Always take a compass

So it's that time of year again, the nights are drawing in, the weather is getting colder and harsher which means that it's time to dust off the waterproofs and tent and start planning my next wild camping trips. For this winter season (2013/14) it's looking like I'll be heading out alone for most of my hiking and wild camping trips as we're expecting our first baby in April 2014, not something that I've ever really done before but I'm actually looking forward to the challenge as much as Donna is looking forward to the peace and quiet! Going solo will throw up some new challenges for me, not least the packing of all required equipment and gear without the ability to "spread the load" with another person.  I'm actually looking forward to the task of selecting, packing and then refining the kit I take with me over the next few trips; hopefully by early 2014 I will have this down to somewhere near a fine art! My initial thoughts (that wil

A few weeks ago, whilst staying in North Wales, we walked around the Cadair Idris range with Monty, our Springer Spaniel, and as it was his first trip to the mountains we were keen to see how he'd get on with mountains, rocks and all of the other elements that walking in the hills can throw at you. As it turned out he was fine and, being a springer, probably more suited to the environment than we were despite layers of Gore-Tex and high tech walking boots but the walk, although we'd taken the same route a number of times, seemed to be different somehow.  Maybe because we were focusing on different things, paying attention to different elements and looking at the walk through another set of eyes. Monty, on the way up Cadair And no, I'm sure the dog doesn't really care all that much - he's happy walking with us wherever we happen to be, it was just interesting to see the walk in a different way without actually setting out to do so. I'm guessing