TGO Challenge Food and other things

Just taken delivery of a box of scoff from http://www.outdoorsgrub.co.uk/ mainly for the TGO challenge. My food plan says that I need to start with 3 days food and send a parcel to Dalwhinnie with 2 days food – more of that later.

There’s also the little question of a pre-TGO Challenge walkabout. My original idea of walking up the middle of the Isle of man seems to have been replaced by a wander over a classic Borders Oldie walk which goes from Peebles to Moffat – and, probably back again. various other bloggers and walky types have expressed an interest in joining in – so, hopefully, more of that later, too. Should be a jolly jape, I would have thought.

Wot I bought from outdoors grub:

1 Adventure Food rice satay

1 Mountain House Pasta with lasagna sauce

2 Mountain House custard with apple

1 Be Well Chicken vegetable pasta

1 Be Well Thai Chicken with rice

2 Be well Hot cereal start with sultanas

1 Real Turmat Pasta Provence

1 Real Turmat wolfish casserole

1 Backpackers pantry Katmandu Curry

1 Backpackers pantry Spaghetti with sauce

1 MX3 Aventure (?sic) from TITOK (oddly strange name!) Red Curry Noodles and shrimp

I’ll be supplementing this with various packet soups, which I’ll also fortify with instant spuds.

I need more breakfasts – I also usually eat cereal bars at brekkies – eg Jordans, but I could do with more variety. Meusli won’t do. I hate the stuff. I’d rather eat Bruno’s tail just after an incident with a dead sheep. Those instant, flavoured porridges are also off the menu since, whilst they taste quite nice, their energy only lasts me about half an hour – which is rubbish. Any suggestions gratefully received – although I expect that a visit to Asda might solve the problem.

I also need more sweets – same applies, Asda beckons, but any suggestions…. I’ll probably take an MRE chocolate sponge as a treat.

I tend also to stuff in squirty cheese and oatcakes and, of course, the always reliable cheapo whisky.

As for other planning – I’m probably a bit late with it, but I have to ring the bunkhouse in Mallaig to see if they have any beds and I did try to book the hotel at Dalwhinnie, but they’re not taking on-line bookings. I’ll give them a buzz later. I hope there isn’t a problem.

If there is, I’ll solve it by simply carrying another 2 days food!

Incidentally, I ordered the food by phone from Outdoors Grub on Monday morning and it's arrived just now on Wednesday afternoon, which is quite good innit?

TGO Challenge Planning

Despite the fact that its a beautiful sunny day here in beautiful and sunny Crook, I’ve been spending my time doing some more TGO Challenge planning.

I’ve submitted my route to Roger Smith, who says he will try to give it to a sympathetic and lucid vetter (that cuts a few of them out…)

In the meantime, I’ve been planning my food plan, which is something I always do before a trip like this – i.e. what meals I’ll need to carry on each stage and where I’ll get them from.

It looks very much like http://www.outdoorsgrub.com/ will be getting an order from me shortly – I need to start off with 3 days food, and I need to send two days food to Dalwhinnie – then there’s my April practise trip – all-in-all, around 9 days food.

I hope the table makes some sense – I copied from Excel. I know what it means anyway….

					home	train	mallaig
				Meals	Breakfast	Trail	Dinners
Thursday	13/05/2010	travel to mallaig		take from home	3	3	3	book bed in Mallaig 13/5/2010
Friday	14/05/2010	mallaig	lochan a mhaim		mallaig	1	1
Saturday	15/05/2010	lochan a mhaim	lochan a mhaim		1	1	1
Sunday	16/05/2010	lochan a mhaim	loch arkaig		1	1	1
Monday	17/05/2010	loch arkaig	lairig leacach		1	spean bridge	1	shop in spean bridge
			buy in spean bridge		2	2	2
Tuesday	18/05/2010	lairig leacach	ben alder cottage		1	1	1
Wednesday	19/05/2010	ben alder cottage	dalwhinnie		1	1	dalwhinnie
				parcel to dalwhinnie	2	3	2	book hotel dalwhinnie 19/5/2010
Thursday	20/05/2010	dalwhinnie	upper feshie		dalwhinnie	1	1
Friday	21/05/2010	upper feshie	bynack lodge		1	1	1
Saturday	22/05/2010	bynack lodge	braemar		1	1	braemar
				buy in braemar	1	3	1
Sunday	23/05/2010	braemar	Callater Lodge		braemar	1	callater
Monday	24/05/2010	Callater Lodge	burntshields		callater	1	1
Tuesday	25/05/2010	burntshields	kirriemuir		1	1	kirriemuir	book b&b Kirriemuir 25/5/2010
				buy in kirriemuir	0	1	0	book b&b Lethem 26/5/2010
Wednesday	26/05/2010	kirriemuir	lethem		kirriemuir	forfar	lethem
Thursday	27/05/2010	lethem	scurdie ness		lethem	1	montrose

