Better than average

Yesterdays lack of posting on the blog had nothing to do with an inability to get downstairs or walk properly but all to do with gremlins on the interweb. So to recap, BBMC 2013 completed, heres how.

Early morning Saturday saw yours truly amongst the massed ranks of kit zombies (the ones who walk into mountaineer retailers arms outstretched to the shiny goodies, drooling must have, must have) forces wannabees (yeah you are SAS weighing in at 22 stone mate) gym rats and hikers. Eventually we got going, this is a fun, well organised event, but the start is what is technically known a ball ache, 1000 or so all heading up the same track to the first check point, all crossing the same styles at snails pace as the fat knacker (not me!) at the front decides thats the best place to stop and change their gortex jacket/retie their boots/eat pie or take in the view (you dont get this on a Wii2)before waddling out of the way wheezing and looking like they are about to test the lift capacity of the air ambulance.
When Spotty finished showboating his style crossing and everyone patted the big doggy we got off at a fair pace until 1 hour 57 minutes in I bonked. Another technical term for running out of energy. This was not good and as I had set out with the meagrest of rations due the wanting to burn off more than I consumed I was fortunate to have packed as an afterthought a lucozade which was just what the doctor would have ordered. That drunk I stumbled on and 4 hours in stopped to eat the brown whole meal organic pasta I had packed (what was I thinking?) Spotty tucked in to a fair portion making my backpack a bit lighter. 6 and a half hours in I had got to Gospel Pass, accepted a Jaffa Cake from a mountain rescue chap at the checkpoint to suppliment the second attempt to refuel on pasta and water before heading off for the last 6 miles. The last 6 were a bit of a blur, cramp on the last summit threatened to spoil the day, and major back pack malfunction saw yours truly retracing his steps salvaging his pride, gear and pasta.
Then down to the last 100ml of water I got to the final checkpoint.
The run (read stumble) towars the finish line (read plate of cakes) was uplifting as I took a standing ovation from the crowd. Spotty stuck to me like glue sitting politely by my left leg the entire time in the refreshment tent, so much so that some nice lady had to comment how well behaved he was and finding he was one of 9 Berners we have told the congregation that I was some form of animal trainer. Had to be, look at his perfectly behaved dog. I didnt put them right and no one noticed Spotty stealing from a tub of jam tarts. Or scoff an unguarded scotch egg.
Total time 9 hours, better than average, a bit off my best time but that was when I was 12 years lighter and 42 pound younger. For once I didnt think never again, and next year I'm going bacl and will do it in 7.5 hours.
Promise.
Big thank you to all who sponsored me, anyone wishing to add to the final total can using the donate button top right, put BBMC 2013 in the message box.
Many thanks to you all.

Peice of Cake

You don't get many days like this, great weather, great company, great walk, great cake (cooked by my fellow walkers little girl) and then back in time to watch England stuff France (2 points is a stuffing) in the 6 Nations. And so it was that today was one of those days, one where an ambition was fulfilled by walking across the horizon seen from Rock HQ east to west ending on a peak called Whimble. More burial mounds than you could shake a stick at, a fantastic view all around, top pic shows the scenery back to the large white X which is Rock HQ. It also shows the flat land of the Radnor or Walton Basin, which if is to be believed is a patch of land that was fenced off from rampaging mammoths before Stone Henge was a gravel patch. (See http://www.rgreen.org.uk/Radnor.html)

There was much to see, so much to talk about (Red Kite, kids, did those pretty red flags on the next hill really mean they were firing live rounds, life the universe and everything)

A much needed break at the top provided Reuben with ample begging opportunities.

After Richard finished meditating we headed downhill where a slight error in map work on my part led us up to the boundary of a very unfriendly farmer type who obviously spends his whole time watching his two farm gates. The footpath rather conveniently leads right up to his gate and collection of baying mongrels, Reuben chose to ignore their uncouth insults, where there a is a huge sign saying "No public right of way!" which is a bit of a bother as this is 50 metres from the road we wanted. Quick check of map and we doubled back, skirted the farm and a large track invited us to descend.

