Est. February 2026 · Dorset
Running · Photography · Europe
Volume I · 81 routes logged
The Anglo-European Runner
Every run. Every walk. In the order they happened — from the years before the plan existed, through Europe, into Italy, and back to where we started.
This is the whole story. Including the part we didn't plan.
How to read this
The posts on this site are organised into chapters — not by alphabet or category, but by where we were in the story. The Wandering Years came before Italy. Italy came in three trips, ending in Tuscany in February 2026. Then came the pivot — health, stillness, and the kind of thinking that only happens when you can't run. Back in Dorset. A new project: Thinking Out Loud Runners. And something bigger still on the horizon. Read in order if you want the arc. Dip in anywhere if you just want a run.
Chapter 0 · 2019–2021
Three runs that predate everything — the Lisbon moment, the research, the decision. A family holiday in Turkey, a weekend in Dubrovnik, a work trip to Switzerland that turned into something else entirely. Fewer photos, more pace. The years when we were just running, not yet running toward something.
The years before the plan
Chapter 1 · 2022–2024
Lisbon was where it started — May 2022, a week that planted a four-year plan. What followed was Europe, and a little bit of Africa, methodically, on foot: Portugal, Morocco, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Lithuania. We were working something out. We just didn't know what until Ravenna answered it.
Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna · September 2025 · The first steps into Italy
Chapter · UK · 2018–present
The charity run that started everything. The illness that interrupted it. The return race that completed the circle. And several runs with a black labrador who has no idea she's part of any of this.
Chapter · Theme Parks · 2024–present
An annual birthday tradition that became a recurring motif. One post per park. Stats in steps, not kilometres. Filed separately — these are not the Italian archive, but they're part of the story.
Italy Trip 1 · May 2025
Arrived by train. Milan, then Bergamo, then south to Lake Garda, Verona, Padua, Venice. Eight cities in ten days. The first time it felt like it might one day be ordinary to be here.
Italy Trip 2 · September 2025
Venice, then south by train into Emilia-Romagna. Ferrara, Bologna, Ravenna, Rimini. The trip where a day trip to Ravenna — almost cancelled — became the trip that changed everything.
Outside Siena · February 12, 2026 · 7:49am
Sicily · October 2025 · Solo
A work trip to Sicily that became something else entirely. Zafferana Etnea. The Ottobrata festival. A volcano walk that earns its own chapter. The one post on this site written in "I" rather than "we" — the exception that proves the rule.
Italy Trip 3 · February 2026
Cheap flight into Verona, train to Florence, then south through Tuscany. The parks of Florence before the city woke up. Siena into the hills. Pisa, Poggibonsi, San Gimignano by bus. Viareggio by night for Carnival. We didn't know it at the time — but this was the last trip before everything shifted.
Where we are · Dorset · 2026
The move didn't happen. The visa process hit complications we hadn't anticipated, and the months that followed were harder than expected. Then came a health chapter — enforced stillness, time in a hospital chair, the kind of thinking that only arrives when you can't run. The full story is on the About page. What came out of it was clarity. So we ran. Back in Dorset, on the Purbeck coast and through the Bridport fog, the runs started accumulating again. And out of that came something we hadn't planned either: Thinking Out Loud Runners — James and John, headphones off, conversation as the point, first official outing at the Combe Keynes 10k in June 2026. The Italian content is still here. Ravenna is still on the horizon. There's a bigger challenge coming too. But this is where we are right now, and it turns out Dorset has a lot to say for itself.
Come and run with us
James and John. Headphones off. Companion pace. Conversation as the point. First run: Combe Keynes 10k, June 2026. Dorset routes live now — more coming.
See the TOL routes →On the horizon
There's a new running challenge in the works. Bigger than anything on this site so far. The kind of thing that makes you question your sanity briefly, then commit anyway. Details soon.
The full story →