highlandsflyer
Retro Wizard
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Just to remind me, today threw me into the wringer once again.
After I had all my chores done, I set out at 4pm in an attempt to get some footage of mountain hares in my usual place a dozen miles away, and to check on a recent burial site after the harsh weather.
Setting off late, I forgot to reload all the normal gear I carry. Winch, chains, bark, etc.
Sod's Law I got the Range Rover stuck in a hole.
Snow was coming over, so I had no time to waste.
I set off with my dog, knowing I have eight mountain miles to walk to the nearest houses. Nae bother.
Zero phone reception, thanks to the clouds as well as location.
After one hour of walking I get a moment of reception. Yippee! I need a taxi at this point, being at a road, I am frozen and cannot walk faster to warm up as I am in pitch darkness and there is water and ice on the road.
The taxi company, despite knowing me, cannot send a cab as they cannot establish where I am.
I explain exactly where I am, and it is a single track road so they won't miss me!
No joy, and I lose reception as the dispatcher waffles on about needing an actual address.
So I have another hour to walk knowing there is no reception as I descend from the hill, and I cannot get reception for love nor money as much as I try right there to swallow my pride and phone a friend.
Now it is snowing, and my pooch is suffering walking through water that is turning to slush on the way to ice.
I rarely walk this part of the road, coming off the hill, so the sheer steepness catches me out as I fall a couple of times. Once thanks to the dog, as she wants to stay right by my feet.
The torch on my phone saves me now, as my awareness of the roads and paths is lost completely.
Eventually, I come down to a new build house, all lit up like a Christmas tree. No one is home though.
Further down the road, I am sure things will be all good at the gamekeeper's cottage. But my dog runs onto the cattle grid and I barely manage to grab her off before she struggles and would have definitely broken a leg. So I carry her over, sliding around on the icy metal and trying to light my way with the phone at the same time my camera bag dragging at my shoulder.
Unfortunately no answer, but his guarding lurcher comes out and attacks my dog. She would show him his manners, but she is cold and weary so I pick her up again.
I have to carry my dog the next half mile down the hill as the lurcher follows. Exhausted already, did not need this!
My new Meindl boots are not good for walking on roads, very slippery with the snow.
I was actually crying at one point I was beginning to succumb to the despair I never normally feel. I knew this was a dangerous point, and I was beginning to lose it. This was a physical combination of exhaustion and near exposure symptoms.
However, the torch amazingly lasts all the way down through the shady woods and to the gate house, by the time I arrive there I am actually sweating with warmth from my brisk pace.
Now all is well, this is my friend's house. Except it still is not 100%, my buddy has died and the new people here don't know me. A young woman, on her own by all accounts, is obviously not used to strangers rocking up at her door.
I am left standing outside for most of an hour waiting for my cab. I expected to be sat by a peat fire.
That is the thought that kept me going all the way down the hill.
My grandfather taught me this lesson. When we used to climb together. You must never dwell on the pain you are in but on the comfort you will have when you make your goal.
I know I am safe now though, even if my hands are seizing up again as I wait for the taxi.
So here I am drunk and warm, dog sleeping heavily.
I put myself in that situation, and at 47 I am still just about able to cope with the consequences of my own stupidity.
The kids who went out to watch a great Cali rock band last night did not have the chance to make their own luck.
We all need to appreciate how blessed we are.
P.S. Someone dug a drainage channel across a track without telling me!
After I had all my chores done, I set out at 4pm in an attempt to get some footage of mountain hares in my usual place a dozen miles away, and to check on a recent burial site after the harsh weather.
Setting off late, I forgot to reload all the normal gear I carry. Winch, chains, bark, etc.
Sod's Law I got the Range Rover stuck in a hole.
Snow was coming over, so I had no time to waste.
I set off with my dog, knowing I have eight mountain miles to walk to the nearest houses. Nae bother.
Zero phone reception, thanks to the clouds as well as location.
After one hour of walking I get a moment of reception. Yippee! I need a taxi at this point, being at a road, I am frozen and cannot walk faster to warm up as I am in pitch darkness and there is water and ice on the road.
The taxi company, despite knowing me, cannot send a cab as they cannot establish where I am.
I explain exactly where I am, and it is a single track road so they won't miss me!
No joy, and I lose reception as the dispatcher waffles on about needing an actual address.
So I have another hour to walk knowing there is no reception as I descend from the hill, and I cannot get reception for love nor money as much as I try right there to swallow my pride and phone a friend.
Now it is snowing, and my pooch is suffering walking through water that is turning to slush on the way to ice.
I rarely walk this part of the road, coming off the hill, so the sheer steepness catches me out as I fall a couple of times. Once thanks to the dog, as she wants to stay right by my feet.
The torch on my phone saves me now, as my awareness of the roads and paths is lost completely.
Eventually, I come down to a new build house, all lit up like a Christmas tree. No one is home though.
Further down the road, I am sure things will be all good at the gamekeeper's cottage. But my dog runs onto the cattle grid and I barely manage to grab her off before she struggles and would have definitely broken a leg. So I carry her over, sliding around on the icy metal and trying to light my way with the phone at the same time my camera bag dragging at my shoulder.
Unfortunately no answer, but his guarding lurcher comes out and attacks my dog. She would show him his manners, but she is cold and weary so I pick her up again.
I have to carry my dog the next half mile down the hill as the lurcher follows. Exhausted already, did not need this!
My new Meindl boots are not good for walking on roads, very slippery with the snow.
I was actually crying at one point I was beginning to succumb to the despair I never normally feel. I knew this was a dangerous point, and I was beginning to lose it. This was a physical combination of exhaustion and near exposure symptoms.
However, the torch amazingly lasts all the way down through the shady woods and to the gate house, by the time I arrive there I am actually sweating with warmth from my brisk pace.
Now all is well, this is my friend's house. Except it still is not 100%, my buddy has died and the new people here don't know me. A young woman, on her own by all accounts, is obviously not used to strangers rocking up at her door.
I am left standing outside for most of an hour waiting for my cab. I expected to be sat by a peat fire.
That is the thought that kept me going all the way down the hill.
My grandfather taught me this lesson. When we used to climb together. You must never dwell on the pain you are in but on the comfort you will have when you make your goal.
I know I am safe now though, even if my hands are seizing up again as I wait for the taxi.
So here I am drunk and warm, dog sleeping heavily.
I put myself in that situation, and at 47 I am still just about able to cope with the consequences of my own stupidity.
The kids who went out to watch a great Cali rock band last night did not have the chance to make their own luck.
We all need to appreciate how blessed we are.
P.S. Someone dug a drainage channel across a track without telling me!
