By: Blonde Two
Before I went to Wales at the weekend, I spent some time giving my walking boots a bit of tBc (tender Blonde care). I brushed them, bathed them and, using circular fingertip motions, rubbed waterproofing cream into their deepest crevasses.
All of this was an attempt to keep the worse of Wales’ vast water system away from my socks. And it worked very well indeed until Running-Girl and I came to The Ford! We had been through a few (not as many, as it turns out, as Mr B2 who was, at the time, engaged in a bike event called The Ford Fiesta!) but this one looked, and indeed was, deeper.
We tried all of the sensible going up-stream and checking stuff to no avail. Despite how it looks in the picture below, the water was running fast and the rocks were slippery-looking. It was also starting to get dark (I’m not sure they say, “dimpsy” in Wales.)
With the fading light, there wasn’t too much time to faff around (in the end we got to the bothy in the dark anyway) so it was a ford-wading session for us.
I must have been very lucky in my walking career so far, because I can’t remember a previous time when the water went over the top of my boots. It was a rushing sensation not unlike the moment when, years ago, I walked right up to my teacher’s desk and wet my knickers (these days, I am the teacher and not allowed to do such things). A similar sense of squelchiness but this time much, much colder!
It was shortly afterwards that I discovered that waterproofing your boots is not always a good thing. Okay, it is great to be able to keep the water out, but keeping it in? Well that is an entirely different matter and I was envious of Running-Girl’s porous trainers as I undid gaiters and boots in order to pour out the excess liquid.
I must add that I had neglected to pack a Christmas present that may well have saved me my wet feet. It is such a fun thing that I haven’t even shown it to Blonde One yet!
Nick Crane of Coast fame seems to wade through streams and rivers as if they weren’t even there and if that’s good enough for him ditto for me. When I first saw him on tv I thought he was a fraud with the helicopter waiting a hundred yards away when he was supposed to be in the middle of nowhere on a thirty mile wilderness backpack but…
…I have the highest regard for Nick. Circa 1990 he walked from the north west tip of Spain to Istanbul alone, approximately 10,000 kms and over a period of 17 months. If you look at the rest of his walking and adventure cv there is plenty to engender even more admiration. His book describing the big walk, Clear Waters Rising is well written (rare in the adventure world) and an inspiration.