The Runs · 001
Two days in
North Wales.
Llanddwyn × Y Garn · Eryri, North Wales · March 2026
The Runs · 001
Llanddwyn × Y Garn · Eryri, North Wales · March 2026
Day One
13 March 2026 · Newborough Forest & Llanddwyn Island, Ynys Môn
The afternoon before the mountains.
Out through Newborough Forest — tall pines, sandy tracks, the light low and cold — before the trees gave way to the beach.
Wide sand, rough sea and a hard wind coming in off the Irish Sea. Ahead, Llanddwyn Island.
Out to Llanddwyn
We followed the path of crushed sea shells towards the stone plain cross, waves crashing around the island.
Across the water, Eryri. The mountains we'd be running the following morning, still snow-capped and catching the last of the afternoon light.
The Llŷn Peninsula in one direction. The Menai Strait in the other.
The kind of place that makes you feel small in the right way.
Route
Day Two
14 March 2026 · Ogwen Valley & Cwm Idwal, Eryri
Into the mountains
Early start. Ogwen Valley, with Cwm Idwal ahead.
Blue skies and a beaming morning sun. Not exactly what we'd expected after the weather the day before.
Met a runner
At the base of the climb — a stranger. Jonathan.
He was going up. We were going up. Smiles all round.
We started talking before heading up towards Y Garn, leaving the valley behind and eventually crossing the snow line.
The blue skies didn't last long.
We lost sight of Jonathan somewhere on the climb, then found him again at the summit — this time in fog and snow.
That's when he asked if we wanted to join him towards Foel Goch.
Wise move.
The conditions improved as we moved along the ridge, opening up views towards the Menai Strait.
So the four of us carried on together.
No plan. Just a chance encounter at the bottom of a mountain that turned into a shared run across it.
For a while, everything else — the week ahead, the plans, the noise — was gone. Just the mountain, the cold and the four of us moving through it.
On the descent, the clouds shifted and gave us Tryfan.
The kind of view that stays with you long after you're back.
Route
Two days. Two places. My brother Remi and best friend Michael, who'd been there for some of the best days over the years. A chance encounter with Jonathan that turned into a shared run across the mountains.
The stoke was high and carried on into the evening back in Manchester — Thrice, one of our favourite bands, closing it out.
Monday, back to normality. Thrice's Beyond the Pines still playing in my head as I went through the pictures from the weekend. Again and again.
Somewhere in all of that, the idea for Beyond the Trail started to take shape.
The soundtrack
Move through beautiful places.
Share it with people who feel the same pull.
Come back changed.
Beyond the Trail.