Thinking and climbing on the Mushroom Rock, Gozo.

“I'm coming back, more and more after this,” he says, before asking: “When is this place open?” My story on the Edinburgh branch of the UK-wide Refugees Rock climbing and community project in @scotnational.bsky.social. www.thenational.scot/news/refugee...

Back in London for the first time in a year.

Chris "Swampy" Garrett was a respected British EOD in Ukraine. A friend had suggested interviewing him, but we would never meet. Garrett co-founded the non-profit Prevail with Courtney Pollock, his paramedic partner and mother to their two-year-old. This is their story. 5280.com/what-one-col...

While "peace" negotiations continue, remember that Russia could simply stop the war at any time.

When a cat disrupts the interview...

My Lithuanian-inspired vyshyvanka-esque shirt by Etnodim arrived from Kyiv. I ordered it after my trip, when I realised that they make Baltic designs too (I have Lithuanian ancestry). Their shop has been damaged multiple times by Russian attacks, but they keep going.

A line about parental absence and presence during war that stayed with me from the interview, and still hits just as hard each time I read it.

How am I supposed to work like this? (Answer: as normal but better).

My story on the demining work of @thehalotrust.bsky.social in Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine for The National has now been republished in full on the IWMF website. www.iwmf.org/reporting/in...

Sobering to see Google imagery from 2015 in Lviv's Field of Mars while researching for a story. The field held buried WW1 and Soviet soldiers, which were moved in 2022 following Russia's full invasion of Ukraine. A friend knew 3 men buried here and the cemetery is expanding. My photo: June 2025.

Durian fruit and dragons in Singapore.

New piece for Climbing.com on the mental side of climbing injuries. www.climbing.com/skills/how-t...

From our poultry correspondent:

Terrible news. Jonas and I were third cousins twice removed and he helped with family details that the Lithuanian archives are currently working on. I'm grateful that we met so fortuitously last year and devastated to read this. A kind and talented man. www.berkshireeagle.com/news/local/j...

Grateful to be a finalist for the Banff Mountain Book Festival article prize among excellent company for my @thefence.bsky.social story 'In the Shadow of the Mountain'. www.banffcentre.ca/articles/mou...

At the playpark (Roman Bath House) versus the walk home from the playpark...

Next on the list.

I interviewed Força Ukraine about educating frontline combat medics. 'As a small team with a small budget, sometimes it feels like we’re not making a difference. Then someone messages: “I used what you taught me, and I saved somebody.”' www.5280.com/how-colorado...

[🌍 Courrier Weekend ⏸] 🇱🇧"Ils pensent que c’est un pays désertique, mais il n’y a aucun désert, et 80 % des terres sont des paysages de montagne", lit-on dans New Lines Magazine.

Merci @courrierinter.bsky.social for translating and reproducing my @newlinesmag.bsky.social article on Lebanon's mountain tourism potential.

Marmalade's new album cover just dropped.

I went to see the play Refuse at The Fringe on a press ticket. Really powerful storytelling about how the war in Ukraine impacts the daily life of ordinary people and their resilience through adversity. A simple concept and staging but great depth and layers of nuance. @edfringe.bsky.social

Went to a talk and "jackboots" was transcribed on-screen as "jackfruits": 'She was hiding in the cellar as the jackfruits marched above.'

Yesterday marked 30 years since British mountaineer Alison Hargreaves died in a storm on K2. My story on the Hargreaves-Ballard climbing dynasty in @thefence.bsky.social from last year about risk, control, blame, why people climb and how we tell their stories: www.the-fence.com/in-the-shado...

Climbing therapy for war-affected children in Ukraine and refugees in Edinburgh on BBC Reporting Scotland Reporting Scotland and radio this week. Watch: www.instagram.com/reel/DNTdRsZ...

