. I had collections of stickers, playing cards, beer mats, small china animals (the type you get from gift shops in seaside resorts), and Liverpool FC badges. Each time we went to a game at Anfield, my dad would buy me one from the stalls that lined the streets on the way into the ground. And yes, I was also a rather avid collector of stamps! But, to be fair to me, they were special ones - the First Day Covers that commemorated the release of a new set of stamps or that marked special occasions like the anniversary of D-Day or the Queen ..read more

Is it a good idea to give things up when you’re trying to be healthier? There’s often a view that abstaining from things is bad - and can end up making you crave them more. People are told that if they give up chocolate, or caffeine, or sugar, that they may end up desiring it so much that the urge becomes uncontrollable and they end up gorging on it in huge excess. But, is that true? I guess my answer is the same one that I would frequently give to new Personal Trainers when I was taking them through their courses and they’d have a question they wanted answering about some aspect of health an ..read more

A study conducted last summer suggested that over half of the UK population had struggled with their sleep since the pandemic began. But just why is that? And more importantly, what can you do to snooze more soundly? Luckily, as with all health and wellbeing challenges, there’s plenty you can do to take back control and improve your sleep-wake balance. Let’s take a look at the big problems and some powerful tools to help you overcome them. Increased stress and anxiety The last year has give us all sorts of things to be stressed or anxious about, and that can lead to difficulty sleeping, a ..read more

We have had some great news It was a drab, grey day in November and I was stood outside an equally drab, grey building waiting to hear from Lou. The building in question was the Royal United Hospital in Bath, and Lou was inside awaiting a scan to see if we had lost our baby. Because of the bloody virus, up and down the country Lou, and other women like her, were having to go through the ordeal of tests like this all alone. All their partners could do was sit outside and wait for news. ‘Had the scan. It’s not the news we wanted I’m afraid.’ I was sat on one of those yellow grit boxes outside th ..read more

We’ve reached the top three of our ‘Great British Bucket List - 7 places you must see’. And we’ve arrived in Scotland. More specifically to a place called Tighnabruaich (pronounced Tie-na-brew-uck, or something reasonably close to that). You may never have heard of it. In fact, the whole area, is dubbed ‘Argyle’s Secret Coast’. We can tell you with great certainty though, that it’s worth the effort to get there in order to unlock those secrets for yourself. Below is an extract from the book I am currently writing about our epic adventure, sharing our experiences of our ride to this truly speci ..read more

Here are the pictures from our climb up the wonderful Kirkstone Pass during our adventure. Ten kilometres up to an altitude of 1,489 feet (454 metres), with a pleasant average gradient of around 4 per cent, but tougher sections at 12-13 per cent. This is the longest route up the climb, but there’s always ‘The Struggle’ for those of you who fancy a tougher challenge. Gradients up to 25 per cent will definitely leave you feeling like you’ve earned a drink when you reach the Kirkstone Pass Inn at the top! Lake Windermere Lunch by the lake before we take on the famous climb. Last glimpse Our las ..read more

Between August and October, we took on the challenge of cycling around Britain’s National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Due to the worsening of the virus, we had to cut it short at halfway with 2,000 miles and plenty of amazing memories in the bag. Here are Lou’s thoughts on our challenge (so far). How much cycling had you done before you took on this challenge?   Not an awful lot to be honest. My mum and I did the C2C (Coast to Coast) together last year, which was about 170 miles over four days, and that’s the most cycling I’ve ever done on consecutive days. Aside fro ..read more

It was mid-morning as we rode north on the Isle of Skye. The weather was changeable - a stiff side-wind meant we were already on full alert and we were expecting heavy rain. We’d made it onto the island the evening before, and now our goal for the day was to make it Shulista at its most northerly point, where we’d be spending a few days celebrating Lou’s birthday. Skye is pretty limited when it comes to route options - we were taking the main road (in reality, the only road) north towards the island’s capital, Portree. Trust me, if there had been an alternative route, we’d have taken it - we ..read more

How much cutlery do you have in your kitchen drawer? Before you settle down to read this, go have a quick look. Is it just one or two items of cutlery per person? Or is it choc full of silverware? And if so, how much of it do you really need? What about t-shirts - how many do you have? Pairs of shoes? Hats? And what about the millions of other items we have in our houses that never get used, that we don’t really need? When we started packing for life on the road during our adventure, a few things quickly became apparent - firstly that we had a lot of stuff (and compared to many people, we bu ..read more

I know many of you have been asking about our route for our upcoming adventure, so here’s an outline of where we’ll be headed. START: Friday, 14th August, Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol. For ease, we’ve broken the route down into eight legs. Here they are: Leg 1: Bristol - Pembrokeshire (Friday 14th - Thursday 20th August) We’ll be heading up through the Cotswolds, then looping back over the Malvern Hills and the Wye Valley. We’ll then cut across to the Brecons, down to the coast at Swansea and around The Gower, then over and into Pembrokeshire. Leg 2: Pembrokeshire - North Wales (Frida ..read more