Which we did, right up to another sign saying "No public right of way!" Now we were only 15 yards from the road and there were no gates or natural barriers between us and it. With the war cry of "Oh sod it lets cross" we ventured into the unknown only to have the worlds crossest farmer run over yelling "Paths are there for a reason you know"
So we stood and listened to Rodney Reason lay all his woes of aborted sheep, still born calfs at our feet, how we were the fourth group he had seen today (he has eagle eyes, we didn't see any, not on this path anyway) how it was a nuisance having to keep coming to his gate to remonstrate with miscreants and then before answering the "are you going to let us cross" question, disappeared up the track muttering to himself. Mind you there were clues to his unfriendliness, the sign saying "Cars parked at owners risk!" really meant something.

BBMC training 14km 3.5 hours

Day 11 30 30 Lvl 10 hill 10.3 km (U2-18, U2)

A kick inside

Look closely, once you get over the dogs panting, the shaky camera angle and recognise the cow breathing, towards the end there is a definite kick from the soon to be with us calf. Preparations are underway, some new metalwork is going to be fitted in the stable this weekend, rings either end so if necessary Hetty's front can be attached to the wall while a rope and pulley will drag the calf out. This is presuming she needs help, she may just dump it on the straw, or she may need a c section. Our favourite vet called this evening to give us the low down on what to look out for and briefed us at which point to call him. Fingers crossed, its not long now!

BBMC training up and over the Bonsai Mountain

Day 2 30 30 Hill lvl 14 12.2km (Alternative 80's mix)

Blatant advertising

Red Kite Fostering sponsors The Lady Hawkins School equestrian team so we had some hacking jackets made for the team for when they go to various events across the counties. They look very smart so we had a few extra made, as well as a few for the BBMC team. Blatant advertising or what!

Downhill all the way

Poppy and the Rockmeister at the start of The North Face Gulley, not for the feint hearted due to the slope and provided yours truly with a very interesting descent on wet ground in wellies. This section wont be included in the First Annual Dolyhir Bernese Mountain Dog Treasure Hunt 10 June 2012 but features regularly as part of the BBMC training.

Heads down!

Rocky, Spotty and Montana grabbing a drink from the spring on todays jaunt around the Bonsai Mountain. Training for BBMC 2012 has started.

Another round up

An unforgettable part of my day has been with the Technohermit trying to explain how a gas cooker works. This was not an easy task. especially as his appraisal of a gas ring as a "good un" is one that ignites in a ball of blue flame that removed several layers of paint from the wall and most of the hair from his face. After what seemed a lifetime of repeating the lighting instructions, which ring was operated by which knob (he has a fear of using knobs, door knobs in particular, see previous) how to use the grill without welding flesh to metal and how the oven can be used to cook rather than dry clothes I finally escaped. Not before demonstrating how to use the fire extinguisher and allaying his concerns over the fact that if he used a fire blanket to smother a fire it was better the blanket burning rather than him or his lovely new home. His lovely new home which he has still to move into as he has an issue with levels, it not being level. As its perched on the side of a mountain it is about as level as can be managed and when I checked it with a spirit level it was indeed uneven. Out by a whole 5mm. He is now waiting for someone with a jack to mysteriously appear and lift it the necessary.

On my walk back I had the chance to reflect on another exciting year here at HQ. And what a year! Red Kite is soaring. I won my employment tribunal, hardly a surprise as I was totally in the right (so narny nah nah to the backstabbers)We lost a few treasured pets, Passion the 19 year old very ancient beagle, Geisha our most annoying goat Rainbow the foal. We gained Chester a fabulous retired race horse, the Mangalitzas Pamela and Bridget, closely followed by Thor the Boar and Pedro the new Ryeland Ram. Various lambs and piglets are still here but soon to be in Mr Whirlpool, some quail have taken up residence in the tack room (more often the conservatory) we rescued two dogs, three cat and a pigeon called Percy. In our spare time built a concrete playground for the horses, chased a cow across the county as she searched for love (and found it) and managed the Technohermits transition from a hole in the ground to a shepherds hut (almost). The BBMC was conquered and I finally managed to give up full time work for other people.

