Day 340 - Rambling Man

4CV

I've been spending an awful lot of time in the car lately...but that does have it's upside.

For the last nine days, I've spent at least 2 hours per day driving...on one day at the weekend it was nearer 6 hours.

This is having various side effects...for a start, I'm quite tired, and I'm losing out on time at home with Anna, Loz, Maisie and the Boy Wonder.  I'm sure things will settle down on this front, and ultimately we will move nearer...but for now, it's one of the more challenging aspects of our many recent significant life changes.

My daily journey to work and back isn't too bad, to be honest.  It takes an hour each way, but I go the scenic route which is, you know, scenic...at least, it is in the mornings - at night it's just dark and wet, and driving conditions on winding, bumpy, busy roads are somewhat challenging in themselves. 

It's also making me hanker after a new car (much like my man Jezz is)...

Don't get me wrong - my old Mondeo estate has been brilliant, a trusty, willing and capable servant over the last two and a half year's climbing adventures...it's taken us (and a shedload of climbing gear and whatnot) to Dartmoor, to Snowdonia, to Pembrokeshire, to Fontainebleau in France (twice), to the Lake District, and to the Peak District about a bajillion times.

It carried both of my boys Jazz and Bluez on their final journeys...and although we have Robin now (which is great), he doesn't replace them in my heart, and even now I'm crying quietly as I remember my old boy Bloobs and his long time partner in crime JazzyB, and those two last car rides....

God, I miss them.

Anyway, moving right along (albeit with a snuffle and a big sigh)...one of my regular little traffic jams is in a little village called Bretford, where a single lane bridge stalls traffic in both directions daily. 

I like to look at the horses as I'm waiting in the queue, and I often find myself thinking about how I should get a photo sometime...when suddenly, I realised that I actually could get a photo, right now!

It's not a brilliant photo, taken from my phone, but still, horses!

A moment later, I saw this, below...

what?

Unfortunately I had to move a few car lengths along the queue, and lost a beautiful perspective on this, but still, I got the documentary evidence I was after...look closely at the tree in the centre (well beyond the hedgerow)...

wait...what?!

That, my friends, is a cormorant...and whilst we see these once in a while around here, it's always a surprise...it seems incongruous so far from the sea. 

I'm not even sure whether it is purely a sea-bird, as it is in my head - I suspect not...but in any case, a pleasing addition to the collection of bird photos I've amassed throughout the year...

I must write a summary blog for bird photo's soon, given that I only have, what, 25 days left in this little blogging adventure of mine?!

Finally, to pull you somewhat rudely in yet another intense emotional direction, do you remember my 50@50 Challenge, where I climbed 50 routes in a day?

You may recall that in order to do that many routes in a day, I had to free solo them all.  

Free climbing is climbing without any kind of assistance - no equipment that helps you ascend (you can have ropes to catch you if you fall, but they don't help you to climb).

Soloing is climbing without any kind of protection - no ropes, nothing to catch you if you fall.

Free soloing is therefore a term used to describe simply climbing on your own, with no equipment to help you climb, and no ropes to catch you if you fall. 

I talked about it in some detail in an earlier blog post...

Anyway, my 50@50 free-soloing was not really all that dramatic...routes were on average only around 8m tall, with the tallest being only about 12-14m...and the climbing itself was fairly easy.

There is, however, an American called Alex Honnold who works at the other end of the free soloing spectrum.

If any of you find that your palms aren't quite sweaty enough, check out this short video...





He's a fascinating guy, and an absolute master of the head game that this type of climbing essentially is...as well as being an awesome climber - strong, controlled, positive.

Don't get me wrong, I have no aspirations to do anything like that!

But I do both admire and fear for Alex Honnold, with more or less equal intensity...

:-/