TGO Challenge Route Planning

Frosty morning in Glen Lyon 2007

Just spent pretty much the whole morning, a part of the lunchtime and some of the afternoon drawing lines on electronic maps and measuring distances and I think I’ve finally cracked it – a joined up route across Scotland.

This year, unusually for me, and, possibly living in cloud cuckoo land cos the weather will probably spoil it – I’ve managed to work in a static camp in Knoydart for the relaxed bagging of Sgurr na Ciche and other delights – so my tent on Day 2 will move precisely nil miles and nil contours of ascent. (Although, hopefully, I’ll be doing a bit more)

A day or so later, however, does include lots of tarmac beside Loch Arkaig, so that’s the price.

I’ll then be moving South ish for Ben Alder Lodge (never been), Ben Bheoil (missed that one somehow) and then through the bumpy it in the middle with a couple more Munros and the odd Corbett for a boozerama at Braemar.

I’m also determined to do the ridge next to Glen Prosen which ends at Cat Law.

The finishing end is at Scurdie Ness.

Landing at Inverie

The total distance excluding the day’s static Munro bagging thing is 313 km, or about 196 miles. The longest day is 30 km and the shortest is 15 and the average is 24km or about 15 miles. I orta be able to do that….

TGO Challenge Perhaps Penultimate Preparations or maybe not eh?

Hands up who knew it was Beltane today. Its time to run around a big pole with flowers in your hair and a belly full of strong cider with a load of girls in floaty frocks and long hair.

So to celebrate this holiday, I did some not quite last minute TGO things. These involved a short drive to Bishop Auckland to buy sealable sandwhich bags for my instant tea and even more instant sugar, and, maybe a few rashers of Irish bacon and perhaps a tattie scone or two.

And then I bought two butane/propane cylinders and got another go at Blacks/Millets win a thousand quid by saying nice things about our stores competition. Actually, the two wee lassies in Millets in Bishop are very pleasant… and they certainly know their butane. They had no idea about Beltane, though and refused to discuss floaty frocks unless their rugby-playing boyfriends were there. (Prop forward and scrum half, apparently)

I got some liddle plastic boxes to replace my big plastic box wot I keep important things in such as my supply of Ministry of defence Biscuits (Brown), my dickie ticker tablets, my MOD tin opener, a lighter, cakes, a small settee with breathable cushions, an umbrella with the word “Stella” printed on it (3500 static head) and a pack of tissues for er… personal stuff…. (very low static head) This saves just 300 grammes of weight. That’s another 300 grammes of Irish bacon, then.

At Asda, I got some shorts (swimming shorts, apparently) – but they’re very light weight and have integral netting inside to keep things inside, presumably. Wouldn’t want anything poking out innit? Anyway, if I take the shorts on the TGO it will guarantee snow.

And six breakfasts in the guise of twelve Jordans fruity nutty healthy crunchy farty bars. That’s two for each breakfast. I’m not sure I can keep up with those. I suppose I could slip a rasher of bacon between two for a bit of an early morning thrill.

Evrything I need to pack is in a cardboard box beside the telly with the motto “Avon Cosmetics London-Paris-New York-Easington Colliery” written on the side. If I ever find out who wrote on the side of the telly…..

The next thing I need to do is pack. And try to find a B&B in Fettercairn I might do that later…. Or I might not. You don’t really care do you?

Pic is a TGO challenge pic from a previous fiasco...

