Saturday 26 September 2009

Transforming my garden

A selfexplanatory post. See first photo - garden in 2002. See second photo - same garden in 2008. All I did was scatter one packet of instant 'jungle seedmix' (available at Wilkinsons) on the grass and watered copiously. S'easy!






Snowdonia Weekend Sept 2009




Two weekends ago a few friends and I went to Snowdonia for 3 days walking. What a weekend we picked - blazing sunshine for the duration. The views were something else...so were the crowds! It was 15 years+ since I'd last been walking in Snowdonia. We did Cadair Idris on the way up on Friday (which was a first for me), followed by Tryfan and the Glyders on the Saturday, and Snowdon on the Sunday. Accompanying me were Jimmy Krankie, Bear Grylls and David Baddiel - otherwise known as Chopper, Tony and Col.


Here's a team photo taken at Bwlch Tryfan with the old self-timer on a style trick. L-R Col, Tony, Chopper, Me.
For more photos of our weekend visit this PBase gallery of mine.


Friday 25 September 2009

The banner photo. As it's the first thing you see when you log onto this blog, I'll explain what you can see.
To the left is a photo of yours truly stood beneath a Nikau palm (latin name Rhopalostylis sapida*) in the Jardin Exotique de Roscoff in Northern Brittany. We holidayed there this summer and found a spare hour to take a wander around this exotic garden whilst waiting for the return ferry. This particular palm is native to New Zealand and I grow one in my own garden with winter protection.
The centre shows me in Trefil Quarry on the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park in 2006. You can see how cold it was! The icicles are enormous.
And to the right is a photo taken of my wife and I on one of the UK's finest beaches...Porthcurno in Cornwall.

Starting Out.

For sometime I've pondered with the thought of starting a blog. The main thing against was/is time. But I've decided I'll give it a go and see how I get on. I'll be blogging about all my outdoor activities which vary from a bit of hillwalking, exotic gardening, jogging, and enjoying time with my family. I'll also try and interject a bit of humour. Let me know if anyone out there laughs.

Dog

P.s. Why Dog? It's an old nickname chosen by rugby teammates - I used to be as fit and as scrawny as a butcher's Dog. I still am as scrawny! Real name - Mark.