What we’re about
We are BACKABUSH, much copied but still the original and best hiking and outdoor activity Meetup group!!!
Who are we and how did it all begin?
Backabush is one of England's longest established hiking and outdoor adventure Meetup group. Our group was originally created back in 2002 (actually before we were on Meetup) by a multinational group of friends who loved hiking and wanted to get more out of our weekends and holidays. We wanted to share our heartfelt passion for the great outdoors and enthusiasm with others. For some years Backabush was an informal, unincorporated association managed by the founders for the benefit of its members.
Our group grew rapidly in those early years and in 2008, following legal advice we decided it would be wise and prudent to become a registered company to protect our organisers and our members. Following this review and the formation of the limited company, our members can now pursue their legitimate activities and aims with complete peace of mind.
Why do we do it?
We love the outdoors! The primary motivation is fun (not profit) which means that our trips offer exceptional value for money. We continue as a group with the same ethos of organising events and trips for the benefit of our members. This is what we love and we are passionate about what we do. We will always endeavour to be budget conscious and price our activities only to cover necessary expenses.
What do we do?
Over the years we have hiked and explored the National Parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty in Britain and abroad. It may all have started years ago with a few hiking friends gathering for a weekend in a scruffy camping barn somewhere rural and pretty but it has developed a lot from there.
Backabush has been hiking and enjoying outdoor adventure for over two decades now and over this time we have organised literally hundreds of hiking trips throughout Great Britain. We have enjoyed visits to the Lake District, Snowdonia, Scotland, the Brecon Beacons, the Pembrokeshire Coast, Cornwall, the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales, Dartmoor, Exmoor, the Lincolnshire Wolds, the Cambrian mountains, the Wye Valley, the Forest of Dean, the North York Moors, the New Forest, the South Downs, the Malvern Hills, the Shropshire Hills, the South Downs, the Cotswolds, the Chiltern Hills, the Jurassic Coast, the Gower Peninsula, the Pennines, the Isle of Skye, Loch Ness, Ben Nevis, Glen Coe, the Isle of Arran, Glen Shiel, Torridon etc, etc, etc.
National trails and long distance paths in Britain are another favourite of ours and to date we have completed the full length of Hadrian's Wall Path, the West Highland Way, the Cumbria Way, the Herriot Way and Wainwright's Coast to Coast. Although we have yet to complete the full length of many we have also enjoyed hiking sections of the Cotswold Way, Pennine Way, Offa's Dyke Path, Limestone Way, Allerdale Ramble, South West Coast Path, Great Glen Way, Monsal Trail, South Downs Way, Ridgeway, Thames Path and many, many others.
We were also trailblazers when it came to offering exciting outdoor adventures overseas. Back in 2009 we organised our very first foreign trip when we headed down into Africa to climb Mt Toubkal, the highest summit in Morocco. Next we trekked in Nepal, climbing over a 5000+ metre pass linking the Langtang and Helambu valleys. Since these early treks we went on to organise things like via ferrata holidays in the Italian Dolomites, or hiking trips to the French Alps and Jura mountains. We also love 'hut to hut' trekking and have so far completed every step of the Tour du Mt Blanc, summited Monte Perdido in the Ordessa National Park and trekked for days in the French Pyrenees to reach the awe inspiring Cirque de Gavarnie. More recently we even organised trips to Slovakia to seek out winter snowshoeing in the High Tatras and gorge scrambling in the Paradise National Park.
There are many other adventures we could mention. No other Meetup group offers adventure like this!
How do the logistics work?
We know our members are busy people so we do our best to provide a complete package for you. Backabush will research the locations, the hikes, book the accommodation and make a plan for all the meals. If you do not own a car we will help you to find transport or a lift share. You just need to communicate with the organiser who will help to co-ordinate things with you.
With a little co-operation from our members it all works very well and allows us to keep offering new locations and new hikes, year after year. Although we might return to some amazing National Parks quite regularly we always endeavour to find new venues and plan entirely new hikes. If you check out our past events you will see that we offer unrivalled variety in the locations we visit.
What are the hikes like?
On every Backabush trip we try to provide a choice of hikes each day. Obviously we will choose from the most beautiful and best loved hikes in any given area. These hikes tend to be of various length, duration and difficulty. The idea is that each person can choose the hike that best suits their fitness, experience and interests.
It is true that Backabush has a reputation within the Meetup community for offering longer and more challenging hikes but we always also offer more moderate options for those seeking a more relaxed day outdoors. Generally speaking we would say that anyone who can hike for 10 miles in hilly terrain should be fine on our trips. If you have any concerns please don't hesitate to contact us to ask questions.
What about safety?
