The Mike Knipe Column

• Poking around in the grass
  Give this little exercise a go. Your task is to download a walk from go4awalk.com and walk it at the first opportunity. At some point in your walk, have yourself a long break an . . . [more]
  
  
• Mending in the meadows
  I'd sort of intended to write something interesting and informative about Northern Haymeadows and get a bit botanical, when somewhere in the early stages of a stressful family crisis, I was instruct . . . [more]
  
  
• In Peat
  You may well not be very fond of peat. Sloppy peat (and I apologise for using the technical jargon here) can suck you in and not spit you out. If it lets you go at all, it might k . . . [more]
  
  
• Rainy Days and Sundays
  Many years ago I remember, when walking with one of my sprogs in weather which was, perhaps, less than summery, I was asked a well directed question, enriched with meaning and much too deep for a se . . . [more]
  
  
• Swaledale Litterati
  It's typical isn't it? I was going to do this piece about how untidy some walkers were. I don't mean they're a bit scruffy, I mean that they drop litter. Anyway, so I was g . . . [more]
  
  
• A Spaghetti Western (Dales) Tale
  In April 1964, many years before your time, obviously, me and about twenty other lads, and a portly Welsh bloke whose real role in life was to try to teach us English, assaulted the South ridge of t . . . [more]
  
  
• How to see a cloud sea - or Temperature Inversion
  The Met Office have recently announced their prognostications for the winter of 2008/2009 and they’re saying that it will be a bit colder than 2007/2008. Other weather commentators a . . . [more]
  
  
• Signs of Spring for Lovers
  At this part of the winter it can seem a painfully long haul from Valentines Day to a really nice bit of warm and sunny blossom-scented weather. There seems to be very few signs of spring . . . [more]
  
  
• How I got Hooked
  It all started when I was a teenager. My mate said he’d “introduce” me to some of his pals, like, but not to mention it to my mum as she might not “approve”.< . . . [more]
  
  
• Stuck on An Stuc
  One late spring afternoon a few years ago me and my little dog were out bagging some Munros at the eastern end of the Ben Lawers range when we came across the beetling lump of An Stuc. From the opp . . . [more]
  
  
• The Ascent of Great Hetha
  It was sometime in November that I decided to climb Great Hetha. 'Course, in the dark days of November and December, and what with the eighty mile drive and everything, there just wasn' . . . [more]
  
  
• Some Wild Camping Tips
  Me being an experienced wild campist, I just thought I'd pass on some tips for all of those readers who might be considering experiencing this . . . er . . . experience this summer. Bu . . . [more]
  
  

© Mike Knipe. Mike Knipe is an experienced outdoor enthusiast, walk leader and writer who has worked with Durham County Council and English Nature (aka Natural England).

Other articles by Mike Knipe on go4awalk.com include:

The Mike Knipe Column

The Art of Getting Lost . . .

How to start Peak Bagging . . .

How to sound like a walking expert . . . (writing as Gnasher the Dog) and

Is that a Mitt in your pocket - or are you just pleased to see me?