I'm 70 and climbing the north ridge of Tryfan

The north ridge of Tryfan

I am 70. I reached my 70^th birthday on July 18, 2023, so I am a little late with this blog. Being 70 is weird. I have started to have a few mobility issues, mainly being less flexible (nothing serious) but I don’t feel any different in my head than I did 50 years ago. Then I look in the mirror and see the grey hair and flabby neck skin …

Being 70 in 2023 is quite different to what it was when my grandparents reached that age. I don’t remember any celebration for grandad or grandma when they were 70, but I do remember my Sunday School teacher Miss Pickering hitting 70. She was a very small woman, quite bent, used a walking stick with a big rubber bung on the end and she always wore black (ever since her fiancé had been killed in the First World War).

She came to Sunday School and told us there was some important news. She had reached the age of 70, the age decreed in the Bible that was the lifespan of man. I think she saw it as an endorsement from God that she’d done her bit. Miss Pickering wasn’t a lot of fun (we didn’t have birthday cakes), she was serious, pious, wrinkly and I’d always thought she looked ancient. I guess she was a good person in a Victorian sort of way.

Things are a little different these days. Miss Pickering would have the appearance of a 90-something. I was looking for something to mark my 70^th and I’d been chatting with Max about a year before, who thought we could do a section of the Cuillin Ridge on Skye and climb the Inaccessible Pinnacle (the famous In Pin). Max said it was a fairly easy climb with a bit of exposure, but he’d get me up there and I said yes.

Taking a breather. Windy but no rain - yet!

By the time my birthday appeared on the horizon, we’d done nothing about it and Max now has a busy job making sure Dunelm meets its environmental obligations. We agreed the Cuillin Ridge was a bridge too far and he suggested instead that we climb Tryfan, a mountain in Snowdonia which has a famous grade 1 scramble up its north ridge. Max and I had set off to do it some years back, but I’d chickened out of the last section, unsure of the way and uncomfortable with my vertigo.

It was unfinished business – often best left unfinished when it comes to mountains!

Anyway, I agreed, so we set off the night before to stay at Tyn-y-Coed just beyond Betws-y-Coed on the A5. Max’s friend Will Garton had asked to come along and I was happy with that. Will, Max and I had done a weekend in the Lake District some years back and had climbed Sharp Edge on Blencathra.

We had a meal in the hotel (Will had set up his camper van in the car park) and the weather forecast hadn’t looked too good for the next day – rain and win. We discussed a less-testing and lower alternative and agreed to wait until morning.

After breakfast, it looked quite good, so we went with plan A and drove to the layby on the A5 at the foot of Tryfan. This is one of those mountains where there’s no long walk in – you park up and start climbing the north ridge. I’m not as fit as I was, but with a few rest stops on the way up, I thought I was doing all right.

The wind and rain did arrive and I found my waterproof pants flapping in the breeze a bit (I’ll have to get a new pair) but we kept going to the place where I’d turned back last time. Today, the weather was much worse, but there was no question of going down. The north ridge is a steep climb from the start, but near the top it’s a proper climb/scramble and definitely don’t look down if you lack a head for heights.

Will, Max and I at the summit

Max and Will had done it before (several times) so knew where they were going and guided me pretty well. If I’d been on my own, or not known the route, I would have bailed. At the summit, there are two vertical rocks, nicknamed Adam and Eve, and the challenge is to stand on one and jump to the other. With wind and rain sheeting across, there was no way we were going to attempt such heroics. We took a few photos, a windy video and headed down. Our route was to follow the south ridge for a spell and then “escaping” off the east face and circling back north to pick up a track back to the road. I found the descent much, much harder. Rocks were slippery, my left knee wouldn’t take any weight and my right was wobbly. It took a lot longer than I’d anticipated and I can’t say I enjoyed that section. It seemed to take ages before the gradient eased and the rocks became fewer. I have to say that the last half mile back to the car seemed like walking on air!

I did feel pretty chuffed with myself and pleased to have shared the experience with Max and Will. They would have been up and down in a third of the time, but they proved expert wayfinders and patient companions. They wondered if this would be my last mountain. It might be and, if it was, then I’d be pretty happy to go out on a high; although I might have another one in me before the end!

Trace of our route up and down.

I didn't die!

I realised that the last entry I wrote in my diary was about two years ago (January 2022) and was entitled “I have Covid”. I’d just like to put on the record that I did not die – it does sound a little like a “last words” post.

