h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, I've already had to write up lots of the week-and-a-bit's events in other threads and this is largely to spare me the typing

First things first, help yourself to , , or whatever, as this could be quite a long journal entry..

Also, in case you didn't already know (possible, though unlikely) I've been to Skye, on a camping trip, so haven't been around for a bit.. Cosequently I'm very behind in replying to threads, journal entries etc. to anyone who might think I've been ignoring them, I just haven't been around is all..

Well then, on Friday the something or other of July (might have been the fourth, but not 100% sure on that) a somewhat nervous Unc set off to the train station armed with icreadably large rucksack and tent, wandering what she'd forgotten.. (it was scissors that time). I got to Nottingham and then got a lift to the Lakes where I stayed overnight in a friend's holiday home (the lucky thing ). There were 11 of us in the house... I had to sleep on the floor, but compared to a tent, that isn't realy a big deal..

Stopped off in Fort William on the way up to get food and fish and chips. which was good as the nearest shop from the campsite was 11 miles away.. Got to Skye (more accurately Sligachan) at 11pm the next day, and in the proceeding half hour became completely mottled in insect bites... Soon the tent was up and the Jungle Formula found, and although I looked like I had the measels , I didn't get bitten again. That Jungle Formula is great stuff... The tent was up, and despite it being 11.30 I still managed to get an in at the pub .

Sunday came and the wind began. Desperately putting up all the guyropes I could somehow the tent managed to stay up. It was raining as well, but we put on a waterproofs and set off to the Black Cuillins. At the foot of the mountains was a carpet of wild mountain thyme which we all had to stop and smell (something to do with the song..).

Half and hour later and the weather was worse. Most of us also had a bootful of bog by this point, and as the happynes of a rambler can often be measured by the dryness of their feet, we were quite miserable... "I don't know about you," said Mr Chicks (Mr C. Hicks, ex-student, 29ish, hardcore rambler/scrambler) "but I'm going back." We were shocked - Chicks was the most hardcore of the lot of us, and if he was giving up, then it really must be bad... we turned round and went to rescue our tents, the pegs of which were steadily coming out.

Later on about 9 of us went to Dunwegan castle (except it was spelt properly then..) where it was dryer. That evening we were able to take in more of the pub... over 60 different whiskeys and 4 real s on tap.. by the end of the week I'd had 7 different types. It was also warm and dry, so we were happy.

Monday was wet and windy. By this point we'd decided this was probably going to be what the whole week was like, so decided to grin and bare it. The same 9 of us went to some mountains I can't remember the name of which had some spectacular rock formations. At one point we had to climb up a very steep grassy slope to see a roock called the needle (for obvious reasons). This isn't of much consequence, except that I needed to get back down again, it was too dangerous to run it, so I was a bit stuck...

...at that point Mark came speeding by, sliding dramatically down the slope. Thinking that was a good way of getting down, Rachel, Tim, Paul and I threw ourselves at the slope and slid. A very stupid thing to do.. but very fun . Due to the wet grass and waterproofs we orked up an increadible speed, though were completely out of control, hoping we'd stop before crashing into the tourist on the path below.. Not realising the danger, the tourist just stood there, cheering us on and taking photos... Still, we managed to stop just in time, by crashing into Tim in my case. On getting to the bottom Paul immediately climbed the slope again in order for another go... that's how fun it was. Rest of the week was partly spent assesing slopes for sliding purposes..

That night was wet and windy (suprise). We had dinner in the pub. Much better option . That evening Gary and Dale took their accordian and guitar to the pub and we spent the evening getting everyone their to sing our folk songs.. It was very funny to watch the stream of people leave the pub singing away

Tuesday morning it was... wait for it... windy ... and... DRY!!!! We decided to get some scrambling in before the weather changed again... I'd never done a proper scramble before, and about 700m up had a bit of a dody moment where the rocks I was clinging to began to fall away. It was one of those moments where I was very pleased that I'm not afraid of heights.. Tim pinted out a good place to put my feet, and I made it to the top, though I now have a slight shortage of fingerprints...

The veiw from the top of the Cuillins was spectacular, green mountains, blue sea, red scree (and grey sky). We stayed there for some time, but then needed to go down a 400m scree slope... Once I got the hang of it, that was great fun . You sort of have to stand sideways and surf on the scree ... Climed a further 2 peaks making the total assent about 1250m... quite a lot .

Wednesday was wet and windy... Very achey after the previous day 5 of us went back to Dunwagen to go on a boat trip to se the seals. There were loads of them, and lots of pups. We then went to a coral beach for a paddle. Was spectacular... the whole beach was made up of bits of coral .

Thursady was... wet and windy. STill, now recovered mostly from Tuesday, loads of us (well, 12) went off to do a cliff walk. Was a good walk, a lot of it was spent trying to trip each other up.. My waterproof trousers are now completely ruined though

Friday was wet and windy. But this wasn't important, for it was Caroline's 21st birthday We spent quite a lot of the day playing hide and seek.. Had dinner in the pub again, and didn't leave until about 1.30 am

Went back to the Lakes on Saturday, where it was hot, sunny, and dry. Got back to Hemel on Sunday after a very haphazard train journey, first train was very late so missed all connections . Was a great holiday however so I didn't really mind
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Anyway, am back now and ready to post
to everyone who's helped with the groups, especially Helly

I can't be bothered to start a new journal, so I'm going to add to it instead

Just got the results back for the very first thing that counts to my degree...

