Travel, outdoors & adventure blogger who loves Iceland, camping and swimming.
This last year has been like nothing I’ve experienced ever. I’m up to about five Girlguiding roles and this summer term, I’ve been out four nights a week plus the weekend quite a few times. So I thought, as possibly the busiest volunteer in the country, I’d talk a bit about each of those roles over … More Girlguiding 2023-24: a review
Iceland has had a major boom in tourism in the last 15 years, which was welcomed at first as an antidote to the kreppa, the financial crash of 2008. At that time, tourism was Iceland’s third biggest industry. Almost overnight, it soared to first place, leaving fishing and aluminium processing, the former first and second … More How to be a good tourist in Iceland
Just for the avoidance of doubt, I’m not actually a kayaking instructor. I volunteer at our Girlguiding boathouse where we have one qualified leader and three assistants. I’m kind of hoping to be an actual qualified instructor by next year maybe but for now, I’m using “instructor” in the sense of… well, my job is to go out … More My second season as a kayaking instructor
On Monday I talked about my trip to Gdańsk and I said I’d talk about Sopot today. Well, here we go. In short, I went straight to Sopot from the airport for a trip out on a pirate ship and then went to Gdańsk. Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia are three separate cities – or perhaps towns … More A pirate ship trip at Sopot
This year, I’m going back and filling in gaps in my blog, either where I never wrote the thing in the first place, or where it needs to be deleted and rewritten. I’ve never been particularly happy with the content from Gdańsk in 2019 so that was an obvious candidate for rewriting – but also, … More First impressions of Gdańsk
I was very excited about this – I was going for a sauna on a beach! There are now hundreds of small semi-rustic saunas on beaches and in woodlands around the country but Studland Sauna Hut was the first one I ever noticed. Back then, you either had to book it for a largeish group … More A Daycation at… Studland Beach
It’s been a while since I did a Girlguiding post (last November when we went to Sparkle & Ice, in fact!) so it’s definitely time to do another. Last weekend, I went to GLOW! GLOW is Girlguiding South West’s new flagship event for girls. With the selling-off of our Training & Activity Centres, our big … More Campfire singing for 8 hours at GLOW
Let’s give it its full title – this month’s Travel Library comes from The Rhine: Following Europe’s Greatest River from Amsterdam to the Alps by Ben Coates and let’s start by being brutally honest. This was a slog. The fact that I bought it in 2022 and never got beyond the first page until now should … More Travel Library: The Rhine by Ben Coates
We’re back for another chocolate battle and this time it’s between Greek Lacta and Norwegian Freia. Back in April, we had Lacta vs Lindt and – not to be biased before we even start – but Lacta got absolutely annihilated. Meanwhile, Freia hasn’t been seen for more than eight years, when it went up against … More Chocolate Wars: Greek chocolate vs Norwegian chocolate
I absolutely wasted Sunday and I feel guilty for it, even as I try not to feel guilty. I was very much raised on the idea that you should make the most of your trips, squeeze in as much as possible and probably come home more tired than when you left. But that’s not what … More An authentic Croatian Sunday
I Am A Polar Bear 