A Simple Life of Luxury | Weblog

2

Is It Worth It? Chasing Grams on the Hebridean Way

I’ve been preparing for my summer hike along the Hebridean Way — a two-week, 155 mile adventure across Scotland’s wild Western Isles. With my gear laid out and spreadsheet open, I faced a familiar dilemma: how much is it really worth spending (or sacrificing) to save weight? My base weight is already around 8 kg — pretty lean for a trip...

0

Another Sunny Surprise: Our Best Solar Day Yet!

Having recently posted about the Spring that keeps on giving—where I commented on the amazingly sunny weather we’ve had and its positive impact on our solar production—we’ve now broken another record. This time, it’s the highest daily yield since we had our solar panels installed. The previous record was 29.80 kWh, set on June 14th 2023. But yesterday,...

0

From Mountain Walk to Kitchen Wall

Do you like our latest framed print for the house? I think we’ll hang it in the kitchen where we’ll see it every day. This latest one was actually a gift from Lizzie herself. She wanted to scramble up and across Crib Goch and was planning to hire a guide. However, Rhys and I wanted...

1

Wild Welsh Windsurfing

After a busy day in the hills on Friday, I had a relatively relaxed Saturday. Sunday, however, was far from relaxed! It started with a run in very blustery conditions—along the beach, through the dunes and around the boatyard. I then waited for the tide to drop before going windsurfing. By that time, the sun...

1

The Hebridean Way: A Simple Hike Made Complicated

My Next Long-Distance Thru-Hike: The Hebridean Way My next long-distance thru-hike is going to be the Hebridean Way, from Vatersay in the south of the Outer Hebrides to Stornoway in the north. As usual, I’ll be doing it a little differently—and despite it only being in Scotland, the logistics seem to be more complicated than they should be....

Swimming at Ynyslas 0

Slippery Swims and Dolphin Confusion

I had a lovely swim in the silky smooth waters of Ynyslas the other day. However, as I was getting out, I slipped on the muddy submerged forest and lost my goggles in the process. Not the most exciting story, I know—but it does get better. There was someone taking photos from the beach who...

1

Chasing the Wind in Wales

Well, that was a fun long weekend. After scrambling up Moel Siabod on Friday, the weather did indeed change. The sun disappeared on Saturday, but it was replaced by a significant amount of wind—so it was off to the beach for me with my windsurf kit. Saturday saw me windsurfing in a decent south-westerly breeze...

Moel Siabod 2

Moel Siabod via the Daear Ddu Ridge: A Nuttall Worth the Climb

I’ve orchestrated my working life around a four-day week — the idea being that day five is for freelance work, leaving the weekend free. It used to be a 3:2 balance between contracted and freelance work, but since Covid and my heart attack, I’ve been gradually scaling back the freelance side of things. This year...

More Scrambling 2

More Nuttalls on the Yr Wyddfa Horseshoe

Having climbed Crib Goch and summited Yr Wyddfa last Sunday, I couldn’t resist doing it again on Friday. The weather was still glorious, and Morgan wanted to do it, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to head back to Eryri for another mountain adventure. There was a big ultra-trail marathon over the weekend, though....