Mark Horrell's Blog, page 4

Walking the Preseli Hills and Pembrokeshire Coast

This time last year, the Easter holiday weekend fell a week later, and we enjoyed a period of blistering spring sunshine in the Lake District. We raced across hilltops around Grasmoor  and Buttermere in conditions as bright as any summer’s day.

A year later and we could be living in another country. It’s been so wet here in the Cotswolds that even the trout have been taking swimming lessons. The river through our garden is still a thundering torrent when it should be a bubbling brook by now. Our...

Dzo Jongo East and Dzo Jongo West: the videos

Yes, folks. It’s time for the next mesmerising instalment of my award-winning video diaries (I awarded myself a bottle of Cotswold Gold Ale after I posted the last set). But before I start, here’s a quick reminder.

Back in August and September 2022, Edita and I embarked on our first (and still our only) Himalayan trek since the COVID pandemic, to Ladakh in northern India. Also known as Little Tibet, Ladakh is a desert region north of the Himalayan divide, comprising red granite peaks rising abov...

At long last, a guidebook to cycling Scotland’s North Coast 500

If you’re a regular reader of this blog then you will know that I hate cycling. Yet – prize-winning fool that I am – three times I’ve embarked upon multi-day cycling adventures across mountainous terrain.

In 2017, Edita had the brilliant idea of quitting our jobs and cycling from sea level to the summit of Chimborazo, the furthest point from the centre of the earth (we didn’t actually cycle all the way – we got off our bikes to climb the last bit). I turned the adventure into a book, Feet and Wh...

Ladakh’s Markha Valley Trek: the videos

It’s a full three years and more since I last released a series of my trademark shit videos on YouTube. Some of you are doubtless wondering if a yeti got my tongue. Eighteen months have gone by since I trekked in Ladakh, and the hilarious footage that I took has been lying untouched in the recesses of my hard drive. Recently, however, the laptop fairies have been complaining of tripping over it as they scurry around trying to stop me going anywhere near ChatGPT.

Finally, I heard their cries. I a...

The 8 best books about Everest written in the English language

You may be wondering why I’ve never written this blog post before. In truth, there is never going to be a perfect time for it and now is as good a time as any.

The universe of Everest literature is forever expanding and it’s not possible to reach its end. However, I’ve now travelled far enough to be confident of these eight books’ place in the celestial Everest pantheon.

But enough of this nonsense. Before I get on with the listicle, a note to my international readers. As the title says, these a...

My latest audiobook: The Everest Politics Show – an eyewitness account of the 2014 Everest tragedy

If you’re a follower of this blog then you will know that I’m in the slow and gradual process of recording my diaries and releasing them as audiobooks. I started in 2021 with The Chomolungma Diaries and released The Manaslu Adventure last year.

I’m happy to say that the next instalment, The Everest Politics Show, is now available on Audible, Amazon Apple Books, Spotify and will be available on other outlets very soon.

The Everest Politics Show: available now as an audiobook

The release is timely...

7 mountain weather phenomena: a quick intro, courtesy of Tristan Gooley

The weather forecast for the week wasn’t good when we arrived at our cottage in Glencoe before Christmas. It was going to rain heavily all week, and there was really only one suitable day for a good hill walk (see my previous post).

As happened on previous trips, we spent the first day of our holiday in Fort William, shopping for outdoor gear and browsing the shelves of the Highland Bookshop for rainy day reading. While wandering around the nature section of the latter, my eyes chanced upon the ...

Christmas in Glen Coe II: The Revenge of the Rainstorms

Another Christmas, and another cottage in Scotland for a week. What would the weather hold in store for us this year, and would we get up any mountains?

Edita found us a cosy little place to stay in a row of cottages beside the main road outside Glencoe village. The forecast wasn’t promising. As Santa’s wife said when she looked out of the window, ‘it looks like rain, dear’ (you can keep reading – the jokes get better further on). On Friday 22nd, our first day, there were sudden showers and thic...

I asked Microsoft Copilot to give me a route description for Corsica’s GR20…

…You wouldn’t believe what happened next!

It’s that time of year again, when I delve into the wonders of modern technology and ask AI (that’s artificial intelligence, not insemination) to help make sense of the world’s great mountain questions.

Last year, when ChatGPT was no more than a babe in swaddling clothes, I asked it for answers about the mystery of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine. I believe the technical name for the answers it came back with is a “crock of shite”.

When I asked Copilot w...

The Spasimata Slabs: the day I nearly died on Corsica’s GR20

This is the last in a trio of posts about our recent trek along the legendary GR20 long-distance trail on the island of Corsica. The story began in my first post, Rosé, ridges and laricio pines and continued in A surfeit of scrambling. Strap yourself in for the final thrilling episode.

Jakob’s Norwegian weather forecast wasn’t promising. We’d had it pretty good for the best part of two weeks, but the rain gods were preparing for the last dance. In truth, they’d been threatening to start it for a...