Live life outdoors

Spring has begun and a young man's thoughts turn to romance, and a middle aged man's thoughts turn to sorting out The Man Cave. The problem with having a shed is that it's very easy to just dump stuff in there and forget about it, and I had been doing that all over the winter to the point where things were now piled up to the door! Anyway the weather was gorgeous this morning so it was time to get things sorted. The contents of the Man Cave includes bicycles, body board, fishing tackle, paddle board, snorkelling kit, assorted personal flotation devices, kayaking accessories, a fire pit, and a cold smoker. Not bad for an 8' x 6' shed. The funny thing about an empty shed is that it's like a Tardis! Small on the outside but looks large on the inside ; until you fill it back up again. As I was taking everything out of the shed it gave me the chance to check everything over and throw out some rubbish and bits of broken kit. Once everything wa...

I have a problem with the Isle of Wight. Actually that's not strictly true, I have three problems with the Isle of Wight! Firstly, there's too much to see and do in a day. So not a bad problem I admit, just putting the thought out there. Secondly, it closes at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Honestly it does. Thirdly there is a distinct lack of cafes, or we drove on a route from Alum Bay to East Cowes that is just devoid of cafes. Therefore I suggest that you take a nice big flask with you or a camping stove so you can brew up when you want. Anyway, moan over and on to the point of today's Blog. We went to the Isle of Wight yesterday (bet you hadn't figured that out had you dear reader?). It was my mum's birthday last week and my wife's birthday on Monday so we had a birthday outing to the Island. We started at Osborne House as it's one of those places we had all wanted to visit and as we now get free entry to English Heritage sites (god bless my wif...

There are two philosophies for being outside in inclement weather. The first is that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad kit, The second is that I don't mind being cold and I don't mind being wet but I don't like being both. Somewhere in the Venn diagram of where these two schools of thought meet is where I sit. On the whole I would rather be cold than wet. It's easier to warm up than get dry, especially if you're in the middle of the woods with limited dry kit available. The problem with being wet is that everything becomes a chore. For me there is actually a third weather issue that can be worse; hot weather. I'm a big guy and I sweat, a lot! When I'm out and about in the summer I tend to wear a Buff and a hat - be it a baseball cap or my favourite Tilley hat. I also try and carry a lot of water to keep myself hydrated. The ratio for the amount of water you need to carry is one litre of water for every two hours o...

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky. I left my shoes and socks there, I wonder if they’re dry (Thank you Spike Milligan). The sky was blue, the sun was shining and the wind had dropped to a gentle 20mph. So I thought I would go on a fossil hunt. I think the last time I did this was probably on the Isle of Wight and I was knee high to an ammonite! Having done some research (but not enough as it turned out) I decided to head to Barton on Sea and walk to Highcliffe following the deposits of Barton Clay (grey and brown clays of the Upper Eocene age - around 40 million years old). After parking in the car park at the top of the cliffs I headed down to the beach only to find that the foot path was closed because of the unstable cliffs. So I walked down the scree and stones to get to the beach.   This was not to be the last hurdle I was going to face on my morning adventure. The other thing I disc...

I was talking to one of the young ladies in work the other day and she asked me what I had done at the weekend,  and I was explaining how I had gone to my local beach, Lepe, and gone for a walk along the foreshore. I then started to explain some of the history of the area in connection to WWII and how it was one of my favourite places to visit for kayaking and other adventures. Whilst I was talking about this and other things I like to do she said that I should set up a Blog and share some of my adventures. So here you go then Georgia, the first instalment of Live life outdoors! Firstly let me introduce myself.  I'm an overweight (working on this), 50 plus, happily married man with a myriad of hobbies. I love kayaking, gardening, paddleboards, bodyboarding, snorkling, hiking, geocaching, camping, cooking, bike rides, reading, history and fishing. In between all of this I work full time as well. On my adventures I'm often joined by my beau...