2008/12/31 Brian on Harnser [email protected] > > A good 10 mm last night on the Leicester section in the Foxton area > > And as much again in Napton and over the summit these last few mornings. It's funny the way people cruise in the winter. Under normal circumstances wintertime everyone's up at 7ish and underway by 8 to get maximum light; but when it's frozen everyone stays put waiting for the person who's most desperate. As soon as this first boat's gone by the rush then starts and everyone's out.
Re ice breaking, Em and I came down from Hebden Bridge to Sowerby a couple of years ago breaking dreadful ice, 2 inches and more. We were scheduled to fly off top Australia two days later and had to get her back to moorings so I was on the front 'steering' with a barge pole, a technique with which some of you might be familiar. It involves standing precariously on the bow and creating a path by puncturing the ice six or seven inches in front of the bow. It is a dangerous game and not to be recommended. It is cold and immensely slow and horrendously noisy. It took us a day to do half the journey. Such is the cussedness of Yorkshire weather that when we woke the next day all signs of ice were gone completely so we could have saved ourselves the trouble. Steve [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
