Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I am not back at work yet, I decided to take today off work too so that I have a bit of time to relax before I go back to work. Although the highlight of the day might turn out to be going to Tesco, but it’s time off work so I shan’t complain.

We went on some good walks while I was away although to be honest I only walked at the beginning of the week because I wasn’t feeling too well as the week wore on.

Anyway, last Monday we went on a walk that involved climbing to a summit of 977 metres. On the national weather the night before we had been warned that it was going to be a “serious day for walkers” and that was true.

We set off in sunshine and some intermittent rain but we could see that higher up there was quite a lot of snow – and fresh snow at that. We kept walking and when we stopped for lunch it was in clear conditions but within minutes clouds has descended and visibility dropped to only a few metres. However, we still headed for the summit but by this point had reached the snow, which was very deep in places.

When we got to the summit it was zero visibility, but that wasn’t actually a disappointment. I felt the most amazing sense of achievement to have made it to the summit in snow and really low visibility that made the others I was walking with seem like silhouettes. It was great to make it to the summit and it felt a bit like getting to the top of my own little Everest – and it is about as near as I am likely to get to the real thing.

As there was no view at the summit because the cloud was so low and it was somewhat chilly up there in the snow, we immediately headed straight back down, at which point the horizontal hail started. We had to stop a couple of times because it felt like being simultaneously struck by dozens of pin pricks. It was an excellent facial but not an entirely pleasant experience. We slogged on through and eventually the hail turned to rain instead, but we then had a sweet eating competition to lift our spirits.

By the time we got back to the car it was glorious sunshine and was difficult to believe that we had been trekking through snow and hail only a short time before.

There’s something about facing the elements that clears the cobwebs out of your mind. However the sore throat and the fuzzy head that materialised about 24 hours later maybe suggests that the elements were striking back with a vengeance.