Get yer kit off….!

….or put your hand in your pocket.

My mate Mike is dropping his drawers and risking freezing his wotsits off in a damned good cause – MIND.

MIND’s mission is to “provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. We campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.”

The NHS regards the Mental Health Service as very much a poor relation, it’s a Cinderella service.

Fortunately the Mental Health professionals working in the NHS are just that, very professional. And devoted to their work. They get the urine extracted from them with abandon.

It’s a bloody shame that they get shat on from a great height when it comes to funding, staffing levels and so on. Oh, and the amount of paperwork that CPNs (Community Psychiatric Nurses – the ones at the sharp end) have to deal with is just disgraceful.

These dedicated folks are working their nuts off (the ones that have nuts) trying to care for the mental health of their sometimes suicidal patients….and then have hours of paperwork to complete – very often in their own, unpaid time. And they don’t get paid that much.

Believe me, I know these things.

You may think that I feel more than a little strongly about this. You would be quite right.

Soooooo…..At sunrise on Sunday 22nd September hundreds of people will take on a mass skinny dip at Druridge Bay in Northumberland. This event isn’t about looking good. It’s about taking a risk, celebrating our unique bodies, being close to nature, raising money for The National Trust and Mind, and maybe even breaking a world record!

Now I’m not particularly mithered about providing extra funding for the NT – I pay them enough in membership fees, but I’m keen to support MIND….although I draw the line at flashing my rude bits around in the North Sea.

So go and visit Mike’s blog and see what the daft bugger gets up to. If you feel you can, please donate a little….or a lot. And if you can, select ‘Gift Aid’, it doesn’t cost you anything more but it increases the amount the charity gets from your donation.

You can donate here.

The photo up top isn’t Mike and his mates by the way, it an image I found at http://assets5.tribesports.com

Timperley Sunset

Taken on Clay Lane, Timperley at 8.25pm using my HTC phone camera.

Donald Trump University

A discussion on Mudcat enlightened me to the fact that a certain well known desecrator of wild places has found a new way of extracting cash from the public.

The lovely Karine Polwart has even written a song written about him and his venture in the north-east of Scotland.

I mentioned this chappy earlier this year.

21st August, Kit review: La Sportiva Raptors

A posting on the TGO Challenge Message Board a couple of months ago alerted me to Snow and Rock’s half price offer on La Sportiva Raptors.

I’m currently doing the groundwork for my Home to John O’Groats via the TGO Challenge Walk (HTJOGVTTGOCW….easier to remember that way) which I have pencilled in for next year. Kit choice is an important part of this groundwork.

Now it just so happened that I’d been chatting to Alan about his choice of LEJOG footwear and Raptors were mentioned…..so I legged it over to our local Snow and Rock shop to be disappointed to find they only had Size 10.5 in stock and I really need Size 11. Not deterred, I tried a pair on….and the fit was perfect. Disappointment evaporated.

My Raptors….and yes, I know I need to mop the floor – a chap only has so much spare time for doing domestic stuff. 

A couple of days later I tried the Raptors out on the Long Suffering Rick’s LDWA walk around Walton, a flat 14-15 miler. The shoes were excellent, so excellent that I went back to Snow and Rock to grab the only other pair of Size 10.5 Raptors they had in stock.

I’ve done around 150 miles in the Raptors so far, Gritstone Trail, a curry walk :-), various LDWA walks and a few brain-straightening solo walks. I’ve even done a bit of trail running.

Raptors aren’t waterproof, and on Alan’s recommendation I bought a pair of Sealskinz waterproof socks but I’ve not had the opportunity to try the combination out yet. It’s summer y’see and I’m told it doesn’t rain in Timperley. And I’m gullible, but you know that.

The shoe has a solid feel with plenty of support. Unlike some fell / trail running shoes the Raptors feel solid enough to offer good protection against bashing into rocks.

The laces are good, staying tied up nice and tight after a full day out. There’s nothing more irritating than having to stop every now and then to re-do loosening laces!

The sole is very grippy, inspiring confidence on muddy descents….and I’m not good at decents. The La Sportiva website lists a number of approved resolers, unfortunately none are in the UK. The importers, Lyon Equipment in Cumbria, may be able to help, I’ve found them to be helpful in the past.

