I have to say I really like these pictures Phil took. It is so rare for me to be in any pictures. Mainly because I'm the one taking the pictures. One or two of these will end up in a calendar for my Nan, she will love them.

I look at these now and they bring back a happy memory. When I first saw them it was a bit painful emotionally. But I'm glad I can now look at them and feel happy.

Above: This is one of the Lochen that Dave and I in our original route plan, had planned to be camping next to.

Below: A series of pictures taken on the ridge.

I particularly like this last one, as it reminds me of pictures in TGO, I almost feel Cameron McNeish like!

I'll post the final three tomorrow.

Needless to say these pictures are copyright Phil and you will need his permission to use them. If you wish to contact Phil for permission drop me an email and I will pass on your details to him.

Above is the picture Phil took of me at the Tarbet bunkhouse, I particularly like this one as I look slim in it ^_^

Needless to say these pictures are copyright Phil and you will need his permission to use them. If you wish to contact Phil for permission drop me an email and I will pass on your details to him.

Above is the view across Loch Nevis from out front of the bunk house. It's here that Phil and I saw the Heron catch breakfast of a sand worm or something like that.

Tomorrow I'll post the pictures Phil took on the ridge.

Well I have to say that my brother has done his best to try and top my escapades up in Scotland the other week.

Had a phone call from our mum (slightly mad at the best of times, but where I get the weird side of my name from), saying that my brother had crashed his car, flipped it and had to be cut out of the car. He was taken to the hospital but he discharged himself!! Sometimes I think I got all the brains in my family. Which in the opinion of others may not be that much in the first place. And he nearly bested my leaving present from the Fort William hospital.

Dave Updates His Blog

Dave  has finally done a blog update. And what an update firstly he announces that the new route section of OM is nearly ready after a deal between Anquet Maps and OM has finally been finalized. Secondly Dave talks about the current air of hostility that seems to be filtering some of the threads on the OM forums. Having been on the receiving end myself of one or two barbed comments (recently and in the past), and I have to say I have also given as good as I got (although this in no way justifies my behavior at the time). One of those aggressors was up until one point some one I knew and considered a friend. Luckily I now have come to my senses and consider that foamy person a complete t**ser. But I think that this demonstrates one of the things that those of us who blog have found as an attraction, that so far the blogger community has managed to avoid this conflict and nastiness, and we have a comradery that seems to be building up. Will this last after we have met each other on the hill at the first UK Outdoors Blogger Wild Camp? I don't know. But we are certainly making some good friendships at the moment.  Can you feel the luuurve?

Feedback On Yesterdays Post

There has been some good feedback from John Hee on here and on Duncan's blog on yesterdays blog posting about the future of the outdoors retail industry. Is being a niche player the way forward? I don't know, being niche or specialist ie lightweight or whatever, you aren't going to make a fortune, maybe enough to keep the wolfs at bay if you are lucky. Which for some one passionate about the outdoors will be enough. The real money is in the mass market in the UK, the festival crowds, the cool campers, the family campers. The niche expert market just isn't that big over here, unlike say in the US where it is considerably bigger. So I'm not sure we will ever see a strong thriving specialist market in the UK, but more getting the scraps that make their way over from the US.

There has been a trend over the last couple of years for the big supermarket chains to get involved in offering discount camping gear. The main source one being Tesco, with a couple of the cheaper smaller chains like Lidl and Aldi (you should sign up for their email for the weekly offers they do) offer incredible bargains. If you want to try trekking poles, why fork out forty or fifty pounds and sometimes more for a pair? When catch Aldi or Lidl at the right time and you can get a pair for less than a tenner. This is exactly what Sally In Norfolk did and found them very useful on a recent trip.

Today when I had to nip out for some supplies (we had no rolls for hot dogs) I went to the local Asda. On the way out I noticed they had a 6 man tent set up which they were selling for FORTY POUNDS!!! It consisted of a four man sleeping area and a two man sleeping area. Now for me this would be an ideal split, as the 2 man sleeping area could be used as a storage area. I wouldn't expect this tent to stand up to a force ten gale, but for the one or two times a year it would be used I'd expect it to be fine. But I would say this about all the cheap tents, they are ideal for the occasional use  during the Summer. Our old Euro Hike four man tent (before being eaten by mice) was also fine for this type of thing. You could argue that do you really need to spend hundreds of pounds on a tent that was designed to be used in much harsher conditions like expeditions to the Arctic or Everest Base Camp, when you will be using it on a camp site in the UK once or twice a year?

