Canyoning in Southern Europe

...is now at the printers!

Here's some promo blurb!

Canyoning – the descent of natural gorges by a mixture of hiking, scrambling, swimming and abseiling – is a spicy mix of the fun and the adventurous. This is a guide to canyoning in the limestone areas of the western Mediterranean, stretching from the Costa Blanca via the Pyrenees to Provence, Sardinia and Mallorca. Selective in nature, it includes a selection of recommended gorge descents, ranging from two-hour strolls to long-day aquatic expeditions.

The more technical expeditions invariably involve abseiling and scrambling. Yet most canyons are within reach for anyone in possession of these skills and, in the case of wet canyons, a one-piece wetsuit. The friendly Mediterranean canyons are great places to 'learn the ropes', and the guide therefore provides a basic grounding in techniques and skills for the less experienced.

Much more detail, including sample routes, maps etc, on the Cicerone Press website: http://www.cicerone.co.uk/product/detail.cfm/book/508/title/canyoning-in-southern-europe

Being ill...
can be moderately interesting, as you get watch much more TV than usual. A couple of hours back-to-back goggleying of I Claudius, Madmen, and Modern Toss is time well spent, but it does tend to underline the woeful mundanity of 90% of the programming. Exactly the point Modern Toss is making.

You also get to read books, all the way through, in less than three months.

Hereunder, therefore, the valiant homecoming of the long-exiled two-line review...

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan *****
Bite-sized novella in which Pre-60s-lib babe goes wonky on honeymoon night causing two lifetimes-worth of regret and retrospection. Whether you sympathise or not may depend on what you think of words like 'moist'.

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon ****
A surprisingly conventional page-turner of everyday family turmoil - think Nick Hornby, more in touch with his feminine side, hanging a novel around mental illness rather than football or music. Hang on - hasn't he already done that ?

Looking west from Cloggy, Snowdonia, Sunday 9 March. The Llanberis Mountain Film Festival (7-9 March) was good, but a bit like watching the F.A. Cup live on the telly when you live across the road from Wembley stadium

Clogwyn d'ur Arddu, March 08

Good evening, we are The Fall. Still the white crap that talks back. Their relentless assault on ephemera and pretence rolls on. We need Mark E Smith more than ever, especially in a world where Boris Johnson is almost to be taken seriously and Hilary Clinton may yet get to the White House despite her unforgivable dress sense.

Thunacar Knott from Harrison Stickle, Feb 08, with cloud inversion over the northern valleys

Cloud formation over Thunacar Knott, Langdale Pikes, Feb 08

These guys are good, and they do live shows for free in Barcelona parks. They are hugely talented and the stuff they do is rich and current. They just turn up and paint over last weeks masterpiece, and create a new one in an afternoon.

So why can't they get a grant and go to art school instead of wasting their lives on the street?

Well, they probably will. They are young, driven and dedicated (those spray cans cost money), and their talent should be allowed to blossom. At art school they will be able to throw all that pointless representational stuff in the trash can, learn to talk post-modernist bollocks so they can pass exams, and write theses that develop pointless abstract ideas into pointless dead ends. Then they'll be able to get proper jobs as ticket attendants or bus drivers. And become old and cynical. Like me.

It's a great free show though, if you can stand the tension. Just watch out for the mild-mannered individuals hanging about on the park benches behind...they may be keen to engage you in conversation.

The Fall + I, LUDICROUS - it's a lo-fi-fest

Godlike genius Mark E. Smith has requested that I, Ludicrous support The Fall on the their forthcoming UK tour. I, Ludicrous will be playing with the mighty Fall starting on:
4 March - The Robin, Bilston, near Wolverhampton. 01902 401211