Overall I’m delighted with the Raptors. For £45 they’re an extremely good deal. Not so sure whether I’d have been quite so happy paying £90, at the end of the day they’re a glorified pair of trainers. They’re comfortable over distance and carrying a medium-weight pack although I’ve yet to try them with a heavy pack over distance. Looking at the quality of build, which is good, I expect these shoes to last me a long while – so even at £90 they’re still a good buy.

Now the bad news. Retailers flog stuff off cheap for a very few reasons. The reason for this particular flog-off is because La Sportiva appear to have brought out a newer design. Having said that, the new design looks to be very similar to the old design and on that basis I have no reason to believe the newer design will be any less comfortable or hard wearing.

The acid test….
Q: Would I buy another pair?
A: Yes, even at 90 quid.

11th August, Last week was the week that was…

Just some pics:

Flahs:

Shame about the focus on this one

Oh dear x2:

A fine example of a flying kettle, aka Suzuki GT750 2 stroke triple:

I’m fairly certain that’s a non-standard seat

Lymm Rushbearing:

(Anyone spot the Long Suffering Rick?)

Lymm Morris

Marmalade in Manchester:

And in my spare time…

Sunday 18th August, Wandering around The Wirral

 

The phone rang last week, it was John B, walks coordinator of the East Lancs LDWA. John was calling to check I was still coming on his walk around The Wirral. ‘Of course’….although I must admit that up until this call I’d had no idea he was leading a walk. Oh well. John always turns out on the Timperley Walkers And Tipplers walks so supporting his walk was the least I could do.

‘Don’t worry, it’s an easy walk, 18 miles and quite flat.’ I’ve heard that one before…..but I’m gullible.

Judith had foolishly agreed to join the group for part of the walk, she had other arrangements for the rest of the day so couldn’t endure the torture the rest of us had to cope with. She’d driven to Parkgate, and leaving her car there, walked over to Hooton to meet us for the 9am start. Then she walked all the way back again.

She had an ice-cream though. So did I. They were good. I can thoroughly recommend ice-creams from Parkgate. If you go to Parkgate you should try one. Or two, there’s a rather large selection to choose from.

I’m not entirely sure where we walked, but it was 21.9 miles with around 1900’ of ascent. Told you I was gullible. It was a nice walk though.

 

That’s Wales in the distance.

Norman surrounded by some of East Lancs finest

Walking PAST the pub

Tea and scones…a bit good!

Jack Sparrow in Parkgate’s ice-cream shop

Leaving Parkgate

Those who know the area (Judith) will note that these photographs are slightly (!) out of order. Confusing eh? Well about as confused as I was about the route! All I know is that the route followed a rather rough figure of ‘8’, starting and finishing at Hooton. And going through Parkgate, where they sell rather good ice-creams.

Did I mention the ice-creams before?

More pics here.

TGOC2014....The Plan so far

Plans are coming together for next year's Challenge.

I try for a Challenge shake-down trip a week or so before the crossing but I rarely manage a really appropriate warm up. A couple of years ago I managed to squeeze the West Highland Way in the week before the Challenge - that was VERY appropriate 'cos it rained quite a lot.

Next year I'm planning a slightly longer pre-Challenge walk.....about 4 - 5 weeks longer.

I've had LEJOG on the backburner for a while but family commitments have made it all but impossible. A change in my circumstances has now given me the chance to, er, get out more.

I reckon that if I walk to John O'Groats from home and incorporate the Challenge into the trip it would make for a reasonable compromise. The longer range Plan is to walk from home to Lands End. (HoLE?) - but that might have to wait until the following year.

So there you have it...well part of it.

The Challenge part of the trip is likely to be from Torridon, incorporating Struy ('cos Terry said I'm not a real Challenger until I go through Struy), the fan-filled Monadhliath, Aviemore....then it goes a bit blurry until Braemar. That will be because of Denis. After Braemar, well it's likely to be a variation of the trade route, finishing at Kinnebar rather than St Cyrus.

Kinnebar, for those who don't know, has the best tea room in the world.

In the meantime here are some pics from my bit of TGOC2013 (Tarfside to Kinnebar) whilst in the company of people that I've only met up with through the Challenge.

They're not just people, they're all friends now.

It's not just a walk, it's the people y'see.

The Challenge isn't just any old backpack, it's a whole separate world for two weeks, two weeks where the 'other' world just doesn't exist.

But if you're a Challenger you already know that.