But this also shows a trend that will threaten the independent outdoors shop, the bigger outdoor chains, and very possibly the manufacturers themselves. Will it mean that the customer is the winner, when these big chains start throwing their financial muscle around? Or will it mean that in the long term the customer looses out? It's a wait and see I think. But it certainly shows that in the UK we are far too often charged over the odds on kit. Which is why we see companies like Alpkit doing so well. For me our biggest loss will be the independent retailer whether it be bricks and mortor or web based. As this is where most of the knowledge tends to be had when people buy gear, as these businesses are usually run be people that are into the outdoors and have experience of it.

Once more I wake up and it is raining. Raining harder than yesterday. And thoughts turn to the cub scouts on their camp, and my friend Mark. Of how the cub scout leaders will have to try and keep order with the kids while they are unable to do the planned activities (I assume this is the case). Personally I think having a rather damp camp in the wildest Surrey contryside will be character building for the kids.

Now do I buy Die Hard 2 Special Edition at £7.99 OR get the Special Edition box set of all three Die Hard movies even though I have the first one on dvd for £9.99? Bit of a no brainer I think. Whats inspired this purchase? Well I've been to the pictures this evening to see 28 Weeks Later, and before hand they had a trailer for Die hard 4.0 which I thought was going to be called "Live Free or Die Hard". But still I'll go and see the movie, I do like the old "mindless" action movie. But before seeing it I want to have a film night with Nathan of the first three Die Hard movies. I've been slowly educating Nathan in classic movies. The education has involved classic 80's action movies like Commando, Speed, Running Man, along with earlier films like Death Race 2000. But I've also got Nathan movies like The Longest Day, and A Bridge Too Far. The other night we watched the new Rocky film on dvd, which he loved. I've still not got him into Westerns yet, but that will come. Oh and 28 Weeks Later was a good film, if you enjoyed the first one then you will certainly like this one. Though I have to say the much mentioned sub-tones of political references to Iraq went completely over my head. I'm sure sometimes that people read too much into film/books/music. 

And the start of the blogs and reports of those that completed the TGO Challenge this year are starting to surface. They make hard reading, but I will read them all the same. Now what did I say? Oh yeah it's character building.

Well I'm not in a happy mood with our eldest kids. Thanks to them leaving the doors on my camping gear cupboards open, a mouse has trashed our 4 man tent, a 3 man tent, a self inflating sleeping mat, and one of the air beds. Why would they go in my cupboards? Well they play a game of hide and seek with their cans of lager when they have them. Some people are going to pay for this.

On a happier note, the new Trail landed through the letter box this morning. So I have plenty to read at the mo, as the latest Adventure Travel arrived mid week, and I have a mag I got in Fort William called Scottish Mountaineer to read as well. But as soon as Trail arrived I remember I hadn't got round to commenting on the Lightweight articles they did last month. Plus Trail are promising a Wild Camping special next month, can't wait for that one.

It's not been a day of doing much outdoors, first thing it was raining. Now I blame this not only on the fact this is a bank holiday weekend, as bank holiday weekends are traditionally cold and wet (it's the law). But also on the fact there is a cub scout camp going on also next to where I walk the dogs sometimes, so it is my friend Mark's fault, as he is one of the cub leaders at this camp ^_^

But even with the rain, I still had to walk the dogs. Come rain or shine the mutts have to go out. But even with rain I make use of the walk as a way to test kit. So I apply lightweight principles to dog walking - how sad is that? Considering that the rain was only light, I didn't bother with a coat, wore my Ronhills, and a micro fleece, which was good enough to keep me dry for the suration of the walk. Why use more than need be? But as I said, this allows me to prove lightweight principles in relative safety, so when the time comes to use them on the hill I know what works, in what conditions, and what I need to be safe on the hills.

I was dragged into TKMaxx this afternoon by Kate, we had to get some shorts for Nathan's up and coming school trip to Rome. Managed to find a couple of pairs that a thirteen year old would wear. But also found for myself a rather nice pair of Craghopper shorts for myself  at half price ^_^

Above: The frog I saw on Day 1, although Kate swears it is a toad.

Below: Phil at the Tarbet bunkhouse

Above: Loch Morar

Below: View from the hotel window in Mallaig

Kate asked me if I was still blogging each day, to which I said yes. Then she followed up with "what do I write about?" Well something usually crops up I can write about.

Over at John Hee's place he has done a great blog about Walking and Mental Health.   Both subjects close to my heart. I may write some thoughts on that at a later date. If I don't remind me will you?

