Well hi all, I should really have introduced myself in the forums but I thought I'd do it here first.

My real name is Alan and I live in central Scotland, sort of between Falkirk and Stirling so tons of lovely country within about an hours drive, it's just a shame I don't get to see as much of it as I'd like!

I've sort of called this blog the adventures of a newbie as I'm just starting out and have yet to get out there as I'm still collecting the bits

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  I returned from Shadowhawk's tracking course at Canonteigne on Monday mentally and physically tired, wet, but elated. It's easy to over-enthuse about a course when you've just finished it, so I'll just let it all sink in. But the first impressions are that it was an amazing, eye-opening course that exceeded all my expectations.

Back to reality. My

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We found fields of blueish purple plants while we were out this weekend and my friend (who grew up knewing all the wild flowers) was convinced she knew it but couldn't put a name to it.  So I picked one - there were fields full of them so I don't feel too guilty - and we checked it at home in her ye olde flower book.

The book helpfully divides flowers by colour so a bit of browsing in the blue section brought up borage - very pretty.  We didn't eat it though, maybe

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Cor, it’s been ages since I wrote my blog, a fair bit’s happened although I doubt much of it is interesting to most people. We’re ramping up for the Moot at the moment, can’t believe that’s it’s next week, a whole year has flown by…It’s going to be great, there’s lots of stuff going on and it’s a great site. There’s been stacks of work going on in the background to get

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We're just back from hols in Menorca. Not much bushcrafting going on, but we did manage to visit some archeological areas of interest, namely bronze age settlements with Taliotic structures, burial grounds and the the strange T-shaped Taulas. These are thought to have religious significance connected to astronomy (a bit like Stonehenge).

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Trying this blog thing out to see how it works and what it all looks like. Great idea I think. 

Whoops , sorry folks, I had intended to get here a bit more often than I have been. Thought it might be a good place to air some of my feelings of being unemployed, searching for jobs and being a proper family man again. Not to worry, we've been busy attending to domestic neccessities - especially now that we're approaching the end of the school year.

As for home, the grass is growing so fast you can watch it, but it has been so wet that I can't get out to cut it. The pony is

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Well, I'm off again at the weekend for a week's holiday in Menorca. (Another one Pablo?) Yes, another one. No, we're not rich. We just didn't have a holiday last year because of work. I must admit, I'm looking forward to getting away from the atrocious weather we're having in England at the moment. The picture shows yet another front coming

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This evening I went with a couple of friends to the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition 2007 which is, according to my friend Lena, the highlight of the geek-calendar. 
http://www.summerscience.org.uk 

It's open until the 5th of July but the first and second nights (ie tonight and tomorrow it opens late, until 9pm) - there are 20+ exhibits featuring anything from the science / technology world

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I guess we all have it, that place we always return to time and time again. It can be the beauty, remoteness, silence or any number of things that draw us there time after time.

Whenever I feel the need for a few days of isolation, just me and whatever skills I have aquired, I head off for a very special spot in the heart of Wales. A quiet and remote valley, totally unspoilt and rarley visited. I have my spot there. I take the bare minimum with me and my biggest luxury is a Katadyn waterfilter

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