But the most significant and life changing event of the year was the birth of our son Tristan who has been a source of joy and wonder since we heard his first cry in the operating theatre at 1.30 in the morning on the 27th of February.

Life is great. Who knows what 2012 will bring (Aside from animla chaos, the BBMC, the 1st annual Bernese Mountain Dog Treasure Hunt and the OTT) but if its half as good as this year has been then that's all we could hope for. There are some changes planned, not least of which to this site, finally most of the work has been done to transform this single page into an exciting interactive site. Stay tuned.

In closing I would wish all of our supporters and readers a very happy new year, may you get the year you wish for and deserve.

BBMC 2011

The best dressed were wearing T shirts with the above on to raise awareness of the shortage of foster carers (its foster care fortnight from the 16 May)and we made great time this year thanks to a combination of preparation, good weather and having a maniac making us jog much of the course.


I spent the usual amount of time wishing I had lost more weight, not bothered entering, hating it, thinking that this was definitely the last time I was going to enter, loving it, and looking forward to doing it again next year. The route was as interesting as ever, woodland trails, steep lung bursting climbs, leg breaking rocky bits and totally enjoyable grassy stretches. The Longtown Mountain Rescue teams did well organising the event aside from the chaotic start, and even had to stretcher a casualty off the comically named peak of Lord Herefords Knob

The finish line finally hove into view, we ran the last two miles and completed the course in a whole minute under target time. Tea and cakes revived us, another certificate awarded and the slow drive back to Rock HQ gave us just enough time to get cramp. I now ache in places I forgot could ache and am not looking forward to tomorrow, I think movement around the smallholding will be slow and limited.
In all a successful day giving us some good publicity for Red Kite Fostering, over a 1000 people were made aware of the shortage of foster carers and only two thought it was anything to do with Falconry. We also raised a lump of cash for Prostate Cancer Research, anyone wishing to donate can do so via paypal into collier13@btinternet.com and anyone wishing to know more about fostering children, not birds of prey, can click on the link in the margin. More clips from this years BBMC will be posted when I can think straight and a video will be composed and put on youtube for the real fans.

Take the high road

The morning routine featured the usual evictions from Trixie as I fed the pigs. Once order was restored and the sheep removed from the feed bag I could get on with helping the pigs find water. I have promised not to mention on these pages Tracey my beautiful and oh so patient wife throwing an empty bucket down the lane after the pigs tipped it over her.

But they have got in the habit of drinking a bit and then tipping some 50 gallons of water out of the trough. This is in an effort to keep cool by rolling in the spilt water. They seem to like my latest dog training aid, a water pistol, the pigs jump around in the water spray squealing with delight, or anger, not sure but as they didn't charge the fence and bite my hand off I am presuming they like the cooling water spray. The pigs might be getting some company soon, we are seriously thinking of buying litter of pigs from a neighbouring smallholding.

BBMC training today was a gentle stroll along the perimeter of Bonsai Mountain, we were tracked for a while by a fox who was walking on the higher track.

Litter Louts

In between all the jobs, looking after Tristan, developing a foster agency (which has really started to take off, see link in margin) and paid work, I am out on the Bonsai Mountain training for the BBMC. This has taken on a bit more urgency as my erstwhile walking buddy has pulled the eject handle and wont be joining the fun day. Instead my reserve team member has stepped into the breach and now I find that I am doing the challenge with an uber fit infantry officer 22 years my junior who is already talking of doing the whole 30 miles across the mountains in under 8.5 hours. I was thinking of timing myself with a calendar this year, my fastest time has been just a shade under 8 hours, but I was four stone lighter and 15 years younger. Lucky for me my back yard has a certain challenge to it, the angle of the pic above shows the slope of North Face Gully. While Bonsai Mountain isn't a real mountain, its well under the required 600 metres, 200 metres of a slope like this does raise the pulse somewhat.

The pic above shows WooZah looking toward Fiveways Crossing whereas Montana is stood next to a new addition to the landscape. The stone cairn must have taken some constructing, and its covering a couple of plastic bags, a sandwich wrapper and two 2 litre empty pop bottles. Presumably whoever it was that left this mess carried the contents of the packaging up the hill for a picnic, but felt incapable of carrying the lighter empties back. The energy expended trying to bury the offending articles must have been more than carrying it away to be disposed of.

