The Bloggies 2014

Mount Sloman has erupted again (6.5 on the Richter scale), apparently about some poll of outdoor blogs in a hiking comic called GTO (formerly McNeish's Monthly.)

As a retired outdoor blogger myself (yeah yeah – pining for the fjords) I feel I aam ideally placed to arbitrate on this matter, and in the process reveal the red carpet list for the first ever Bloggies Awards.

Entries were confined to the blogs on my side bar because – well just because, right ? And I might add in a blog thats not on the sidebar if I feel like it . OK?

So, can I start then ?

Right.

Postcard from Timperley is first because I used to have a Phreerunner tent (single skin goretex- ripped to shreds on a fence).Martin gets the Duracell Bunny award.Fascinating trips all over the world and many other places. Requires careful reading – you are following daily posts fron some Haute Route, miss a couple of days aand you find he's Munroing on Skye after a brief stop off on Spitzbergen !

FFS, Martin, do you never have a day sprawled on the couch in your pants with some beer and Pringles watching Jeremy Kyle and Loose Women ?

Seriously, interesting stuff, but I have to have wee lie down after reading.

Scott's blog is great, but I don't see it on too many blogrolls. Scott is doing the Munros as weekend day trips from the Central Belt.

I spent a lot of Sunday mornings in the eighties shivering in a cold kitchen at stupid o clock filling a flask and making a piece, listening to the rain lashing the window. Then driving 3-4 hours in a mixture of extreme conditions, not knowing if we would even get on the hill when we arrived, never mind summit it.This blog brings all that back for me and features some great foties of the roof of the world, Scottish style.Also features dogs and rock n roll.

Then there is Danny.What to say about Danny that hasn't been said in the police reports. Posts irregularly with each little gem eagerly awaited by a small but dedicated band of afficionados.Can quote Walter de la Mare and Aldous Huxley. Like most of my favourite bloggers, Danny is a human being with a ”hinterland” - he's done stuff, he knows stuff. He's just the right side of weird (“Which side is that,OM ?”).Not for the PC minded.

So why should big rough tough hillwalkers follow a blog by an middle aged spinster who makes shopping bags out of cat food sachets ? Well, because its Ilona, a national treaure.A fellow seeker after yellow tickets, I'v got some good “economy” recipes from this blog. But every now and then she gets someone to look after the cats and sets off on multi-day backpacks. The routes are usually “non-standard” but have their own internal logic. Her “kit list” for these rambles would baffle most of the youngsters and was probably put together, including her unusual underwear, for less than £20. Again, someone with a life,and with stories to tell.

And then there is Mark. When I first started playing with Blogger, I sent my first post off into the ether and waited for a response.Response came there none until Mark dropped in an encouraging comment and the rest, as they say, is geography. Had he not bothered, One Small Step would have withered on the vine, the skies would have darkened, and civilisation would have come to an end in line with the Mayan prediction (allegedly). Posts appear irregularly and mainly feature a little corner of the planet which I have visited briefly, but which intrigues me.The most talked about feature of this blog is the exquisite close-up flora and fauna photography.What appeals to me about this is not the camera technique, but the fact that he spots the bugs plants etc in the first place. This tells me he is not tanking along at 4+ mph while updating his Facebook page.Also includes kids.

So, if I havent mentioned your blog does this mean that it's crap ?

Weeeeeell

I may not have mentioned it for one or more of the following reasons

1.You don't post very often

2.I've never read your blog.I'm a busy man, subject to regular tests and experiments conducted by less scrupulous members of the medical profession. Ars longa, vita brevis

3 I read your blog and its informative but lacks the X-factor.

4Your name is Sian

5 Your blog is crap.

6Your blog has made it onto the elite list and will be dissected on a subsequent post when my fingers have stopped bleeding