School holidays sometimes get a bit of a bad press. Working parents often find annual leave hard to come by or childcare cost crippling. Stay-at-home parents suddenly find that their cupboards are increasingly bare and their kids, who are used to structured, unitised segments of tasks and activities at school, break free and run wild….
With the Winter Olympics opening in earnest today, I thought I’d reminisce over my favourite Winter Olympics memories, reflect on how they influenced me, and then outline which events I’m particularly looking forward to seeing this year. Here goes… I’ve always been fascinated by the Winter Olympics. As a youngster, watching the Summer Games, I…
It’s no secret that Anglesey is one of favourite destinations for a family escape in North Wales. It’s such a beautiful island that we tend to take the relatively short drive over as often as we can. As much as we love our tried and tested favourites, we’re definitely a family that likes to explore…
As some of you might have read, I registered for my first ultra-marathon at the weekend. July 14th may seem like a long way off now, but I’ve got a sneaky feeling that it’ll creep up on me at a rate of knots. Moreover, my body has never done anything close to this distance. My…
If you read my last blog post, you’ll have seen that when I jumped on the scales after Christmas I was at my heaviest weight since gracing this earth with my presence. I’m also really unfit. For a guy who used to run marathons at a half-decent pace, I’m now plodding along on 5 mile…
For a guy who, over his lifetime, has, at most times, been considered pretty fit, not being able to reach my previous heights has undoubtedly affected me. Take running for instance: I went for a 5 mile run last week and my pace was significantly slower than the last time a ran a marathon a…
Do you need to get your horizontal and lifeless body off your sofa this year? Do you need to cease the endless TV re-runs and Netflix boxsets before your eyes go square and your bum goes saggy? Or, are you already super-active, simply looking to test your mind and perfectly sculptured body against some greater…
Last weekend we decided to take a late afternoon hike into our local hills. While this may seem pretty innocuous, we are very much morning people. It wasn’t long before we were reminded why. When toddlers don’t nap they’re hard work. VERY hard work! In all honesty, this late afternoon hike was never…
It would be very easy to create the impression that every adventure we go on goes without a hitch. It really doesn’t. Problems and inconveniences occur every time we go out. The vast, vast majority of them are just worked through and overcome easily. However, very occasionally, something goes seriously wrong. When it does, like…
After our recent lowland hike around the gorgeous Cwm Idwal, we were on the lookout for another lowland, family-friendly hike, where we could let the kids explore safely without risking the weather and conditions associated with winter mountain routes. Consequently, we decided to take a drive down to Powys to explore Lake Vyrnwy and one…