Or perhaps they thought it was a time capsule, in a thousand years a keen amateur archaeologist will uncover the secrets of their prawn wholemeal and thousand island dressing, or maybe its an offering to the small gods of Bonsai Mountain, or a signal to a alien race who scour the universe for discarded packaging, or maybe they were just lazy gits who deserve a kick in the farmers. (Somewhere that gives them two little acres)

When I were a lad

I remember some things from my school days, really useful stuff like being able to say that the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the birds are singing in the trees in French. The fact that I used that phrase to answer every question of my french paper, apart from my name, and then carried that on into my next exam which was chemistry probably explains why I failed both papers. But I do remember being taught about weather, and seasons.

In my day (pull up a chair this might take some time) there were seasons, four of them, and the twelve months of the year had something called weather that was peculiar to those months, we even had pictures on the wall demonstrating events like October gales, November rain, February snow, March winds and April showers. Well march has not long gone and there was precious little wind, and here's April, deficit showers so far. The pic above is not of a sunny beach but the drying out bed of the spring fed pool at the top of Hergest.

The drought then continues, which is why a proportion of the day was spent (when not chasing adolescent ponies across the Bonsai Mountain, but that's another tale and formed an interesting diversion and additional BBMC training) sorting out the water tanks and storing around 1000 extra gallons of water. The well is full, but a bit of a drama there, the ponies standing on the top playing statues has sheared the pumps electric cable. But there are some 2000 gallons of water for the livestock and garden there. The channels feeding the water tanks and micro fish farm (not micro fish, its a micro farm) have been cleared and the frogs evicted allowing the free flow of water to the tanks. The big white tank has finally been placed on a large base of breeze blocks, which in turn meant that the modern art sculpture (the stack of blocks falling over) has been removed from the yard to create said base. Tank in place its now full to brim with 200 gallons for the sheep et al. In all by lunch time I was feeling pretty pleased with my efforts and confident that should the dry spell continue we would have several months of water for the critters strategically placed around the smallholding. And then this happened!

Bliss trying to be helpful!

April, fool!

Its hard to believe that its already April, the year is racing by. A truce was called at Rock HQ, no practical jokes. I found this hard to stick to but did abide by the rules. No sending eldest son to school dressed as a girl telling him it was gender realignment day (an absolute classic) in fact no jokes on all fools day at all. A busy day in all, Hazel the almost 4x4 got her handbrake fixed, which means we can park with confidence on the Bonsai Mountain. Geisha has claimed one of the new Berner beds, but at least this keeps her off the sofa.

We welcomed to the world Jester, a very sturdy lad who now brings our tally of potential lamb chops up to four. He joined Berry, Bumble and Bee in the post natal ward. Maude, Easter and Bonny are still threatening to lamb but failing to deliver in every sense of the word. Its was a bit mind blowing to see such a big lamb fall out of such a small sheep, Ebony, and Ebony as her name suggests is a very different colour to the snow white adorning Jester. He does have black ears though. The BBMC training is going well, another quick blat up the North Face Gully was completed, this time without putting my foot in a rabbit hole and falling face first into a gorse bush.

The sheep display team training is going well. We are entering the Ryelands into the World of Sheep competition at Kington show this year. The theme of our entry is the Pyramids and we have five minutes to construct a three bale high "Pyramid" using only trained sheep. Here we see the first stage of construction, Bonny is waiting for the second layer to be moved into position. Its hard work but we are pretty confident of a medal this year.

