An Exciting Purchase

 I used to get excited over the purchase of a new pair of Jimmy Choos or Manolo Blahniks... I have even been known to get heart palipitations over Diane von Furstenberg dress. Today's purchase put into perspective how the next 6 months will evolve. I can genuinely say that it was with a sense of glee and liberation (that only women will be able to relate to)  that I clicked on the 'Add to basket' icon on the Red Cross website...

Kit bag

The wind and the rain

Listening to the rain beating down at my window at midnight I contemplated building an ark in the morning and brushing up my lifeguarding skills as a viable alternative to donning my waterproof kit and heading out to the Brecon Beacons at the ambitous 6am scheduled departure time. Fortunately when I woke up a short 6 hours later to look outside, I was feeling mildly more optimistic about the prospect of donning the goretex once again – a lull in the storm – well, let’s not get carried away here - only a mild drizzle rather than the torrential downpour and gale-force winds that had been predicted..! I wondered what the final verdict from 'mission control' would be following a late text message saying that Wales might be postponed because exposed ridges and 50mph winds "wasn't sensible". I couldn't argue with logic..!

Brecon Beacons... well, almost

Before coming to the overwhelming conclusion that I should have bought shares in Gore-tex and invested in the merino-wool gene pool, I managed to significantly expand the thermal and waterproof capacity of my mountaineering wardrobe by about three-fold. All this in preparation for the first of many steps which will be taken on a journey up several mountain peaks and across the far reaches of the United Kingdom.