New Year's Resolutions

Phew, that was a good one, if somewhat perilous. The lump in the landscape we chose to shin up this year was Castle Rock, which is about three hours drive north of Wellington.

Castle Rock, aka The Crag of Doom

There's a charming Department of Conservation sign just before the ascent which basically says: "Abandon all hope all ye who are daft enough to try this". I'm not entirely sure how we survived. There is absolutely nothing to hold onto on the way up or at the tiny little ledge at the top.

At the top. To give you a sense of scale, you may just be able to make out the lighthouse

 out there close to the end of the point.

My New Year's Resolution is not to do that again. On the plus side, the prospect of painting a regiment of cuirassiers suddenly didn't seem nearly so bad.

I'm still at the prepping stage with these. They're all vintage, never-before-painted Hinton Hunt FN 102s, and if you'd seen all the flash on them you'd understand why. It took me about five hours to carve it all off. By the end I was covered in little lead shavings.

Including one I did earlier.

They look quite smart now I've managed to clean them up, and there's the added enticement of the little command group I converted for them this afternoon.

I can't wait to get stuck into them!

Yours, and wishing you all the best for 2020,
WM