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boil in the bag karma

the weather was deemed too severe for the wet weather course and so the c was shortened to a ridiculous, controls 1/2/3... 9/10. we were blown along nicely to control 3 and then we turned! visibility was down to the 1cm between eye and hood as the wind made breathing pretty hard and navigation pretty much pot-luck. the map suggested a path up dale head, though we knew that the road would be the safer option. we were 10 minutes climbing and no farther up the hill. we passed a woman who was going down at every wind gust as if she was being picked off by some mountain sniper. i laughed until the summit, which by now i was crawling over and was forced to stop to full a pair of waterproofs over my hail battered pink pins(the best colour they have had since corfu 1992). 40 minutes as a berghaus kite suggested we had opted for the wrong route choice and trundled on to finish in 3 and a quarter hours. our paper bag was pitched in 2 inches of water and we settled down for a long wet 19 hours. our front door was rustled 2 hours later and we were informed that he event had been cancelled. strangely relieved, i nominated myself to run back to the start to collect the car, return and grab a fish supper before heading home. an hour and a half swim over the honister pass and paddle into the car park told me i was going nowhere. i settled down to a night in tam's 54 plate astra with the heater on full blast, 4 cans of irn bru and a few packets of maltesers to wash don my chili and pitta dinner. back at the campsite, fallen down around tam who spent the night in the slat-sided cow barn 'shelter' with a choice of 2 wet sleeping bags and a bin bag for waterproof jacket. all said a rather good weekend and thanks again to graham k for my entry. i am off to surf the net for innov8 flippers.

Posted by Scott McKendrick on Sun 26 Oct 2008 | 5 comments

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  1. Ellie said...

    Glad to hear the damp didn't affect those twinkling typing fingers Scott.I hope that all the adventurous Westies are safely back home along with the rest of the OMM competitors.A lesson in the importance of full body cover, perhaps.

    Sunday 26th October 2008 3.25pm

  2. Elsie said...

    I nearly lost it at the start when I let go of my map and had to go chasing after it at top speed! Then after that I settled down to chasing after Alison my partner as fast as I could, we managed an hour and a half in the dry before the heavens opened, pretty pleased that we finished the A in those conditions in approx 7 hours, in fact we almost managed a sprint down the hill at the end only to be told it had been cancelled! Then we spent the night in the lovely barn, actually it was much more comfortable and warm than I expected, and we had a nice walk back over Honister this morning.

    Hope everyone else got back safely!

    Sunday 26th October 2008 4.45pm

  3. Graham K said...

    Scott ya mug ! You should of joined us doon the bottom end of the barn ~ we had the tent up (the slats let a bit of rain in) and had whisky and dark chocolate. In nine years of the kimm it was my best midcamp yet. Aye ~ the wind was silly over dale head ...rather pleased with the clean shavin look it gave me though. Looks like the media coverage was a disgrace and caused more worry than the weather.

    Sunday 26th October 2008 4.55pm

  4. scott-a said...

    possibly not the dogs.

    Sunday 26th October 2008 8.37pm

  5. Toastinginfrontofthefire said...

    Very glad to hear you are all back and, chirpy with it - the reports/videos indicated chaos. Maybe we do benefit for some of the Westies, get wet, cold & lost in the cloud runs that happen from time to time!

    Monday 27th October 2008 9.59am

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