Wandering Scotsman

Well work finished last week after another hectic week of finding out more about Malaysia etc. It all seemed a bit unreal walking out the office at 4.30pm on the Friday, knowing I wasn’t going back. When I hit the road to Glencoe it all seemed so right though 🙂 I headed up to Glencoe to do the Aonach Eagach ridge as it had been on my list for years, and some mate’s were heading to do it. Unfortunately my last weekend in the Highlands also coincided with some of the worst Bank Holiday weather for ages – it continued to piss it down from the moment I arrived until the moment I left, leaving a rather boggy campsite. There was a complete novice in our group so with the wind and the rain, a safer plan of heading up Ben Nevis was hatched. Despite the correct forecasts, it was still a bit of a shocker to hit full on winter conditions and a small snowstorm on the summit – it’s almost bloody June!! There’s still loads of snow up there though. Sunday was an indoor climbing session at Kinlochleven, then it was back home to hit my next adventure….

Just a very small list off the top of my head, some of the things I’ll love about heading off (in no real order) : meeting new people, new experiences and cultures, hopefully getting away from writing endless lists of things to do or buy, new countries, challenges, stories, weather, no 9-5 🙂 , no politics, hopefully catching up with mates and families overseas.

In no particular order : Erm no booze (during the Raleigh expedition!), missing friends, missing regular jaunts up north to walk, camp and climb, Scotland, broadband internet ;-), lack of snow and ice, no snowboarding and not so easy to climb, mosquito bites, not being able to pop back home quickly to catch up with people. No money coming in!!! Lack of long bright summer’s evenings till 11pm.

Well the last while has disappeared with loads of things happening, sorting out flat, writing out lists of things to do etc etc. Suddenly I attended the Raleigh International volunteer staff assessment weekend and was offered a place on their Borneo, Malaysia expedition from June to September 06. I’ll be going there mainly as a photographer, but also helping out with trek leading and all the other roles that everyone chips into. All their work focuses on youth development using Adventure, Community and Education phases which last for three weeks each. For full info on this, check out my fundraising page at Justgiving.