Cooking Plans Replanned

Visited Durham railway station today and picked up my TGO train tickets to Edinburgh and my tickets to Sanquhar and back in a couple of weeks time. The Sanquhar trip will be four days of backpacking and wild camping which is part of my TGO challenge training and trying-things-out event that I do every April prior to a Challenge.

This year, I'm trying to get everything into a new 45 ltr rucksack. I've also been quite confused about cooking stuff - that is things to cook and eat out of, not things to cook. I bought a Primus ETA stove and panset with an extra, slightly smaller pan. This boils water at an incredible rate, but I've decided its too heavy. So today, I got a little cheapo Blacks non-stick panset into which will fit my old Primus stove (not sure what the model is, but its very small...) and a selection of instant MOD tea, coffee and sugar bags - enough for a week's brew-ups, infact. This is half the weight of the other thing.

Incidentally, the other thing started backfiring. Did it get too hot, without any wind? Or is it a fault? Is it, in fact, a problem at all? Would it be a problem with the canister? And what did I do with the receipt?

Anyway, my planning at the moment is centred around the Sanquhar trip and a possible crack at the South Tyne trail in a few days time.

Weardale TGO Challenge training again

Meanwhile, back at the TGO Challenge training plan (I expect you’re getting bored by TGO stuff by now…. ) – It seems that in March, I should orta do a longer walk than whatever was the longest walk I managed in February.
And so, I consulted my diary of walks and found that last march I walked from Wolsingham to Hamsterley Forest via Doctor’s gate and then up Sharnberry Gill nad back over the moors by Five Pikes and the Elephant Trees.
I consulted the dawg and it was agreed that as neither of us could think of a better one at such short notice – this is what we would do.
So we did.
It’s a steep start, up the road towards Hamsterley and then turning off on a even minorrer road passing St Johns Hall to Doctors gate.
The Daffies were flowering at St Johns Hall. This may, at first glance, seem a trivial point but no ! I said No!
Y’see your St Johns Hall once belonmged to the Backhouse family. These peeps were rich magnates. This means that bits of metal adhered to them. The bits of metal in question in this case being money. They had lots of it and they founded banks with it and lent money to other Victorians to build things with – like railways and bridges and mines and factories. One William Backhouse spent some time at St Johns Hall breeding daffodils. Hence the daffies were out at St Johns Hall. I don’t think these were special ones, though. Somebody would have pinched special ones.
There was also a very pretty patch of what appears to be Lungwort – according to my Wild Flower key which cost me twenty quid, so it must be right. I only mention these things because it’s obviously spring.
Incidentally, speaking of banks, I’ve just realised that HBOS went nips up almost immediately after I’d finished paying my mortgage. Food for thought, there. I’m sure you will agree.
Anyway, we plodded on over (or is it through?) Doctor’s gate – so called because that’s the way the doctor came (I think) – and over the flat moor and down into Hamsterley Forest. This forest is remarkably similar to Fetterresso Forest which is why its good for training. Similar in the way its full of trees.
I lunched briefly whilst Bruno destroyed some sticks (lots of sticks in H. Forest) – and then up onto the moors via Sharnberry Gill. Sharnberry is a very young feature, geologically – being only 12 to 13000 years old. Which is young. It is, in fact, the overflow from a very deep and large lake caused by the bunging up of Teesdale with an enormous wall of ice. Thus it was global warming that caused enormous torrents of water to gouge out this gully over the watershed. Victorian leadminers did a bit more damage. Global cooling over the last 7000 years has caused it to fill in a bit with sphagnum and peat and other sloppy things.
I always get the next bit of moor between the road and an estate track near Pawlaw Pike wrong. I just can’t find the path. Its easier if you go the other way. The sign says dogs are banned from this bit of open access. This doesn’t apply on public footpaths, which is what we’re trying to follow. But if they want me and superdawg to follow the path accurately, they should put some waymarker poles in. Otherwise we just trespass. Take me to court, I don’t care.
After this, its downhill for lots and lots of miles on good paths, tracks and roads. Its a romp. We pass the elephant trees. (see a previous posting) and a chap mending the stone wall.
We finish. We go home. We (That is I) drink tea. We fall asleep.
We have walked 18 and a bit miles and climbed 2300 feet.
It wasn’t really very difficult
We are on track

TGO Challenge English Gathering

Put the tent up, alongside a few others in the ever-so-slightly-tilted grassy bits around Snake Inn’s car park, had a beer, had another beer, had some more beer, then made a cup of tea on my NEW STOVE. Boils very quick and doesn’t scorch the grass.
Friday night at the Snake Inn was purely for a spot of lightweight convivial boozing.

