With my six day trek across the Icelandic Highlands now just next month, I had to do some real walking. I packed my tent and headed off to Dartmoor for the weekend – well, for Friday and Saturday anyway, since I needed to be home on Sunday to go to a local music festival. I’d … More I climbed the highest mountain on Dartmoor
I’ve talked about my year abroad before – mostly in terms of the travel I did between my work and the places I went. I did a degree in French & Spanish. I don’t really speak any Spanish anymore; my French is a little better than I’d expected it to be. If you’re a normal … More How I survived studying overseas
Since I’m walking the Laugavegur trail in July, it’s time to talk about the time I sampled it. In the summer of 2012 I did a day trip to Landmannalaugar. Just long enough to visit the hot spring and then run across the floodplain to see what else this little oasis had to offer. I … More Walking the Grænagil-Laugavegur loop
Last November I went to Latvia and because I’m using it for the Explore My World section of my Silver Voyage Award I made a little scrapbook of it which I showed you late last year. I enjoyed it so much that I thought I’d go back to September and make one for my trip … More Meet my Iceland scrapbook
In 2015 I went to Svalbard because it was cheaper and logistically easier to go to the High Arctic than northern mainland Norway. Obviously. It was November. Svalbard in November has twenty-four hour darkness and it’s cold. Very cold. This is a huge frozen archipelago where the polar bear reigns supreme. On my first full … More I nearly died on a dog sled
Girlguiding has four annual flagship events. There’s the Big Gig, a huge pop concert at Wembley Arena (in previous years they’ve taken it to Manchester or Birmingham and so on but last few years, it’s settled at Wembley). There’s Wellies & Wristbands, a huge music festival/national camp in August at three venues simultaneously, Magic & … More Sparkle & Ice 2018: A volunteer’s perspective on a large-scale Adventure weekend
This is a travel & outdoors adventures blog… but I don’t seem to do a lot of outdoors adventures recently. However, in January I spent a day volunteering with the National Trust, specifically with the volunteer rangers on Brownsea Island. Now, Brownsea Island is a bit special. It’s local but it’s also where Scouting and … More Juliet Tries… extreme gardening with the National Trust
I used to walk a lot. Well, a bit. But it’s been a while since I’ve been out, or at least, out of my own volition. I go on Girlguiding region walking weekends when I can because it means I have to but other than that, I can always find more appealing things to do … More New Year, New Unicorn
I’ve climbed a few mountains in my time. Small ones, easy ones, sometimes only halfway up and always slowly. Sir Edmund Hillary I am not. Climbing Laki was entirely unlike any mountain I’ve ever climbed before. Laki is a volcano. That’s not what makes it unusual. Actually, it’s not “a volcano” in the traditional sense. … More The day I climbed Iceland’s deadliest volcano
A little under a year and a half ago, I became a qualified archery instructor. It’s still the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me and the qualification I’m most proud of. I did it through Girlguiding, who ran an adults-only camp at Foxlease, their Training and Activity Centre in the New Forest. … More I’m a qualified archery instructor!
I Am A Polar Bear 