FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

I CAN’T REMEMBER the exact first time I went camping. It was either as a Cub Scout or with my dad, and both would have involved travel by Transit van and cooking sausages in tin foil over an open fire. Enough years later for those memories to qualify as vintage, I still find the same excitement in packing for a trip and tracing contours on well-worn paper maps with my index finger thinking, “Oh aye, I could pitch there, I’ll pass running water on the way…”

That’ll be a familiar scenario for many of us, and there’s an important point to note: it’s the almost default solo approach. Many of my trips in the past ten or fifteen years have been solo, and I think I’m preconditioned now to plan my time, distance and kit with that mindset.

As much as I enjoy solo trips, especially not worrying about going too slow and annoying my companions as I constantly stop to take photos all day, I think I’ve been missing the positives of having a friend along. I’ve just had a reminder of why.

PLANNING TO PERFECTION

My friend Greg has really taken to the outdoors these past few years.