Saturday dawned clear and windy and a large bunch (or is it a bunch of large) Challengers hurtled off to Edale in some laid-on transport and , after some initial hesitation where nobody could decide whether or not there was a walk leader, we sort of started drifting off towards Scotland, up the Pennine Way.

It were windy. At a rest stop Sue Banfield produced a box of caramel shortcake and we all got cold.

Later, Kinder Downfall was blowing backwards, as it does sometimes and nobody could find the Kinder Eggs. There were suspicions that whoever said that this was the origin of the famous kiddie’s sweety may have been telling porkies for their own nefarious enjoyment. Personally, I’m not so sure.

The party split at the North end of the plateau and some went off down the direct path whilst others (including me) padded along the flags for a bit more Pennine Way, cut down Doctors Gate and finished with a flourish in some woods.

The Snake Inn is a fine choice for a grand gnoshup and a fine dinner was had. Various well-know challengers and bloggers and challenger/bloggers were there (as you’ve probably already worked out) and it was nice to meet Sue and Martin Banfield of Postcard from Timperley fame, and Phil (Lord Elpus) and Tina (Miss Whiplash) Lambert who do yer Doodlecat and Alvar and Anne who you may remember we met in the snowy Lake District a few weeks ago. Rather nice to meet Miss Whiplash in the flesh, as it happens and she did assure me that the wheals and rope marks will wear off with time. The hot poker burns may take longer. Anyway, it were a cracking do. Most, or at least some of the usual suspects were there and there was a fair smattering of Challenge virgins, and one or two people who had never done it before either.

Sunday saw me doing a little round around Black Edge and Comb Moss somewhere quite near to Chapel en le Frith. It’s a cracking walk to go around this edge – everywhere steep and rocky below, but magnificently level walking. Go off the path at your peril, though as the dangerously tough tussocks tend to trap the off-route tourist. I bet you can’t read that last bit with a gobful of toast, innit?

Finished with a flourish by driving up the M1.

See who you can identify in the photo. The prize is a night out with all of them at the Park Hotel in Montrose. Make your own way there and you'll have to buy the beer.

More TGO stuff and short-term plans

A few other bloggers and forum posters have been blogging and posting about train tickets for the post-TGO challenge aftermath journey home, I have, in fact, been offerred a lift from Montrose to Crook, albeit via Shiel Bridge and I was going to leave it at that.

However, I decided just now that I might be wise to buy a train ticket because, like budgies in a cage, they're apparently going cheap just now. And its quicker by train, and what if the other chap fails to arrive in Montrose or gets knocked down by a fish wagon on the A9, or abducted by Aileens, or something....?

It was £23 from Montrose to Durham. The full fare seems to be in three figures. I can collect the ticket from Montrose station, which avoids losing them somewhere in the heelands or getting them soggy in a bog.

In the meantime, I've a few busy walking days lined up - The TGO Challenge English gathering at the Snake Inn from tommorrow till Sunday - probably two walks - and a few days in the Borders, somewhere quite close to the A7 from Tuesday.

There will be sporadic reports about whatever might happen (supposing something does happen)

Pics of Skelfhill Pen in the Borders. Already been up here, though...

Fab hill anyway...

You should visit.

More TGO challenge Planning

Somebody posted on the TGO Challenge forum website thingy that they'd just booked some train tickets.

So, despite a distinct current lack of spondoolies partly due to an outrageous gas bill... I decided I'd better book some transport too.

