A family of my friends offered me a day in the mountains that I duly and eagerly accepted for two reasons. Firstly, hill-walking is my preferred outdoor activity and way of spending time off. Secondly, we were to go to the area where my love of hill-walking had started, and where I had developed all the essential skills required. So,…
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When I’m driving, I always have my radio on. It cheers me up, and it provides me with good quality entertainment, current information and invaluable updates on the traffic news. From my point of view, the radio in the car is as essential as all its other parts. Last Monday I was travelling to the far north of Scotland. BBC…
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Reaching ‘the base camp’ was as much of a challenge as climbing the hill itself. The round trip took me over six hours, and last year I found the final, 13-miles-long stretch closed. I didn’t know the road and there was fog – I didn’t take the risk of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. This time round the…
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It’s looking increasingly like a pattern, and not a good one for that: bad weather forecast for my day off. Strong winds and bands of rain kept me away from the hilltops. Instead I decided to have a recreational and exploratory walk in the Glenlivet area called Morinsh Woods. It was a pleasant walk along wide and solid forest tracks…
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Part of my studies in the seminary, and incidentally one of their defining moments, was a five-month parish placement. The most responsible task delegated to me while I was there was the preparation of quite a large group of children for First Communion. Part of that job involved making all the necessary arrangements for the big day itself. Twenty-odd years…