By: Blonde Two
Whilst Mr B2 and I were at the National Trust Peppercombe Bothy earlier this month, the weather was following that lovable English theme of changeable.
Changeable is okay as long as you have the correct clothing and a place of night-time shelter but it is not so good if you want to do your cooking outside on an open fire.
We did want to attempt this culinary feat so, with some trepidation, we decided to erect the tarp that Six-Foot-Blonde had bought us a few Christmases ago (such a well brought up young man!) The trepidation came from the fact that Six-Foot (who is something of a tarp expert) had also given us tarp training which we were struggling to remember.
All in all the erection went quite well. We had to use a walking to pole to keep the end up.
I had to tie a knot to keep some tension (please feel free to name my knot).
We used a thing called a tree-hugger to protect the surface.
As you can see from the picture below, the tarp survived for the whole of our visit, did keep the rain out and resulted in some delicious cooking (with only a couple of burnt offerings)!
That is a Tarbuck Knot. It was used in climbing and invented by Ken Tarbuck who was a member of the Wayfarers’ Club of which I am also a member. It related to now outdated nylon rope and is regarded as unsafe. It does slip to a certain extent which supposedly lightens the otherwise sudden strain on the rope in the case of a fall.
Thanks Conrad I thought you might know, it did the job very well.
The Fifofumble knot? Love, B2’s GM
Of course, I thought that was its name!
What knot should B2 have used, Conrad? At the back of my mind is the Sheepshank for shortening ropes, but it isn’t any good if the ropes get slack.
B2, I thought for a moment you had grown a beard, but I see that Mr. B. 2 is the master chef in the blue – he looks more Blonde every time I see him.