And so, after trying the traveline, which reported that it wasn't possible to travel from Crook to Shiel Bridge at all, ever, under any circumstances, because neither place existed, other than in the fevered imagination of an ex-NHS Personnel manager (who are renowned for their fevered imaginations) - I managed, on The Trainline to book a single Durham Edinburgh train ticket for ten of your Queen's pounds (a bargain) and a bus from Edinburgh to Inverness and then to Shiel Bridge for another £37. Which isnt too bad, really. It wouldnt let me book the journey home from Montrose to Durham, but if I try again in a couple of weeks....

I also booked train tickets from Durham to Sanquhar and back for my April pre-match walkies, although I have to go on the Saturday cos the Sunday train doesnt arrive till very very late in the day. So, I'll be camping in Sanquhar for a night. Might go to the pub or something....

I have an hour and 45 minutes to kill in Edinburgh. I wonder if Adminfairy could be persuaded to leave her gossamer web and we could do lunch or something.....

6th of May, Becky!! (I'm going a bit early so I can have extra walkies before the Challenge starts)

Pic of Hudderstone included above for no good reason at all....(nobody ever goes walking in the Borders, innit?)

Strange thing is, though, I seem to have lots of ads for gritting on the blog. I suppose its because I mentioned gritters once. I wonder what I'd get if I mentioned vetenary services for elephants>

Northumberland - Devils Water and Carriers Way

My get-yourself-fit-for-the-TGO-Challenge plan (see how it takes over your life?) calls for a walk of a minimum distance of 12 miles in January (14 in February) and so - me and superdingo found ourselves in the enormous and free car park at Blanchland for this little toddle on to the Northumberland Moors.

Blanchland Moor is a pretty flat and heathery sort of place and has bridleways suitable for a good old blast along at high speed - or in my case, fairly moderate speed.

In brightening and windy weather, me and Bruno fair blasted along over the moor to Slaley Forest where, in a small and sheltered copse of Scots Pine and Gorse, I almost fell asleep in the cosyness of it all....

Down to the Devil's Water - no idea why its called this - its a fairly small beck in a beautiful wooded and almost wild setting - just the place to camp out, in fact.

And then it was back over the moor again via the Carriers Way. The Carriers Way is an old packhorse route blazed for the purpose of carrying bings of lead from London lead Company's mines in Allendale to the coast - before there were things like trains. So its an old route, and it shows it in places as it cuts a deep groove through the landscape and contours easily along the scarp of the moor. Fab bit of fell walking, that.

The odd thing about this moor, though, is the unusual use of scarecrows. These are very realistic from a distance, mainly due to the shredded polythene arms which sway purposefully in the wind. The giveaway is that they never actually go anywhere. there's dozens of the things, though, placed on scarp edges and hilltops and in lines like grouse beaters. It seems like a good idea if it works - keeping the raptors and corbies away from the grouse eggs and chicks in a non-lethal sort of way.

We did just about 12 miles, finished almost in daylight and were in time for the two meals for £8 happy hour at the pub at Billy Row.

And - I finished my TGO Challenge food plan. The most I'll have to carry is five breakfasts from the start (probably quite a lot of porridge) - and two evening meals (its complicated, but thats how it works out). After that, its pretty easy. I'll need to shop in Ft Augustus, Newtonmore and Braemar. I'm only staying overnight in atown in Newtonmore - probably camp - and there's a transport cafe there for dinner and brekkies...

I'm not staying in Ft Augustus or Braemar - but just scoffing, shopping and passing through to wild camps or bothies further on. I will be overnighting at Tomdoun, but not in a bed - far too overpriced for me. I'll stick me tent up somewhere after the night's celebrations of whatever it is we might consider worth celebrating.

Challenge Planning, whisky and chicken curry

I got invited over to Doug's in the Deerness Valley for a looking at maps of Scotland whilst drinking whisky session. So I walked over from Crook and we had a couple of house drawing lines on maps and he let me into one of his Christmas whisky bottle. Doug says he doesnt drink whisky, but he gave a bottle of red plonk a bit of a hammering.

After tea (chicken curry), I walked back again in the dark.

Becky's (adminfairy) pressy - the little Petzl is still going very strongly despite numerous after-dark walk finishes and a few hours in some leadmines.

