Friday

Today would be perfect walking weather - if it weren't for the persistent rain and the howling wind. Still, as we are only travelling today it's not too depressing.

I have learnt my lesson from the last trip and have packed for every eventuality so I shouldn't need an emergency shopping trip. My only concern is that it may not all fit into the car. The other lesson I learnt form the last time is to keep a diary - and that is why the tenses keep jumping. Some parts of this were written at the time and others were added after. I make no apology as I can't be bothered to put it all in the same tense.

Before we left we got some essentials from the Supermarket and did some emergency repairs to the fence. One of the posts is waving a bit in the wind - and as next door has already lost two panels I don't want to take any chances. The bird bath has blown over - as has the spare garden table (and the leg broke). Whilst putting other precarious bits of garden furniture in the garage through the back door the front garage door blew open and the wind tunnel resulted in an avalanche of boxes, garden umbrellas and the like. Oh well, I can sort it when we get back - if the house hasn't blown down by then.

The journey to Egton Bridge was easy (despite the worry about what damage was being down to the house and garden), and high sided vehicles remained upright. We had seen the cottage before when we were walking in the area. A nice little converted barn in a quiet spot. Also, as it is situated in a dip it shouldn't be too windy. The inside was lovely - all the beams were above head height. The garden is gorgeous and a little rabbit was busy eating away when we arrived. The only down side (and not unexpected) was that out of three mobile phones only one had a decent signal (Vodaphone), one had a slight signal (Orange) and one had none (O2).

After a filling meal of pasta and a game of cards we retired for the night so we would be ready for the long walk planned for the next day. Both of us had difficulty sleeping - I missed the quiet hum of the A1 and my cat, and Stephen never sleeps well in a strange bed.

Saturday

When we first got up (around 6am) the wind had dropped and it was fairly clear so we decided to do a 15 mile walk as planned. This would take us up on the moors around Glaisdale. The little rabbit was still nibbling the grass ; the GPS gadget was receiving lots of satellite info so we could programme the route (when I say we I do of course mean Stephen); and I had located the tea towel (not that THAT was particularly important), so we left feeling that all was well with the world.

We set off through Egton Bridge, noticing that what was a pretty and calm stream last September was now a ranging torrent. Then it was up a 1:3 hill that went on for what seemed like miles, even when we reached the top there was another, albeit gentler incline. Every time we thought the end was in sight we would turn a corner and find yet another hill in front of us. I was beginning to doubt my fitness for such a walk when we were there - at the top and out on the open moors. It should be a breeze from here I thought - well it wasn't a breeze - it was a gale. At first it was just a light drizzle - but by the time we had reached the point of no return we were walking into an unrelenting gale with torrential rain. There was no shelter (although at one point we found a sheet of polystyrene which we held up to shelter behind for a while). The water was going straight through our clothes and boots. A nice motorist did offer us a lift but he was going the wrong way.

Finally we made it to Lealholme (where we stayed last time) and almost fell into the pub. The fire hadn't been lit for long so it wasn't very hot - but at least we were out of the wind and rain. We stripped off what clothes we could without being asked to leave, but nothing was drying. Our feet were squelching in our boots and the rain had even got into our underwear. Whilst reminiscing about our previous stay in the village we remembered the bus ran from there to right outside our cottage. We had walked 11 miles already - did we want to put our wet hats and gloves and coats back on to squelch the extra 4 miles home or did we want another drink and catch the bus back. We may be mad but we aren't insane and those little country buses need all the support they can get so home by bus it was. As we got into the house we stripped off all our clothes and left them in various places to dry. Once we had dried off and warmed up we went into Whitby to buy a lottery ticket and I got a pair of ear muffs (you will see from the pictures they made me look like a cyberman but I will recommend them to any sissy that suffers from cold ears).

Had a relaxing evening eating pizza, playing cards and out of two lines on the lottery we didn't get a single number!