This week we received greetings from John Pilkington in Georgia on his latest adventure "The Lebanon Mountain Trail"

You will find John's previous story on our blog if you are interested in his initial adventure plans.

Here is his latest update.....

"Slightly off course at the moment, but enjoying some splendid hospitality and great Caucasus trekking along the Russian border.

Despite frantic efforts and the help of people in high places the Iranians finally refused my visa three weeks ago. Not surprising really, considering what's been going on in Tehran. It's just rather frustrating that they sat on my application through the whole of March, April and May when they were giving visas to other people, but in June all visas were stopped and in July they deported some of the lucky people already in the country.

At the same time the Pakistan army has been driving the Taliban out of the Swat Valley, and guess what, they seem to have regrouped in hideouts along the Afghan border just where I was hoping to cross; so I wasn't at all surprised when the Pakistanis also refused my permit to enter there.

On the plus side, I've spent an unexpectedly brilliant three weeks enjoying the generosity of the Kurds in northern Iraq. North-east Syria was pretty amazing too, where the Euphrates winds its way through the desert.

The good news is that the Neons and especially the Lithium XCR's have been fantastic, and at 42 degrees in the Syrian desert I really appreciated them. No damage or serious wear and tear so far.

As I carry on eastwards, I've come to have a look at Georgia and Armenia and will perhaps have another bash at Iran and Afghanistan next year. It's a bit of a disappointment but I'm considering that part of the trip "postponed" rather than abandoned.

I will send through another trip update when I've finished in the Caucasus."

John Pilkington

We recently supplied socks and brasher kindly donated a pair of the new Lithium XCR trekking boots to the Tiso footwear clinic that was running on Hadrian's Wall on Sunday 26th April.

Tiso had set up a footwear clinic at the beginning and end of the sponsored walk where approximately 200 people turned out to support an excellent cause.

The team at Tiso had set up early morning to welcome and wish all participants good luck and let them enter the free prize draw to win a pair of Lithium XCR, whilst offering them advice on fitting and the maintenance of their boots and shoes.

At the end of the walk we set up on the finishing line to greet all participants and give away free socks and footwear proofers also supplied by brasher - which went down very well indeed!

There's nothing worse than enjoying a day in the outdoors only to return home and find that you've been bitten by midge's. Some areas are worse than others but there is help at hand.
Applying repellent will aid in the prevention of getting bitten, however, The Scottish Midge Forecast has a website offering advice and regular updates on where you're most at risk from those pesky insects.

Poor Philippe suffered after his day of cycling in what was obviously a midge 'hotspot'!  

Visit  www.midgeforecast.co.uk for daily and weekly midge updates.

The Valle de Genal lies west of Malaga and north of Marbella. Juzcar is one of the seven villages of the Alto (Upper) Genal Valley.
Fran O'Donnell sent us this account of her trip to this beautiful part of southern Spain.

The charming hotel Bandolero www.hotelbandolero.com was our base for a self-guided holiday exploring the other villages along the ancient mule tracks. Rural tourism is only just beginning to find it's way into this valley that makes few concessions to visitors but does offer the chance to see Andalucian Eagles - we did!

In June, it was hot - very hot - and the tracks were dusty, reflecting the fierce heat of the sun. brasher's Neon walking shoes were ideal footwear for the trip. My feet didn't overheat, the soles coped superbly with the steep terrain and the fit was brilliant. Despite walking many miles every day, there was not even the sniff of a sore spot or blister (brasher socks helped) and I was able to slip them on again after a refreshing shower at the end of the day. Just as well they were the only shoes I took on holiday. Super comfortable, they were fine for travelling, on the trail and sightseeing in nearby Ronda.

If you've been out and about in your brasher's send us a few lines telling us where you've been wearing them along with a photo and we'll publish it on the blog.

brasher headed to Newton-under-Roseberry for their latest outdoor day. We started the day with a brisk walk up to the top of  Roseberry Topping which stands at approx 320 metres and can be seen from most parts of Teeside. The walk to the top only took 20 minutes or so but the views were fantastic.

Then we walked up to the Hanging Stone,  before setting off again to walk to the Captain Cook Monument on Easby Moor.

We were given the task of sketching Roseberry Topping, with a prize for the winning masterpiece. The standards were so high that they were split into two categories. These were 'Under Fives' for the simpler, childlike sketches and 'Artistic impressions' for the more professional artists of the brasher team.

Carol Bunting (above)
Sarah Shanley (below) 

The two winning sketches made it onto our blog however you can see all the others on our flickr page along with some pics from the day.

We ended our day with a meal in the Kings Head which was the perfect end to our day.