Travel, outdoors & adventure blogger who loves Iceland, camping and swimming.
What do Icelanders wear? Knitted Icelandic jumpers with a pretty ring pattern around the neck! These things, these traditional Icelandic jumpers, are called lopapeysas, known for short as the lopi (although strictly speaking, lopi is just the wool). It’s oh-so-traditional, dating back to somewhere around the early-to-mid 20th century. That’s less than one hundred years. … More The A-Z of Iceland: J is for jumpers
You may already know that when I was a student, I was a very keen caver. That all ended twelve years ago with graduation and I’ve been back twice since then, the last time being four and a half years ago. I just don’t get to go anymore because you need someone to go with … More Cavers do it in rubber socks: a half day in Goatchurch
Wild garlic bread isn’t a picnic blanket staple, exactly. This is something we did during the foraging and wild-cooking part of my bushcraft training day a couple of weeks ago. Dampers are a classic campfire food, only we jazzed ours up a bit. You’ll need a long stick with a pointy end for cooking – … More The Picnic Blanket Book: wild garlic bread
If you’re out and about in Iceland on your own – and by on your own, I mean without a professional guide/driver/tourist personnel – you should know about ICE-SAR. That’s the Icelandic Association for Search & Rescue. They’re the people who will come and rescue you if you decide to have a picnic on an iceberg … More The A-Z of Iceland: I is for ICE-SAR
This month’s book from my Travel Library is more adventure than travel. Sometimes it’s impossible to say which of those a story falls into, which is why this blog is loosely themed around travel and adventure. In this case, All At Sea (original title: In The Bath) by Tim FitzHigham is definitely an adventure. It’s … More Travel Library: All At Sea by Tim FitzHigham
Last week I went to West Sussex for a couple of days of training. I’ve talked before about my forays into becoming a casual (read: occasional) outdoor activity instructor (archery | fencing | selection day) The full-time instructors were over at the training centre for two weeks (depending on what they were already qualified in) … More Bushcraft training day
Last Monday, a lot of big old heavy solid permanent monuments very suddenly became a lot less permanent. My reaction to the Notre Dame fire, once it had been established that most of the building had miraculously survived, was to book flights to Rome next month, primarily to see the Sistine Chapel. I also went … More A day at Winchester Cathedral
One of the things you’ve probably heard about Iceland is that all the people believe in elves. Well… it isn’t quite as simple as that. In Iceland, the beings in question are called the huldufólk, the Hidden People. Some say that it’s a euphemism for elves or that you shouldn’t call elves by their real … More The A-Z of Iceland: H for Hidden People
I’ve talked before about getting my archery instructor qualification and before the end of the month I’ll tell you all about the climbing instructor training but for now, I’m going to tell you what it’s like to actually teaching archery sessions with a group of teenagers. The teenagers in question were my current Rangers, aged … More Inspiring kids: archery vs Rangers
I can’t believe it’s already been a month since I started The Picnic Blanket Book and told you all the secrets of my special-recipe rocky road. So here’s the April installment, my other favourite bake, if bake is the word. This is a food that travels well (I took a bag of it on the … More The Picnic Blanket Book: my flapjack recipe
I Am A Polar Bear 