Cowden Japanese Garden

One positive of the last 18 months is that we have explored more of Scotland (beyond the mountains) and discovers some great hidden gems . Yesterday we finally visited the simply sublime Japanese Gardens at Cowden , near Dollar . Set near Glen Devon , close to Stirlings Ochil hills this beautifully architected garden was first developed at the turn of the century by the Scottish adventurer Ella Christie after a trip to the Orient . After falling into declineRead more

US Road Trip Report #6 Bryce Canyon

I don’t mind admitting I’d never heard of Bryce canyon until we got chatting to a very cool retired gentleman in a bar in Jackson Hole.(I am known to start talking to anyone who gets within 5 feet and in the US many folks are the same so we met many new friends along the way.  He was telling us how he’d retired with his wife, they’d bought a camper van and were touring all over the US for monthsRead more

Happy New year of #Adventure!

Happy New Year! Hopefully you have now got over the hangovers, stopped eating chocolate as a major food group and have managed to get out of bed before lunch  (just me?) and are looking forward to an exciting year ahead. I know  a great number have already been out and about , with lots of climbing and hill walking pics gracing my social media feed. I made it for 1 great day of winter climbing in the Cairngorms and haveRead more

Wall time

Davy making easy work of routes certainly motivated me to push hard but finally the pump and weakness of my grip (told you its been a while) got the better of me!Read more

Mr Vango.

The above picture, grainy and black and white though it captures a conversation I had some 3 years ago that will remain with me for a long time.Read more