Friday night was not optimal tent-pitching weather but there we were – me, three Rangers and four Guides, up to our ankles in mud, in pouring rain, putting up our tents in the dark. We’d arrived at 6pm at Girlguiding’s latest event, Sparkle & Ice, a winter survival camp happening simultaneously at three Training & … More Sparkle & Ice 2017: it turns out winter camp is cold
At eight o’clock in the morning, having packed up my tent and hauled it across the campsite, I was on a bus. By one o’clock, with an hour’s detour to walk up a canyon formed in Iceland’s most productive eruption in history, I was at Landmannalaugar, an oasis and campsite in the Highlands. The plan … More Landmannalaugar circular walk
This week, I took my Rangers ice skating. It’s one of the things Girlguiding should be about – oh, not necessarily taking them ice skating, but doing fun things, having new opportunities and trying new activities. We spend far too much time in the meeting room where the girls are more interested in Snapchatting each … More We went ice skating!
Anglophones have a pretty bad – if mostly accurate – reputation for not learning languages. I don’t know about other Anglophone countries but here in the UK, when I was at school, everyone learnt French from at least secondary school and everyone had to take at least one language at GCSE and yet if you … More I am learning Norwegian!
I’m not a horse rider. I know which end bites and which end kicks and that’s about the limit of my horse knowledge. But horse riding is one of the most popular activities you can in Iceland, so I thought I’d give it a go. And having given it a go, I gave it three … More Riding an Icelandic horse
I spent a couple of months earlier in the year unemployed and during that time, I got a bit into scrapbooking. I’d owned a scrapbook for at least five years and finally, I not only filled it, I had to order two sets of additional page protectors. I also discovered “scrapbooking on the road”. It’s … More Scrapbooking on the road
When Region announced that it was celebrating the Senior Section Spectacular at Alton Towers, I immediately decided I wanted to go. I’d never been to Alton Towers before and I probably never will again. It’s a five hour drive from home and I hate rollercoasters. But I do enjoy spectacular events and camping in unusual … More Senior Section Spectacular at Alton Towers
I’ve acquired a couple of new badges for my camp blanket lately and that’s because I went walking on Dartmoor. I went with Girlguiding and my region now does walking badges because they don’t want to be outdone by LaSER (London and South East Region) who started producing badges in 2014 and whose badge was … More Walking on Dartmoor in the sun and in the rain
I know it’s been eight months but I thought it really was about time I did a post of some kind about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I like stand-up comedy and because I am ridiculous, I keep a spreadsheet of what I’ve seen, which tells me that since November 2009, I’ve seen 237 shows, encompassing … More EdFringe 2015
I’ve lived in Dorset all my life and I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time scrambling around the clifftops, ever since I was introduced to them on the school trip to Leeson House in 1996 (this trip is mandatory for every single schoolchild in Dorset, apparently). In 2014, it finally dawned on me that the … More SWCP 1: South Haven Point to Swanage
I Am A Polar Bear 