Its an uncomfortable wait at Euston for the sleeper. It doesn’t leave until almost midnight long after my bedtime. In the dark in the rain outside the station a figure in a T-shirt with a cigarette and a funny hat makes a proposition – “TGO? I’m Freddie! I’m just going ’round the corner for a …
All week I practiced my sewing skills. Measuring small bits of silnylon, cutting, and sewing seams on into the small hours. And discarding the results. Eventually I decided enough practice – time to commit. Seam sealer is adhesive – so I cut the patches to size and glued them in place with the seam sealer. …
I keep imagining more challenges that will face us next week. Take Hummocks. My experience of Scotland indicates that as soon as you go off the beaten track there’s more than a 50/50 chance you’ll be in a landscape of large grassy clumps with various degrees of wetness in between. For this 3rd little practise I …
Small Welsh and Blond – Training for TGOC part 3 Read More »
There are other challenges besides the 14kg on the back. One to do with feet – are they hard enough to take the battering in boots or shoes over miles of uneven ground? Another to do with Upness and Downess. The Upness compounds with the weight matter and the Downness can compound the foot challenge. The …
Take one house brick. Clean off any loose debris. Cover in several layers of newspaper securing with tape to smooth out rough edges. Then wrap in a plastic bag to avoid sogginess in case of rain. Weigh this. The one above weighs 3.2 kilos. The TGOC is challenging along several dimensions. The first is the 14 …
I’ve pressed on with route planning using the OS Getamap online program. It seems simple to use and operates at 1:50000 or 1:25000 depending on the level of zoom. Pages at either scale can be printed out on A4. Colour is by far better and clearer than black and white. To view a wide area …
Last October I mis-read the Email from the organisers. I thought I was one of the chosen ones – when in fact I was one of the others – on the waiting list. This time I’m in at the outset. And as a Newby facing first:- THE PLANNING CHALLENGE. 1. The route. To this end …
The 9.15 from Euston reaches this bit of wildness almost 12 hours later. The miracle at Corrour is that the train doesn’t sink beneath the bogs, but seems to float between here and Rannock in some of the wildest land in Scotland. Me I don’t float on the bogs and within 100m of the …
The Night Train to Corrour and not the Grey Corries unexpurgated Read More »
Ben Alder and Beinn Bheoil The night train is a great way of getting from London to the Highlands once you are reconciled to spending the money! Two trains leave Euston station in London. The ealier one will drop you at your destination in the morning. The second train leaves just before midnight and ends …
My memories of this area are from the 60s, plunging into the cool pools of upper Eskdale as relief from the summer sun. Different, but just as pretty to look at are the frozen falls around Throstle Garth below Thorneythwaite crag at the end of November. This route to Scafell is one of the best. …