BBMC training

As I am determined that this year my companions on the BBMC are not accompanied by a fat knacker I have committed myself to weight loss and some severe training. The weight loss part is working, the training is not going so well due to time constraints, but today I got a good session in after fixing taps, oh yes tick that job off and add plumbing to the list of skills. I thank you, standing ovation from the crowd, laurel leaves thrown in tribute. Knowing that the worst that could happen, I break the tap and we get a plumber called Steve to come and put right my wrong, it became easy, I applied brute force and ingenuity to the task. Brute force removed the tap top, ingenuity came into play when I found the washers didn't fit, oh thank you B and Q. Chances of finding the right size washer on a Sunday afternoon in a town that has only just got electricity was remote, however the shop indeed had a pletora of washers stocking 1/4 inch 1/2 inch and 3/4 washers. Our taps were 9/16ths, just typical, so rather than submit to defeat the oversize washer was purchased and cut to fit, this completed without a trip to casualty to repair damage to hand caused by scalpel. In fact so successful was I at changing the washer I changed the cold water one as well once the bleeding had stopped, just because I could.

Washing machine front is still a disaster, I took the utility room apart, plumbed in the new second hand one, surprisingly this job went exceptionally well, all done before breakfast and without the myriad of parts B and Q plumber advisor insisted I needed. The pipe wrench might come in handy next time I go to seek a refund. Why disaster then? Well the washing machine door refuses to open. Its ready to go but as we cannot get soiled articles in its a bit pointless. I abandoned that task for ones I could complete like trimming goat hoofs and putting the straw out for new bedding, see the video below to see the pigs helping me.

Back to the BBMC, the top pic is the Bonsai Mountain from the bottom, the long haul route, basically draw a straight line across the brown stuff to the skyline on the right of pic and follow ridge to the top. Easy. Quite a challenge but the view from halfway back to the start line shows the height gained over a short distance and makes the pain worthwhile. Halfway up I was amazed to find some mountain bike tracks in the gorse bushes, absence of wreckage and lycra clad skeleton indicated the suicide jockey had somehow survived. Once on the top myself and three Berners, Rocky, Spotty and Bliss went on to Hergest ridge where we met an old friend. A mare we met last year, this time by herself and again very pregnant.

On Hergest we hung a left and went to the Whet stone where we paused to think of he who cannot be named in a land far away. From there we could see the Bonsai Mountain looming in the background, it was getting dark, so as no one could see me I ran from here all the way home (me running, believe me not a pretty sight) Back at the Ranch, tea and medals, but no small smallholder arrived while I was out.

Sprung back

After all the cold weather the plants seem to think spring is here already. The snowdrops at the Ghost House (don't look back) have been waving in the breeze for the last two and a half weeks but its only today I got there with two essential items, daylight and a camera.

Its amazing how things change so quickly under our noses. Two days ago I checked the pond, we get hundreds of frog turn up every year to spawn. The pond literally froths with activity as the amphibians get all amorous. Aptly they normally turn up in Valentines day, but yesterday morning dozens of beady eyes were watching me from the safety of the water.

They have sprung back. Early.

The rescue moggies were sent to new homes today, hurrah! I like cats, prefer rabbit, or chicken, but me and some cats just do not get on. Especially when they sharpen their claws in the new sofas.

We are still plus two here, Harry is on his hols, one of the class of 2010, he looks like his brothers and sisters, all rolled into one, hes lovely and enjoyed a trip around the Bonsai Mountain helping with my training for the BBMC. And Molly is still here, Rocky has been very busy since she arrived, we think she goes home tomorrow to give the poor lad a rest!

