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The End A time of mixed emotions: on one hand there is the achievement of dipping the feet in the North Sea; on the other the disappointment that it's all over. That's stayed pretty constant as a baseline throughout my 3 Challenges, but the actual details have varied slightly.. Challenge #1 (2017) If I were … Continue reading (Virtual) TGOC 2020: Part 5
I'm technically late with my "phone-in" again, but I was supposed to phone in Tuesday (from Clova) and then again from either Forfar (on Wednesday) or Brechin (on Thursday), depending on route taken. So it seemed like a good idea to split the difference and combine them in one Wednesday "phone-in". This post covers days … Continue reading (Virtual) TGOC 2020: Part 4
Oops, I'm late for another phone-in. I should have been in Braemar yesterday (or "Graemar" on my virtual route). Days 8, 9 and 10 on the (real) 2020 Challenge would have seen me head from Kingussie up Glen Tromie, before cutting across to Glen Feshie. I'd then given myself the option of a couple of … Continue reading (Virtual) TGOC 2020: Part 3
Today (ok yesterday, as I'm posting this the following morning) is day 7 on the Virtual TGO Challenge, and we're halfway across. The crossing of the A9, at least for those in the Newtonmore to Aviemore area, seems to symbolise the halfway point. Of course, if on a more southerly route, you'll have already crossed … Continue reading (Virtual) TGO Challenge 2020: Part 2
Today is Day 3 on the Virtual TGO Challenge, and obviously if the Challenge were running normally it would also be day 3 in reality. It was also day 3 on the 3 previous Challenges which I took part in. The first 3 days of the Challenge for me have a rhythm all of their … Continue reading (Virtual) TGO Challenge 2020: Part 1
With the actual Challenge deferred to 2021, something is needed to fill the gaping hole left. A couple of posts, including one from Sue and Ali, have suggested ways in which a virtual Challenge could be done, within the confines of the lockdown. So this is mine.... There are various ideas about sharing memories of … Continue reading (Virtual) TGO Challenge 2020: Preparation
2017: I'm only going to do this once. 2018: Oops, I did it again. That's probably it though. 2019: Several routes planned a week after getting home. 2020: ? In my house there's a sort of informal rule: do something 3 times and it becomes a tradition. This is why I always go to Dartmoor … Continue reading I have to do it – it’s a tradition!
If you made it through the 7 part story of the Quest for the Shirt of Destiny, well done. Even more well done if you kept up with it, and could follow where we were at any point. I thought I should put something together that reviews this year's Challenge in plainer, more everyday, terms, … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2019 (or The Shirt of Destiny)
I wake, if indeed I slept at all, and I don't feel good. There is rain in the air -Â it is clear both from my lungs and from the recent advice of sages, that it is coming. Our luck with the weather has come to an end. We stow our bundles and return to … Continue reading The Shirt of Destiny – Part 7: Doom, Gloom and a Room
Beer barrels clatter close to our chamber at the inn and sleep is fitful. I wake feeling unrefreshed and earlier than I’d like. So we are away early in search of food to break our fasts. Light rain falls on us as we head into a Great Forest. The sort that feels like nothing but … Continue reading The Shirt of Destiny – Part 6: The Red Mountains
Once upon a time, when bandits roamed the land and all manner of thievery and roguery was the norm, the sheriffs of my land ran out of places to lock up these undesirables, and instead sent them on a long sea voyage to the lands at the end of the earth. They settled in that … Continue reading The Shirt of Destiny – Part 5: The Grey Mountains
Ahead of this merry band of adventurers lies the Great Glen, and a chance to stock up with provisions at the Great Trading Post that lies towards the southern end of the Great Waterway. Keenness to reach this mythical place stirs our tired limbs from our beds, aided by the ever-present sound of cuckoos. We … Continue reading The Shirt of Destiny – Part 4: Civilisation
A cold night, but there are no complaints about preferring to sleep in the old shack. Not for us a night punctuated by farting and snoring of fellow travellers. Nor a night woken by the crunch of giant’s teeth on my bones. I have survived the encounter. The gods of this valley seem to have … Continue reading The Shirt of Destiny – Part 3: From Fjord to Forest
We adventurers rise early for there is much to be done. Fasts to be broken; equipment to be checked and packed; parcels to be despatched; and provisions to be secured for the journey. Finally, the Moor Man and I queue up to inscribe our names in the Grand Ledger of Questers kept in the inn. … Continue reading The Shirt of Destiny – Part 2: Pursuit by a Giant
I slouch on the back seat of the charabanc trying to get some sleep whilst simultaneously keeping one eye alert to the near continuous passing by of restless, incontinent natives to what is laughably termed the “facilities”. It seems an odd way to begin such a momentous quest – hurtling north in pitch darkness to … Continue reading The Shirt of Destiny – Part 1: Beginnings