Islandeering: turning what you’ve been told on its head

Caution: the following ignores all grown up advice

Remember these words? Stay away from the cliffs, don’t venture out on an incoming tide, avoid areas with quick sands and don’t stray from the path. Well where is the fun in that?

To be honest I have been following this mantra for years until I discovered islandeering and the adventure of (safely) turning these ‘rules’ on their head.

Islandeering is about circumnavigating the British islands by walking, running, swimming, cycling, scrambling, coasteering or kayaking around their outermost edge.

Why you may ask? The same reason many of us climb a mountain I guess. The route is complete, it has a definite start and finish point and the character and views are different on every side. Few of us set off to stop half way up a mountain and I have a similar urge to get all the way around an island to know what’s on the other side. The main ‘why’ though is that the coastlines of the British islands are hard to beat anywhere in the world.

Britain has innumerable islands with unique foreshores and cliffs. To explore them requires many different activities. For some it’s a straight forward walk or trail run on a simple coast path for others it’s a scramble, swim, kayak or cycle. Whatever the mode of travel – adventure, nature and wilderness awaits.