Safety is always our number one priority. Although we can never make the outdoor environment entirely safe there are many steps that can be taken to minimise risk. Our team of outdoor activity leaders have many, many years of leadership experience and have received extensive outdoor training. Between all of our leaders we have years of military experience, ambulance work or mountain guiding.
Our principal leadership team are Mountain Leader trained at Plas-y-Brenin (the National Mountain Sports Centre) in North Wales and Winter Skills trained at Glenmore Lodge in Scotland. We regularly update our first aid qualifications and carry the required emergency aid equipment for wilderness situations. Some of us have taught or assisted on micro-navigation training courses and all have excellent route finding skills regardless of visibility or weather.
Additional our experience extends to high altitude mountaineering in several continents, be it summiting 6000+ metre peaks in the Andes, conquering the highest mountains in Africa or completing month long high altitude treks in the Himalayas.
We take our 'duty of care' of very seriously and are trained to deal with outdoor emergencies. Sometimes we hire in specific skills as necessary in the form of fully qualified instructors for things like rock climbing, caving, coasteering, kayaking, horse riding, ghyll scrambling or technical mountaineering. For some foreign trips we will either provide logistical support for safe self guided mountain trekking or hire International Mountain Leaders as deemed necessary.
Who joins our trips?
Although most people in the group are in their 20s, 30s and 40s age is not an issue to us - a fun loving and adventurous nature is more important. It is not uncommon to have over a dozen different nationalities represented in a single gathering.
Our groups of hikers and outdoor adventurers vary in size but on every trip some people will be regulars and some first timers. Its a great way to make new hiking friends and you need not worry about coming alone as you will always be made to feel welcome.
What we all have in common is a love of all kinds of outdoor activity including hiking, trekking, hill walking, mountaineering, scrambling, camping, canoeing, canyoning, kayaking, rock climbing, scuba diving, caving, coasteering, mountain biking and just about anything else that offers some outdoor adventure.
We are a very active bunch!
We hope YOU will join us sometime soon.
Positive vibes!
The Backabush Crew & Hiking Team
Contact Geoff & Nathan
backabushxplorers@yahoo.com
nathancapay@googlemail.com
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- MAY 4 - 12 - (BANK HOL) TREK THE LYCIAN WAY, WESTERN HIGHLIGHTS (TURKEY)Dalaman Airport, Dalaman, MU£699.00
Backabush is going back to Turkiye to trek the highlights of the Western Lycian Way!
Cost £699. Number of nights - 8. Maximum group size - 16.
Accommodation in small hotels, guesthouses and homestays. This is an 'Inn to Inn' trekking trip with luggage transfer.
The Lycian way is a long distance trail that spans over 300 miles along Turkey's stunning Turquoise Coast. Our plan is to do the best day hikes on the western half of the trail, along spectacular coastline, between rural towns and villages. We will have the chance to visit ancient Roman ruins, wild swim in secluded coves and enjoy home cooked food at our local guesthouses.
We plan to do six days of hiking along the famous Lycian way through meadow and forest, past the sandy beaches of Kabak and Kalkan Cove through the ruins of Delikkemer and Patara. We will finish our trek in the beach town of Kas, a centre for adventure tourism where we will have a free day to rest & recover or join an excursion such as sea kayaking to the sunken city of Kekova or catch a short ferry to the Greek island of Kastellorizo.
ACCOMMODATIONS
On this trip we will be staying in six different places as we journey along the Lycian Way. Accommodation will be a combination of small hotels, guesthouses and one homestay, for one or two nights each.
We will sleep in shared twin rooms with one night at the homestay where there will be 4 beds in each room.
DIFFICULTY
This trip is best suited to hikers with a good level of fitness, our longest day of hiking will be approximately 9 miles with over 800m of ascent on rough trails. There will also be some shorter days finishing earlier in the afternoon so we can enjoy the beaches and ancient ruins.
We will be supported on our trek by a local organiser who will provide a luggage transfer between accommodations so we can hike each day with just a light daypack.
On this trip we don't have local guides, the trail is well marked and signposted throughout. Detailed route descriptions inculding GPX files to use with navigation apps will be provided but if you are not confident in navigation don't worry, we will always be hiking together as a group and supporting each other throughout the trip.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
- 8 Nights hotel, guesthouse & homestay accommodation in shared rooms.
- All breakfasts, 2 simple packed lunches and 3 evening meals.
- Private airport transfers and transport to/from hikes.
- Luggage transfer between accommodations.
- 6 days of organised hikes (self guided).
- Trip organiser.
- Full financial protection as per the Package Travel Regulations.
WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED?
- Flights to Dalaman Airport (see recommended flights).
- Remaining lunches and dinners.
- Travel insurance.
- Optional excursions in Kas.
