With less than a month to go until The Mountain, and pretty much all the medicines/equipment/training achieved that one would allow us to be effective help in most disaster zones, we are perilously close to being prepared.
But, as I am reminded on most working days, there’s always something you can learn (and yes, maybe it is something I have already been told, in capitals, in an email) and last weekend’s equipment test at the Reading Festival (it’s what the SAS would do) was an excellent test of our mountain skills.
Now having reached twice the average age of the other attendees at the festival, I am something of a pro at the old tent-pitch. Indeed, such a pro am I that this year I pitched all our tents in the drizzle on the Thursday, before retiring to a soft, fluffy hotel for the night. Plus flag, on pole.
However, I suspect there’s a difference between lying around in a puddle of cider all night before transferring yourself to a chair in the sun, and having a hearty night’s sleep before walking for six hours.
Largely what we discovered was that yes, we will need pillows, unless we want to do our walk all Gladstone Small (where’s your neck, Gladstone?). We will also need twice as many wet wipes, and sun screen, but fewer members of The Youth asking us what Commies are.
The learning must have sunk in, because Wendy went back to Snowdon yesterday to take that bitch back on, or something, and won. I’m very proud, and jealous, and waiting for her to approve using the photo on here....
What we have learned:
A comfy sleeping mat will be key to mountain sleeping, given that we won’t have the luxury of using our own body weight in cider to get us to sleep
Apparently the insect-repelling shirt does not repel insects
Boot update:
The state of Wendy’s after Reading made me very envious indeed
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