The Three Amigos on the BBMC 2010

Today has been spent recovering from yesterdays epic exertions when the Three Amigos set out and completed the Big Black Mountain Challenge. There were a few disappointments that have tried to sour the feeling of success, the biggest being that despite my best efforts my two walking companions were after all followed by a fat bloke. Shocking photographic evidence has emerged that shows there is still a major battle of the bulge to be won and no amount of photo editing can disguise the hideous man boobs that appear in one summit photograph. This has been consigned to the fridge door as a warning against any future calorific excess.
That aside it was a fantastic day, as ever, and a big thank you to the Longtown Mountain Rescue Team for organising it. It started super early and unusually we got to the start line in time for a 7 am kick off. At this point Sara threw a mental about me not cooking her breakfast and sat in the track until we agreed to having a bacon sarnie from the burger van. This proved to be like no other fast food outlet in that you required a calendar to time your order. Despite a captive audience of 1000 walkers passing in the next hour the lovely lady in the burger van had not got any food prepared. So we waited impatiently while she baked the bread rolls, slaughtered the pig, cured the bacon, raised the chicks to point of lay hens, collected the eggs, chopped the fire wood for the stove and finally the butties arrived. Sara then thought she would have the nice lady make her some sandwiches and being the peculiar brand of vegetarian that she is just had to have salad sandwiches. She spent the time waiting for the right growing conditions for her red onion salad surprise by eating a platefull of sausage. As I keep telling her shes not a veggie, shes just fussy.
Finally we started, opinions vary whether this was 40 minutes later or three weeks but finally we were off. The usual rash of gear hounds, Sunday walkers and fitness freaks filled the slopes of the Black Mountains. All was going well, except me, I wasn't going but needed to. Suffering the revenge of Chinese chili chicken I just made it to a Christmas tree plantation where either killed a tree or helped if grow bigger than its rivals. Finally able to concentrate on walking we made good time and enjoyed the views, the chats and the intriguing details of Sara's new job. For some inexplicable reason she had completely failed to mention that she was now a transmitting engineer for a TV company broadcasting the type of material favourite of the late home secretary Jackie Smith's husband. Late as in voted out not dead. This was bound to prompt several hours of questions and within a very short time Sara knew exactly why she had never mentioned it before.
Richard achieved a sort of super hero status at each checkpoint as out of 1000 entrants he was number one. Marshall's even climbed out of their tents to see him and comment that he was the one.
Legs worked well right until the final stretch when Richard and Sara discovered how similar pain and pleasure are. The pictures above and the video below show what was going on but in the final dash for the line Sara's hip gave out which led to the most extraordinary contortions (we think she learned these watching the monitors at work) to try and get rid of the pain. I though this was just a tactic to stop my very exciting anecdote about Fray Bentos pies but I was not put off. Then 500 metres or so from the finish line Richards knee threatened to kill him if he carried on abusing it. This prompted no end of sympathy from Sara and I, you can see Sara doubled over sympathetically laughing. Richard didn't take my advice to hop if it was only his right knee and manned up for the final hobble to the cakes.
Once again the challenge was beaten, the cakes eaten and we plan to do it next year. Except Sara who's a girl.

The end is nigh

Its done. 30 miles, 10 hours, all the Black Mountains done, tea and cakes for the winners, if only we could get there. Poor Richard had a bit of a sore knee just before we finished. As you can see we were totally sympathetic! We all made it, an excellent day, really hard but enjoyable, lots of cash raised for Prostate Cancer Research, if any one wants to donate they can via paypal to collier13@btinternet.com

Full story tomorrow.

Trouble at Rock HQ

I should know better by now, I should have a tattoo on my forehead to remind me every time I look in the mirror. It would say "Always listen to Tracey" backwards of course but in red block capitols.
Today as I prepared to leave Rock HQ to test how my training regime was working in the real world of the Black Mountains, ready for the Big Black Mountain Challenge in six or so weeks she asked me which car I intended to take. Rene of course, on account its a mans car and will be fairly full of wet muddy Berner and walkers. Rene already looking like a mobile compost heap would not mind us wallowing in mud and snow and then transferring considerable amounts of the mountain back into his interior. But, she reasoned, what if I have to go around the Bonsai Mountain to the Technohermit for an unexpected birth of a lamb that he will phone me about when you are out. I pondered the scenario for a nanosecond and dismissed it with an as if and if in the unlikely event that happens take Fifi.

So Richard, Rocky and I set off and explored the Black Mountains. It was an excellent walk, we escaped the ice swamp (below) almost intact. I managed to fall through the thin crust of ice and was plunged up to my testicles in a gigantic slush puppy (subsequent immersions were not quite so severe as A. The slush puppy was not so deep and B. My family jewels had by now sought refuge next to my tonsils)

