The Bad Apples

One of the things that my discussions with various people about trolling have made me realise is that it is important to remember why you started writing.

I began this blog because I love walking and the countryside, which is where my walking started over 20 years ago. My aims now are more selfish as I need to focus on work and on self care. I also hope to rediscover my love of the outdoors without censoriousness from the little mob of hill trolls who seem to flourish on Twitter, and who believe they know best about everything. I can’t help noticing that the people who really do know best about the outdoors hardly ever behave like this. 

Unlike them, I have struggled to name these hill trolls for some reason, so, in the interests of other women in the outdoor community, the ringleaders were Chrissie Crowther (ChrissieDixie) (Woofbags), “family man” Geoff Crowther (FarnotFast) and advocacy worker James Boulter (Backpackingbongos). Other names available on request.

Changes

I have always tried to involve readers in decisions about this blog, but the poll regarding which navigation app I should use was inconclusive. I will therefore try to continue using both Viewranger and Outdooractive for now.

Because I need to focus on work after a period of settling in to my new home in Scotland, I will be shifting back to the free wordpress plan, so you may notice some changes from the end of this month when my domain will revert to rucksackrosie.wordpress.com. All being well I hope to continue writing up my long distance walking here in this beautiful country.

Rucksack Rose – First Avatars 2012.

Viewranger or Outdooractive?

I have been experimenting with both navigation apps for the last six months on my Edinburgh Exploits, City Strolls and Leith Loping routes which are regularly added to. The difference is that if I continue to record routes on Viewranger, they can easily be synched with Outdooractive, but people don’t get the additional features for creators or users. If I record my routes on Outdooractive, then Viewranger becomes a thing of the past. This leaves people who use my routes there to have access to my historic routes only, unless they move across to Outdooractive.

A quick reminder that Viewranger had two subscription tiers – Free and Premium, whereas Outdooractive has three subscription tiers – Basic, which is free, Pro, or Pro Plus. Further information is available on their websites. Remember also that the Viewranger app is no longer updating but is retaining existing routes.

To help me make the decision about which app to choose, or whether to struggle on with both, I have created this poll which will remain open until the 31st August 2021 after which I will announce the results. I welcome your views in the poll and via the moderated comments as I know some users, including myself, are still feeling cheesed off with losing their Viewranger maps bought in good faith.

Warning: Location based apps may be abused by gang stalkers.

..and breathe

Finally, after months of lockdown walking in and around the city (see Edinburgh Exploits, City Strolls and Leith Loping)) I finally made it back into the hills outwith Edinburgh for the first time since the end of February last year, and what a relief it was! My cabin fever had become really severe, and I did often dream of just taking off with my backpack. Sense finally prevailed following a nightmare in which I was featured in the tabloid papers as a dangerous miscreant.

Anyway, I hope you are surviving, and here are some pics of my walk with friends in Midlothian this week – which is a start.

Seizing the day

Although this continues to be a terrible period for many people, the vaccines and the lockdowns seem to be giving the people in Edinburgh an opportunity to reclaim their city for a while. Last week I realised that I may never see places like the Royal Mile without crowds again, so I have been exploring the old town and added some short central walks to my City Strolls on Viewranger / Outdooractive.

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Old town explorations

I hope you will enjoy these short walks as the restrictions are lifted from tomorrow. Remember to follow the guidelines and leave no trace.

Rosie 🌹

International Women’s Day

Happy hiking to women walkers on this International Women’s Day 🌹

Rob Roy Way near Aberfoyle, Scotland

Outdooractive app

As followers will know, I have been uploading my routes on to the ViewRanger app for several years. Apparently ViewRanger has now merged with the Outdooractive app, which is available from all the usual places. There are three subscription tiers on the new app – Basic which is free, Pro and Pro Plus. Further details are available on their website.

Apparently Viewranger routes will remain with them indefinitely, but I have now synchronised my routes onto the new app and will run both in tandem for the time being. I hope walkers will benefit from having the choice until I am able to compare the two apps more.

I wish them well at Outdooractive. Links to both sites can be found in the sidebar of this blog and on YouTube, and for Viewranger read Viewranger or Outdooractive in my blogposts. Thanks. 🌹

Walking on the Wild Side

For out of town readers, Edinburgh and most of Scotland is in full lockdown again. All residents must stay at home and only go out for essential journeys and local exercise. I would like to assure readers that ALL photos posted since the first lockdown, and any posted in the coming weeks, are taken during permitted exercise in my local area, as I don’t have a car, and haven’t used buses for quite a while.

As a distraction, these are some pics of the city gradually being reclaimed or re-wilded by nature, as ground maintenance contracts ground to a halt last Spring. I have found something uplifting about watching this process and seeing the distinction between town and country blurring just a little.

Please stay as safe as you can and follow the guidelines. 🌹

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Wild Edinburgh

Respite Routes

I have added two new sections to my Edinburgh walks called City Strolls and Leith Loping which began with some of my lockdown walks around the city. They are mainly linear routes under 5 miles which could be made longer by returning to your starting point. They would suit anyone who just wants to get out of the house for exercise and a bit of vitamin D. These routes avoid busy roads as much as possible, and are all accessible by public transport or on foot. Although I have suspended video making during the last year, GPX routes are available from my Outdooractive or Viewranger sites.

Hopefully following the rules until we get the vaccine will mean that walkers and outdoor users can expect a return to some kind of normality soon.

Don’t forget to refresh your website links with my new domain rucksackrosie.com with an i.

Rosie with an i

FYI I am now Rucksack Rosie with an i, rather than Rucksack Rose on all my sites, so the link to my website has changed to rucksackrosie.com just because it feels friendlier somehow. I am not a tech specialist but this may mean you will need to refresh your website links. My YouTube, Viewranger and Outdooractive sites are also now named Rucksack Rosie, although the links to each of them remain the same. Otherwise I am gradually editing the links in my blog so that they continue to work. If you find any broken links let me know. Thanks very much for your continued company.