Write about John's blog reminds me my blog round up on OM was put up this week after a short abscence. Pity there are some mistakes in it that I need to correct and get Jon to put up. That will teach me to be too busy at work that I rush things in my lunch break and not check it properly.

Looking forward to this long weekend. Means I can relax, take my time walking the dogs and unwind. I know I'll be walking round Frensham Little Pond this weekend most likely Sunday, and may try and get to the New Forest on the Monday. But nothing set in stone, and as always plans will be fluid taking into account all factors. So if you are out and about in my neck of the woods you may just bump into me.

Coming up in the next week: More Lessons Learnt from my TGOC experience. More waffle and more stuff.

Tonight is the night of the big celebratory meal at the end of the TGO Challenge. I should of been there. I'm not, and regular readers will know why. If you don't, skip back to last week and read my entries there.

I needed something to take my mind off this fact this evening. So I went to the flicks with Nathan to see the third (but not the last, as I hear that a fourth is in the works) Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Not a fantastic movie, but a watchable one. More so than the second in my opinion. And the attractive Ms Knightley is always a delight to watch on the big screen.

To all those TGO Challengers in Montrose may you have no hang over in the morning, and safe journey home tomorrow.

PS The picture the other day of one of my favourite flowers. Did you guess it? It is of course the Rhodendrum. There is a nice walk at Frensham Ponds where you get to walk under the Rhodendrum as they form a cover walk way round a small pond. Hmm that has me thinking about walks for this long weekend.

So when does 3 minutes extra time get shrunk to 2:40?

Oh well it was a good final, miles better than the FA Cup. But still I'm going to sulk.

And You'll Never Walk Alone....

Yes tomorrow night I get to test my heart out once more. There is nothing like a final with Liverpool in it. The last two that they have played in, Champions League and FA Cup have gone down in the history books as classics. And were definitely games not to have watched if suffering from a weak heart.

Yet tomorrow I will be watching, singing and praying that the boys from Liverpool bring back their 6th Champions League trophy. And hoping that my heart can take the excitement (is that the correct way to describe it?).

So between the hours of 7:45 and about 10:30 (if extra time and penalties) tomorrow don't expect anything from me. ^__^ 

Had the day off work today so I can wait for the repair man to come in and fix our dishwasher. Which he hasn't done, because the thermostat doesn't work with the motherboard of our dishwasher, so we have to wait another week. So nearly six weeks without the dishwasher so far.

What it also means is that I was able to have nice walk with the dogs in this glorious weather that we have had today. Below is a picture of one of my favourite flowers that I took on the walk today. Can you guess what it is?

Been buying some bits today, managed to get hold of a copy of "The Trekker's Handbook" by Thomas R. Gilchrist for 99p plus postage on Amazon. So in total about £2.50 IIRC, so a very good price for an out of print book that is meant to be hard to get hold of.

Next up is some stuff from the US via fleabay. First off I'll mention the stuff I have got via "buy it now". Winging it's way to me very soon is a box of Jolt Caffeine Gum. I like this gum, two pieces of it is the equivilent of a cup of coffee. And considering that I have one packet of this sitting in a SYH at the moment, waiting to be picked by some-one or even binned. I needed to restock. I remember when Jolt cola first came out in the late eighties. It boasted twice the caffeine of regular cola, but sadly was never available over here, except as an expensive import. It fast became the cola drink of choice for "code monkies" in the US.

Next up is an audio book on CD about Twinkies and the ingredients that go into them. I get from the description that it is a Fast Food Nation type jobbie. And that should be making it's way to me soon as well.

The final item I actually have to bid on! But it is a Twinkies home baking kit plus cook book. I have to declare now I LURVE Twinkies. So I just had to put a bid in for this. Make your own Twinkies, a dream come true. Which reminds me I need to source some of them...

Thought I'd repeat a question that was asked of me on OM and my answer.

ALoveSupreme (I have the right person this time ^_^) posted the following on the OM thread about me :

"Reading your blog it is striking how little hill-walking you actually do, and you would seem to do no other kind of relevant training. Yet you embarked on a fairly demanding crossing in unfamiliar terrain. Your first day, which you only managed half of, was to be 22km and 1250m of ascent, the third day 33km and 1822m of ascent followed by several other even bigger hill days (according to Mycrofts blog). My question is, notwithstanding your unwellness, were you actually fit enough to undertake your trip? Would you have been able to complete it as planned? How many days of that magnitude had you done in, say, the previous year?"

