The end of August found me meeting Ross Greenwood and the other IPS staff at Gatwick Airport for the annual D of E Gold Expedition to the Pyrenees. This time I actually made it onto the plane although when we met up with Chris in Cauterets, it was clear it was his turn this year […]

Once again I was asked by Adam Calder of QEH School in Bristol to run their summer adventure trip. This time I took them to walk five days on the Alta Via 2 in the Italian Dolomites. The plan was to walk from Passo Gardena to St Martin di Castrozza and take in a couple […]

In February, Tim Chandler joined me in the Pyrenees for a few days in the snow. We arrived at Toulouse as it started raining and didn’t stop for 48 hours. This rain did mean that there was snow higher up and this massive depth of snow led to some interesting and exciting driving to get […]

In July, we returned again to the Vanoise with Norton Hill School for their annual D of E Gold experience. There were five teams this time and all completed successfully. There were some inspirational performances from some of the students who completed their expedition despite health issues. The weather was generally very good except for […]

The Easter School Holidays is often a busy time and this year was no exception. We were also blessed with some excellent weather although the lack of snow in Scotland was a bit problematic. The first week saw me in Kinlochleven again for Giggleswick School’s Annual D of E/Mountain Training week. Once again, we went […]

Winter 2017 was not the best, either in Scotland or on the continent. In early February, mark, James, Brent and I went to Torridon to try to do some long winter routes. However, the snow and ice was absent. We managed a good day climbing on the coast at Inveralligin in a beautiful setting when […]

In November, Richard Brawn and myself flew to Kathmandu and then on to Pokhara to trek the Annapurna Circuit. We were lucky enough to arrive at Pokhara in time for the Diwali festival, a vibrant and colourful celebration of dancing and music. We set of and it took six days to walk to Manang where we […]

At the beginning of July, I accompanied Writhlington School with Jamie and Emma to the Vanoise for their D of E Gold Assessment. It was great to get back to Pralognan, a favourite place of mine and France was buzzing due to its success in the Euros. The expedition took place in warm, sunny weather […]

July saw me accompanying the boys and staff of QEH School to Corsica. After overnighting in Nice, noisy and busy due to the Euro finals. An early morning ferry to Ile Rousse and a train took us to the campsite at Algejola. The next day, we set off to Haut Asco via the via ferrata […]

The end of July saw me with the sixth formers and staff of Norton Hill and Somervale schools. The Gran Paradiso wasn’t an area we had used before but it proved to be one of the best and certainly one to use again. It was perfect for the D of E Gold Expedition and went […]