The V-Dubbers

Today was a mixture of complaining about our various aching body parts, and groaning in pleasure at the views we were treated to as we trundled past. After a leisurely breakfast of bacon butties we packed up the van.

It had been a very successful first couple nights in the van. Some of my fears had been dispelled; there was no leaking from the roof, it didn’t rock in the night with the wind to wake me or make me feel sea sick, and it was definitely warm enough. Also, most of the day was spent with the windows and doors open which means, so far, we haven’t had any condensation or damp issues. This was something I had taken great care to avoid so I am very happy its worked.

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Ben Nevis Knees

OMG my knees, my terrible knees!

When we got back to base camp, they both ached fairly evenly. It was quite surprising seeing as one of them had been through 2 major surgeries in the last 3 years and the other was completely unmolested.

Our route up Ben Nevis could never have been the “normal” one, we are proud graduates of the SUMC! We had brought all our climbing gear along and scoped out a good looking climb. Well within our climbing ability technically, but stamina-ly, far beyond us it turned out. Not because we attempted and failed it, we did not even attempt. The weather looked soggy in the morning and from our experience on welsh rock, we could reasonably expect the climb to be “seepy”. Not an enduring quality on a 450m long climb and by the end of the day, knew we had made the right choice.

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Escape to the Highlands

“Chuck it all in the van”

“What… the kitchen sink too?”

“Yes”

…. is how the conversation should have gone.

No sooner had we left Banbury than I remembered my shiney stainless steel fruit bowl that I had planned to use as a washing up bowl was still wrapped neatly in my garage. Maybe it was the quantity of stuff in the van already, or my eagerness to set off, or just the inevitability of travel, that you always forget something essential… like washing up sponges. Maybe my forgetfulness is limited to washing up apparatus?

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