12°C, sunny but rain at the end
A day to wait, cleanup and packing the minibuses carried on against a background of sun and a cloud inversion.​

A cold front drew over us as the day finished bringing rain, heavy rain. We waited. Then, Group B arrived, They finished first! Happy, relieved, tired and very smelly. They wanted chips. At 4pm, chip shops haven’t opened but I drove off in search, and found. Group A completed just before our return and by the end of the hour all groups were in. I was beaming contented grins at them and heaped congratulations upon them all. A fine end to the year’s expedition season.

The drive back is normally a bit of a come-down. Unlike last year, they didn’t fall asleep in the bus, they discussed the week. They recalled the day that things ‘sort of clicked’. It was Wednesday, the day they faced camping up on the moors that did it. I felt the huge, warm glow of job satisfaction from this.

there is a lesson to learn from an experience like this. It’s wider in scope then the expedition, navigation and all those campcraft skills. It is about the way we think when faced with problems. Finding blame has it’s place but certainly not within an ongoing situation. Blaming prevents clear prioritisation and adopting a working solution. That’s the posh was of saying that blame is pointless. Blame is a feature of our society, heads will roll, somebody is culpable and the buck has to stop; and so on. Maybe, but first, the problem has to be solved.