“My country, how I leave my country.” William Pitt the Younger

“Kiss me Hardy.” Lord Nelson

“Tomorrow, at sunrise, I shall no longer be here.” Nostrodamus

As last words go, “I have Covid” might be quite apt, but it was not as bad as that. I had a funny feeling in my nose, some anxiety and a fluctuating temperature, but was soon OK. I think the later you caught the disease, the better it was; the virus became less harmful and we’d all had a couple of vaccinations.

I may have had Covid a second time, but no-one seems to bother to take a test any more (including me) and isolation and face masks are things of the past for the British (if not for other countries). There’s still lots of Covid about all across the world and here, in the UK, I know a lot of people who have had it over Christmas, including our friends Pauline and Chris, their children and grandchildren!

For the government, Covid was a disaster. They were inept, incompetent and dishonest. The shambles of multiple too-late lockdowns, a lack of scientific understanding and rank hypocrisy in sticking to their own rules has hit their popularity and cost Prime Minister Boris Johnson his job and his career as a politician.

He was hosting parties at Downing Street in contravention to the rules, but the fact he denied it and lied to Parliament ultimately cost him his career. There’s currently a Covid Inquiry being staged to try to find out what went wrong and what lessons could be learned. It’s not very helpful – everyone is blaming everyone else. Hat wen wrong? Everything. What lessons will be learned? None!

I have Covid

I have Covid, so has Margaret. It’s got us at last, although we may have had a different variant earlier in the pandemic and not realised … who knows?

There’s no doubt this time. I take a lateral-flow test each week before my Spanish classes just to make sure I’m not infective and the test showed I was positive almost immediately. Margaret tested herself and was also positive.

I didn’t feel ill (still don’t, touch wood) but I thought it strange that I couldn’t smell the hyacinths I’d grown and which are now in full flower. When I got my nose to them, I could just detect a scent, but I knew this wasn’t right.

We now have to isolate at home for five days. If I pass a lateral-flow test on day 6 and day 7 (Saturday and Sunday) I can come out of isolation, otherwise I have to do a full 10 days.

Of course, we’re sticking to the rules; unlike our Prime Minister who is now being investigated by police for staging a number of rule-breaking social events during the lock-down he imposed. He is, without doubt, the worse PM I have ever seen (and that’s something after the fiasco that was Theresa May).

Personally, I hope he’s forced out of office and the Conservative Party implodes, but then I am a little biased in these matters.

The lockdown eases, but new variant runs rampant

Yesterday, the Covid-19 restrictions were eased a little. We are now, officially, able to go into other people’s houses and can mix in groups of six or three families. We can also go inside a pub or restaurant (table service only), we can hug each other, and we can go on holiday to a select number of destinations – basically Malta, Portugal and the Falkland Islands! Also, our government says we can visit New Zealand, Australia and Singapore, but their governments won’t allow us in!

I didn’t dash off to the Falklands (or even the pub) and while we welcome the easing of lockdown (it means I can visit Max without breaking any laws) we are now unlikely to make any major changes very quickly.

There is a new Covid variant in the UK, which seems to have a significantly higher transmission rate than previous variants (including the so-called Kent variant). This one has come from India where it has ravaged the country with up to 4,000 victims per day dying and grim scenes on the television news of people desperately trying to get hold of oxygen for sick relatives.

The scenes from India were frightening, but the government didn’t put it on the red list (which would require people to quarantine), so people were still travelling to and from India and just had to say they would quarantine at home for 11 days. Pakistan and Bangladesh were placed in the red list, despite not having as high an infection rate as India. So why was that? The suspicion is that Boris Johnson wanted to do a quick trade deal with India and wasn’t keen to upset the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. That’s plausible, but it could also be because the government is a shower of incompetent idiots who have got pretty much every decision wrong or delayed during the whole history of this pandemic.

They did put India on the red list, eventually, but gave five days’ notice so everyone who was able to grab a flight got on a plane to the UK.

Two weeks later, we have 400,000 confirmed cases of the India variant, which is raging through Asian communities in Bolton, Blackburn and Bedford, where vaccination rates have been relatively low.

So the lockdown easing continued, despite this new variant, and we now risk a third wave … a third wave that could have easily been avoided. Scientists are saying it’s crazy that we’re able to go on holiday abroad, that we’re opening pubs and restaurants and the government’s response is to put the onus of responsibility back to people saying: just because you can go to the pub, it doesn’t mean you should do so. What a shower of fuckwits!

