So much more than mountains - as they say

Mountain Rescue in England and Wales is not only about fells and hills, moors and mountains, but also about searching (and finding) and working with the emergency services in all kinds of outdoor situations. That means getting involved in some cave rescues and also plenty of flood and swift water rescues - and the Teams invest a lot of time in training for these situations too.

To say that Judy and Gail are getting a cross section of MRT work is to put it mildly. Very much mountains across the Lake District, moorland into Yorkshire and then the underground and rivers side of things too.

And Swaledale team sum this up - Twirlies met some of them in Muker on Sunday night for a walk, in Reeth on Monday night for a cave trip and then on Tuesday night in Richmond for a bit of a river cruise (?) too.

Don't forget - this walk is also about raising funds for the national mountain rescue association - it's a completely volunteer service. Follow the link to Twirlies on Tour at JustGiving - and add your support.

Moo-dy ladies with udder things on their minds

Anyone reading Judy's most recent post might want to see the terrifying creatures that stood in the way of the Twirlies and their route ... cute but determined!

All creatures great and small...

Yesterday: Where do I start?

Generally, as the day goes on, snippets of conversation or odd encounters, people we meet and sights we see, will spark a creative neuron and I'm off, in my head, writing the blog as I walk. Trouble is, by the time I reach 'civilisation' (and an internet connection), and done all the usual stuff like showering, drinking tea, finding somewhere for dinner, navigating cave systems... it's late at night and all those gems have long since flown the brain!

Things like our Doctor Dolittle moment. There are many paths between Muker and Reeth. You can opt to climb higher, towards the ridge, the mining track and stupendous views across Swaledale. Or you can choose any number of rambles alongside the river, left bank or right, hugging the water, or passing through fields. Or there's always the road, which meanders along the valley, never too far from the river. We chose the lower route, variously ambling alongside the water's edge, through swathes of wild garlic peppered with bluebells, dodging tree roots and fallen branches, on and on across lush green pastures. Lots of sheep. Lots of lambs (ahhhhh!) and a fair few cows. And usually they run away when they see you coming. But not today.

At this low level, you pass through field after field, linked by the slenderest of gaps through dry stone walls, (our guide book has it that they're built for whippet-thin farmers, although we didn't see many of those), each with a tiny spring-loaded gate which positively fights back as you try to pull it open. Try pulling against the prevailing wind and you've lost the battle before it's begun.

Anyway, as we approached one particular gateway, it became clear the path was closely guarded. By several cows. And they were all looking our way. Er, no, actually, they were MOVING our way. Cue a rather rapid dredging up from somewhere deep in memory of my own advice on reaching cows in a field ('Call out mountain rescue?', second edition, only £9.99 from editor@mountain.rescue.org.uk lol!!)

1: Let dog off lead - he'll sort himself out and run faster than either you or the cows if being chased! (That one's easy. No dog.)
2: Identify the nearest exit. (Yep! I've identified it. It's the one immediately behind the cows. Those cows that are closing in on us.)
3: Don't panic! (Shiiiiiiiit!)
4: CLAP YOUR HANDS! (Not panicking, honest!)

Well, d'you know? It worked. Clapped a couple of times, the cows parted, leaving the footpath clear towards the gate, which we headed for RATHER quickly. Just as well because they were pretty bright those cows, realising pretty damn soon that they were, in fact, bigger than us. And back in they came, just as the second of Gail's little legs squoze through the gap. And there they stayed for quite some time (our bovine friends that is, not Gail's little legs!) huddled together on the other side of the gate - and if Sally is reading this, we might even get a pic added. Just here!

And while we're on 'cows', there was this morning's gem from Gail, as we discussed, walking through yet another field, this time with lots of cows, and their babies, whether some of these cows might actually be bulls. 'Mmmm,' she says. 'Some of 'em have udders, and udders don't.'

Sorry. You had to be there really. It was funny at the time.

Then there was the Tourist Information Office incident. In we popped at Reeth, just to check where our accommodation was. 'Straight down the hill, out of the village, first house on the right. So we walked down the hill, left the village, in fact walked on through Fremington and out the other side. No sign of of our B&B. Until we reached the last house on the left. We figure she must drive into work that way.

Anyway, tea and cake now well and truly demolished at Richmond, so just nipping up to our B&B to check in. Part two of yesterday coming soon, to a computer near you...

Multi-tasking with the Swaledale team

After walking with Swaledale team members on Sunday (see previous post), Judy and Gail were taken caving by Peter Roe (and Myrtle) of the cave rescue section on Monday evening.

The Twirlies are slightly nervous of what to expect on Tuesday night when they arrive in Richmond. They're due to meet up with the Swift Water Rescue section ... still in Swaledale.

Full details of this team and the huge area that it covers are on the team's website.

Meeting up with Swaledale team members in Muker

With thanks to Mike King and members of the Swaledale team for the group photograph on the steps of The Farmers' Arms at Muker - Old Peculiers indeed ....

Taken on Saturday evening, just over half way through the C2C.

Has anybody seen our Twirlies?

Seems our reputation is now going before us. Started with a 'Here's the girls!' everywhere we went and, I have to say, it's a very flattering welcome - pubs, tea shops, Black Sail Youth Hostel... you name it, out rings the chorus. Our Canadian friends ask of each passing walker, 'Have you seen the girls?' concerned if we haven't overtaken them (as we inevitably do) by lunchtime! Then there were Mavis and Sylvia and our 'as seen on TV' moment.

And then came today... En route to the Nine Standards (deepest, darkest, boggiest Yorkshire now), the four chaps we'd first spotted in Patterdale, also doing the West to East route for the first time, greeted us with 'So which rescue team is it tonight girls?' Seems they just happen to be passing at precisely the moment we're posing in front of yet another team vehicle, alongside another set of hunky mountain rescue men. Every evening.

