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BB2426
: Knocking At My Door
Wednesday
24th July 2024
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I don’t think I am in breach of
the Official Secrets Act in what I am about to tell you but I could be wrong. I’ll
take the risk.
As we pulled up at Ribblehead there was an
unmarked white van with a strange looking instrument on its roof.
“If I’m not mistaken,” said Robin “that’s a QUESTemp
34".
How he knows about these things, I
don’t know. I daren’t ask. However I did ask the two men in army
fatigues in the van. They confirmed that
Robin was right.
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“May I take a photo of
it?” I politely asked. They conferred
with each other and I seemed to detect words like “treason” and “incarceration”
but maybe I misheard. Anyway it was
crystal clear that they did want their high tech equipment revealed to our enemies.
“Could it be,” I persevered “that
you are monitoring your men who are tackling the Three Peaks to protect them from
high core body temperature and internal heat damage to vital organs?” The gaze that was returned made it clear I
should beat a hasty retreat and join the others on our expedition to just One
Peak- Whernside.
No sooner had I caught up with
them than a Tornado flew over us at very low altitude. Had the military called it up to take me
out? Fortunately it seemed not. A light
plane flew over. Was it a spotter?
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We continued on our way north past the
Ribblehead Viaduct then the freshly painted Bleamoor Signal Box and the semi-derelict
house next door, following the Dales High Way until
we reached the junction where the path was to be found that would take us to
the top of Whernside.
Across
the valley, Ingleborough was our constant
companion.....
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.....,
accompanied for a while by Pen-y-Ghent in
the distance.
Halfway up, we could see squaddies
advancing towards us. Were they
under instructions to apprehend me for espionage? No, they were on the Three Peaks Circuit. They had been up Pen-y-Ghent then trudged
across the plains to tackle their second objective. “What’s the world coming to?” asked
Stan. “I thought they would be running
with 75 pound sacks on their backs.”
Indeed they were lightly loaded and not travelling very much faster than
this group of men in their 70s.
To
the north, the Howgills briefly came into
view.
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Why were we at Whernside? Simply because we, i.e. Stan, Robin, Ian and
I, were the support team for Robert’s Three Peaks adventure, though unlike our
defenders, we were undertaking this, the second leg, on three separate days separated
by weeks!
Why were we now sat in the
sunshine? Well, we had summited and as Tony
wasn’t with us there was no reason to delay lunch beyond noon,
The descent to the valley is
quite steep and extensively flagged. Generally
this path was much better laid than many, of its ilk.
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Once down, we headed for and
then under the viaduct.
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Robin observed
that every sixth pillar was much wider than the others, a fact that had I had
never previously noted. It’s a structural
security feature. When back at the cars,
the unmarked vehicle was still there as was the QUESTemp 34 on its roof.
Whether it had seen any action, we didn’t
ask. Instead we beat
a hasty retreat to the Marton Arms
at Thornton in Lonsdale This is the sort
of pub at which I’d like to stay if it weren’t so near to home. Friendly and not pretentious, except maybe
for the ale that I tried -Bowland Brewery's Bumble Honey Blonde Beer.
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As we sat in out
in the sunshine
Robert espied, part way up Gragareth, a tower bristling with communication
dishes. Could it be that we were still
under surveillance?
Oh, excuse me for a
moment, I’ll have to stop typing. I’ve
heard a noise. There's
a knocking at my
door. Who
is it? Have I been followed? Am
I to be taken?
Click
on the picture below to find out. Turn
the volume up and prepare to be very
frightened.
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Don, Wednesday 24th
July 2024
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