Mountain dog

Yep, that's what he is alright.

Henry and I (and assorted members of The Family) walked up Scafell Pike on Saturday - for a short while he was the highest dog in England.

The weather was 'orrible (it nearly blew my step-dad over, and he is 6'7" tall and built like the ex-second-row player that he is), and it rained upwards. Oh, and it turns out my waterproof jacket isn't, and my boots have sprung a leak. We got thoroughly cold, damp, and all our muscles ache. Even Henry was cold - and he went through all the cold last winter without so much as a shiver! Also, my mum managed to fall over twice on the way down, and has announced that she has a massive bruise on a rather tender area as a result. Oh and we didn't get a view either - the low cloud meant visibility was down to about ten metres or so - except for the moments when the cloud cleared which were just magic.

In short, it was bloody brilliant, and I can't wait to go walking again. Although I will be getting new boots and a new jacket first - and Henry will be taking his dog jumper as well, just in case!

Sadly no pictures, as the camera got as wet as everything else did!

One other thing - I could not believe the sheer lack of preparation of some people we saw - from the tourists with umbrellas (I thought I was seeing things!) to the people in jeans, no waterproofs and fashion trainers (who looked universally cold and miserable, unsurprisingly). It's no wonder the local Mountain Rescue team are so busy - in fact we saw a Mountain Rescue volunteer heading up there as we came down. I suspect he was checking everyone was off the mountain safely - either that or he's come screeching to a halt in the valley on seeing a pink brolly bobbing up the mountain and was in hot pursuit of its hapless owner! You only have to read their callouts list to see that some people are really not prepared for much more than a walk to the shops when they set off up the mountain.

I can't currently walk downstairs without wincing, but I can't wait to get back up there!