Yet another good purchase

I spend far too much money, well, this time it was for something I now consider to be an essential... every baby deserves a baby Patagonia and my daughter is no different.  It has certainly proved it's moneys worth this week - the weather in Ireland is awful for August but little baby H has managed to stay snug and secure in her Patagonia synchilla and the best bit is there's plenty of growing room without it looking terribly oversized.  Needless to say I am very impressed and the distinctive print gets noticed wherever we are.  I'll be looking out for the winter stock at www.rawoutdoors.co.uk to see what's next on my list for the best kitted out baby in Ulster.

Wet & Wild In Connemara

Guess What - It Ain't Sunny And Warm In Connemara

I was hoping to have some good routes to talk about for Connemara, but it's so wet and windy we haven't been able to get up onto the hills. Maybe on Friday if the weather breaks! Anyway just thought I'd let you know that we're down here hoping to test some gear out. My Mountain Hardwear Typhoon jacket is bearing up well - great to have a good Paclite jacket for wet conditions like these and when is fairly mid as well.

It's the first time in a long time I've had to wear a shell for running!!

I'll keep you updated if we manage to get onto a hillside and maybe just maybe see some sun!

Building him up slowly

Why does everything seem to fall by the wayside during the summer holidays, it's about time we had another post so you don't think we've all fallen off the face of the earth...

Well, i took my kids climbing - indoors not outdoors, my son's not that brave yet... It's hard enough getting him up the tower at fun days so I thought a wee trip to the bouldering wall at Hot Rocks at Tollymore Mountain Centre would be the ideal place to build some confidence skills. I must add it certainly did the trick although it could have been a bit of male pride because he didn't like seeing the smaller kids skimming up the wall like spiders, a little bit of healthy competition certainly didn't do any harm that Saturday.

Hot Rocks sits just behind the Mountain Centre about a mile or so further on past the main entrance to Tollymore Forest Park. It is a reasonably small centre but it utilises every inch so you get the maximum experience from a visit there.

Visit www.rawoutdoors.co.uk to find the right climbing gear for you and your kids