By the time we had lunch at almost sea level it had brightened up a bit so we took a slight detour to do the tourist bit and walk along to the reservoir. The inhabitants in the cottage at the dams base place an awful lot of faith in God's and Victorian stone masons ability to hold back the water.
After six and a half hours walking and 24k we got back to Rene and headed back to Rock HQ, tired and feeling very pleased with ourselves. As we drove through the gate at the end of drive ominous signs that all was not well were just ahead. The Oracles 4x4 was backed up the steep side of Bonsai Mountain and behind a car that looked suspiciously like Fifi stranded in a gully.
As we got nearer a perplexed driver bearing an uncanny resemblance to Tracey was comforting a sheep much like Springtime, one of our Ryelands, sat on the back seat with what looked like a new born lamb next to her.
Tracey didn't have to say I told you so, I already knew she had. The Technohermit had indeed called to tell her that one of our sheep had abandoned a lamb on the hill. Tracey as instructed took FiFi and did a brilliant job of a 21st century Little Bo Peep and had driven up the side of Bonsai Mountain where cars fear to tread. Unfortunately Murph was on the hill and the lane was blocked by the product of his labour, felled branches barred the way which meant Tracey had to reverse back down the hill. Gravity took over and she was deposited almost at the bottom in a deep gully.
The Oracle was trying to tow her out but lack of a fixing point hampered his efforts. Tracey was now faced by three men, Richard, The Oracle and yours truly who were all experts at vehicle from deep gully extraction and as we debated the best strategy that didn't involve cranes and or helicopters Tracey got bored and reversed out to a round of applause.


So here's Trouble, that's the lamb not the apprentice shepherd, Tracey named her as that's what she was. For a while anyway.

48 hours to go

With exactly 48 hours to go to the start of The Great To Do, The Offas Dyke Ordeal, there are one or two flies in the ointment of life who are currently doing the backstroke to see how much irritation they can cause before we set off.

The positives are many, we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of sponsors and whilst there are a few left to sell it looks like the target of selling 178 miles will be reached, so many thanks to you all, keep sending your donations though, if you pay enough I will walk back again. Only joking.

Last night we were given a box of boil in the bag rations which included non meat burgers and beans for the picky eater amongst the group, Sara isn't really a veggie, shes just fussy. One bag I am interested in trying is a lamb curry made from halal meat. Army rations have certainly changed from tinned pink gop masquerading as meat.

Fly one is not having a back pack. I will qualify that, I have more rucksacks than you would ever want ranging from a 100 litre with 20 litre side pocket add ons, 20 litre day sacks, 45 litre alpine climbing rucksacks and so on. What I decided I needed for this venture was a 65 litre bag which since I ordered it over a week ago has changed colour (sorry colour advertised no longer available) and is now somewhere between Rock HQ and Wakefield. Quite why is has taken so long to get here is a mystery, as is fly two who has made off with my trousers.

Now I can forget things, mostly like where I put stuff or more commonly to put things away. Just before the BBMC I remembered something about my Craghopper walking trousers. What was it? Ah yes, I have ripped them, a huge tear just over the left leg pocket revealing a very fetching peice of thigh. No problem I will sow it, or not. Not. I forgot, and being a double hard so and so set off into the fierce summer storm with leaky trousers. However, this was not the only hole in them. It was only at the half way stage when I was sat on a grassy knoll surveying the path whilst eating the compulsory cheese and tomato, chatting to passers by, women mainly who were also on the great trek that I remembered the fact that I had ripped my trousers before the obvious leg tear. I was in fact doing my own version of Privates on Parade sat there in the countryside as the crotch had split along the seam. I finished the walk wet and walking funny.

So they needed replacing, and they have been but the two pairs of replacements are now somewhere between here and Scotland, apparently the post room suffered a malfunction and delayed the dispatch of my trousers.

Strange really considering both these items were bought and paid for in the UK whilst a North Face jacket I ordered from Beijing, China, five days ago arrived in good time.

Fingers crossed that my new rucksack arrives tomorrow or I will be faced with the dilemma of which carrier bag to use, Co-op or Aldi. Probably the one that covers the most of my leg.

Big Black Mountain Challenge

Today I have mostly been recovering from the BBMC. My legs have decided to protest about the level of abuse they were exposed to yesterday.

Its only 19 days until we start our epic venture The Great TO DO, see link above.

178 miles

6 days

Confident?

Not really but it will be done.