Some Things Change, Some Stay The Same

Its taken me a while to produce another blogpost and things have backed-up a bit, but, maybe I’ll catch up over the next few days.

Having had time to ponder a bit, though, it seems that following my abandonment of DCC guided walking and, maybe , a few other items, that things begin to change quite quickly. My diary for August is full of stuff which wouldn’t have been possible had I booked myself in for a DCC guided walk (and the other thing…)

So, here’s the first two “things” over  last Friday and Saturday, about which there might be indications of change, although maybe only I can detect the change at this point in time.

Friday, initially had been postponed from Wednesday due to a BBC/Met office forecast of thunder and lightening – which, by the way, didn;t materialise till half –past ten at night (dhuhh). Me and Dawn were supposed to be heading for some Cheviots lying just beyond the Border at Carter Bar.

Instead, we found ourselves planning to investigate inland swimming spots, partly connected to Dawn’s new fascination for getting really wet, a pastime I’ve occasionally followed over the last severalteen years, even since I were a lad of only 57. First, there was Ash Gill. Ash Gill has featured in this blog several times before, being the location for me and Brian’s last-of-the-summer-wine-type japes involving floating downstream scaring the dippers and being munched by horseflies.

Ash Gill has a waterfall you can walk behind and a row of small but deep pools in the carboniferous limestone. Its a beautiful spot. Ir would have been quite fab, except that the forecast of a “mainly dry” North-East England with temperatures climbing to the dizzy heights of 21C (see BBC/Met Office weather forecatss again!) – it was drizzly and rainy and windy and cold , at just 13C. This put me off dipping in one of the pools and I failed to do very much. Dawn did dip briefly and wetly and we mived on to Cow Green where it was still damp and cold and windy, at just 12C.

We struggled over the  tussocky/squishy moor to the head of the reservoir where Dawn lost the will to live and sat by the wall and I paddled the River Tees to re-aquaint myself with Force Burn, a small stream holding a remarkable series of small waterfalls, each with a large and deep pool at it’s foot. A smashing place which used to be remote and now isn’t since there’s a new estate road just above it, leading to a new shooting hut. Your taxes are paying for the grouse shooters to do this kind of thing by the way, in the form of agricultural grants. I meantersay, grouse shooters are the hard-ups of the sporting world which is why they have to wear such old-fashioned clothes.

Not such a good day, but, swimming, eh? Good exercise, wot?

And then on Saturday, I collected Li Yang and we went off to Osmotherley where we joined the 10 of the Wednesday Walkers Walking on Saturdays group as a punter. Nice to be lead for a change and I didn’t even take a map. It was quite a good walk, too, lead by Eric and over new territory for me. I left LTD at home due to the feckin forecast of feckin thunder and feckin lightening which, guess what….  It did rain, though and there were suckler cattle which might have been a problem. And LTD didn’t want to get up anyway because it was raining at Pietowers and his cosy bed is much to be preferred in such conditions.

So, things are changing. There’s a new health challenge which I’m not going to detail till all the tests have been tested. I would just say, though, that those who project positive “wishes” have positive things reflected on them whereas…. This won’t affect my walking, or, even, swimming activities for a long time yet, though, I shouldn’t think and, incidentally, I wouldn’t want any rellies to worry about this….