Many years ago, Stan and I set out to canoe from Devizes to Westminster. We departed at midnight on a freezing cold night in November. We hadn't gone too far when we began to sink as the ice in the canal had ripped the bottom of our canvas canoe. Undeterred we dragged it to the canalside and made a repair. We set off again, but the same sequence of events occurred two or three times more. You get to know a man well in those cicustances. Eventually we gave up and took shelter in a hay barn. It was so cold that we huddled together - he is the only man I have ever slept with! In the morning we set out again, but the boat was beyond another repair so carried it.The distance to Westminster is about 132 miles; we made about 32. The confidence and optimism of youth. He was Best Man at my first excursion into marriage. We climbed mountains together, him a lot, me not many. We had some epic ski adventures and in the 55 years I have known him, he never changed - tough, ever up for a challenge, a pithy, dour wit which was always hiding a great sense of humour. The greatest character of our group. Robin