In other news, the weather has been excessively cold at nights with frosts and easterly or northern winds throughout April. May has started with milder weather, but lots of rain. This has been playing havoc with my gardening. I’ve lost lots of bedding plants – salvias, coleus and begonias, while others have been knocked back. It’s been a frustrating spring.

I do have my base ready for the new greenhouse and the garden is actually looking quite good, so it’s not all doom and gloom. I’ve also been helping Max and Sam in their gardens. We repaired Max’s fence and tidied up his raised planters, two of which are now planted with bedding dahlias, salvias, geraniums and also a few echeveria and hibiscus. I’m waiting for some begonias to become big enough to transplant, perhaps another couple of weeks, to complete the final bed.

Sam had his lawn relaid and it’s now ready to be mowed. He did one cut about a week ago and I went on Friday to give it a second with my mower. It had grown substantially, and I had to empty the grassbox about 20 times. I’ve almost filled one of his compost bins with just one cut! The lawn does look good. We have also fixed some rain barrels, set some flags and some general tidying. Oh! We also put up a rope swing in the garden for Arthur which has been a huge success.

Tom has been getting a little more work – one or two days per week – but it is still less than he needs. He says he may go back to Ecuador to be with his family and try again later in the year. The problem with that is that he may lose what momentum he has, but also he would have to spent the best part of £2,000 in a quarantine hotel because Ecuador is on the red list. The pandemic has caused a lot more trouble for some people than others. I’m missing seeing Lucy and my grandchildren; it must be ten times worse for Tom.

Will things ever be the same? I’m beginning to think that they won’t!

Sam's new lawn 

Alice entertains new visitors

Well, summer didn’t last very long. Yesterday, the wind came round from the north-east and the temperature went down by about 14 degrees. It’s the same today, so sitting out with family (and sticking to Covid rules) will require coats and hats.

Yesterday, Margaret and I went over to Max’s. It was the first time Margaret has been able to see Alice. She has stuck to Covid rules more strictly than I have and yesterday was the earliest they have been able to meet in their garden. Of course, it was too cold to sit in the garden, so we were all inside, except for a two-hour walk around Syston with the dogs and sleeping baby.

It was nice for Margaret to finally meet her new grand-daughter and Alice was suitably charming. She was also able to catch up with Max and Inna, who she hasn’t seen for more than six months.

We stayed for four hours, including the long walk, and then Sam, Lucy and family arrived for a visit. They had been to see Sam’s university friend Dave Miodrag (I’ve probably spelled that wrong) who lives in Leicester and has two children of a similar age. They popped into Syston on their way back. There’s a lovely picture of Saoirse and Alice sitting looking at each other. Saoirse hadn’t seen a small baby before, and she was fascinated.

On Wednesday night, I watched a film called Contagion. It was made in 2011 and is about a deadly pandemic virus that starts in China and sweeps across the world – does that sound familiar? The similarities with Covid are staggering, the film could almost have been a news report on Covid. It even started with a bat in China, spread via air travel, droplets and touching surfaces; there was social distancing, food shortages, a battle to find a vaccine, delays with vaccine production – even a social media blogger who rubbished vaccines and promoted various conspiracy theories.

The only things lacking were UK government incompetence (which is an ongoing) and a US president who thought injecting the population with bleach would be a good idea. The film-makers also anticipated that the WHO (World Health Organisation) would play a heroic role. In reality, they have been side-lined due to national interests and rubbished by some leaders to play to popularist galleries in their own countries.

Aiice rolls over

The weather has been lovely – more like June than March, with daytime temperatures of 22 degrees C. Monday was a big day in the battle against Covid-19 as more restrictions were lifted. There was an increase in positive cases as schools went back, but these has dropped slightly, so the next stage of unlocking was approved on Monday.

It meant people could play golf and tennis and up to six people (or two households) could meet outdoors. Margaret celebrated by having Joyce and my sister round for tea and scones; although this easing of lockdown only means that people are now openly doing what they’ve been doing for months already.

I’m already some steps ahead of the government in my easing of lockdown. Some of the rules are so stupid that I think common sense is a better guide. For example, the dog groomer in Thorney is open, but the hairdresser isn’t; you can get your windows cleaned, but the cash-wash is shut … I could go on.

