198 days to go

To prepare for something potentially unpleasant, I would be inclined to look on Wiki a bit, eat a hearty meal and maybe take a nip of something medicinal. However, as is becoming increasingly apparent on this trip, normal does not apply and the reasoning is that you should do alarming over and over again until, well, until what is not clear. I call it the ‘kissing a frog’ theory.

To that end, we have been ‘encouraged’ to climb Snowdon in July, to familiarise ourselves with going upwards and possibly also the going crazy and throwing up at the summit part. But closer to home, so that we don’t provoke an international incident. I can see glimpses of their logic and, as we will have done at least this Sunday’s three-hour walk by then, we should be super-fit hiking gods who know what to put in each of the 34 pockets in our hugely efficient clothing items.

The key difference to the Kilimanjaro climb seems to be the food. I was warned by someone who knew someone who’d once been up the mountain that you were more than likely to find yourself staring down the barrel of a bowl of pasta every morning. So far, so pleasant, was my thought. It’s not so different to the student pizza breakfast after all. I could see how it might get wearing after a few days, although I assume that the giant pepper grinder must fit snugly and easily-accessibly into one of my pockets.

The Welsh, being wise in so many unexpected ways (and having dealt with their dragon issues years ago) favour something a little more enlivening. Information about the trip is punctuated with references to ‘varied and plentiful’ food, heavy on the cooked breakfasts and two course dinners at local pubs. I assume this extends to waving a pie on a fishing rod in front of us on the ascent.

It also features a stay in a Youth Hostel, something I haven’t done since the German GCSE trip. Presumably we’ll be cutting loose with some ping pong, illicit card playing and accidentally ripping our earlobes by catching our earrings on our watch straps.


What have we learned:
Our insurance includes evacuation from the summit by helicopter. In case there’s no nuttering/vomiting, may practice acting skills to ensure rapid descent to hotel
‘Pyg’ is the name of a route down Snowdon


Boot update:
See above. The first offering to the boot gods.
The trick, I am told, is wearing multiple socks. Of multiple thicknesses. I foresee a need for multiple feet