Thank you BBC Scotland News for featuring climbing therapy sessions in Scotland & Ukraine for refugee and war-affected children on three radio and two TV news shows today. Thanks also: Urban Uprising, Mountain Seed Foundation, AUGB Edinburgh, IWMF, The Climbing Hangar.

Climbing therapy in Ukraine and Scotland: tonight on BBC Reporting Scotland News at Seven at 7 p.m.

Tomorrow I'll be on BBC Radio Scotland at 8:45 a.m. and BBC Reporting Scotland: News at Seven (TV not radio, 7 p.m.) speaking in a segment about climbing therapy for children in Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees in Scotland. Tune in!

Meet the Scottish demining charity working to secure a safer future for Ukrainians 👇

My story about Scottish demining charity @thehalotrust.bsky.social and their work in Ukraine is in today's @scotnational.bsky.social + my photos. In Budy, Chernihiv Oblast, 171 hectares remain contaminated. "We'll have work to do for decades." www.thenational.scot/news/2537810...

Edinburgh flyover tonight by the Red Arrows.

My latest article on life, death and evolution in the Galápagos Islands for Active Traveller magazine. www.active-traveller.com/travel/galap...

Homemade Šaltibarščiai (but with Polish ingredients.

Most Scottish response to Trump’s visit yet: "Hope it rains."

Language-learning tip that I've only just thought about: I noticed that I naturally visualise nouns (and maybe adjectives?), but I don't do the same with verbs or adverbs. Now trying to create mental images for actions as well as nouns...

In Kyiv, local and displaced teens joined a free arts & creativity camp. "Last night's attacks made me nervous, but with all these activities and meeting these wonderful people and mentors, it's some kind of relaxation, it's another world. It's interesting to go from war to this lovely place."

Little boy versus rusty Russian tanks in Kyiv.

At climbing sessions near Lviv in west Ukraine, the Mountain Seed Foundation gives children and families impacted by Russia's war an opportunity for respite on the rock, helping them to cope with trauma.

Conflict and COVID-19 decimated Lebanon’s tourism industry, but 250 miles of new mountain trails are mapping one route to recovery. @natalie-berry.com reports for @newlinesmag.bsky.social on the rise of adventure tourism in the country. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/th...

People ask why I haven't deleted the Ukraine air alert app after returning home. It's hard to leave and take your eyes off the map when this is happening most nights, as you think about the people you met there who can't leave.

New work for @newlinesmag.bsky.social on Lebanon and how expanding hiking trail networks could be a post-COVID-and-conflict route to recovery for the country's tourism industry, rural communities and wider economy. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/th...

NEW: Conflict and COVID-19 decimated Lebanon’s tourism industry, but 250 miles of new mountain trails are mapping one route to recovery. @natalie-berry.com reports for @newlinesmag.bsky.social on the rise of adventure tourism in the country. newlinesmag.com/spotlight/th...

I've just returned from a 2-week reporting trip to Ukraine with the IWMF. I was part of a group of 14 women sharing the stories of Ukrainian people. I am so grateful for the HEFAT training, the chance to work with local female fixers and to learn from a cohort of talented and intrepid journalists.

You know you've been in Ukraine when another group's still-active air alert app goes off in Poland and you all have the same stress response followed by a sense of relief. We can leave, but Ukrainian people are enduring this psychological warfare (and worse) every day.

Lviv military cemetery, Ukraine. My friend knew threw men buried here. They are preparing to expand the field for more graves. The sound of all the flags in the wind won't leave me.

This kind lady in Lviv gifted us peaches. *not not afraid/*journalists.

For the second time recently, I randomly read about someone online whom I'd never met and then spotted them out and about in Edinburgh on the same day. What is this manifesting nonsense?

We watched David Attenborough's Ocean (stunning, compelling, more MPAs please) and were sat next to a 5-month-old black labrador guide dog puppy in training. Came away from the film and our encounter thinking that humans don't deserve animals/the Earth.

Pierogi/Koldūnai/Varenyky appreciation post.