Weather
A Hot Drink at the Gate: Why Cold-Weather Walks Need a Good Bottle
Autumn walks rarely give you a reason to stop. A hot drink buys you ten minutes at the best view on the…
October 11, 2026Mud on the boots, back by dark.
Boots on the Dirt Road
Written by Wade Holloway
Latest
What Farm Lanes Taught Me About Soil, and Why My Windowsill Needed Potting Mix
Years of talking to farmers changed how I see the ground. When that curiosity followed me home onto a winter windowsill, I learned that lane soil and pot…
Boots & Kit
The Drive Is Part of the Walk: Socks for the Hours Around the Lane
A day out is three hours of walking and a lot more of sitting in the car. A few habits for the…
October 5, 2026Boots & Kit
All Boots & Kit ›
Three Years Of Being Wrong About Socks
The blister I blamed on my boots was caused by grabbing the wrong socks from the drawer. Why…
July 11, 2026
Everything I Eventually Took Out Of My Daypack
I found a sealed emergency blanket that had been carried two hundred miles unopened. What came out of…
June 17, 2026
You Can Start With What Is Already In The Cupboard
A neighbour asked what she needed to buy before she could start walking. My whole first year ran…
May 26, 2026Weather
All Weather ›
The Forecast Decides What I Wear, Not Whether I Go
I used to open the weather app looking for permission. It gave me a reason to stay home…
August 11, 2026
Walking Into Fog on the Bottom Ground
Fog turns a road I have walked hundreds of times into somewhere I have never been. It is…
July 15, 2026
Wind Is the One I Keep Underestimating
Rain I plan for. Cold I plan for. Wind I keep walking straight into like it is going…
June 3, 2026Farm Country
All Farm Country ›
Walking Past Somebody Else’s Living
A wet April morning, a man on his knees in a gateway fixing a water pipe, and me…
August 13, 2026
What I Learned Talking to Farmers on Their Own Ground
I once opened a conversation at a gate by asking whether the path was a right of way.…
July 19, 2026
Harvest Season and the Lanes I Stay Off
I put myself on a single track lane at eight on an August evening with trailers running flat…
June 10, 2026Trail Notes
All Trail Notes ›
The Afternoon the Sky Turned On Me
It looked like nothing when I left the house. Forty minutes later I was in the middle of…
July 1, 2026
Why I Still Walk the Same Three Miles
Same gate, same stile, same three miles, several hundred times. On what repetition shows you that novelty hides,…
June 19, 2026
The Rusted Machine in the Field Corner
Nettles, a wheel rim, and something with tines that I still cannot identify. Notes on the abandoned machinery…
June 8, 2026Day Walks
All Day Walks ›
Two Miles Is Enough
For a long time I thought a walk had to be substantial to count, which meant most weeks…
August 18, 2026
The Same Loop, Four Seasons
I walked one four mile farm loop through a full year. The distance never changed and almost everything…
July 13, 2026
The Walks I Turned Back On
Four or five times a year I abandon a route partway through. I used to treat that as…
June 1, 2026
About
Wade Holloway
Boots on the Dirt Road is written by Wade Holloway. Everything here comes from actual use, written up honestly, including the things that did not work.
More about this site ›Recent
- Two Miles Is Enough
- Walking Past Somebody Else’s Living
- The Forecast Decides What I Wear, Not Whether I Go
- What I Learned Talking to Farmers on Their Own Ground
- Walking Into Fog on the Bottom Ground
- The Same Loop, Four Seasons
- Three Years Of Being Wrong About Socks
- The Afternoon the Sky Turned On Me