CURRENT MISSION

to infinity AND BEYOND!

ABOUT ME

I'm an outdoor enthusiast with a taste for adventure! I have recently also developed a taste for fried mice...and would really enjoy meeting people who share this same strange taste. I am also quite partial to sampling the occasional hedgehog or hairy haggis...and also a few midges or two (they actually make quite a delicious compote). I spend most of my free time climbing, hiking, scrambling, mountain biking, touring, drinking and going to gigs. A perfect day would be emerging from a cool tent early in the morning, a full day out in the mountains, a quick dip in a river to cool off, followed by a few cool beers around a fire. I like to see a bit of history and culture when I’m in a new place and get a great sense of satisfaction in avoiding the ‘tourist traps’ and finding the hidden gems only locals know about. I’m a bit of a closet geek (ok so I am not so closet as a complete geek!), enjoying discussing life, the world and everything. I like long days out and long nights in the pub putting the world to rights - sleep is for losers! I also like to put ceramic crabs in the middle of the road or in bins or bbq's...but the crab deserved it!!!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am an active member in the Edinburgh CS group, planning many day/weekend trips both locally and in the highlands. Past trips have included a weekend in the Cairngorms, wild swimming in the Sherimuir Paradise Pools, beach walk near Aberlady, rock climbing at Alien Rock and regular walks up Arthurs seat.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Whilst cycling across Europe a number of kind strangers offered us a bite to eat, a warm shower, a couch to sleep on or even just a glass of water. These nights were definitely the ones I remember most fondly. I wanted to get involved in couchsurfing so that these encounters are more frequent and so I could repay the favour and help out others. I have so far met a wonderful variety of amazing people from all corners of the world and look forward to many, many more!

I lived in, for want of a better name, a CS 'comune', for a year - a quick calculation suggests ~500 CSers passed through our doors for partys or hosting. I rarely hosted as I spent so much time surrounded by these varied an interesting people and soon felt that quality of hosting rather than quantity was important. The house has dispanded and now I hope to host every month or so. Hosting is sporadic and work dependent.

I am poor at responding to couch requests that I am unsure about (due to time/work arrangements) and am ashamed of my poor response rate, but will leave this unaltered as a mark of shame. However, I do love to host! Fingers crossed our schedules don't colide.

I have only surfed a small number of times (fewer than I have hosted), but enjoy the meeting aspect having attended meetings in Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Bratislava, Hungary, etc.

Interests

Mountain biking, cycle touring, hiking, climbing, scrambling, gigs, festivals, a nice pint by a fire in a country pub. Please say Hakuna matata in any couch request so I know you've read my profile :-)

• culture
• festivals
• beer
• bbq
• walking
• drinking
• pub crawls
• socializing
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• rock climbing
• swimming
• history
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
I'm pretty open to suggestions for live music, any invites to gigs would be welcome. I love listening to music and one day will learn to play the guitar! At home I listen to:
Dropkick Murphys, Iron Maiden, The Dead Pets, Tiger Army, The Bouncing Souls, NOFX, The Zutons, Refused, The Mad Caddies, Capdown, The Pogues, The Hives, System of a Down, Judas Priest, Less Than Jake, Maralyn Manson, The Offspring, Placebo, Slayer, Mouthwash, Bad Religion, Kasabian, Flogging Molly, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Machine Head, Hell is for Heroes, The Dwarves, Against me!, Avenged Sevenfold, Black Sabbath, Bromheads Jacket, Sonic Boom Six, Random Hand,

I enjoy anything that makes you think and adventure books. Richard Dawkins, Noam Chompsky, Steven Jay Gould, George orwell, Bill Bryson, Naomi Klein, Long Way Round/Down, White Tiger, A Thousand Splendid Suns, A bike ride,

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Kalla Pattar above Everest Base Camp at 18,000ft.

Freewheeling into Prague after cycling 1850 miles through 8 countries.

Walking the length of the Western Baltic Coast through Latvia.

Swimming in Lake Tornatrask 200 miles into the Arctic circle at 2:30am in bright sunlight.

Snowholing near the summin of Ben Machdui in the Scottish highlands.

Hiking 64 miles in 27 hours

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you to rock climb.

I can share my reasonable knowledge of the highlands and some weekend I may be able to get out into them, in which case CSers are more than welcome!

Learn: Teach me everything you know!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Qatar, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom

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