Summary

• 36 journals
• From 1999 to today
• Approximately 3,500 pages
• Approximately 343,000 words
• Most popular cover colors: black (13), red (4), and blue (4)
• Most exotic cover: green and purple plaid journal from Morocco (journal 16)
• Paper type: 31 ruled, 2 squared, 2 blank

Some Highlights

Journal 1: Bike Touring in the UK and Norway

The first “official” journal. It begins by describing a 2-day bike tour to North Wales with a school friend, aged 18 at the time. I can’t remember anything about the trip now, and wouldn’t even know I did it, were it not for the journal entries.

Journal 3: Hiking trip across the Pyrenees in 2001

Between the 2nd and 3rd years of university, three friends and I set off to walk across the Pyrenees mountain range. It remains one of my favourite adventures because it was a summer of living simply in the mountains with friends. Just epic fun.

Journal 6: Climbing in the Dolomites 2002

When I went on this trip, I was going through a phase of reading classics, in this case Robinson Crusoe. I copied the frontispiece and made my own version for my journal.

Kit Notes

I dedicate the back pages of (most of) my journals to a section I call “Kit Notes”. Invariably, on every trip, I have thoughts about my gear selection: what I could have left at home, what I’m missing, what didn’t work well, or what worked splendidly. It’s useful for future adventures.

Here’s an example page from the same Dolomites trip:

Journals 8 and 9: South America trip in 2003 – 2004

I often include inspirational quotes on the inside covers of my journals, which serve as tiny reminders to be tough, or enjoy the trip, or appreciate the splendours of nature, etc. For my South America trip with Alistair, I selected a suitably on-topic quote to match my infatuation with the continent:

From that same trip, here’s my journal entry describing my decision — alone and in bitterly cold strong winds at 6,650m altitude (21,817 ft) — to turnaround before the summit of Aconcagua. My mountaineering “career” has many more failures than successes, but I’m proud that my companions and I returned from every trip alive, and with all our fingers and toes!

Journal 15: Climbing in the French Alps, 2009

I included the occasional hand-drawn map in journals, although they were always very crude:

Journal 16: Morocco 2009

The journals are a mix of regular pocket notebooks (from WHSmith in the UK!), Moleskines, or whatever I could source locally.

For example, I picked up this beauty in Marrakech before heading out to the desert with camels in 2009.

Here’s a page from that journal, describing our trek through the dunes and including a simple drawing of a nomad’s house:

Journal 19: Walk Across Spain 2010

My 2010 walk across Spain was a photographic journey as much as a mountain trek. I made a note of the photos I took each day to help with identification later.

Journal 24: Bike Tour USA, 2014

This journal covers the trip my brother and I did together up the west coast of America. We started in San Francisco and made it into Oregon, before I crashed pretty badly, sadly ending the tour.

We regrouped and set off again for the Tour 2.0, this time on the east coast. I started a fresh journal for this trip, which, incidentally, included my first visit to Harpers Ferry!

Journal 26: Rocky Mountain National Park, USA 2014

So many great memories from this trip. I haven’t rock climbed or been to the high mountains (over 4,000m) since*, so this journal marks an inflection point in my outdoor activities.

* I hope it’s not the final time though!

Journal 27: Honeymoon Trek in La Gomera, Spain, 2014

I picked this journal up somewhere in Tenerife or possibly La Gomera, right at the beginning of our trek. I love it because of the amazing trip Lexi and I had together.

It’s also totally different to any of my other journals. It’s small and opens vertically. And, like all the journals I bought locally during trips, these differences are part of its charm.

Journaling 2.0: Illustrations and Naturalist Observations

After a hiatus from 2014 to 2021 to start to a family (aside from one trip to Tasmania, documented in journal #28), I resumed regular journaling in 2022 when I began adventuring more frequently again.

But my journals are subtly different now, reflecting the evolving nature of my outdoor pursuits.

Most of my adventures now occur in my backyard and rarely last longer than a day. Historically, I didn’t often journal about day trips, deeming them not worthy of journal entries. But I realized that these short trips, sometimes just a few hours long, are every bit as important and beautiful as the big trips.

And so I decided to start journaling again, but include entries for smaller micro-adventures too.

Around this time I also came across the work of José Naranja and was instantly hooked. I’m no artist but I have fun including sketches and maps in my journals when I can. Drawings take time, which is in short supply, so there are only a handful of pictures in my journals. But it’s something I aspire to do more of in the future.

Journal 29: Local adventures around Harpers Ferry, WV, USA, 2023

Journal 31: My sketchbook for naturalist drawings and maps

Journal 32: Local adventures, Harpers Ferry, WV, USA, 2024