65% and 68%

(well, it's only worth 20% of a ten credit module, but it's something anyway )

The slidy bits sound like fun, but you can keep the rain over there

The mill only allows for 14 days rain over 6 months and we have had 6 of that so far , so hope fully not much more rain to come.......

congrats on the scores....

*mad waving*

glad you enjoyed your holidays ...........


I see a distinct upward trend in those results............. It will continue !


*finger tip to finger tip, cross shoulder, wave*

welcome back unc

CONGRATULATIONS

romi

Good work on the exam results.

Jungle Formula is great - I had 3 weeks in Uganda and only got bitten twice!

Sounds like you need some gaitors BTW - I may have to do write an entry on 'What you should wear in the rain' and use my Gore-Tex training I did when I was at Millets, & my experience of the kit I own....

Glad you had fun anyway.

*full speed two handeded thumb and wrist wave*

Nice to have some of year 2 out the way before I've even started certainly

I do have gaitors, but I forgot them

Can't post much though, now after week of wet suddenly followed by being very hot . Couldn't even blow up the balloons... (my brother and mother's birthday on Thursday). Ah well.

A happy camper is a well prepared camper.....

He he.



Hope your feet have dried up.

I always forget something

Feet are dry, yup. Only got wet feet on the Sunday, was dry rest of week.

Minimal risk of trench foot for you then....

Yup, feet fine, only 2 blisters

"...this was probably going to be what the whole week was like, so decided to grin and bare it." - now I have visions of a crowd of hardy hikers traversing the Cuillin wearing little more than a backback and a cheeky grin . Of course I know you meant "bear", and you were obviously still recovering from the rong spellings thread.

I'm glad you managed to enjoy the trip despite the inclement conditions, and the pub sounds lovely, my kind of place. I'd even put up with an accordianist singing folk songs if there were four real ales on tap...

I'd love to go a-scrambling in Sctland someday, preferably before the midge season starts. The last proper scramble I managed was the north face of Tryfan in Snowdonia, about eighteen months ago. It would be safe to describe the weather as a blizzard and there were some hairy moments edging around ice-encrusted rocks above a 200ft drop... We even found some time to take some pics: http://robsplaypen.nfshost.com/content/images/gulley.jpg and http://robsplaypen.nfshost.com/content/images/yeytop.jpg are two of the better ones.

We were very happy hikers, because our feet were totally dry: it was so cold all the water had frozen you see...

Congratulations on those results . It's good to have them there before the year starts proper

Spelling and grammar go out the window where I'm concerned; I know the way it should be but end up writting the wrong one anyway . Then I find I've written 'their' instead of 'there'

The president from 1975 turned up last year you see with the 1975 songbook... As part of a folk band Gary couldn't resist taking up the challange .

Ooooh snow . Had a distinct shortage of that, just the odd patch on Kinder. Did a scramble up a frozen waterfall there, but it was ungraded so doesn't really count.. University regulations mean that we can't do that type of stuff officialy . The president was killed about 4 years back on the last trip to Scotland, so has been much more strict since.

I now have to do a 5000 word write up though of the rest of the filedtrip

I sincerely doubt that our AU would be happy about some of the things we got up to, if they knew. Happily no-one has ever been injured on any Hiking Club trip in recent memory. This is obviously a good thing, but I sometimes wonder if we weren't too complacent about safety sometimes. And I've got an ugly thought that the people who took over from us are even more complacent, or worse, ignorant...

Oh dear...

(just t clarify, I used to be club chairman a couple of years back, and "we" in this case means myself and my cronies on the Committee...)

This year's prez is last year's ramble sec, so we should be alright. Everyone who leads a walk needs to go on the appropriate training course for difficulty level, and there has to be a certain number of leaders on a walk etc. Each walk even has cards with what to say if the press contact us.

May have serious problems with the new social sec though... he suggested that the girls should go to a wine bar instead of a microbrewery

So let him go to the wine bar...

I remember being a bright eyed, bushy tailed new Chairman and looking at RamSoc's training schemes and walk grades, and being favourably impressed. Unfortnately, UWSHC is just too small a club for that to be practical. Besides which, we were far too busy worrying about foot-and-mouth disease to bother with anything so trivial as safety

I never found my uni outdoor society, but I did find a good selection of both pubs and wine bars in Newcastle....

He'll soon learn that actually the girls drink the same stuff, and by the protest in the room when he said it, he may have already learnt .



The trainings and gradings are all Gary's work, so we let him have the accordian, because we owe a lot to him.

RamSoc almost folded too, as despite being the biggest society in the AU, we were getting the least funding... Foot and mouth didn't help there either.

I almost missed the outdoor societies to, turned out they were hiding in the basement at fresher's fair

Well, we have the campus 14, not that I have ever completed it..

Lets not get started on Nottingham AU funding, my gf whinges about that to me as it is....