I always seem to leave packing until the very last minute.I started this evening’s panic around half past nine. As I start to write this it’s a quarter past eleven and I should be going to bed but the physical effort of finding all the gear for a wintery jaunt and stuffing it all into the pack now means I am wide-eyed awake.
Writing a blog post should calm things down: After all, it sends the congregation to sleep.
The barometer is plunging like a stone and the weather forecast for the Yorkshire Dales (for that is where I am heading) is, as they say, “interesting.” The plan was for four bloggers to meet up and camp on top of Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent. There was to be a hound involved as well, but he’s not so keen on winds gusting to 80mph on the tops so may do the sensible thing and stay at home, guarding the front of the fire.
So, we may well bottle-out of the very tops and camp on the sides of the things.
Like all good adventures, there will be a pub or two involved, but sadly, only at lunchtimes. It’s a long way from the top of the hills down to the pubs at the bottom and then have to stagger back up again to bed only to find that your Wendy-house has been blown away to Newcastle, or heaven forbid, Crook, would be disheartening to say the least.
As usual, my food bag weighs as much as the rest of the stuff put together. There is a lesson to be learned here; never go to Tesco's when you are hungry. But it is what it is.
The picture is of Crummack Dale. We’ll be heading up there on Friday afternoon. There will be more about this adventure when I return next week. So, for the moment, you’ll just have to be patient, and wait.
I'll keep an eye out for the wendy house, but to be fair, I'm off to Wensleydale, but if it passes by, I'll try to catch it.
ReplyDeletePen y Ghent roughly translates as Windy Hill. Just saying......
I assume you'll be fuelling up at the excellent Game Cock Inn at Austwick before setting forth into the hills?
ReplyDeleteHave a great time!
ReplyDeleteAs coincidence would have it, we're also on a bit of a last minute jaunt to the Yorks Dales as well (interesting weather, and all) but on the western side and firmly ensconced in a B&B.
Missyg will be in charge of the packing, though. Well, somebody has to do the blogging!
Have a good time!
ReplyDeleteGood luck Alan and fellow balloonists.
ReplyDeleteChocks away.
Yes, we're in for a bit of 'interesting' weather as well. Can't wait.
ReplyDeleteHave fun!
Good luck and have a great time.
ReplyDeleteAd when you come back — you mut do something about that damn blog theme. It is dreadful!
I hope your tent doesn't end up with the map that was ripped from my hands and blown at high speed northwards from Hall's Fell Ridge on Blencathra a few years ago. I often wonder where it got to.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Word = FULES
ReplyDeleteShurely shome mishtake?
Ahh, last minute packing - all part of the adventure I find. As for the weather, well I hope it turns out to be adventurous and keen without being too unruly!
ReplyDeleteWish I was heading out but alas the lovely Louisa (my physiotherapist I should add) demands to see me and bend me into all sorts of strange and painful shapes. Musn't grumble, people pay good money for that sort of thing....so I hear!
Enjoy.
I shall be keeping an eye open for you from the comfort of my blazing fireside on http://www.ingleboroughwebcam.co.uk
ReplyDeleteHope you have a great time. You could always use your tent as a sail to make the walking easier!
ReplyDeletePitch the tent as close to the pub as possible; in the garden if possible! Then use it (the pub, not the tent) as a base from which to survey the possibilities, maybe even explore some of them if the weather permits.
ReplyDeleteNobody would blame you for erring on the side of caution and staying in the pub if things looked uncertain. Safety is always paramount.
Oh Boy! You really picked your moment. I hope that all have survived with body and soul intact.
ReplyDeleteCome on Sloman, how did it go? Your faithful congregation are anxious to know whether you survived the weekend holocaust. Speak up man!
ReplyDeleteRight then! Thank you everyone for your comments. I am now home with a rucksack full of muddy trousers and wet tents.
ReplyDeleteThe photos are being downloaded to the computer and there will be a post about how it all went, in two parts.
The first will be about the bit where we were all together, the second about what I did when they all went home!