Trails & Routes
Navigating without a phone is a skill, not a nostalgia act
Battery dies, screens crack, signal disappears. Map and compass work is still the only navigation that fails gracefully.
Trails & Routes
Walking, trekking and the practicalities of getting somewhere on foot.
25 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 1 of 3
Trails & Routes
What a long-distance trail actually asks of you in the first week
The first seven days of a long walk are a physical negotiation, not a scenic one. Here is what changes, and when.
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Trails & Routes
Why trail maintenance costs more than anyone budgets for
A footpath is infrastructure. It has a design life, a drainage requirement and a maintenance backlog, and almost nobody funds it…
Trails & Routes
Walking in heat is a different sport, and the rules are strict
Heat kills more walkers than cold in most of the world. The mitigations are unglamorous and they work.
Trails & Routes
Waymarking is a language, and every country speaks a different dialect
Paint blazes, cairns and signposts encode information about route status, difficulty and maintenance. Most walkers read only half…
Trails & Routes
Blisters are a friction problem, not a toughness problem
Feet do not need hardening. They need the rubbing to stop, and there are only three ways to stop it.
Trails & Routes
Wild camping law varies enormously, and assumptions travel badly
What is a right in one country is a trespass in the next, and the etiquette differs even where the law does not.
Trails & Routes
River crossings are where confident walkers get into trouble
Moving water is stronger than it looks, and the decision to cross is made on the bank, not in the water.
Trails & Routes
Pacing uphill: the conversation test beats any heart rate zone
Sustainable climbing pace is set by whether you can still speak in sentences, and almost everyone starts above it.
Trails & Routes
Descending is what actually injures people
Most walking injuries and most fatigue arrive on the way down, and the technique is different from going up.
Trails & Routes
Reading a hillside: what vegetation tells you about ground
Plant communities are a map of drainage, and reading them saves hours of walking through bog.
Trails & Routes
Snow on a path changes the grade of a walk entirely
A summer route with snow lying on it is a different objective requiring different equipment and different judgement.