Cairngorms, Scotland, in March.

After many tedious weeks, Jasmijn successfully reached a half-way point in her research about the uptake of alternatives to animal experiments; and so we headed to the Cairngorms for a 3 day break. They're accessible by train (8 hours from London), thereby minimising carbon emissions, and the coldest winter for decades promised outstanding snow. Day 1 was spent falling from snowboards in ungainly heaps. On Day 2 we enthusiastically abandoned the boards, donned skies, and hiked to the top of Cairn Gorm mountain. On Day 3 we hiked 20 km along snowy forest trails.