Arduous!

Pat and I decided that ‘arduous’ is the word of the day!

We set out in gorgeous Autumn sunshine to climb up to Gadding Dam. We could see the low cloud over the tops but thought it would pass.....how wrong we were. We went up the steep route...and when I say steep, I mean steeeep! It was an arduous climb and the world just disappeared behind us in the fog. When we saw other people it was as if they melted in and out of the fog.

We reached the Dam eventually and I stripped off for a quick swim. It was quite magical to swim into mist but I didn’t stray too far as it was bitterly cold. My skin was almost purple when I got out. I’d bought an electric hand warmer which was brilliant. I put on layers and had a hot drink. I hobbled off as we went to go back as my toes took a while to thaw.

We decided that it was too difficult to try and go back the way we had gone so we headed in the other direction hoping to curve back on ourselves as we descended. Instead we found we were climbing up. There were three girls ahead of us and we couldn’t see them but we could hear them. It was reassuring to know we weren’t alone. The going was tough....arduous....we caught the girls up as they were turning back. Then out of the fog came a couple behind us. We all wanted to get back to the same place but knew we were going further and further in the wrong direction. We all turned back. The girls soon disappeared into the mist but the other couple...Barvider and Delray said we should stick together. They were lovely and we chatted as we retraced our steps and eventually found the path back. Never were we so glad to see civilisation again.

There was only one cure for an arduous day and shock....tea and cake.