In my last post, my cottage tour, you may have caught a glimpse of my oven. Yes, it’s an Aga. I live in the countryside. That is, I live in the worst combination of the countryside, in what the Bortle Scale (the measure of the night sky’s brightness) calls rural/suburban transition. So we don’t have … More Country girl battles with Aga
I’m staying in a cottage! An actual cottage in a quaint little English village! My parents planned to go to Austria but for… reasons… I decided not to go with them, and then they didn’t go anyway. But I did have vague ideas of having a “wellness break” in December and so this is it. … More Winter cottage tour
After my post the other day about the big rescue in OFD, I thought it was about time I did some more cave content. I picked this particular trip because it involved a nice “bimbly” trip with photos – underground photos from my caving days are spectacularly rare – but it also, and completely coincidentally, … More A long caving weekend in the Mendips
Over the weekend, you may have caught this story, which made headline news across the UK: Man rescued from cave after two days, the story of an injured caver in South Wales who had a somewhat… difficult rescue. In fact, it took 250-odd people more than 53 hours to get him out. If you’re not … More Why did it take so long to get the injured caver out of the cave?
Welcome, come on in! This is Pip and Pip’s Cabin, my home for the weekend on the border of Devon and Cornwall. The place is actually called Spring Park and it has eight quirky little places to stay scattered around in their own private gardens. Duke, Duchess and Ragnarr are restored wagons, Hercules is a … More A tour of Pip and Pip’s Cabin | Glamping at Launceston 2021
Dartmoor is 70! Well, it will be the day after tomorrow, October 30th. And by 70, I mean it’s 70 years since it was designated England and Wales’ fourth National Park. The other three weren’t far ahead, all designated in 1951 too. The Peak District came first, in April, followed by the Lake District in … More Happy 70th birthday to Dartmoor! | Glamping at Launceston 2021
With half of Devon and Cornwall to choose from for my first day out on my Cornwall/Devon weekend away, I dithered over the guidebook for all of breakfast. There’s just so much to see and do and none of it quite on my doorstep, except Launceston (which I did last time I was in the area) … More Port Isaac and Port Quin | Glamping at Launceston 2021
Because I’m Doing A Badge, i stopped off at Roadford Lake on my way to my steamroller living van on the Cornwall/Devon border for a spot of paddleboarding. And because you never know what the traffic will be like, I left plenty of time. In fact, I reached the lakeside two and half hours before … More At Roadford Lake | Glamping at Launceston 2021
On Friday I went out for my long-awaited night navigation by sea kayak, which is the mysterious thing I had to practice sea kayaking for in September. The October weather smiled down on us. The run of wind and rain and grey skies vanished literally just for the evening and we set out onto a glassy … More Serenity, sunset and shooting stars: night navigation by sea kayak
I’ve been kayaking before. I’ve been kayaking on the sea before – in fact, I’ve only ever been kayaking on the sea. But this post is about learning to kayak on a closed cockpit sea kayak with a spraydeck. The reason is there’s a thing I wanted to do but it’s only available to groups … More Learning to paddle a sea kayak
I Am A Polar Bear 