Refuge in Appleby

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Nik - As promised we are about to attempt a more comprehensive account of our travels so far as we are at June's parents in Appleby and are not under pressure of time and money from internet cafe owners.June has let me go first this time so you will have to hold on a bit for the sensible stuff! Last time we logged on we had just left Snowdon which June climbed to the top of on her birthday. She failed to mention that she was on 'a mission' to show the world that at the ripe old age of 46 no one was going to beat her up the mountain, this meant we wer'nt allowed breaks as we scurried up the tracks pushing past groups of SAS teams under training and mountain rescue squads etc. We got to the top and June proudly announced that we had not been overtaken and it was pretty busy. The experience was like running upstairs continually for 4 hours but not quite as much fun. As a reward we had our only meal out to date which was good. Things we normally take for granted always seem that much better when we have been deprived of them for a while. This fits into my deprevation theory which I observed in the Navy , after a few weeks at sea in the company of a couple of hundred sailors stuck in a tin can. Once back on land the grass seems greener, the beer tastes better, girls seem prettier and coronation street seems more exciting. I seem to have wandered off the track a bit.... oh yes my point is that it has been nice to have a few home comforts along the way with friends and family which I will come back to. As you know the weather has been pretty dank. To put a positive spin on it we have had no poblems with sunburn, dehydration or heat exaustion! Normally we would spend a fair bit of time relaxing in the sun prehaps a bit of book reading. The weather has made us more inclined to keep active, everyday some combination of running, hiking, canoeing and biking. June finds it difficult to sit around for more than 10 minutes where as I dont. One chance for me to sit down for a bit is with our daily spanish lessons, we are making steady progress. We will be soon ready for our first spanish day when we have agreed to only communicate in spanish.I still need a few key words and phrases to get me through a normal day such as :- kettle. newspaper, toilet and ' stop nagging your ruining my life '
So far I haven't said where we have been but I can leave most of that to June. I will say we have been avoiding towns and cities and usually aim for the national parks, even though the weather has been poor the scenery is great. Also when June is navigating we are fortunate enough to get to see most places more than once. Before I hand over to June I would like to say how great it has been to catch up with friends on the way round. Its so difficult normally to find time to keep in touch and visit people dotted around the country. With our stop offs its been brilliant filling in the blanks of the past usually over numerous bottles of plonk. I shant embarras individuals with details but many thanks to: Tim and Cath, Andy and Lynette, Phil and Hiedel, Kev and Sharon, Daf and Tammy, Dave Fitz,Grainne and baby David, Cath and Morgan, Jane, Reg and Paisley (cival partnership imminent) Brian and Hilary, DC and Shaz plus all the offspring of those above too numerous to mention. Maggot arrives tonight so hopefully she can help us down load the photos.

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Photos

Malham tarn
Yorkshire Dales

Karaoke Kings
Blackburn's Rat Pack

Grisedale Forest
Big nosed giant holding chopper

Comments

[Neet]

RSD and other hazards of typing
Chist Nik! That must be the longest piece you've ever typed. That one finger must be really sore now cos it must have taken ages! Conclusion: That blog entry was a deliberate In-law avoidance measure. Also, what about the gradual decline of spelling? Conclusion: In the 10 hours it took to type it, it can be safely assumed that Nik consumed one too many glasses of the red fermented grape juice! Finally, it was also a bit deep and meaningful. Very out of character! Conclusion: Jep! He was pissed!

[DC]

nik, where's Sharon's eyelash curlers? We haven't seen them since you were here!!