RECOMMENDED FLIGHTS
Our airport transfers will be organised to meet these flights, if you choose to book alternative travel you will need to either meet us at Dalaman Airport at 20:45 or make your own way to our first nights accommodation in Kayaköy.
Outbound - Saturday 4 May
easyJet EZY8563
Departs - Gatwick 14:25
Arrives - Dalaman 20:35Return - Sunday 12 May
easyJet EZY8564
Departs - Dalaman 15:00
Arrives - Gatwick 17:25HOW TO BOOK A PLACE ON THIS TRIP
To book onto this trip please email backabushxplorers@yahoo.com and send full payment to the Backabush account. Please use LYCIANWEST as your payment reference.
Account Name: BACKABUSH XPLORERS
Sort Code: 090127
Account Number: 22440622Your RSVP alone is NOT enough to secure your place, full payment is needed to make a reservation.
IMPORTANT NOTE: We consider safety to be our number one priority and while we never take unnecessary risks, we do recognise that any outdoor activity involves a danger of personal injury or death. Remember that you should be aware of and accept these risks as you are responsible for your own safety and you should not undertake anything beyond your abilities. It is also your responsibility to be correctly equipped for the weather and activity you have chosen to participate in.
- MAY 25 - 31 (SPRING BANK HOLIDAY) - ORKNEYInverness, Inverness£659.00
Backabush is going to Orkney for some Scottish island hopping in the far north!
Cost - £659. Group size - 18. Accommodation - Hostel with twin rooms.
Orkney is an archipelago off the north coast of Scotland, famous for its tall sandstone cliffs, neolithic sites, wildlife, and seemingly endless daylight at midsummer. Come island hopping with us to a place with it's own unique Scottish character. The relatively low level walking on Orkney is in complete contrast to so many of the Scottish hiking trips that we have run in the past, Orkney's rolling hills, meadows, miles of coastline and archaeological sites provide hikers with so much to explore.
Our plan is to drive from Inverness on Saturday May 25th and catch the ferry across to St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay, Orkney. From there our road hops across a few little islands all connected by narrow causeways before reaching Mainland, which is the largest of the islands. We will stay for 6 nights on Mainland in the town of Kirkwall, Orkney's largest settlement, comparatively busy with restaurants, shops, picturesque harbourfront and historic Norse centre.
For our 5 hiking days we will have the chance to explore Mainland Orkney as well as some of the neighbouring isles accessible by short ferry rides. Some of Orkneys walking highlights include:
- Skara Brea & the Western Coastline, one of the best preserved stone age villages in Europe.
- The island of Hoy, with its craggy coast and sea-stack 'The Old Man of Hoy.'
- The island of Westray, 'Queen O' the Isles', RSPB reserve and broad bays of Tuquoy and Mae Sands.
- South Ronaldsay, the Tomb of the Eagles and Windwick Bay.
- Deerness, the eastern tip of Mainland, a beautifully rugged Orkney classic.
ACCOMODATION
We have hostel accommodation with a difference in Orkney. There are shared twin and private room options, bathrooms are shared.Shared twin room £659
TRAVEL TO SCOTLAND
The meeting point will be in Inverness town centre at 10:45am on Saturday 25th May. We will meet in the car park outside the Morrisons Supermarket, which is just next to the train station.We must depart Inverness no later than 11am in order to catch our ferry to Orkney. For this reason we would recommend travelling to Scotland the day before on Friday 24th and staying overnight in Inverness or nearby. There are plenty of hotel, b&b and hostel accommodation options to choose from in Inverness.
DIFFICULTY
Although ascent on this trip will be minimal (Orkney's highest summit is 481m high) this is a wild and remote area with rough trails and some steep routes winding up and down the island coastal cliffs, surefootedness is necessary. On this trip we will need to be fit enough to walk 10 miles a day.WHAT IS INCLUDED:
- 6 nights quality, hostel accommodation (we will sleep in twin share rooms booked exclusively for our group)
- All transport in Scotland and Airport transfers from Inverness.
- Guided hikes. Our leaders are Mountain Leader trained and qualified first-aiders.
- Financial protection in accordance with the Package Travel Law 1992
WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED:
- Meals - Our accommodation will have self catering facilities and there are many local pubs and restaurant nearby
- Travel to Scotland
- Travel Insurance
HOW TO BOOK A PLACE ON THIS TRIP:
To confirm your place on this trip use internet banking your RSVP is not enough to reserve a space on this trip. Please use ORKNEYMAY as your payment reference. The account details are:
Account Name: BACKABUSH XPLORERS
Sort Code: 090127
Account Number: 22440622Only payment secures your place. Please email backabushxplorers@yahoo.com as soon as you send payment so that we can confirm everything with you. Thanks. :)