Explore From Your Door…
How well do you know your local area? You may be surprised by how many paths and greenspaces are waiting for you to find! Now’s… Read More »Explore From Your Door…
How well do you know your local area? You may be surprised by how many paths and greenspaces are waiting for you to find! Now’s… Read More »Explore From Your Door…
21 Years have passed since my fateful expedition to Mt McKinley in Alaska. Besides the obvious surgery, I also experienced isolation, fear, mental fatigue, physical… Read More »Learning to Survive and Thrive…
Recently I was interviewed by Ian Skye on BBC Radio Derby about the present COVID Lockdown. I come in at 1:36:36…
I recently spoke to Dave Cornthwaite on his Self Propelled Podcast about life, mountaineering, frostbite and resilience. Dave is an accomplished traveller and creator of… Read More »The Self Propelled Podcast…
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be recording daily video logs about the fateful expedition to climb Mt McKinley in Alaska. April 30th 2020 will be the 21st anniversary of the adventures start. Using original images, equipment and reading from my mountain diary, I’d like to share my experiences, feelings and emotions from this life changing time in my life…
Read More »The McKinley Diaries – 21 Years On…This April and May will be the 21st anniversary of my fateful climb on Mt. McKinley in Alaska. Using original diary entries, 35mm slides and… Read More »McKinley 21…
Due to the present COVID-19 outbreak, we’re all under Central Government Control. Control is a subject I’ve been discussing with my close friend Helen Davies for a while, so by the power of the internet, we’ve maintained #socialdistancing and brought our ideas together. Before we get started, here’s an introduction from Helen…
Read More »Control…It seems surreal that only three weeks after returning from the Highlands, we sit under lockdown for a virus that no-one can see, taste or feel, until it has its hold upon you. At first I didn’t feel much like writing, but as a long time diarist, I feel that records must be kept.
Read More »Windswept and Wet, with a Virus on the Way – The Tenth Frostbite Report…I’ll be speaking at this years Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show at the NEC next week along with a list of TV Celebrities, Travellers, Campers… Read More »Live at the NEC…
What a year 2019 was, or wasn’t. The first time I missed a Scottish winter for 20 years, a trip to Africa cancelled at the last minute, a climb in India scrapped because of lack of interest and a cycling trip to SE Asia cancelled because of injury. For some just that would be disastrous enough, but all those setbacks paled into insignificance on March 20th as, out of the blue, I lost my Dad. The literary world is strewn with poetry, prose and paragraph about death, but no words can describe the feelings of loss I had and still have. I’m happy that he left us peacefully, with his loving family around him. He felt no pain or suffering and I thank God for that. Only the night before, he’d been on top form, laughing and joking with me at a Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Presentation. It was a striking lesson in living every day of your life to the fullest of your abilities.
Read More »2019 – Exemplo DucemusThe run up to Kendal is always busy, so this year I decided to spend as much time as possible in Hospital to shield me from the chaos. Actually, I’d been knocked off my bike by a car and was nursing some rather stiff joints. Serious care, rest and drinking would be required over the festival weekend if I was to make it through…
Read More »The Kendal Mountain Festival 2019 – Friends will be FriendsIt’s been a while since I posted a blog. The loss of my Father has put many of life’s (so called) priorities into stark perspective. Caring for my Mother takes up much of my time, but with family support I still get out into the hills. I reflect more, stare more, say less and await the grieving to come. I’m a rather stoic old Englishman, with far too much stiff upper lip and not enough heart to easily let go – for now anyway. Real life has put the virtual world in its place, but it sometimes still intrudes…
Read More »Shout…My great friend Sibusiso Vilane first mentioned the Joberg2C race as we ascended the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda in 2017. I’m not much of a mountain biker, but the challenge seemed too good to miss, and of course, I said yes. I’m not quite sure that I was ever ready for the race however…
Read More »South Africa 2019 – Riding the Joberg2CAs I sit here in late December, I find it difficult to remember what I was doing last week, never mind during last year. It’s a good job that I still write my daily diary…
Read More »2018 – Peace at Last..?I’m delighted to have been accepted as a Brand Ambassador for Grangers, based in my beautiful Derbyshire… https://grangers.co.uk/blogs/brand-ambassadors/nigel-vardy
An Article from the Daily Star from October 2014 “The family of one man feared dead in the Himalayan snowstorm disaster celebrated last night that… Read More »‘Mr Frostbite’ escapes Nepal disaster but many Brits remain missing