To which I posted the following reply:

"good question, and for one reason or another my training for the crossing fell through. What you won't see in great detail in the blog is what is happening in my home life (just hints refered to as life events or words to that effect). Which I won't mention on here either (my friends know the matters that I refer to).But those life events could also of stopped me going on the TGOC, but had settled enough to allow me to go.
What I will say is that I had modified the crossing to take into account the fact I was solo, and had been ill recently and was going to do the FWA we had to provide to the route accessors, which were all low level. So apart from the day 2 none of the big days as planned were going to happen.
I do a lot of walking on a daily basis, and even longer walks at weekends. I can simulate most types of land locally, just not great ascents. It's the great thing about having dogs, they have to be walked no matter what.
Sometimes when well I have been known to jog with the dogs, just not upto the standard mentioned on this thread."

But here are some more thoughts on the matter.

Day 1 I actually covered 17km instead of 22km. But that was a combination of a slight change to the start of the route that cut out some road walking (approx 1km), and approx 4km at the end by stopping at Tarbet to meet up with Phil.

I thought that I had mentioned on this the blog that I was going to do the FWA options on the route considering I was solo and also because of the "man flu" (oh and Kate worrying about me). So I was planning to take into account my recent illness.

Also Dave and I were more than prepared to be "fluid" with our route along the way. Depending on how we felt and how we got on the day before, we would adjust the route on the way. Either doing the FWA, or maybe adding on extra milage etc. We had no intention of sticking to the route as something ridged that had to be followed. It was a guide, a best intentions, but we would adjust taking into account conditions on the ground so to speak.

But this does bring up another of the things I need to improve for next time, getting out on the hill more in the run up to the TGOC. But as I said somethings you can't predict, and at times it did seem that events were conspiring against me. Planned weekends would be cancelled at the last minute due to "life events" or crappy old bangers breaking down on me. Hopefully those "life events" have settled down or we are seeing the back of, and the car situation has been sorted. So next time around I will be able to get out on the hill more to practice for the Challenge over the winter months.

On another note, if everything had gone to plan. Today would be the day that Dave and I would of finished at Stonehaven.

It's not easy going into work, knowing you should still be up there in the wilds of Scotland. When people ask me about what happened, usually somewhere in the conversation I use the mantra "next year". It feels so hollow when I speak it. It doesn't take the hurt or the disappointment away. At the moment it offers no comfort at all.

I have also been the butt of some jokes at work because I mentioned the parting gift from the hospital (oh the draw backs of being a blogger). So not much change there then. It's funny they picked up on that, and the fact a helicopter was used. But only one or two actually said anything that resembled concern that I was ok, and how disappointed I was about it all. Hardly any seemed to appreciate seriousness of the situation at all.Now why was it that I don't go to those company parties again?

Josh our middle one turned eighteen today. Happy Birthday Josh.

One unexpected thing did happen while I was having my vision quest in the middle of nowhere, and that was the leaking of the Prevent Insect Spray in my first aid case. Now the case was packed nothing could move, so when it actually came to using it in anger (in one of those rare moments there wasn't a breeze) I was gobsmacked to find that it had leaked in side my first aid kit! I am not happy about this, and luckily I was able to use one of the wipes I had. Luckily for me only one dressing has been ruined, but the packaging of other stuff in there has been stained. And I think I also have to throw out the plaster strip I have as it is most likely impregnated with prevent spray, not a nice thought if you want to keep a wound clean. So that will have to go as well.

So at the moment I can't say that I found the wipes to be effective (used twice over this period). The first wipe seemed dry! when I went to use it on Day 1. While the wipe seemed to do little when used whilst I was being ill. As for the spray the fact that it leaked is a major no no.

So all in all I will not be recommending this product to anyone based on current experience of it.

Thought I'd gather some of the feedback in response to my "Lessons from my TGOC 07" posting taken from the OM thread, comments on here, and email received.

Caron aka CeePee sent me an email with the following handy hint for the crystals:

"I get the lemonade crystals from here: American Sweets The individual sachets are very handy and also very tasty."

I have to say I looked briefly at the site, and it would be SOOO easy to get free delivery from this place just on Twinkies alone!

Aktoman aka "Cunning" Duncan on OM posted on the OM thread about my adventures last week:

"I picked up some Japanese Seaweed cakes as I read about them having similar vitamins as sports drinks, and easier to carry."

Which I believe from comments also made "may" not taste that nice. We will see as Duncan said that he will take some to the Bloggers Meet next month.

Stef suggested the Lucozade powders, but I'm not a fan of them as I actually managed to stain a platy with this stuff. Which kinda put me off them.

On the OM thread and on here with "CEO's Office HFC Inc." for aiding rehydration when dehydrated diarolyte has been suggested.

