New England Road trip part 2 – Salem and Portland

famous of course for the persecution of so called witches and one local wealthy merchant , John Hawthorne, became known as the key judge (and the hanging Judge) in such trials which saw the hanging of 19 people (the vast majority women) and the pressing to death of one man – the trials only coming to and end when a member of his immediate family was accused of witchcraft Read more
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New England Road Trip Part 1 – Boston/Cape Cod

This site on the Eel river , known as Historic Patuxet is where, through local contemporary interpreters, you can learn about those who have been here for the last 12,000 years (spoiler alert – Columbus did not “Discover America”.) Sitting on deep fur covered benches in a wetu (house) listening to one young lady of the Wampanoag people talk about daily community life was completely fascinating and is something anyone visiting New England should experienceRead more

#internationalwomensday2022

Celebrating 4 of the most important people in my life . Funny , smart, passionate , brave , caring, creative , ambitious and unstoppable ! And I love every one them. ( clockwise from Left top- My mum, wife , niece Lauren and Niece Kaitlin)Read more

Tested – SIGG Thermo Flask

I’m not really one for taking anyone on the hill that isn’t essential – fundamentally I hate carrying wasted weight – light and (not so) fast is the aim . I don’t sacrifice essential safety kit such as torch, layers, first aid kit, blanket etc but Flasks of coffee tend not to be something I pack. That said – both my wife Sam ( my main hill partner) and my regular climbing buddy Fraser both love a coffee on aRead more

Douh !

Happen to us all right ? Some idiotic mistake .. something we forget .. well today was my turn . With VERY unseasonably warm temperatures for Dec 30th ( 10C !) Fraser and had planned to head into Coire an t’Sneachdea to primarily just “get out” on the hill ( always better than sitting on the sofa) but ideally if anything would go, to get a route in – even if just soloing up one of the grade I’s. LeftRead more

Schiehallion

Ahead of the Christmas break we wanted to get a decent hill in and forecasts pointed east so Schiehallion in the Low east Highlands , near Aberfeldy was our decision. We’ve done Schiehallion twice already once in mid winter and once in spring , both times required crampons with a lot of lying snow and ice around the rocky summit but today it was a different story Setting out early ( been a while sixes we’ve been up at 6am!)Read more
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Quick hit – Glen Devon

After visiting Cowden Japanese Garden ( see my recent post) we had spotted some nice hills around dollar / Glen Devon and my mountain buddy Fraser ( See Ficaill Ridge post) has mentioned there was a couple of nice horseshoes so we decided to do a quick Bank Holiday Monday hit , do a bit and play it by ear as the weather looked a bit questionable . Glen Devon , part of the Ochills near startling has some lovelyRead more

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

Shorts? Hope for the best …

Been a very long time ( 2 years + I reckon) since Fraser and I got on a hill – of course the C19 issue stopped us all but Fraser and I did a lot of mountains together and it’s been faaar to long ! Grabbed some annual leave and we stuck August 12th in the diary for a hill day – both knowing we were way off our previous fitness after a year and a half of on andRead more