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BB2501: Mood-boosting!
Friday
3rd January 2025
It
was touch and go whether this walk would
go ahead but, boy, are we glad it did. It
was a beautiful, mood-boosting, blue sky
day, with temperatures of between 2°
and 5°C.
Robert’s
plan was to go North from his house and
up to Scout Scar, then back at a higher
level, towards Sizergh, thus not retracing
any steps.
The
road was icy in parts, but we’d been warned
by Don who’d experienced black ice on his
outing earlier. It was better once
we’d got boots on grass. There were few
people about at first, but many more as
we approached the end near Sizergh.
We
did have a chat with a couple of BOOTboy
looking gentlemen of a certain age, dressed
in Paramo gear, who warned us about the
treacherous path up from Barrowfield Farm.
(Turned out it wasn’t as bad, maybe because
they’d come down and we were going up.)
We
had planned to bring coffee, and as we sat
on the bench near to Helsington Church,
Mike discovered his super dooper new flask
had leaked his coffee. Luckily it was in
a polythene bag with ancient toilet roll
(unused) which had luckily been carried
in his rucksack for years. Robert saved
the day though, with enough coffee to share
and a chunk of Diane’s excellent Christmas
cake. Bliss!
We
had hoped to meet a couple of non-walking
(today, anyway) BBs at the Strick for a
glass of 0% beer. Don was no longer available
but we joined Stephen for a very pleasant
lunch and beer. Thankfully, Stephen
lives in Levens so we begged a lift. Result!
Mike,
Friday 3rd January 2025
BB2024 Year-end Report
Oh dear. The decline continues. The good news is that in terms of events
(38), it
was the joint best of the last 5 years. The
fact of the mileage, 282, being better than the previous two years is only because
we were out more often. And even worse,
the total height climbed (42,863) was the lowest ever despite those extra days.
The total number of participants was 16 with
an average of 4.1, again a bit down though advancing age is not the only
reason- there were competing demands on several people’s time.
Our collective stats sound more respectable-
1,165 miles walked and a total of 177,000 feet climbed. However,
the fact that only 10 Wainwrights were
climbed (though you can add in Ingleborough and Whernside) underscores the changes
taking place. To be fair, the weather hasn’t always been terribly kind,
prohibiting greater adventures.
To
finish on a positive note, we are still
managing to get out and enjoy each other's
company. But can we reverse the stats
trend in 2025? Whilst waiting for
the answer, you can review the year by visitng
the 2024 Index.
Happy
New Year!
Don,
31st December 2024
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