Tonight was the opening night of my ‘one date world book tour’ – Speaking live at the Plas y Brenin, The National Mountain Centre. I was invited to give a talk about the Van Bivi Logbook to start the Spring series of weekly evening lectures. Thankfully, everyone in the audience laughed in all the right places,… Read more

While the mountains were still thawing out, there was the hint of a gap in the clouds over at the beach. Strong winds were on the way later in the day, so we got up, into the van and headed straight over.   It was still only about 6 degrees and the wind was already making… Read more

The rise in temperatures and heavy rain combination have melted almost all of the snow and filled the rivers!  Although it was clearly a day to be out on kayaks, we had a lot of trip planning and general admin to sort out, so were happy for it to be the kind of day where… Read more

Extraordinary weather around here at the moment! Yesterday we were battling in blizzards and avoiding frostbite, today we went rock climbing in the glorious sunshine, with the minibus thermometer reading plus 18 degrees! It really felt freakishly warm.  A total contrast to the snow, but a welcome taste of spring. We made the most of… Read more

Thick clouds and incoming storm conditions made a stark contrast to the stillness of the winter wonderland of yesterday. Despite difficult conditions being well on the way, I set out with some older students to venture up into the snows before the thaw arrived. We gained height quickly against a strengthening wind as the views… Read more

I was due to be taking a group of students to the Yorkshire Dales today, but couldn’t even get the van off the driveway! Woke to find much more snow than expected! I’ve always fancied skiing the hill outside The Cottage, so on finding that no vehicles had dared to try and come down it,… Read more