A Very Different Kind of Challenge for 2010 – The Great Climb
The Previous Challenge was all about marketing and making an impact within your chosen niche, not a huge chance of tearing skin muscle and bone. In life there are many kinds of challenge. How do you fancy the chance to tackle an overhanging (150 ft in 600 ft) cliff of Lewisian gneiss in the bonny Western Isles on a typical full on Scottish summer rainstorm? That’s the invitation that Dave McLeod and Tim Emmet received from BBC Scotland about a year and a half ago! The brief was simple; find a line on the most overhanging part of Sron Ulladale on the Isle of Harris and do a trad first ascent of the line in the 5 1/2 hour live broadcast slot, no matter what the weather throws at you. The result has been the most absorbing TV adventure epic I have ever had...
Santiago de Compostela- The End of Heather’s Camino
After 780km of walking, Heather has arrived at journey’s end. The final day of the Camino was sadly let down by the weather. After all the heat and the dust, just when you’d like a bright and colourful day; what does it do? Tries to do an English Summer’s day! Now that’s no way to treat a lady! Santiago and this is the last – probably! Well, I suppose you want me to write that there were bells, trumpets, full orchestra, banners, flags, dancing when I arrived in Santiago, don´t you! Let us first go the night which was OK apart from an Italian man a) snoring b) leaving his foot smell to waft around and c) already having got my back up by tending to the weedy female he was with who kept meeowing, a bit like a baby. That is when she...
Belly Ache and Respect on the Camino
It’s hard to believe that the summer has passed by almost and Heather is actually on the last few laps of the walk. I’m a couple of days late posting this so I’m hoping that the ominous silence in the email department isn’t the gutaches catching up with her. Pride Cometh Before a Fall Part Three Hi Everybody, I´ve fixed my walking sandals with superglue so they should be good for a few hundred more kms. Trainers are still going strong even with the bottoms not quite all there in one piece, so to speak. I had a wonderful moment today – as I said, The Camino is not now what it was as it´s now full of people having joined for the last 100 km. I probably forgot to say as well that you have a credential which allows you to stay at the...
Galicia, And only 130km to Go on Heather’s Camino
Was working my fingers to the bone yesterday, but I finally managed to break away for a few photos and a bit of bouldering at Head End Quarry, as I build up an archive of climbing ropework video clips. It’s harder to get good vid of that than I imagined. Not really a one man show! Meanwhile Heather is definitely seeing the hills again and I think Galicia has rung her bells good and proper! Beautiful, Beautiful Galicia. Hola Todos, I realise I haven´t got anything funny to write about! Sorry! Yesterday I passed over into the last province, Galicia. Here there is a different language (brilliant, just when I´m getting to grips with Spanish) and beautiful mountains, completely different to any in Britain as they all seem to have vegetation. I have taken so many...
Crunchy Frog Video Finally Edited – Thankyou Virtual Dub and Camtasia Studio 7
Anybody would think I’d set out to make a proper movie! Back in June when the sun still shone – when there was a hint of strength in the arms; Tim, Dorine and myself warmed up on Brown Slabs Corner before Tim had a poke at Crunchy Frog. It was one of those evenings with warm sun, perfect warm rock and azure skies. Where did they go? While Tim led, Dorine belayed and I just leaned back against the tree and caught almost the whole climb on my little cheapo video camera as Tim cruised up. Like a smart arse though, I decided to hold the camera portrait style to get the (foreshortened) perspective of the whole route, and when I first tried to edit the movie on Windows Movie Maker, discovered that WMM squished the aspect so the the movie would have...