Bobby Gard-Storry tells us about his Wallers Way - a month long 30th birthday celebration in March 2025 in which he ran between the 26 major valleys of the Lake District, repairing a dry stone walling project each day, and sleeping out on the hills each night.

Bobby has lived in Cumbria for most of his life and was introduced to the outdoors at an early age. However, it was only later that his passion for the fells and running developed, and time away in the city only strengthened his wish to live and work in the rural Lake District. He became a dry stone waller, working long hard days outside and running the fells in any spare time. He slept well.

He devised his project to combine his work and hobby in a celebratory month which was more an unscripted personal interaction with the land than a traditional 'round'. Sometimes he ran and worked alone, sometimes with friends. He went to summits as the fancy took him, often seeking out routes new to him. Some farmers were perplexed by his project, but mostly they were oblivious: many of the walling repairs are in obscure and rarely visited corners of the Lakes. He camped, bivvied, slept in caves and barns. It was cold - some nights he had to get up to sprint and generate some warmth.

Bobby tells us about his journey in walling and in running: how he got started and what keeps him motivated, how you can never fully know a place - there is always a different side to it, in a different season or different weather. He talks about the history of walling, the unknown wallers of hundreds of years ago, and the connection he feels to that world when hefting the same rocks, below the same fells.

We talk about similarities he sees between walling and running: the flowing states of mind that can occur in both activities. The games we play and the stories we tell.

Bobby's article 'The Wallers Way' can be found in Fell Runner #142 (Summer 2025), or on his website at: www.spidershankes.com

Before and after photos of his 30 wall projects can be seen at: www.spidershankes.com/the-wallers-way

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