The walk is along the ex-Crook - Durham railway line and is pretty easy as far as navigation is concerned. Its a sort of point-and-fire job, really. It does go quite steeply over the hill, on top of which there used to be an enormous hole for the digging of coal, which is just under the surface around here. Its all been filled in and planted with trees now, and is really very pleasing to walk on.

Todays walk was just 8 miles.

My next TGO Planning jobs, which I must get on with is to find out about accomodation in Glenelg (I don;t think there's a hotel there) - and do my "food plan". This is basically an analysis of the TGO walk with a plan as to how much scoff I'll need to carry from the start, whether or not I might post myself some extra supplies, and where I'll need to buy something - and how much. Its not rocket science, but if I get it wrong, it can be a right bugger. I usually carry just that little bit too much.

I've also just designed myself a little four day trundle starting at Sanquhar and bagging a couple of Marilyns and some HuMPs (correct capitalisation here!) - for the purposes of TGO Challenge training and doing some camping. I will visit the pub in Wanlockhead for a scoff, but all overnights will be wild camps. I picked Sanquhar because its got a train station. I'm quietly buzzing to get on with this one. Roll on April.

In the meantime, I'll spend some of today doing food plans

TGO Challenge Planning #6 - vetters Comments

I've just received the vetter's comments on the route I submitted a week or so ago. My vetter this year is John Donohue. This year, aside from pointing out the inadequacies of my gaelic place names "You are to be congratulated for your early posting; congratulated, too for your valiant if hopeless battle with Scottish place names...."

Apart from clarifying where I actually meant for a couple of places (ahem!), John has pointed out a nice route improvement for me for climbing out of Glen Feshie (I am avoiding trying to remember how to spell the name of the bothy, but it's pronounced apparently without any consonants at all and sounds like somebody found the hot water bottle with their bare bum.

I didn't protest to John that I have the same struggle with English place names and Welsh is a mystery. I am aware that many Welsh villages are Pants, though..

Anyway, thanks to JD.

So, now, the route planning bit of the ...er....planning is complete. I have to add a couple of days at the start now, and also design a little four day training walk in April next year. When I've done the first part of this - the introductory days, I'll do a food plan.

JD, by the way, is one of the funniest blokes on the planet and whenever he's allowed to do a proper after dinner speech at The Challenge Dinner, its a real treat.

TGO Planning #5

Well, that's it, I've just emailed my TGO 2009 route off to Roger at Challenge Towers. One of his henchpersons will no doubt be sending some vetters comments back in a while...

In the meantime, this is my route:

I'm starting at Glenelg (after some initial non- challenge wanderings) and heading towards Kinloch Hourn and bagging a little hillock on the way. next day, its Westyer Glen Quoich to Allbeithe, then Easter Glen Quoich (I like to have the set) and a small peeeemple and some woods to Tomdoun where I will spend the kids' inheritance. Then to Loch Lundie - followed the next day by a raid on the shops and pubs of Ft Augustus before carrying on to Blackburn Bothy.

wake up at the back, there....

Then over the moanyminnie hills for two days to Newtonmore, where I will wash my mucky neck - then Phones to Ruighaiteachain, followed by the Cringroms to Derry Lodge.

I'll pass fleetingly and boozily through Braemar to Callater, then over Lochnagar to Shielin of Mark. Tarfside follows that, then Fettercairn and lanes and tracks to Johnshaven.

then on the Tuesday...........

Its a lowish level route and I'm going to camp, although i'll probably seek clean sheets and a roof in Newtonmore and Fettercairn. I need to think about Fettercairn a bit more.

We'll see what the vetter(s) say. (I had two last year...)

TGO Challenge Planning #4 and some snow

Superdawg was highly suspicious this morning that something was different but couldn't quite put his paw on it...

Its nice to see a bit of snow, but I suppose it won't last till my next walk... ho and hum...

Anyway, Ive just spent the evening drawing a TGO Challenge route on to some 1:50k maps and counting ascent and stuff like that. And I've transposed the route on to a route sheet. I'll put this into an electronic version sometime next week and get it emailed off to Roger.

One of the maps - sheet 42 has just 1.4 kilometres of my route on it. Maybe I won't take sheet 42....

