Happy New Year 2007 World!

Weeeeeee..... Yippey!! Its another New Year and another year of being none the wiser :)

Happy New Year dear World @ Blog! may 2007 be totally fantastic!

As usual I stayed at home to welcome in the New Year and tuned into the Jools Holland Hootananny Show. Watched Seasick Steve perform bluegrass on his 3 stringed guitar http://www.seasicksteve.com/ Hes something else that guy. Even my mom whose tone deaf started toe tapping to his riffs. Must try and see him play live someday.

Then the bongs of old Big Ben began and we get treated to a spectacular firework show. Shame I wasnt there in person to see it over the Thames from where I work.

So the Xmas holidays are over now, and boy do I feel as though I need a holiday to recover. Too much of everything, too many good things.

Most of the xmas holiday was spent with our Rosie ( remember the older sister from the cinema?) or with members of her family, especially her 3 yearold son Kiran. He runs rings round me and everytime he approaches I can hear the Omen music. Some disaster is gonna befall me I know it and hes always there cheekily grinning away...

Do you wanna go camping in the the Lake District with us? asks David ( Rosies husband). Sure I replied, knowing that my treasured boots, tent, sleeping bag, stove and used once only pots and pans are back in Ipswich. No worries we have spares, he reassures me. What was i thinking, Camping in winter! So the plans change 6 or 7 times of who is and who is not going. Then me and Dave set off early friday evening for a session of tent erecting before the main party, Rosie, Kiran and professional Mountain Men ( oh yeah) arrive. So tent erecting is tricky the best of times, but we tent erected in darkness, in a continous torrential downpour, and a force 8 gale. The camp site was covered with Storm Warning posters every where, not that we heeded them. Me and Dave barely put up one tent without continually running back to the car for cover.
Soaked to the skin, sod this we both said and headed to the nearby pub!


Ah a warm open log fire greeted us, we dried off , then dined on Fish and Chips washed down with a few beers, a few vodkas and the wet tent erecting saga was long forgotten (well it was by me anyway) The rest of the party arrive, more beers, more vodkas :) this winter camping lark can be quite fun you know.

So in the confusion of tent erecting and sleeping arrangements I end up in the Mountain Men tent. Poor them, for I was in no mood for sleeping. I was in the mood for chatting (a glorious pastime of mine) and high energy clubbin! Poor Mountain Men, they hardly knew me, but they knew they had some mad woman in their tent stopping them from getting any sleep!

Next day, with no sleep the previous night (needless to mention) I greet the day feeling like Death! oh yes Death it was

So after a hearty breakfast by one and all (except me) in another local pub we begin the mountain climb to Stickle Tarn in the Langdale Pikes. The hike was very beautiful as it runs parallel to the waterfall. There's something so therapeutic about hearing gushing water crashing against boulders. Perhaps its awakening powers could have an affect on a zombie.? I think not, I still felt pretty shit.

On the approach to the tarn itself Rosie, Dave and Kiran head back leaving me and the Mountain Men to go it alone. We reach the top and Pavey Ark is seen across from the tarn for the first time. Did I wanna climb Jacks Rake up to Pavey Ark I was asked ? Look its just ahead, bit of a scramble but worth it. Hungover I musta mumbled something like a "yeah, whatever", as a squinted at wotever the big rock was ahead not realising the perilous danger i was gonna put my life into.



Its only since i googled Jacks Rake when i got back that i see the term "fool" "exposed areas" "certain death" and "dont look down" in the same sentence from other climbers accounts that I now see the full horror of what I went and said yes to.

But hey I love Danger. No better fix or high in my book. Its so primal wanting to live, wanting to survive. So helped and egged on by the Mountain Men I scambled up Jacks Rake. Quite a scramble with a few dicey arraaaaagh bits on exposed rockfaces. But when the adrenalin pumps, the fool is queen (or king) and the danger subsides. I hardly batted an eyelid to the roped climbers that were ascending Jacks Rake. Surely I should have registered, ah they have ropes, and we have none?

The views along the ascent were pretty awesome, the clouds were not too low so it was possible to see far away windermere. Sometimes i wish i could sit and admire a mountian top view for hours, soaking it all in, be lost in it all, but alas im either holding everyone up or in a timed challenge event or fretting about the descent. One day I will have my mountain time :)

So we summit Jacks Rake in spectacular fashion, head for home, via pub along perilously slippy downward path. How kind it was that the path led straight to the front door of the pub for beer or vodka in my case. Some things in life were meant to be.

Big thankyou to the Mountain Men. I will supply a fully stocked beer tent next time :))

Happy New Year !