Full marks

During the Challenge, my Rab gaiters had developed a fault. One of the rivets at the bottom of each gaiter holding the hook on had come out, so the hook was swinging. Strangely, over time, David’s pair had developed a different fault.

Last week I finally got around to packaging them up and returning them to Webtogs from whence they came last November. I received an email to say they had arrived and been forwarded to Rab for investigation. I had assumed that David’s would be repaired and returned and that mine might have to be replaced.

Imagine my delight when I received a package this morning containing two new pairs, ten days after I first posted the original pairs! Excellent service I’d say and this happy customer will be returning to make more purchases sometime in the near future.

Another success has been the purchase of a Gram-Counter Gear Side Guy Kit from Ultralight. Again, a very quick service (I love free P&P, especially living in the north of Scotland, some companies seem to find it an outrageous £20 of difficult to reach!) and I’ve experimented by attaching a Grip Clip to my Kraz and pitched it in the garden to see if it helps with the saggy bottom (the tent, not mine!) Success, a very useful bit of kit and the second one (they come as a pair) is light enough to carry, with a length of guy and the spare peg, if my long side ever decides to get overly flappy in a stiff breeze.

Before

  After

Of course, still not the best pitching ever, but I was limited by the obstacles…

Happy, happy, happy.

Inconvenient

We’re suppose to be boiling our water in this locality, e-coli has been found. I found out accidently using the BBC red button just before I went to bed last night. About 10.40pm, a little man shoved a warning card through my letter box. “Useful,” I thought, “How many people will rise in the morning, clean their teeth, eat their breakfast, then leave for work and find the warning as they go to the front door?” I at least managed to take a mug of previously boiled water into the bathroom to use to clean my teeth. Shame I forgot about it until I left the bathroom.

Mind you, at least their kettle and mug cupboard won’t be being guarded by an enormous spider…

Flying visit

David came home for the weekend on Friday and the forecast looked good for yesterday, so we thought it might be nice to pop up a big hill with our three children that walk. It was decided to return to Cairn Gorm for a second and hopefully more successful attempt, so off we went.

There were clear blue skies and blazing sunshine when we left home, but there was some high cloud when we arrived at the National Park. No matter, it was high enough not to obscure the views. We were actually a little tardy yesterday and didn’t leave much before lunch, I shared in the children’s disappointment  that we didn’t nibble on a sandwich before we left the car. At least we were able to park in the top car park this time and there would obviously be no snow to plough through, which made the going a whole lot easier.

The unmissable path

Without hesitation, so David wasn't quick enough to catch me!

Ok, the stream is neither wide nor deep, but the rocks are set quite wide apart for those of with shorter legs!

  A rest break looking towards Meall a’ Bhuachaille

Toiling upwards

We toiled upwards, it was a warm day with a surprising lack of a breeze all day.  The couple ahead that we had been playing leap frog with peeled off and took the cliff edge path, Ciara and I thought we’d prefer a more gentle ascent, taking the path that goes towards Ben Macdui, then cutting across to the Stob Coire an t-Sneachda path at around NN983 011. We were really able to truck along on this easy part of the walk and were chuffed to be eathing lunch at the Stob when the couple that had taken the high path came down and past us again.

Really trucking along

Then it’s a case of picking your own path through the boulders for a while before a more obvious path once again becomes clear to the foot of Cairn Gorm.

The new Paramo, briefly deployed over lunch

No path

Why is Conall going the wrong way?

It’s good to know that when you get to the foot of Cairn Gorm, it’s just a short burst of steepness before you reach the top. It was even better when there was a faint path to follow through the boulders and then we were there!

Path again for a while

    The weather station

The boys are not that tall!

There are cairns marking the route off the top. Lots of cairns. A ridiculous amount of cairns! There’s also a horrible ‘tourist path’ down to the The Ptarmigan, then we took the main track from there. It just about killed my knees at this point, I even had to resort to Ibuprofen, which is rare for me (I’m not supposed to take it…) but we could see the car in the distance and the thought of a cold drink and an ice cream spurred us on.

You might not be able to work out the ridiculous number of cairns

  Horrid path!

View towards Loch Avon

Views towards the car and Loch Morlich

The boys both got a headache, with Aedan particularly this can lead to difficulties, but they both mentioned it in time for the paracetamol, crisps and extra fluids to be distributed with no further issues. Ciara struggled, but persevered, so was very proud of herself in the end. I was hot, a really hot thing, but not as unfit as I’d expected, considering the almost complete lack of exercise since the end of May. I’d remembered to strap both my heels to protect the new skin there after my humdinger of a TGO blister and had no problems at all. The only other mishap was accidently clicking the disc in one of my hand warmers whilst administering first aid to the boys. Oops!

So, that’s four for me and two for the children.

All in all, a good day! Around 8.85 miles, 2683 ft ascent, 2mph average 4 hours 21 minutes walking, 1 hour 47 minutes resting.

When I dropped David at the station at lunch time today, I discovered a sale. At an outdoor retailers. I found myself inside said shop, admiring a pair of Merrell Chameleon Arc Mid boots. They were £20 cheaper than the pair that I ordered online (from the same retailer) that are on their way. (They are coming with a pair for Aedan, the price of which was unchanged) So, I bought them and I’ll return the other pair when they get here. Comfy they are too!

New boots!

A paraprosdokian is a phrase with an unexpected ending

Not the sort of thing I would usually post here, but it made me smile, not something I expected today!

Some of these are clever..............
Ø    Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his  level and beat you with experience.   
Ø    Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than  standing in a garage makes you a car.  
Ø    The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.  
Ø   Light travels faster  than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them  speak. 
Ø   If I agreed with you we'd both  be wrong.
Ø    We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in  public.
Ø    War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Ø   Knowledge  is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit  salad.
Ø    The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets  the cheese.
Ø    Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and  then proceed to tell you why it isn't. 
Ø    To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from  many is research.  
Ø   A bus station  is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my  desk, I have a work station.  
Ø   How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Ø   Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them some fish.
Ø   A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don't need it. 
Ø   Why does someone  believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when  you say the paint is wet?  
Ø   Women  will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a  bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are  sexy.

Ø   Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.   
Ø   A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.  
Ø   Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.
Ø    Hospitality:  making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were. 
Ø   Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.   
Ø   I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.  
Ø   Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.  
Ø   When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.  
Ø   You're never too old to learn something stupid.
Ø   To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.  
Ø   A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it. 
Ø   Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Uh oh

That’s not a good start to a day that could get ugly.

Today we do the annual School Shoe Shop. I hate this day. The children hate me hating this day. It will be tense and it will be ugly.

This morning I woke up around 5.30 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Until, inevitably, I nodded off just as I decided it was time to give up. And then woke up late. Not good.

I made my customary cup of tea which I left to stew whilst firing up the PC before embarking on the day properly awake.

I returned to the kitchen to put milk in my tea. The milk curdled.

This is really not a good start to the day.

Edited:

And then! It’s a good job I was cleaning the bath before I had my shower. If' I’d been in the shower when I found the tarantula hiding behind the shampoo I would have been in a really tricky situation, with only my teenage son to rescue me!

In my haste to leave the bathroom I locked myself in…