With less than a week to go, what could be more sensible than a quick jaunt to Madrid, to soak up some sun and have a absolute blast seeing The Darkness play a phenomenal musical concert. Rock and Trek I'd initially bought a North Face lightweight 800 Summit Series Down jacket for the trip. However, with less than a week to go, I entered somewhat of a mild panic. Having discovered water bottles could potentially freeze, I wondered whether my little (thin) jacket would keep me warm enough? Down fill rating is particularly confusing, with more and more of these lightweight down jackets appearing on the market. Until today, I hadn't realised there were US and European fill ratings and worse they are different! After much research, I found this article on the gear zone website, which I thought gave the clearest explanation. Having read all the information, I decided I needed something more substantial. Hot I can cope with, but cold... definitely not. So I'm now, thanks to the magic of the interweb and mail order delivery, the proud owner of this Mountain Equipment Cho Oyu jacket. As usual, I've probably over done it. It is so warm, I can only keep it on in the house for 5 minutes, but hopefully, with this Polar explorer jacket, I'll be anything but cold. We had planned one last 'big' walk before the trip and it soon came around. I think we're all a bit sick of trudging up Box HIll, but on reflection, it's been brilliant to have it so close. Today we powered up in no time. The next part of our walk intertwined with the North Downs way and I soon realised I'd broken one of the cardinal rules - trimmed toe nails!- and by mile 14, I was starting to feel it. Dave and I bailed early and I hobbled the last mile and a half home. We still clocked up a respectable 21 miles.
We awoke to the terrble news of a plane enroute to Lukla crashing minutes after take off in Kathmandu. All 19 people on board tragically killed. This included 7 people from the UK, many of whom were on a 'trip of a life time' to trek to Everest Base Camp. When reseaching the trip, we knew Lukla was a difficult and often dangerous airport and this mountainous region was not the safest place to fly, but there are few alternatives to get to Everest National Park.
Two weeks away from our trip to Nepal, it is sobering news and a reminder this is not an adventure without risks. Today my thoughts are for the friends and family of those who perished in this crash. |
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