This is my 2023 calendar, I make one every year and stick it to the back of a cupboard door.
As the days go by I cross them off, and as you can see, there is not much left of 2023…
Hasn’t it gone fast. I realised that if I crossed out each day of my life as they happened, there would be a lot more crosses behind than in front…But how many is the question…And would we want to know. I think I shall probably live forever because as far as I’m concerned I won’t be posting any more once the final cross has been put in place. Lets just hope there is enough ink in my marker to keep putting crossed…Blimey! the things you think about sometimes…
On a lighter note…It’s Lentil and vegetable soup for lunch…What are lentils anyway? I thought they were slabs of concrete placed above windows and doors for support…
I was watching the Christmas celebrity edition of Pointless last night, and it occurred to me that most of the women look like dolls with plumped up lips and no expression lines on their faces. And most of the blokes are so feminine…And they are all grasping their few minutes to make an impression and make a statement…But I suppose that’s what actors do isn’t it…
Poor old Richard looked more like Rasputin than father Christmas…And Alexander does his best to keep order…
Come on bret (or whatever you call yourself now) You’ve been on the forum (on & off) long enough to know that the ‘Bits’ referred to in the title are bits of Bob’s Life…
In the summer of 1955 Bill Cowley, a farmer based in Over Silton in the shadow of the Black Hambleton Hills, studied the forty miles of heather between him and the sea at Ravenscar and considered the possibility of walking the route within 24 hours.
Bill was born in Teesside, and as a boy the North Yorkshire Moors were his playground, so in 1947 he managed to purchase a farm on the edge of the moors, and the thought of walking to the sea across some of the wildest country in Yorkshire just wouldn’t go away. After spending many days pawing over maps and deciding the best route, he assembled a small group of friends to attempt the challenge.
The North York Moors in 1955 contained some of the most treacherous, boggy, and most unfriendly terrain in the country. There was no Fylingdales early warning station, or Bilsdale television mast in those days, just a scattering of ancient crosses and cairns laid down by some of the previous travellers crossing the moors or burying their dead on the high ground, narrow sheep tracks were the only breaks in the deep purple heather that covered the ground for as far as the eye could see.
So remote and wild was the moor that Bill issued a challenge in the April edition of Dalesman to anyone who could get from Scarth Wood Moor above Grace Priory, the most westerly point of the range, to Wyke Point at Ravenscar, the most easterly, in 24 hours on his own feet.
Four months later in August, Bill was describing his first crossing done in 23 hours (13 hours actual walking time) and the ‘Lyke Wake Club’ was born. Do the walk in 24 hours, submit a report of your experience, and become a member.
By 1988 140,000 people had taken up the challenge…I was one of them…
Luxury! We 'ad to bog-snorkel just to get t’aahtside privvy, chip t’ice off t’water te mek t’turds sink, then 'ovver over t’seat so we din freeze t’wood, then ad te bog-snorkel back t’hovel for a good thrashing from us Da before walking t’forty-two miles tet’school, wi no shoes and no coat, through t’barren wasteland, over t’moors bah’t 'at, through ‘edges and ditches, then pay us dinner money t’techer to get a bowl of cold gruel t’keep us goin’ till it were time to make t’forty-two mile journey back in’t dark for another thrashing from our Da before all fourten on us got in te t’single bed with bare boards and no straw.
Ee, an when us tells t’youngens of today wot it were like back then, they don’t believe us.
Had a poor year trig point hunting last year with just 4 added to my collection. So I thought I’d try and do at least 3 per month starting with January 2024. So after spending a few nights pawing over some maps, I found three local ones I could do on an afternoon, even if the weather wasn’t too good. I took Mrs Fox with me today and motored out to the first. It was supposed to be at the side of the main busy road between Tickhill and Rossington. After dicing with death a few times staggering down the verge, I eventually found it at the edge of the field. Just one problem though, to get to it I had to climb an electrified fence…
The second trig was about ten miles away so we were soon picking our way down a very narrow unfenced road. It was quiet though being miles away from anywhere.
The trig was called ‘Idle Stop’ with good reason, because that’s where the road ended and we parked up on some waste ground. I only hope the car isn’t on bricks with the wheels missing when we returned…Or even worse…
So a blusty walk along the muddy riverbank and after half a mile the trig was easy to spot…