CEO also suggested anti-emetics which next time I'm at the Chemist will enquire about.

Thanks for those helpful suggestions.

Well I promised this yesterday, so I had better deliver it.

Looking back (isn't hindsight a great thing? Maybe they should teach it in school. Yeah give it a different name, make it sound more cool. What to call it? I know history, that would be a good name for hindsight. Yes call it history and make it exciting...) over my short crossing what was learnt?

. It could be argued that with having a sore throat and surpressed appetite that my body was telling me I wasn't ready to start something like the TGO Challenge after the "man flu" had appeared to gone. Or the fact that I had the sore throat was the remains of the "man flu". Either way these were signs that seemed unrelated to my "man flu" at the time. But would a doctor of linked them together before hand? Whatever the answer is, it looks like I ignored what my body was telling me.

Bits of kit I would add:

.I really missed having squash. I've heard that you can get crystals to make a squash with. So in the following year I need to source some and test them out.

.Camp shoes these would be handy and will be added in the future (sooner than later).

.Powders to help with rehydration to mix in with the water. This may of helped once I had stopped vomiting, or even once I was able to keep down water.

.Anti-sick pills - can I buy this sort of thing over the counter? Would it of helped?

A review of what I took gear wise will follow next week. The above was just something I jotted down while in the hospital.

My first experience of the sleeper from Fort William was not a pleasant one. Sometimes I get claustrophobic in my sleep! (weird I know) Being on the top bunk I awoke after an hour feeling trapped, so with the stealth of a ninja elephant I made my way to the lounge carriage for a breather. Forty minutes later back in my bunk I spent an hour emailing some friends on the nightshift or "US Hours" in the Bangkok Office for the company I work for. I also seem to remember a blog posting at some point as well. Finally I managed to get some sleep to awake at six thirty. I stayed in the lounge until we arrived at Euston.

Arrived back in Farnborough to scattered showers and grey skies. 

Let me tell you there is no warmer welcome you can get than that given by a dog. Especially if you discount coming home to your house on fire. I arrived home to the back door being slightly open, the mutts had not heard me yet (this is very unusual). As I stood in the door way, Strider and then Bud came to the door not a sound. They saw me, paused for what seemed an eternity. I thought the dogs didn't recognise me for a moment. Then it clicked I was home and they went loopy. Barney wanted to get my attention from the other two and give me a cuddle. Strider wanted all the attention for himself as usual. It was so good to be welcomed home like this.

I've been catching up with Outdoors Magic, and I've made the front page, and this thread, where for some this blog is being marked as if it was an A Level English paper. The reaction to all this has been incredible, from OM'ers, and fellow bloggers. I still can't believe it. I'm shocked, amazed, by all the reaction that has blown up around this, and how supportive people have been. Thanks everyone, it makes this all worth it. But also please don't forget to sing the praise of Phil alot louder.

As regular readers of this blog will know, I have been trying to blag a press pass to the up and coming Harrogate '07 Show. Why? So I can get a sneak peak at all the new lovely outdoors toys that will be available for purchase next year.

Sadly while I was away experiencing the excellent hospitality of our Gaelic cousins a press release came out:

"In these rapidly changing market conditions the OIA’s major trade event in Harrogate has come under real pressure. So much so, that last week it was decided the best course of action is to cancel outdoorpreview 2007. The show reached a point where it was no longer seen as a viable marketing tool for those brands that were still supporting it and so we believe we should take a step back to re-examine the issue of trade exhibitions and how they can meet the needs of a fragmented trade.

Whilst the process of change has been high of the agenda of the OIA for many years, at a recent meeting of the OIA Executive Council, the decision was taken to specifically address the issues of the Association’s relevance and responsiveness within the changing dynamics of our sector. In meeting the challenges of change, recognising the need to continue being proactive, and provide services and benefits that have real meaning to today’s businesses, the OIA Council will be meeting again in early June when far reaching discussions will take place that will have implications in moving the association and the trade forward, and provide continuity and cohesion. Information on the development of this new strategy will be released next month.

We would like to encourage the trade as a whole, not just OIA members, to offer their views on what the OIA could and should provide to ensure the long term benefit of the UK outdoor leisure industry. As such we would welcome all constructive comments in advance of our crucial meeting on the 7^th June. Please email to the address below.

For more information, please contact Roger Southcott on roger AT go-outdoors DOT org DOT uk" (replace the AT with @, and the DOT with .)

So looks like my bit of fun has been spoilt. Personally I think they should have a public day as well as trade days. But we will have to wait and see what they come up with.