Yesterday, I went over to Max’s to finish painting the fence and weeding his raised beds. I think last week’s work must have inspired him because he’d made a start by taking down fences we’d put up to stop his dogs jumping on the beds and by painting a couple of them. We got the rest of the jobs outside finished and can now crack on with painting his lounge (next job on his list). The outside looks much better and once we’ve got some more pots and baskets it should look lively in the summer – a nice spot to sit and for Alice to play.

I got there a little later than planned (because I’d forgotten to put the car on charge) so Alice was awake when I arrived. On Tuesday, she rolled over onto her back for the first time (CLICK for video) and I can see that her core strength and head control is getting much better. She’s also looking at things more intently and is starting to grab. She sat on my knee very happily for half an hour while I had tea and biscuits and Inna had a cheese scone (leftovers from the end-of-lockdown party).

Yesterday morning Tom and I drove across to Spalding to scout out some locations for a story he is shooting about tulips. The desk jockey at AP had seen a colourised photo from the 1950s of a massive windmill and a field of tulips in front. It would have been a good shot to get. The windmill was Moulton mill, the tallest surviving windmill in the country (and it is a big one) however, the field in front of it is now fenced off ready for a new housing development (Mill View or Mill Fields, no doubt). There were no tulips in bloom anywhere yet and the main crop (apart from some daffodils) was cauliflowers. They were everywhere and most of them looked past their best.

Working in my garden ... and Max's ... and Sam's

So Bulb say they have switched me back to dual-rate tariff and will give me £30 compensation in return. I haven’t responded yet. I think £30 is a bit mean. I still feel grumpy with them and I’m minded to move supplier. I’ll have to compare prices carefully.

I could set myself up as a garden handyman. This week, I have been to Max’s on Wednesday and Sam’s yesterday doing jobs.

Max’s neighbour loves gardening but has a very small garden. Nevertheless, she has planted six silver birches and has a border with soil mounded against the fence between hers and his. This has rotted the bottom board and when she waters the border, water and soil run into his garden, across his path.

We have replaced the bottom board and I’ve treated the whole fence with wood preserver. It hadn’t been done for a while, so soaked up the preserver. I’ve got another third of the fence to do and also to tidy up his raised beds. That’s a job for next Wednesday. I also went for a long walk with Max, Alice and Ollie around Syston. Alice had not slept the night before and both Inna and Max were a little frazzled. Inna was out wheeling her around town when I arrived and then she fed her and handed over to Max and I for another walk and (hopefully) sleep. She did nod off after about 20 minutes, so we kept walking and then, when we got back, she stayed asleep in the pram.

I didn’t really get to see her as she was still asleep at 5pm when I left for home. I wasn’t going to risk waking her just to have a look!

Yesterday (Friday) I went to Sam’s in Soham to help him put a section of fence and a screen at the end of his garden. We got the job done and made nice work of it, too. It’s a small section right at the end of their garden just in one corner. The chain-link fence at the top of their wall is broken down and it looks as if people have been coming in.

A neighbour told Sam that someone had come through the garden and broken into houses at the side of his house. Apparently, this was when the previous owners had been there and they’d piled up old conifers in the corner. Sam has had those removed (we dug a lot of compost out to fill in the pond) so the corner is now accessible again.

We put in new fence posts, pulled up the old mesh fence that had been trodden down and added new wire above it, also bamboo screen so it’s harder to see in. I completed the security screen by adding a small holly seedling I found in the border. I suggested they add a new laurel, so the line of laurels goes all the way down the garden. We finished off by digging out some old, rotten compost bins and then making three new ones from some old pallets. Sam burned a load of old wood on a bonfire, so the bottom is much more tidy.

It’s a big garden and will take them a lot of time to look after. Sam has had three large yew trees removed, which makes the side of the house much lighter, and also the lime trees along the road pollarded. The laurels really need a good trim and Sam is having the lawn re-laid with turf in the next month. The old lawn was badly damaged by leaves being left lying on it and also by moss.

Saoirse, me and Arthur having dinner after working in the garden.

Arthur and Saoirse came home at about 5pm. They were very exited to see me and also the bonfire (probably the bonfire more than me). I had a little play with them and sat while they had dinner. It’s a long day at school/nursery for them both.

Arthur was very keen to show me his new bedroom. He’s obsessed with the army and soldiers at the moment and his bedroom has a camouflage theme. Saoirse is campaigning to have the same in hers.

It was quite a stormy day and we were lucky to get so much done between heavy rain showers. Driving home, Ely cathedral looked wonderful against the stormy sky and there were some wonderful cloud formations across the flat fens around Chatteris, Manea and March.