Work's finally progressing on several fronts, with changes everywhere. The return of the laptop means a weekend of data organisation and consolidation, stripping all the data fro 2 computers to the external drive before a full clean up of both systems. By the end of the process there should only be one main set of data on one computer instead of duplicates everywhere. Under normal conditions this would make no difference to blogging, but with Matt simultaneously getting close to completing the new site it's going to be important to get the background organisation right. I'm now looking around for free and controllable blogging software to move this blog to the new site.

 

The OM testing days idea is moving too, with Dom and I now working on the first one, probably Paramo and Garmin. It's going to be "interesting" sorting out the BBQ and costings for 50 people, and we'll definitely need to get a 10+ man tent. Once the first one's out of the way we're hoping next year to do at least 4, and I get paid on full daily rate for each :)

 

Nothing new on the lightweight front around at the moment, except if you count the Pound Shop doing sachets of coffee/milk or coffee/milk/sugar at 10 for £1. Jon's sending me some Salomon low cut boots to try out in comparison to the Merrell mid's and with luck I'll get to test them in Ireland or Wales next month.

 

It's been quite a few days since Wednesday morning. The eveing was spent, for a change, in the company of the lids. A few beers with MAtt, Chris, Becky, Sammi and Holly that went on till the early hours of the morning - like the old days. Thursday was Bryan Adams Day. Matt's first ever live gig, along with Becky (well you have to have at least two teens or they feel isolated), KAren from FD and Cathy - first real night out together in 20 years. This all after tuesday night with Lisa back in the old stompng grounds in Crewe. Funny how times have changed but a lot seems to go back to roots.

 

At last the IPCC complaints procedure has started, giving me something to really sink my teeth into. The final few pictures have been Photoshoppped to remove the inadmisable, though there's still at least a month delay before I can get rid of all the USA pictures as I gave 28 days from the date of approval of the consent order. In the meantime it's a good chance to totally clean the PC and remove ten years worth of emails and messenger to delete.  

Friday was party night in glorious Stalybridge with the FD crowd, even though I've left now. A motley crew of about 20 turned up, with only Tasha and Karen familiar faces in reality. Someime around 1 am we stumbled out of the doors and back to Nikki's for a little extra top up. Tonight the saga continues, though only with lil sis and Pressy.........more to come no doubt :) 

Sometimes I just hate Windows Live Spaces!!!! I tried doing this update yesterday but for some obscure reason it decided not to upload ad then to delete everything so I have to start all over again. One day I must get round to looking at the alternatives.

 

So another year ends, and the next one begins. It's this time each year I look back at the year behind me and make plans for the year ahead. This time there's not a lot to look back on. A year of ambitions and plans wrecked by someone else and dreams destroyed. The challenge of doing all the Wainwrights in a year between birthdays went by the wayside as legal issues took the time and energy away, and the TGO Chllenge fell to a deliberate piece of bloody mindedness. But that's all history now.

 

So on to this year. The first thing to consider is the whole purpose of this blog. It started as a personal diary, but recent developments prevent me from mentioning someone at all, and from publishing any photographs whatsoever with her in them. That rather destroys the objective of a personal diary - and undermines totally the concept of free speech!! So what's left is a mountain based blog that somehow has to get updated regularly, but be of relevance. One objecive has to be to move the whole blog elsewhere, such as my own website, to give more control over content - and control access so malicious, lying, cheating people of debatable parentage don't get to see what's happening in the lives of people  they have no right to know about.

 

Blog plans for the next year then include a twice weekly update, mainly consisting of trip reports, equipment reviews and general musing on the whole subject of the outdoors. Highlights planned for the first three months include:

 

Ireland revisited - a return to the Emerald Isle to complete unfinished business and take on new targets.

Water Filters - a look at what they do and which are the most cost effective

Merrell Chameleon II GTX mid boots - review

Paramo Gaiters - review

Book List - Part 2

Back to the Alps - a return to 4000 metres after a 4 year lay off

Live GPS - The future of live GPS tracking by internet

 

That should be enough to start with, along with trip reports, bloggers wild camps etc and should keep the site moving without becoming a daily chore.

 

So here's to year 47 :)

So another week begins, and soon another year. It's a strange time, what with working till 4am to meet a deadline and a long chat with the kids last night - and yes they are teenagers! 2 more days sees me another year older, and the next night I'll be in Liverpool with Matt and Cathy watching Bryan Adams. It's a long way from how I dreamed of things being, but I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that ten years of photos will have to go unseen except to the three of us, that I can never write a word to or about someone who was a big part of our lives - and most of all that we'll never hear from or about them either. Just when I thought there were no tears left...........but now that's history.

 

The wonderful British summer gave me a great opportunity to really test the Paramo gaiters over the weekend, and for once I have to admit to being impressed. Now I've never been the greatest fan of the P word, although I've stuck weith their Explorer pull on over several years. The 3rd element was OK, but somehow I don't trust it to the level of the Changabang - but these gaiters are a different thing altogether. Previous GoreTex gaiters have always performed well but have a nasty habit of the zips nreaking. Now Paramo may not be the height of fashion and stick releigiously to the duller shades of the duller colours in general, but they certainly seem to live up to their claims. A wander over Kinder and it's boot eating morass put these little blue numbers through their paces and they came out with honours. The next big test will be the 27th when I return to Miller's Dale....perhaps for a last time after 40 years of going there. There's nothing like wading through running water to really put waterproofing to the test - and the weather doesn't show any signs of breaking.

