Our Story
How we met
We met on an Explorers weekend at University. The plan was to go climbing near Snowdon, but the weather was bad so we did Crib Goch instead! This had me terrified and Chris looked after me. We spent the whole weekend together, and on Monday I told my friends that I'd met the man I was going to marry.
Fi
It was my first trip with Explorers and I wasn't sure what to expect. All I was told was the minibus would pick us up in the centre of the campus and I was to bring my sleeping bag, walking and climbing gear. Not knowing anyone else I looked round for people to befriend. The first was Gaz the clubs president, who offered me a seat in his car instead of the minibus, the second was Fi - the more intriguing of the few girls present. With her crazy hair restrained with a bandana, huge smile and a glint in her eye, she seemed to know everyone. I introduced myself and Fionna decided to also ride in Gaz's car. The first stop was in Stoke-on-Trent for food, I remember being drawn towards Fionna sitting on a wall, everyone else's feet could reach the floor but Fionna was happily swinging her legs beneath her. It was October, hence it was dark before we had even left campus, so when back in the car Fionna quickly went off to sleep along the back seat. Being ever the gentlemen I offered her my coat either as a pillow or to keep her warm. Despite being the president of the club Gaz's navigation skills couldn't keep up with his own driving, and we completely missed the entrance to the youth hostel and ended up on dirt track in a very dark field surrounded by very evil looking sheep. Of course this woke Fionna up desperate for the toilet... We eventually arrived at the hostel to find only one 4-bed room unoccupied. Fi and I both took the lower bunks and went to sleep looking at each other. The following night we managed a sneaky good night kiss before our roommates (Gaz and Darryl) came to bed :-)
Chris
Actually- I manipulated Gaz into letting me into his car (with Chris), and then managed to convince Chris that there were no other beds free and that he would have to share a room with me (though there lots free)!
I guess I knew straight away I wanted to spend time with him!
The Proposal
We went up to Scotland for a weeks holiday in April 2007 and staying in a lovely cottage near Fort William. I had seen a 3 day trip in Trail magazine, which we decided to do once the weather cleared. We rented a canadian canoe and paddled 5 hours out onto Loch Shiel to a white sand beach which wouldn't look out of place in the carribean! We set up camp there, in the wild, on the beach. I wanted to try out a fishing rod I had homemade, and found a little box in one of the bags. I started crying (well blubbing really- it should have put him off), and he got down on one knee (I had to sit down), and proposed. Of course I said yes, and we went fishing (didn't catch anything). We lit a fire on the beach and drank champagne (which he had sneaked on the canoe), and had a lovely romantic evening. The next day we paddled back and went skinny dipping in the freezing cold lake! It was lovely just being the two of us, out in the wilderness. Certainly the most romantic short break we've ever had!
Fi
A few months prior to our holiday to Scotland I surprised Fionna with a weekend in Cambridge. For a while we had been playing the 'ring' game (guessing the correct engagement ring in every Jeweller's window) and I had become pretty good at it, however I had become even better at knowing Fionna, and I wasn't convinced that the very modern and unusual rings I was correctly picking from the windows were what Fionna really wanted. Hence the main purpose for our trip to Cambridge was to visit a bespoke engagement ring designer, to found out if my hunch was correct. My plan worked, my hunch was confirmed!! However my plan also backfired in so much as Fionna absolutely fell in love with one of the most expensive rings they had - double my traditional budget. We both agreed it was too expensive and went about enjoying the rest of the weekend. Unbeknown to Fionna I bought the ring the very next week. All I needed now was the prefect location to propose, and where better than on a secluded beach in middle of Loch Shiel (if nothing else, I could use the threat of leaving her there if there had been any hesitation in saying yes). I asked Peter's permission for his daughter's hand in marriage and arranged for the ring to be delivered the day after Fionna left for a medical conference in Edinburgh. Initially my only concerns were the weather forecast for the week and how to ensure the ring didn't sink to the bottom of Loch Sheil, however I arrived in Edinburgh to find Fionna looking at more engagement rings!!!! Luckily none of the rings even came close to 'the one' :-)
Chris