I read a lot of non-fiction in 2023, for someone who doesn’t really read non-fiction. The plan for this year is mostly to read more fiction from around the world – or at least from the Nordic region. But I read this in December and it fits the theme too well not to talk about … More Travel Library: Adventure Revolution by Belinda Kirk
My absolute favourite life and outdoors manual is my 1992 Guide Handbook. Not even joking. There’s a lot that’s Guide-specific but it’s got entire chapters on Skills for Living, The Great Outdoors, Camp, All About You, Express Yourself and One World and I still like to sit and read it as a book, even now … More Travel Library: Do Your Best: How To Be A Scout by Bear Grylls
I love Sparkle & Ice. I haven’t missed a single year, not even 2021, when it was cancelled because of some killer mutant virus. I took a mix of Guides & Rangers in 2017, just Rangers in 2019 and 2020, volunteered in 2018 and 2022 and I’m taking my new Rangers this year. However, this … More Sparkle & Ice 2023: the biggest one
With Sparkle & Ice 2023 only about ten days away now, it’s either a bit tight for time with advice or it’s perfect timing because you’re just reaching last-minute panic. I know at least one local leader has read my previous Sparkle posts and maybe I can become the authority on how to survive Girlguiding’s … More Winter camping tips (for Sparkle & Ice)
I was a tiny bit dubious about this book, simply because the author goes by the name Jules. If you were at school with me, you can probably hear the same allegedly “slimy but satisfying” voice that I hear, declaiming, “Hi, I’m Jules!”. I say this as a person who could go by Jules but … More Travel Library: Not Cool: Europe by Train in a Heatwave by Jules Brown
I’m slightly surprised that the Travel Library series has not yet included a book by Al Humphreys, given that he’s one of the adventurers I look to whenever I’m running low on ideas. I’ll be making up for it – during the plague years, he explored a single OS map, his local one, and I … More Travel Library: Ask An Adventurer by Alastair Humphreys
You may remember that a while back I had a go at glassblowing. I wasn’t great at it because blowing that much pressure down a tube triggers my gag reflex. The actual manipulating and handling of the glass was all new but with practice, I could probably become competent but if you can’t blow the glass, … More I tried blacksmithing (I can do it!)
This post has already been through several drafts, with titles like “I got my Going Away With licence!” and “I nearly got my Going Away With licence!” but the reality is… I nowhere near got my Going Away With licence. I did organise a Ranger camp single-handedly though, and I’m going to tell you all about … More Organising a Ranger camp
Is this technically a Travel Library? As far as I’m concerned, it is. It’s all about volcanoes – volcanoes around the planet and around the solar system and as there are no volcanoes in the vicinity of my house, and as I associate volcanoes with going to Iceland, this fits the bill. I’ve been looking forward to … More Travel Library: Super Volcanoes by Robin George Andrews
I thought for this month’s Travel Library, I’d choose an Icelandic book while I was in Iceland and read that. So off I went to Eymundsson and I stood in front of the shelf of English-language Icelandic books and dithered. I’ve read a couple by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, I’ve read Jar City (aka The Bog in the … More Travel Library: Quake by Auður Jónsdóttir
I Am A Polar Bear 