And so to Muker where we had to cross a wooden bridge over the River Swale, followed by a couple of fields, before reaching the village where we'd been due to meet members of Swaledale team a good hour earlier. Just over the bridge I glanced up towards the gate ahead and there was the distinctive navy and red Mountain Rescue logo, on a navy polo shirt. Clearly this was the forward party. So I smiled. As I reached the gate, David (currently the most popular name in mountain rescue) said, 'Are you who I think you are?'

Well, seems I was who he thought I was because he then escorted us into the village. But not before he'd radioed his colleagues of his find. 'The party of three we've been tracking down the River Swale appears to be our two, over.' Swaledale team members from across the county called of their search. Confused the hell out of them you see, because we'd picked up a 'hanger-on' and a dog en route in the form of team mate Mike and Scree. (which made Gail's day!) But all's well that ends well and we headed for the pub for a shandy and... er, another photo in front of a team vehicle with a load of hunky mountain rescue men. It's a tough job...

And, in case you think I've said all there was to say about this 'preceding reputation' thing, chatting later to our lovely landlady, Joyce, she revealed there'd been two lots of mountain rescue team members knocking on her door through the afternoon, asking if we'd arrived yet. Cue much amusement when we did finally arrive and not too much of an anti-climax I hope.

And speaking of Joyce (and I DID tell her I'd be blogging this), there was some concern expressed that she get away from doing the breakfasts in sufficient time to strip the beds and be off out by 10.30. We gather she and her husband help out at the local pub on a Monday. So much so that we even offered (well Gail did) to strip the beds for her after sleeping in them... No she said, that's fine, but if you could just hover, you know, rather than mess the sheets up... Hovering over the bed now as I type.

Back to the the bog: bog? What bog? lol. Skipped across those tussocks, to the bog born.

Okay, okay... it's been very dry recently, and the sun was shining, and it didn't rain, well not much... and we're used to bogs in Lancashire... and yes, I really wouldn't have fancied navigating across that in poor visibility... and yes, it was a BIT boggy, and some of the peat hags were as big as Volkswagen Beetles...

Anyway, onwards to Reeth tomorrow. A very short hop. We're due to meet the cave contingent of Swaledale in the afternoon, a man called Pete, whose reputation has very much gone before him. Even Joyce knows him. The plan, they say, is to take us down a cave... not sure, at this stage, whether the plan is to let us out again. Tune in this time tomorrow to find out. And if everything goes horribly quiet, just dial 999' ask for 'Police' then 'Mountain rescue' and tell them you've lost your Twirlies. That should do the trick.

New author successfully posts pix!

Well, as they say in Lancashire, there's more than one way to skin a cat! After several evenings struggling to upload pix from the iPad (which it seems you can't do unless you have a web-based resource like Picasa. Which I don't. And, quite frankly, after all the fruitless faffing around I've done so far to get this blog up and on-running, I'm not sure I can be bothered!) I have appointed Sally as an author. Or, to put it less grandly, I sent her an email asking her to update the pic bits on my behalf.

Because I CAN email images from the iPad, just not upload them to the blog. So I email them to Sally. She uploads them to the blog. I go out for curry and a glass of something chilled. And, when I get back, Hey Presto! There are my pix, on the blog!! So thanks Sally! And great to have a wander with you this morning.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Knackered! I think that about sums up today. The guide book insists that it was a 31.7 km stretch between Shap and Kirkby Stephen but the Viewranger begged to differ, recording 42.4 km. Now, even allowing for a little deviation with the iPad (ergo the GPS) being tucked in my rucksack, that's a heck of a discrepancy. So we reckon we've walked a good 24 miles. No wonder we're a tad tired!

David and Chris from Kirkby Stephen team (and walkingworld.com) met us just before Sunbiggin Tarn then walked back with us to their parked car, where we could at least shelter with our lunch as the heavens had now opened again. Full waterproofs on as we were introduced to other team members David and David (so now we're walking with three David's) and their wives and of we set for the onwards slog to Kirkby. Five minutes in, predictably, the heavens closed again and off came the waterproofs again.

Then on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on we trudged across vast tracts of... er, green bits. And then more green bits. With a few sheep. And the odd cow. There's not really THAT much more I can say about today: lots of green bits, with sheep and a few cows. And then we were there. Oh, and we were joined by Arthur Littlefair and Vivienne at some stage (I can't remember quite how many miles in).

Short lift (I think we earned that!) to Kirkby's base for a quick pic in front of their vehicle (well, I AM looking for a full set now) and then back to the B&B to freshen up and then very quickly back out to The Mango Tree for an excellent evening with our walking companions. Great meal, great company, so thanks to them for organising that and keeping us (almost) sane throughout this very long day.

It's been great to meet our mountain rescue colleagues along the way and chat as we walk, and today was no exception. We're also getting quite a reception now from our fellow Coast to Coasters, as we leapfrog each other along the route and share experiences. This not least from our Canadian friends, who today met me with an envelope containing their own collection towards our efforts. Fantastic!

Unfortunately, Gail has felt the pinch today, struggling on through tight muscles and probable blisters. Whilst we have wondered about contingency plans in case tomorrow is really one walk too far, my fellow Twirlie shows no sign of giving up, little trooper that she is. Tomorrow is a short hop (only 11 miles!!) and we expect to be meeting members of the Swaledale team at around 3.30 in Muker.

In fact, by all accounts this Swaledale section should prove to be an interesting amble - but I'll tell you more about that once it's happened. Now, my friends, I really have to sleep...