Wild camping
I have a fair few of these, but one of the best was when we were down collecting firewood from the shores of Loch Lomond, just around dawn. As we trudged along the shoreline we heard a great deal of splashing and looked up and over to see two enormous swans attempting to take off. This involved a fair bit of running across the surface of the water and lots of flapping. As it was so quiet and tranquil we could every flap of their enormous wings as the struggled to take off, and take off they did, soaring about 20 foot above our heads.

We just stood in silence, time seemed to stand still as they eventually got out of earshot.

Could break yer arm mindye.


Another time me and a friend had taken a reasonably mild dose of magic mushrooms and camped bout 100 yards from where we had picked them. We laughed like loons and eventually the shrooms began to wear off as dawn beckoned. However the real star of the show had yet to appear. All around us, what had previously been varying degrees grey and shadow, began to infuse with the most incredible shades of green, imperceptible at first, then gradually every shade, tone and hue of green became visible, it was as if someone was turning up the colour knob on the world. The thick velvety moss that covered the dry stane wall beside us, literally burst with life and vigour. The grass, bubbled with rich variance, no to square feet where the same shade. The tree we had camped under cast its emerald encrusted limbs around us and the hills in the distance positively exploded with verdant intent. I attempted to capture some of the intensity with a camera, but it failed miserably to convey the variance.

When we woke up the next day, in the full glare of the sun, it had all just turned to a boring green.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Sat 7 Aug 2010, 1:07, Reply)