Melmerby, Yorkshire Dales

A few reminders of our weekend

- Barrie "Becks Blue" Astbury
- Charlie "Snow Tunneller" Grant
- Pete "Floater FAIL" Smith
- Simon "Botheration Champ" Piercy
- Tim "Hot Chocolate" Spate
- Dave "Sausage Griller" Noble
- Steve "Ablutophobic Gynophobe" Barker

Friday

A stop-off near the end of the journey, in Leyburn, to get some essentials (mainly hats) and a quick pint ...

... and to shoot some pool, of course.

Thanks to the pint, the 'Alpha Team', normally first on the scene, arrive last (by minutes) - yes, Dave and Steve had already arrived! It is still snowing so we are all grateful for getting to the cottage.

Anyway, after some bedroom selection adjustments, we wrap-up and walk the 0.8 of a snowy mile, to the nearest pub - The Foresters Arms in Carlton.

We couldn't help but notice Stevie B's BRIGHT RED Casio watch ...

... and then Tim admits to having a similar time-piece (although not in BRIGHT RED) ...

Beer, food and staff - all excellent.

Saturday

(Mapping courtesy of Simon Piercy)

All wrapped up to brave the elements

Overnight snow had built up

Ready for action

Deep

No kidding!

Cattle grid? ...

... What cattle grid?

A double gang of bullies got Charlie when he was down - so brave of them

(Photo courtesy of Steven Barker)

It was quite blowy (see video)

Snowarama (see video)

We spotted a possible shelter for an early lunch stop - despite Simon pointing out an obvious "roofing issue"

Inside the dis-used livestock barn - The Usual Suspects

(P.S. The lunch option was NOT taken - in fact we decided that we'd been out for half as long as we wanted to be, so we headed back)

Some saddo scrapes his initials in the snow ...

White-out (see video)

Drifts (with one carefully placed Dave for scale)

Simon (yes, it is him!) has never been so kitted-up (just the gaitors missing)

Back in the village

Is this :-

a) essential eye protection

b) pure madness

c) the answer is b)

Answers on a postcard please

While we had been away the continuing snow-burial of Charlie's car had progressed somewhat ...

(Photo courtesy of Steven Barker)

Lunch was taken in the comfort of home .. which means, of course, there must be a ...

Piercy Pot Noodle Pic

Facebook frenzy

After showers, TV, cards, etc, it was off to the pub

Some interesting over-hanging drifts had been sculpted by the wind

Sunday

(Mapping courtesy of Simon Piercy)

Off to have some fun in the snow

Snow holes (see video)

Snow tunnelling (see video)

Someone had to go first (see video)

The route back across Melmerby Moor was, erm ... arduous!

hard - difficult - laborious - tough - toilsome - severe

Nearly home - The Usual Suspects

Temporary shelter

(Photo courtesy of Tim Spate)

Clearing the drive

Six of the seven of us now have iPhones (guess who doesn't? - no, it's not Pete!) - Here's three of them in simultaneous use

After more showering and cards it was time to go to the pub for Sunday lunch and the Malaysia Grand Prix (the night before the landlord had overheard us talking about the timing of the race and the pub food and had said he would put a TV in The Snug and we could eat and watch in there)

Seven sheep, please!

Pete, having earlier wimped out with a girly lager shandy, wimped out again with a coffee - this was the result of his attempted 'floater' - FAIL

During the weekend we drank the pub dry of this rather nice alcoholic ginger beer

The Foresters Arms

Icicles

During the evening we played lots of cards - Barrie even played!!

And we soon worked out why he had always refused before - he didn't want to dominate procedings - he was clearly an absolute card-sharp!

Later there was a snooker tournament upstairs

In a thrilling final, Charlie was triumphant over Simon

Monday

We enjoy another breakfast prepared by chef Pete and then pack up for home

If we hadn't all (nearly all) been using electronic devices over the weekend, we could have chosen from an impressive library

(Photo courtesy of Steven Barker)

On the way home, Simon kindly researches about the yellow snow under the rear of Charlie's car. As suspected, it's nothing to worry about ...

"When the rusty heat-shield, at the base of the exhaust manifold (where it "hangs down" at the front underside of the vehicle) comes into contact with snow (which of course happens when driving in deep snow), it sticks to the shield. Within 30-60 seconds, it turns into a bright yellow/green colour. Eventually the snow drops off and leaves chunks of coloured snow, making it look like something is leaking into the snow."

And now, just for fun, a Caption Competition. Please send your suggestions to Charlie at his work email. Thanks.

And finally, it's worth noting that, after all these years, thanks to Roger Mellie's book "Roger's Profanisaurus", Stevie B has finally learnt what a haddock pasty is!