Eye of the Sun

Spent an hour down the beach with Mike snapping shots of the lunar eclipse. GIF animation came out pants, so dropped it into YouTube as an AVI file to see if the compression gives better results.

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Found an online copy of "On The Hill" here. Seems to be a squaddy mountain rescue service newsletter. First I've heard of it. Looks very informative and entertaining. And more info here.

A bit of digging, and I find reference at the home of RAF Mountain Rescue. With a photo gallery, song lyrics, and reports of rescues, this looks like one to add to the list of sites to spend time on rather than browsing.

Their blog can be found at http://rafmountainrescue.blogspot.com/.

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Mike starts filming his new movie on Monday. He's keeping a blog of the production, and making the making of the movie. An alternative take on it can be followed at Grubbit's blog.

LOL - I like the fact that Grubb's already blogged that he failed to find us down the beach taking photos of the eclipse, got cold and went home.

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I was doing some paperwork on Saturday, and realised it is just less than 4 weeks to go until the Easter break. I need to get a move on planning my Southern Upland Way. That's the reason things like a bivvy bag, a seized pole joint, and eating healthily become important. Also getting in a pile of overwork to clear the decks at work. Also getting a list of bothies en route. Next I'll need to open the official guidebook I got a few weeks ago.

I have read Ronald Turnbull's "Across Scotland on Foot", Another fine read from the absurdly romantic Mr Turnbull. 6 trans-Scotland walks in one book (plus a trans-Mull), plus all the background info and advice.

I must admit that this was the first time I visited Ronald's site. It won't be the last time.

Just noticed there's a Gurkha book about the SUW: "Gurkha Reiver: Walking the Southern Upland Way". I got a present of one at Christmas. Excellent read, and a reminder of these hardy young chaps coming to join the British Army. I never did find out if the story I was told about the Gurkha paratroopers was true.

The British army is evaluating the feasibility of creating a Gurkha paratroop unit. So a party of Gurkhas are take up in a Hercules. "So, chaps,", asks the OIC, "what do you think of jumping out of this aircraft?". After some worried looks, and a huddled conversation in Nepali, the WO replies "Sir, if you could just fly a bit nearer the ground, we'll give it a go." The officer then realised that no-one had mentioned parachutes to them.

Anyway, I've just marked the Southern Upland Partnership site for a raid.

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Walkabout/UK's written some more musings on the "UK Walking Blogging & Podcasts" scene. Here's my comment:

I don't do gear tests, and don't review gear (can't afford it, amn't an expert), and certainly don't want manufacturers beating a legal path to my door. Ditto with people.

Even when I do mention (blog or OM) that something works for me, I'm not pushing gear to extremes as I only encounter the conditions that I am walking in, and don't go out of my way to look for some condition to test a product.

I keep a 'weblog', not a magazine or newspaper column. It is a 'log' of my thoughts, and findings, and happenings that affect the outdoors part of my self. I can be honest within the spirit of the law (criminal, civil and employment).

If people read and get something out of the blog, then great. But I do not write to entertain or educate, but to share information. A blog allows people, amongst other things, to release information into the blogosphere.

People have been doing this in one form or another for years. Journals, editorials, etc are nothing new.

As to the format of blogs. Well, "blog your own blog", say I. like any other form of media, blog writers can experiment with different styles, and the blog format allows for a reasonable variety of styles within it.

Personally, I'm enjoying tinkering with the whole new media thing. But that's just me.

So, dear reader, expect more tinkering with formats here.