What do you remember?

Although I have been on hundreds of walks, walked thousands of miles and seen wondrous sights, distant horizons and sweeping panoramas the moments I recall most vividly seem to include rain. Perhaps this tells you more about me. So here are a few at random.

When walking the second leg of the d'Arcy Dalton Way from south to north with a small group we started in the rain which continued all day; by late morning we were all rather dejected and called in to the pub at Radcot Bridge. As we dripped onto the floor our thoughts were for a hot drink. Forgoing alcohol we settled for tea and coffee. The landlord then produced warm chocolate muffins to our delight. We set off into the rain with renewed vigour.

A similar event occurred at the Blacks Head in Stonesfield. The landlord informed us "that they did not do food". At this moment the landlord's wife appeared, took a look at us bedraggled walkers and said she could cook some sausages and serve them in long rolls. We warmed to the idea and with full bellies set off into the rain.

The event I remember most vividly so far is unique to me. A party of three friends went on a long weekend to Snowdonia with a plan to walk up Snowdon. The weather was poor with low cloud but mainly dry, so we did some lowland walks.

On the last day it was raining and the clouds were very low. We decided to head for the summit knowing that if we got soaked we had a spare change of dry clothing. To minimise climbing we started from the top of the Llanberis Pass. Going was as expected through continuous rain. When we were about 500 feet from the summit we came out of the cloud into bright, hot sunshine.

When we reached the top the ground was sprinkled with sunbathers. We joined the throng and almost dried out. We were reluctant to leave knowing that we would have to descend through the cloud and rain to our car. It was magical above the cloud; we could see other peaks protruding and watch the constant ebb and flow of the cloud in the cwms.

I have seen such a scene many times on television but only been present once. Happy days.

John Eyre