TGO Planning #2

I seem to have done it, or, at least some of it.... I've got the outline of a route for TGO 2009, starting at Glenelg to Tomdoun - after some shenanigans) - to Fort Augustus, part of the Corrieyairack, then the beeline of a slightly distressed bee to Newtonmore, Glen Feshie and over the tops to Corrour, then Braemar, Bill and Stan's, Shielin of Mark, Tarfside, Fettercairn, various roads to Johnshaven.

I'll be camping. I wont be staying in Fort Augustus or Braemar, but merely passing through to visit shops and , maybe partake in a sweet sherry and a water biscuit...and a look around the local Womens Institute nudey calendars...

I need to shorten one day and lengthen the one following it, cos things are a bit illogical in the Moanyleeags...

But apart from that, the route seems to work. Its 192 miles long at the moment. I'll be going through it in greater detail and adding up the ascent and stuff like that later. I'm just going to leave it to cook for a few days first in case I get a sinking feeling about it...

I need to add on an introductory couple of days and sort out a training walk - I usually do a training walk in April of about 4 days. last year I went to Shropshire, this year, I'm intent on South Ayrshire and/or Dumfries and Galloway. Ive made some space to do some other backpacking stuff as well... and I'll be at the English gathering at Snake Pass in March.

And thats about that....

More planning Thursday night, but more of that later.

Pics show various aspect of the challenge incuding adminfairy on a bealach, giving directions to a tea room and some hill or other

TGO Challenge Planning #1

Weird Daren's declaration over on his http://www.whitespider1066.com/ blog that he has booked some accommodation for the TGO Challenge next May has prompted me to start thinking about my own TGO challenge route.

I already had a finish point - which may seem, at first sight to be the wrong way around - but last May, whilst on the bus from the Stonehaven International Transport Interchange and Phone Box to the Montrose Metropolitan Passenger Terminus and Bus Shelter that Johnshaven has three things that a finishing Challenger might want.

Thing 1 is a beach. There's not much point in doing a coast to coast walk that doesn't finish at the coast,, and I find that a beach is a very satisfying ending to this venture. Its the salty, wet feet and the tin of celebratory McEwans Export.

Thing 2 is a pub. The one at Johnshaven appears to do food. probably seafood, I shouldn't wonder. This is a good thing, or , rather, these are good things...

Thing 3 Is an International transport Interchange in Johnshaven - just opposite the pub where the buses to Montrose stop. And, as they have to turn around in the narrow streets of Johnshaven, this provides sufficient warning for the walker to finish his pint before leaping out of the pub and being knocked flying by a fish wagon... or, more likely, catching the bus. I did note that last year the bus driver abandoned the bus at Johnshaven and went to check on whether or not his girlfriend was, in fact, having an affair with the Rington's Tea man, as reported by that Sharon who works in Wooollies in Montrose. I don;t know what the result was, but he didn't look too happy when he got back and he drove very very fast into Montrose and didn't pick up any more passengers....**

Thing 4 (Did I say three things....?) Is the fact that the other three things (see above) are all within Challenger hobbling distance of each other - a matter, in fact, of a few yards. Global warming may well soon be affecting the siting of the bus stop, but in the meantime , it's perilously close. Little excuse for missing the bus.

And I have a starting point. I thought (about September) that as this is a coast to coast walk, merely having a finishing point would be insufficient for the organisers to justify awarding me the certificate and badge, so having never been to Glenelg, I thought I'd start there.

Well, as Captain Scott once said to his girlfriend "Why not?"

The I thought, wouldn't it be a good idea to extend the walk at the start by a day or two, just to get a bit more walking in and also avoiding any awkwardness about the fact that Glenelg isn't on a bus route - and I thought what a jolly jape it would be to start at Sligachan and walk to the start...that's the other start, not the first start.

I will draw a veil over the bit in between the start start and the other start and the end - principally because I've no idea what to do at the moment.

I'll probably get an idea at 2:00 am next Wednesday morning and forget what it was by 8:30 due to feeling smug about not being in one of the traffic jams on the radio.

But you'll surely be the second to know about it. (After me....)

** This is not strictly true, but I thought it would make the blog a bit more racy...