Friedrichshafen OutDoor Show Aftermath

Back from the OutDoor show in Friedrichshafen after four days of trains, planes, cars, ferries, airports, stations, exhibition halls, hot hotel rooms, bright lights and no actual outdoors it's time to take stock. Shows like this are much more tiring than a long walk in the hills, both because of the travelling (longest section - home to Edinburgh Airport!)and the non-stop round of stands and the barrage of new gear and marketing. Of course the show is also very interesting and I did see some good-looking stuff including stoves, packs, shoes and mats. Updates on all these are still appearing on the TGO website (scroll down to Gear News). I'll be writing an overview of the show and the new gear for the October issue of TGO too.





Home again my first desire was fresh air and the natural world, away from artificial lights and constant noise. The green world looked very appealing despite the swirling clouds and heavy showers. In fact as I wandered through my local woods and fields it was the sky that dominated the landscape with huge clouds piled one above the other rising to the heavens. Insubstantial and mobile the skyscape changed constantly, white clouds giving way to black, rain slanting fiercely down then shafts of sunshine lighting trees and patches of hillside. The warmth of July and the wetness of the weather meant rich greeness everywhere. The light freshness of spring is gone. Now the dominant colour is the deep green of summer. Close up there was much colour amongst the green though - a mass of flowers in the meadows and marshes - tormentil, eyebright, orchids, ragged robin, viper's bugloss, thistles - yellow, white, pink, purple. Sunshine may be missing but the summer is still full of vitality and interest.