FionaOutdoors

If you know me…Or you read this blog… you’ll know that I am always on the look out for new outdoors challenges! Just after turning 40 I decided to run my first marathon, the Loch Ness Marathon. A couple of years ago I set a goal of cycling the Bealach Mor Sportive. Last year, I [...]

Facebook discussion came alive this morning after a tri club pal posted a message about his love of YakTrax grips for running in ice and snow. Meanwhile, I posted about the G-Force’s high praise for another ice grip product called EzyShoes Extreme. After this, people began asking which products were the best. I’ve already vouched [...]

If Hi-Tec means only walking boots to you then you’ll be a little surprised to see the energy that they are giving to trail running. In 2012 they launch a Hi-Tec Ultra Trail Series – and the outdoor walking and running equipment company now have a range of trail running shoes. The Hi-tec Ultra Trail [...]

It started with a suggestion from a friend a couple of years back saying that if I had a dog, Cani-Cross would be perfect for me. But I didn’t have a dog! As soon as Wispa the Wonder Whippet became part of our family, several more people left messages on Facebook and Twitter saying that [...]

I’ll confess I wasn’t too keen on the moustache madness of last Movember. Men with moustaches brought back yukky memories of the seedy-looking seventies trend (and a rubbish boyfriend in the 90s). But sometimes you have to go with the, er, Mo – and the one thing I do like about the Movember campaign is [...]

I like to make sure that outdoors equipment really does what it says it will. So I have been testing my Gore-tex Active Shell in a range of different situations. The Gore-tex Active Shell claims to be waterproof yet also breathable. This means that while the rain can’t penetrate the Gore-tex membrane, the sweat, in [...]

Running uphill without any flat sections for 5k on a gorgeously sunny, but breezy and chilly, day in the Bavarian Alps with two top French bloggers and runners, Greg-Runner and Mountain Goat Sylvain, makes me sweat. Of course it does! It’s faster than my usual pace, steeper than my usual hills, at higher altitude than [...]

Oh go on… you know you’d love to take part in a series of four different running events that take place over just five days. The unique Tour of Clydeside Series of races include a trail race, a canal bank race, a multi terrain race and a 10k road race that will be held in and [...]

Mike Dales is the part-time Membership Development Officer with the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) and part-time Access and Environment Officer with the Scottish Canoe Association (SCA). When I heard that he was taking on an awesome week of running in the Cape Wrath Challenge I asked him to give us his account. Here is his [...]

I am lucky enough to know some really mad outdoorsy folk! And while they are totally bonkers most of them are also very lovely people, too. What always strikes me is how these mostly very intelligent people talk in such a rational way about their extreme events. They will tell you all about the bonker-ness [...]