 

Also due for review is a new DVD. Within 24 hours of breaking to the new sto the collected Jo(h)ns at OM and TGO the first of the new National Trail DVD's dropped through my letter box - with a real blast of the past. At 15 I cycled the South Downs Way in its then existance from Harting to Eastbourne, and this DVD is the first revisit since for me. Now extended through to Winchester it'll make interesting viewing of my first National Trail, back in the days when I was warming up for the Pennine Way.

 

Well with the clock approaching 5, and another route deadlined for midday, it's time to leave the past behind and close these weary eyes for a couple of hours before a new and uncertain time starts afresh.

 

 

 

 

 

It's amazing how time flies and a month disappears. The last four weeks has seen me in Snowdonia, The Lakes, The Dales and Arran, and it all seems to have gone so quickly. I really have to decide where this blog goes, as it seems there's always something gets in the way of updating it and without updates it dies. Writing ten years out hasn't helped, with having to check every picture and word for references of, or pictures of, a big chunk of life isn't quick or easy.

 

This got me to thinking about "special" places, and what makes them special. Ask a thousand football fans where they'd choose to have their ashes scattered on death and you could probably count on your fingers the number who mentioned the place they religiously flock to every alternate week of the season. Ask a thousand hillwalkers the same question and I think you'd be flooded with grid references and specific hilltop locations. There's definitely something that sets walkers and outdoor people apart, and something that gives a place a feeling so strong.

 

For me there's Millers Dale to Wtedale in the Peak District, which will always be special. I can't count the number of times I've walked this stretch of riverbank and abandoned railway - usually with canine companionship. It's a place that I now go very rarely, just 27th July every year, to reflect on life and remember someone close and really missed that I'll never hear from again. It's a special place because of special memories, not related to what is undoubtedly a stunning Peakland landscape. I wouldn't choose at as a place to scatter ashes though, as it's a place for remembering not one for to remain your lasting view.

 

My choice would probably be Esk Hause now. It's not spectacular or at least not in comparison with places I could choose, but again a memory ;- of wild camping near the shelter in pouring rain and filtering puddle water to cook then waking up to a glorious dawn over Langdale and heading over to Scafell Pike. Days don't get better than that, and the view and feeling will always stay with me. 

 

I still haven't worked out what it is that makes other places, like Blencathra, Great Moss, Ill Crag and Great Gable, places that draw you back when you have uncompleted objectives. Skiddaw doesn't have that same draw, and there's no emotional connection with Blencathra to cloud the issue - Skiddaw just doesn't have that same pull as its smaller neighbour. Ill CRag, too, has a loftier neighbour to attract you that doesn't have the same feel. Ill Crag is one those often overloked gems of the Lakes that most people trudge past on their way to Scafell Pike. Off to one side you get not just a superb view down Upper Eskdale but a real feeling of isolation - especially in the traditional mist.

 

Arran was pectacular. Ardrossan was bathed in sunshine as the ferry steamed out  after a long drive up from Cheshire. Looking in the opposite direction, howver, Arran loomed into view like a scene from a black and white "Lost World" style film. Cloud clung to the upper flanks of Goatfell, but just the sight of the ridge that remained visible was enough incentive to get up to Glen Rosa.

 

Glen Rosa lies just a couple of miles out from Brodick, and has the nearest "official" campsite. It's one of those places that really make me wonder how the laws in Scotland work. The site couldn't be situated better, on a direct route up to The Saddle, but the idea of paying £3.50 a night for the privilige of a bin was a bit galling. Water was from Glenrosa Water flowing through the middle of the section of open moorland, and there were no toilets, washing up areas or anything resembling showers. Great.......wild camping then! Well yes it had all the feel of a wild camp except the way your pockets felt lighter. I do wonder how much further up the track I needed to walk before I could have got the same facilities (minus bin) gratis?

 

Sannox was no drier than Brodick, but at least it has a brewery :-) , and Arran Blone's the only blonde I'll be taking back to a tent. It's actually a really nice and distinctive beer, almost continental in style but a goodtraditional taste. The odd thing is you can buy the same beer cheaper in the co-op in Brodick than direct from the brewery - but you can ghet a few free tastes. If that's not enough distraction then right next door is an outdoor shop - the old independent local type, not one of these internet giants, with a warm welcome and just the right gas to top up supplies.

 

Goatfell, and it's neighbours, are recognised as "a challenge", and once you set foot on the mountain proper, where broad slope turns to rock and gravel, you know why. It seems as if the whole horseshoe is falling apart. Like the Eiger is shedding ice and rock as we suffer global warming, so the Goatfell range are shedding granite. It's almost like walking, and scrasmbling on lose sandstone. Typically for Scotland the cloud hadn't lifted , and the descent from North Goatfell was exciting. From The Saddle down to the overpriced plot of land occupied by my Force Ten saw the emergence of the Arran Midge. This local hybrid seems to be an evolution of the west coast midges, with a voracious appetite supplemented by an abilty to keep eating in the rain. Having pitched end-on into the rain I was faced with choice of opening the upwing doors and getting wet, or the downwind doors to find this black cloud of hovering teeth sheltering from the rain and awaiting my flesh.

 

Goatfell may be the highest Arran peak, and the one you can't miss on the hour long ferry to the Island, but Cir Mor is the impressive one. It looks like it's been cut from volcanic glass, with sharp ridges in every direction, but again underfoot the rock crumbles to the touch just where you want the security of a solid hold. The return to Sannox took in the opposite, north east, ridge that encloses Glen Sannox. A final few scrambles and it was down into the valley and back for another of the well deserved blondes.

 

Now to wait for the speeding tickets do drop through the letterbox - I'm sure at least one (and hopefully not 3) got me on the way there or back.