Just nipping out for a paper, dear....

[Muzorewa]

Recently I was in a tedious meeting in Durham and instead of taking me over the A66, my GPS had directed me north of there through Middleton-in-Teesdale. One of the geezers in the meeting thought this a highly improbable route and went on about High Force, a waterfall in the area where someone had slipped and fell to his death....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11513142

....”time for Team Muz to go there” I thought

So, with Muz Jr revising for exams, half of The Team set off at 4.30am to be there at first light....


No way José, I think it means closed to everyone else....




The whole of the river Tees plunges 70 feet over a precipice






Langley Castle in Northumberland


Then up to Kielder forest, the largest man-made forest in Europe You can imagine the fun we had on those tracks


Muzette studied this for some time before nervously asking if I had written it


Kielder Water, the largest artificial lake in the UK


Trust me, it was as cold as it looks


Kielder Forest Drive. I had done some research on this beforehand so didn’t risk it, there’s no mobile phone coverage up there if you slide off the track


Kielder Castle


Now, I had done a little research via Google StreetView for the border crossing at Deadwater just to the north of Kielder, and is that a cheeky little wild-camping spot in no-man’s land?










Off up to Edinburgh to meet dandywarhol to start what should be a successful Relay to Wolverhampton. And to get some essential provisions from Lupe Pinto’s deli

Oh, Tony (MountainGoat) – we stopped by about 2pm Wednesday, both cars were there but no sign of life. We’ll catch you next time


Back home on the A68....


....over the spectacular Carter Bar section


Hadrian’s Wall






Cross-border snowball fight


Time to clean the Bongo I think

[Diplomat]

That aerial looks rather battered!

[Triple/R]

Absolutely cracking pics Muz looks like me & Manda will have to nip round to your place & give the Muzmobile a bit of a clean up~i bet Bongodaddy (Paul) will be chuffed with the brilliant relay of his roof mattress.

Hope to see you all in the new year mate

[mikeonb4c]

Words fail me Muz......

.....there can be no bigger compliment from me

[dunslair]

Great pics folks..... if I knew you were passing so close to us, I would have let you pop in and borrow my bucket and sponge so you could wash the bongo (whilst the rest of the team had a cuppa )

[Barrington]

Muz once again i salute you sir! you da man

[umbongocat]

Lovely pics once again! I hear the Mazda mag was kept for you to see. Meant to say to Dandywarhol to pass it to you... would have saved a stamp

[dandywarhol]

Great pics as always (well, one of them is )

Good to meet you - meetup again sometime

[waycar8]

Some nice photos there Paul, looks cold , think I read somewhere that high force waterfall is the only waterfall in england that freezes solid. (could be wrong probably am )

[Bob]

Stunning pics, and what a great location.

[Bongopoet]

Hi Force waterfall looks a darn sight more impressive in your pics than when I saw it in 2004! It was a mere trickle then!

[MountainGoat]

Oh, Tony (MountainGoat) – we stopped by about 2pm Wednesday, both cars were there but no sign of life. We’ll catch you next time

Paul. June was in, I went to town on the bus. You were supposed to give me a bell on my mobile as you were so vague about which day you would arrive.

Tony

[Northern Bongolow]

who said you could park in our parking space---we parked exactly there,when we visited langley castle.
love it when a bit of recon pays off,love the parking spot bet you even got hookup.
we lasted about 2 hours when we arrived at the caravan club site at keilder,the warden warned us that if we had kids we would get eaten alive,i thought this was a bit harsh,even for the snobby cc,then they said it wasnt them but the midgies that would be doing the eating.we got outa there.

have a great new year paul and family.see you soon.

[MountainGoat]

There is supposed to be somthing new comming out invented by one of the Scottish Universities called SMIDGE. It does not contain deet and is claimed to be more effective on midges. Another tip I came across is to carry one of those battery driven minifans we used to have when we were kids. Apparently midges don't like winds of more than 5mph.

Tony

[mikeonb4c]

There is supposed to be somthing new comming out invented by one of the Scottish Universities called SMIDGE. It does not contain deet and is claimed to be more effective on midges. Another tip I came across is to carry one of those battery driven minifans we used to have when we were kids. Apparently midges don't like winds of more than 5mph.

Tony

Excellent tips Tony - I'll try and remember them both

The winds thing makes complete sense, from personal observation. I wonder if the infra-red trail or the scent trail (whichever they rely on) coming from a warm human animal becomes broken up and confusing for them when wind breaks the trails up. Also, what is the flying speed of a midge I wonder?