Shoot...

Had a fun/nervous time on Friday, doing a car shoot. Will Post some pics later... New Subaru STI. Very fast.




Then went out on a traditional MK 'oh I wont drink' night, rolling in at 2am, somewhat sozzled, with biking planned for 12 hours hence... So off down to brighton we went and out on a rickety ride, too. I rode badly and got scarred of the home made shore that Chris took me to. Ug, greasy. Nice ride in general, though and it blew away the cobwebs in time for an excellent evening of home made pasta, wine and Articulate!

MGB 81 - big fast boat!

The last four days have been somewhat amazing. I had an interview with the best car mag going, I saw the Foo Fighters play their largest gig at Wembley, went to a 100th birthday party and then had a day on a 71ft 42 knot WW2 gunboat! Awesome!



Steffi's cousin rebuilt this boat in his yard in Lymmington and its the only one of its type. Three 1000hp MAN diesel engines about 20 litres each. Ouch. Yes, its somewhat torquey! Also ridiculously loud...







will post some Foos piccies too..

Stanage Edge in SUN!

Im going mad. I left the studio clutching the guide for the grit crags around Shef. Packed and left at 8am, then on the M1 tought, wheres the guide? one hour later and thinking I left it in the studio, I'm £22 poorer and cursing. Even worse, its not IN the studio!!! ARGHGHGH! etc...

Anyway, with sunshine forecast, I ditched a loose plan to climb/DIY with Gav in London (sorry, mate) and headed north with Travis, my up until now indoor climbng partner, for his first taste of scraped knuckles outside!

We went over to the High Neb area as this had served Gav and I well before and I anticipated it being busy, which it was in some places, but a bit of a walk to The Wobbler area found some empty warm up routes.

We started on a Vdiff, the name escapes me, and then a Severe on a slimey crack to the left as more of a challenge and to get Travis' rope work/seconding knowledge and my anchor knowledge up and running. One more slightly off route VS on dryer rock was seen to before we wandered back towards Marble Wall to have lunch. We had a good look at two VS routes here - one the arete on the left hand side which had a loose flake as the difficult start and a nice drop onto boulders with holes (broken ankle country if ever I saw it!). With no bouldering mat to protect the drop, it felt a bit sketch and I tried to get a nut into the flexi flake to protect the first move - I tested it on a short drop and it pulled clear, not good! We spent ages trying to work it out but it'll have to wait till next time... After another failed attempt on a long layback crack in the middle of the wall, we admitted defeat and headed over to Crow Chin to have a go at the now empty VS routes there.





These were excellent and we climbed three routes next to each other, all quite different. Kelly's crack, a Vdiff, Kelly's Eliminate VS and finally Feathered Friends VS, which was made much more scary for me as I could only place one runner low down as I had no camming devices! Keep calm and carry on! All good, and a nice one to end on as we were being eaten alive by the midges...