It's 11:50pm and I am packed.
All-up weight with four days food and a bottle of Gigondas on board is 29 lbs, packing with bad weather in mind - so a three coat carry! (A North Face Summit Series 'Zeitgeist' soft shell, a Paramo Velez and a PHD down jacket) I do hate being cold! Spare proper trousers as well! Dead posh!
The weather forecast for Torridon is not splendid - very windy with gusts of 40mph and heavy rain for Friday easing to heavy showers for Saturday... It should be a testing time for everyone - so we must be on the look-out for anyone struggling - particularly the first timers as getting them through the first few bad weather days is crucial to their success - then the weather eases to quite nice as a High Pressure system builds to the north of Scotland for a while. By then, the First-Timers will have found their 'sea-legs' and will be fine.
I don't know why, but my paperwork bag is amazingly bulky this year - with all manner of stuff I couldn't leave behind - that might get trimmed a bit tomorrow evening at Torridon! It looks as though I am carrying all my office paper-work with me! I want to leave all that behind me. My personal life is in tatters once more tonight, as with perfect timing for my holiday, Lynnie's solicitor sends me the divorce paperwork by email so it arrived this evening in my 'in-tray'!
Anyway, back in the real world out there: There will be a lot of nervous Challengers out there tonight - all apprehensively looking at the weather forecast and their Foul Weather Alternative routes.
Good luck everyone.
Good Luck Alan, hope the weather god's smile on you and the other challenges. Sounds like your "holiday" has arrived at the right time, the hills are a great place to clear the head.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to reading plenty of good reports to encourage me to become a first timer next year!
good luck... enjoy and i will be reading with interest :-)
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