Pen's Travels

Life and time wait for no one

Welcome to my world

I love the hills and I love to travel. This blog takes you to some of the places I have visited on my jaunts – the mountains I have yomped up, interesting people I have met (you always meet interesting people in the hills) and adventuresome capers I’ve had on the way.

Do seals bite?

01/10/2019

Do seals bite? I wonder, as I beat a hasty retreat, followed by the inquisitive seal, to the safety in numbers of my friends just tentatively entering the cold clear water of the bay. I’d just plunged into the bracing Bristol Channel, swimming fast to try to warm up, when the speckled … More Do seals bite?

Blowing away the cobwebs on Mount Esja

23/09/2018

The wind whips around us trying to push us off balance as we pick our way across the flat topped summit. Thick moss obscures the ankle-twisting boulders and rocks beneath its lush green carpet. Walking is hard. Talking, or rather hearing anything other than the howling wind, is impossible. It is battering. Tired of being … More Blowing away the cobwebs on Mount Esja

Out at sea: swimming the Solent

08/09/2018

It is a strange feeling to be floating on my back halfway across the Solent, 40 metres (131ft) of water below me – Southampton on the horizon in one direction, the Needles in the other. I am ‘Swimming the Solent’ – the stretch of water that separates mainland England from the Isle of Wight. At … More Out at sea: swimming the Solent