Shan Long. Mountain Dragon.
On the old maps, the edges of the known world were marked Here Be Dragons. The cartographers meant danger, mystery, the beyond. I have always read it differently — as an invitation.
This is a journal. It moves where life moves.
You will find here: The journal behind the Project below, time on the water, sea kayaking in Welsh waters with my son Jack. Mornings of Qigong and Tai Chi, and what they teach when you pay attention. Reflections on a life lived largely outdoors - in the mountains, on the sea, in the garden, in the quiet. Occasional dragons.
The Daoist thread runs through everything, loosely. I am not a scholar. I am someone who finds the old ideas useful, who notices that wu wei — effortless action, moving with rather than against — describes something real about how the best days feel.
I am 66. I live in Eryri — Snowdonia — with my wife Nicola. I have been an outdoor instructor and mountain guide for more than twenty years. I had a stroke in 2018. I am still finding out what that means.
There is a harder, more rigorous project running alongside this one
documenting the attempt to return to serious mountain terrain and asking difficult questions about practice and ageing. That project has a plan, a climbing partner, a documentary crew in the making, and a destination: Cyfrwy Arete on Cadair Idris.