I find my birthdays weirdly stressful. I still get a childlike buildup in the days leading, and it all comes crashing down when I then focus on how old I’ve become, how little I feel I’ve achieved in the past year, and how fast time seems to be flying by. Obviously, all super unhealthy! So last year, I decided to distract myself with a packraft mission. Float down the river that I grew up next to.
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Trips outside to the wonderful countryside that Britain and the rest of the world has to offer.
Imagine, it’s 2020 and you’re locked down in a city centre. Time to cultivate a sourdough starter, pick up a craft, and bash some pans in the street every Thursday evening. Yes, I did all of these, but I also jokingly started a running project that began to take over my lockdown life.
The project? Try to run every street in central Edinburgh, starting from the flat.
After our disastrous attempt to summit Bidean Nam Bian, Louise and I had gone on a couple of other (far more successful) trips. But we hadn’t returned to the challenge. That was until 8 months later when I got a message from Louise saying she’d be up from London for her birthday. Rather than spend the day inside eating cake, she suggested we should head to Glen Coe again to give Bidean another go. This time we’d be far better prepared and we’d have the weather on our side.
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After a very relaxed start, Louise and I arrived in the viewpoint car park in the heart of Glen Coe. It was mid October and the clouds sat low and threatening. Even though it was only 10.30am, the light seemed to already be fading as the rain switched from drizzle to torrential and back again.
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It’s almost been a year since I lost one of my best friends to suicide. Here is a story and some pictures from one of the last times I saw her.
I met Anna while living in London, and in a short period of time we became really close friends. We kept in touch over the phone when I left the city, but as her mental health got worse, I suggested she came up to Scotland to get away from everything.
Last week looked like a busy one. Working in the climbing centre on Monday and Tuesday, doing an award show on Wednesday and Thursday, back to the centre on Friday morning, and onto a shoot in the afternoon. Busy busy! Thankfully the show on Thursday was canceled, giving me a day away from work and nothing planned.
I’m sure the idea of heading out around the country and sleeping in the back of a van has crossed many outdoorsy people’s minds, and for me, this seems pretty perfect. In fact I’m so drawn to the idea that I’m hoping to eventually move into a van myself and live the full-time van life. Thankfully, a few weeks ago I got to experience staying in a van for two nights, and it’s just reinforced the idea in my mind.
A few weeks back, my friend Ken approached me wondering if I’d be up for climbing a hill he’d found in Wales. We met up for coffee to discuss the idea, which is when he first showed me the pictures online of Crib Goch’s ridge.
I headed out beyond South London to try to make a short film about bivi camping. Unfortunately I didn’t quite account for how early the sun would go down so it was pitch-dark by the time I found my campsite.
I’ve been telling myself for weeks that I needed another sleep under the stars but every weekend I seemed to find another excuse to not go away. I’d either have plans with friends, the weather would be terrible or I just felt too tired. Fortunately this week has a bank holiday weekend! I managed to have a very sociable weekend and as Sunday evening approached, the weather was too nice not to make the most of.