Good morning, YouTube — and yes, I really am a year late. In this video I’m counting down my top 5 favourite adventures from 2024, and I explain why it’s taken me this long to get it out: my old editing laptop died at the end of last year and I couldn’t afford to replace it straight away, so there was a big gap where I just couldn’t make videos. The countdown kicks off with my wet and windy West Mill Tor wild camp — only my second ever wild camp — where a weather warning got issued after I’d already pitched in the dark on top of a tor. It was rough (wind, rain, and I’d stupidly picked a slope), but it massively boosted my confidence in myself and my budget tent, and it was even my first time cooking on camp (a classy pot noodle). Then I’m into secret waterfalls and big views around Bench Tor and Venford Falls, a proper Jurassic-feeling forest walk where I barely saw anyone. Number three takes us up to the Lake District for four Wainwrights in one day — steep, long, and totally worth it, with Skiddaw still being the highest point I’ve been to on the channel. At number two I’m hiking through history at Brent Tor and Gibbet Hill — one of my favourites because I got to dig into the story behind the place (even if there’s a bit of road walking). And number one is my best beginner hiking route on Dartmoor: a simple loop around Cox Tor, Ruse Tor and the Staple Tors — the walk that kickstarted my love of Dartmoor in the first place… right up until I got absolutely drenched at the end.