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Friday 25 September 2015

TGO Challenge–Shall I or Shan’t I? (Do you really care anyway?)

d9 cameron

Mrs Pieman gets me the TGO mag on subscription as a Christmas present, so I got the copy with the application forms in it (innit?) a week or so ago and I started filling it in. But it’s still sitting there half completed.

I’m not sure if I really want to do this or not. I have completed 12 TGO crossings, starting in 1998 and my last one was in 2013. On a couple of occasions I’ve haunted the route instead of doing the walk – notably 2014 when I did “Cafe akto” which raised loads of spondoolies for Mind and was, basically, a hoot.

But I’m undecided.

i am the music man

There are pro’s and cons:

Pros:

If I do another I’ll probably aim to get to 20 crossings. This would be a bit of  an achievement, I believe.

I’d meet lots of old friends.

I’d drink lots of scotch, most of it fairly cheap stuff.

It would be fun (mostly, but not all of it)

It would be a hoot.

aa day 3 camp

Cons:

Its fifty quid!!  Fifty quid. I meantersay – it’s fifty quid….

Last May I did the English CtoC with my little dog “Lucky” and this was a hoot and I met some friends (and relatives) and I supped lots of cheap scotch and I could do something like this again.

I would put myself back into a hillwalking rut

Everybugger and his dog (apols- not his dog – dogs aren’t allowed) does a feckin trip report and some do a feckin feckin list of gear. The sheer weight of all this information is mind-bendingly dull. And I would have to write a feckin feckin feckin trip report on the Pieblog otherwise readers would assume that I’d died or otherwise failed to complete the route. Casual readers would turn away as soon as they spotted yet another feckin feckin feckin feckin TGO chally feckin trip feckin report.

If I don’t get a place at first and end up on a standby list, it buggers up my 2016 walks planning. Or I could withdraw at that point and lose my fifty quid. FIFTY QUID BY THE WAY|!

I could do something else.

I could do something else.

I could do something else.

I’m still thinking about this. I won’t decide to apply (yes, I do understand that I might not get a place – see above_) until I’ve had a fortnight in the Trossachs with Mrs Pieman and the little Piedog. And in 2013 I wrote that 2013 would be my last and final TGO challenge.

The dog would get fat and bored whilst I’m away.

I think I can see the way it’s going…..

055

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9 comments:

Al said...

Well I'm doing something else...but don't let that sway ya!
By the way enjoy the Trossachs, watch out for Dr Finley!....there that dates me:-)

Meanqueen said...

Fifty chuffin quid !!!, Nah, stuff it.

Louise said...

Oh.
Well.
I'll try not to take that personally.
But I'll miss your scruffy beard and holey trousers.
Sort of.

Andrew said...

Now tell the truth Mike, have you been feckin drinking?

Dawn said...

A weighty decision Mike and certainly I can see the cons of doing it.

AlanR said...

The more Challenges you do the tougher the decision not to, i guess. There are a great deal of alternatives and life passes by quickly.

Julie H said...

Pieman, you're retired, you have the rest of the year to do all the alternatives. C'mon, reverse the decision that it was your last concert, you add to the cast of TGO characters that adds to the challenge mystique.

Ali & Sue said...

Hello Mike

We'd love to have you along again! Just to reassure you if you were unlucky in the draw your entry fee would be refunded.
We'll keep our fingers crossed that an entry form, adorned with a few pie crumbs, lands in Newtonmore before the end of the month . . . .

Ali & Sue

Unknown said...

Hello Mike

It would be great to have you along again! Just to reassure you, should you be unlucky in the draw your entry fee would be refunded.
We'll keep our fingers crossed a entry form, adorned with a few pie crumbs, will wing it's way to Newtonmore before the end of the month