I squinted into the bright sunlight as the icy air prickled my cheeks and skated over my fillings. The sun was up and picking out the snow capped tops and ridges in pink, the wet snow of last night had shrunk into a carpet of crystals and although the shapes of the landscape were the same [...]
Posted on March 31st, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures | 26 Comments »
Tonight’s bedtime stories for Holly were a little different. We had the Cailleach and her magic cow in the legend of Loch Awe and we had the story of how the farmer’s daughters became the Five Sisters of Kintail with a spell. She loved it just as much as the Doctor Who picnic story, so we’ll [...]
Posted on March 30th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 4 Comments »
There seemed to be an awful lot of roadworks on the A82, I think they’re trying a new system of traffic calming/tourist disenchantment or something, just in time for easter. The red/amber/green of all the temporary lights were the cheeriest thing I saw on the road up too, it was driech. The whole journey felt like [...]
Posted on March 30th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures | 34 Comments »
Posted on March 29th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures | 10 Comments »
“Zat some good swag ye got man?” The nasally toned question came from a pale and scrawny junkie with glazed eyes who was walking down the middle of the road. I’d just jumped over a locked gate onto the pavement after mortaring-in a couple of holes that I’d made when I’d removed some drain pipework from the building [...]
Posted on March 27th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 12 Comments »
I’ve had a notion for a walk for a wee while and it’s something a little different for me, Fort William to Morar. It looks like it could be a couple of nights of camping after getting the train up and starting walking from there. There’s a good bit of Great Glen Way towpath to [...]
Posted on March 24th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures, Items Various | 25 Comments »
We’re not sure where Holly learned some of the questions, but when we got to ask them instead of answering them, this is what we got. What’s your talent? “Drawing and painting”. What’s your name? “Holly MacScotland”. What’s that noise? “It’s the man” What’s do you want for dinner? “Chipmunk Box”. That’s the world I want [...]
Posted on March 23rd, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 21 Comments »
What the test kit’s been doing, and where to post any unrelated comments, questions or observations. The Kilkpatrick Hills are Spam. That probably doesn’t sound right, but I don’t mean it like that, I’m thinking in a WW2 way. When you’re besieged by circumstance or the agents of doom, you open the cupboard and break [...]
Posted on March 22nd, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 21 Comments »
The eagle-eyed passerby might have noticed the Haglöfs Actives Tee on here a good few times over the past year. It’s been well used, it’s seen biking, running, walking of all sorts (it’s technical properties and understated looks means it fits in well even on family days out), and the best test of any baselyer’s [...]
Posted on March 22nd, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Kit Reviews | 16 Comments »
I took them out of the box, I took the card supports out, followed by the rolled tissue at the toes and stuck them on my feet. A good fit, so Iwent straight out the door to see what the Assailant Mids, just in for test from The North Face, were like on the trail. [...]
Posted on March 21st, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Kit Reviews | 1 Comment »
I can count the outdoor writers that I’ve enjoyed reading on my fingers. I’m not counting guide books in that, which are always worth a flick through when my mind draws a blank. I have stuff going back to the 50′s and they’re all an absolute joy. I’ve enjoyed Ralph Storer, Ernest Shackleton, Ian Mitchell’s Scotland’s Mountains Before [...]
Posted on March 21st, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 5 Comments »
The folks at Orbana sent me a couple of bottles of their energy drink to test through Twitter. There’s two separate issues here, and the first one is the drink itself. It’s a powder to which you add water, shake and drink (I have a pre-mixed version below) . It takes a bit of dissolving, I never [...]
Posted on March 20th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Kit Reviews | 28 Comments »
Butch and Sundance below have got their trail shoes on and are even into short sleeves. I dunno if that’s entirely wise, it’s pissing down out there, so I think Spring got stuck in the door of the bus trying get all its shopping bags down the steps and got dragged away to the next stop. [...]
Posted on March 19th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 8 Comments »
