Friday 21 August 2009

Here Comes The Rain

All happy in the rain at the bottom




Pitching by the river had afforded just the right level of white background noise to eradicate errant snores and excitable children – the noise of them, as opposed to the drowning of the brats.

Beat on the Brat - Pre Punk!

Yet another inconsequential tangent – but SLF released a brilliant tune on their first album called White Noise. They managed to include the words Paddy, spud thick mick, nigger and paki into 3 verses all in the cause of anti racism and good on em for it too. Needless to say everyone except John Peel missed the irony and it was promptly banned from all radio stations this side of JoBerg.

White Noise Anniversary Tour Version - he's twice the man he used to be!

Oh yes back to base camp, everyone was up bright an early to see a swansong performance of ‘cook and go’ which was only slightly dampened by the rain and the lack of buns for the bacon! Still the butty van on site came to the rescue.


Shad did his usual one look at the grey skies and slunk off back to Stoke. Just for once this may have proven a correct decision as a slight drizzle was soon to turn into an all out deluge.

Why have 1 coat when you can buy 6 off ebay (don’t get me started on tents and houses) and so Craig is resplendent in his huge Rab jacket which looks like it absorbing the clouds one at a time. The plan is to climb Angle Tarn Beck up to Angle Tarn and then pick off a few Wainwrights in a circular route back to the car. The climb is at toughest a grade one scramble and provided you avoid the water then probably just a steep hill.


There was a moment halfway up when Craig give me the ‘you bastard’ look before saying ,’just for future reference this is too much climbing’. Ok it was quite steep but it certainly wasn’t dangerous and I think perhaps a combination of reduced incline and improved fitness may result in a huge outbreak of happiness. We’ll find something in the middle for Edinburgh.

A good distance between me and 'the look'

Halfway up the waterfall I spotted an otter bounding up the opposite bank which is a first for me, Beechy and Craig due to strategic positioning further down the hill managed to watch the beast shooting back down the waterfalls probably just for fun as there can’t have been any large fish in the beck. Up and up we went in the pouring rain…..it was pretty heavy by now but at least it was warm.

Angle Tarn itself is a really beautiful place even in dodgy conditions with its three small islands set across its midrift. We decided to stick to plan and head south into the wind and the rain………………30 yards later we called this as a stupid idea and headed north with the rain at our backs. One slight detour for me to go hill ticking up Angle Tarn Crags, (which was bloody mental as the wind must have gained 30mph in about 30 metres of height) which I virtually had to clamber on all fours to reach and we started heading downwards.

It was a pleasant enough descent with two noteworthy moments

We were boo’ed by a group of thirtysomethings from a path above us which they thought was hilarious, until I started chucking rocks back at them! And then the best bit

Two fairly young walkers passed us and then stopped Craig to ask directions, nothing personal mate but I’m pretty sure you weren’t carrying a map and had little knowledge of the localle. At the point they asked ‘which is the best path to get to Helvellyn’ I think I would have taken their dinner money off them and sent them home. Wrong mountain range, wrong direction and just wrong except as everyone commented, his girlfriend was very pretty.

We made it back along a gorgeous and flat track to the car just as the rain abated. Still its always fun being on the hills with your mates even if the weather is crap. I’m going to test a variation of this theory with my family in a few weeks time.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thats what we need, a picture of the high jump girl in each blog. The German gothy one was quite nice too.

PaulB said...

I thought the German Goth was a bit scary, just imagine her telling you to put your cloths in the wash basket.

I do agree that more posts of lovely ladies are needed though and I'm very happy to appeal to the populist end of the market.

Craig said...

This is weird, it knows who I am.

Craig said...

And even weirder, it has an old photo of me.

Anonymous said...

Its big brother stuff mate, did you sign up for the other website? It's probably something to do with that

Craig said...

No, not yet. I had a look though and quite liked the Orbital review. I did plan to write up the From The Jam gig I went to earlier in the month (Eddie Tudor Pole was supporting) but I havent got around to it. I'm seeing them again at Bridlington on sunday though so hopefully I can be arsed after that and then manage to avoid deleting the entire internet as I attempt to add it to the new site.

Anonymous said...

Surely it was Craig who made the first comment though? Why didn't the Interweb recognise him then?

Anonymous said...

Ha! It didn't recognise me!

Anonymous said...

But everyone else did Andy. sign up on the other website and add your pic and you too will be recognised.

I think we need an investigation into who thought the gothy one was nice.....bet its Stephen

Anonymous said...

No, the first one was me. But from a different computer I think.

Anyway, Bridlington has been cancelled by the promoter which is a bugger. Although expecting them to sell out a venue that Oasis played last week did seem a bit ambitious.

PaulB said...

Well that's all clear then phew. If you change your mind and fancy an evening at Leeds you are welcome to the spare ticket before I burn it.

PaulB said...

Oooo look fancy new moniker too

Anonymous said...

Unusual choice of pic.

Its slightly tempting to put in an appearance at Leeds on the Sunday (despite not knowing who is on), but it messes up too much other stuff.

AndyS said...

I'm signed up!

but "everyone else" recognised me? You mean you and Craig.

I like the other site, too. I'll try and add a review. Here's a sample one:

Dan Michaelson - Saltwater.

It's shite. Avoid.

Anonymous said...

That's exactly the type of review we need. Full of background information, comparative verboseness and insightful analysis.

Get in.....

Is it a cross between shit and shit?