Sugar Loaf, Abergavenny

Today we went up the Sugar Loaf near Abergavenny. It is the southern most mountain of the Black Mountains in Wales, 596m above sea level. As the weather has been pretty cold for this time of year, much to our excitement and surprise, the upper slopes were covered in thick, icy snow! The conditions going up were also fairly extreme with blistering winds and drifts of snow blinding us in between brief sunny spells. Everyone made it to the top where we enjoyed lunch and a quick cup of tea. Afterwards it was a mad dash down the snowy trails with some slipping and sliding! It was a great trip, so we are certainly up for a repeat...

PSTDC 3 - Traditional Willow Basketry

I just finished the third weekend of the PSTDC by Pyrites - Living and Learning with Nature. The unit was about Traditional Willow Basketry, and, as with the first two weekends, it again exceeded all expectations. It was great to be able to immerse myself into the willow craft and be able to combine technical skill, form and shape as well as creative design into making something that's useful and from a sustainable product. Above all, being able to learn about a craft which stems way back into human development was a very humbling experience!