Hi everyone! I've just returned from a short trip with M to see her parents, and have travelled home with an exciting addition to M's cuddly toy friends! Please note that I didn't say "new addition", as Gordon the pineapple is an old member of the family, who is returning home after a lengthy stay with M's relatives. (Why is a long story, that I shall not bother to tell here!) He's been away for so long that I have never even met him before! I've been wanting to meet Gordon for a long time, as I'd heard all about him from M, and he's a bit of a hero of mine. I thought I'd take the chance to ask him some questions and to interview him for today's blog post. Odd: "Hi Gordon. I feel honoured to meet you at last. Please can you tell my readers a bit about yourself?" Gordon: "Good Afternoon, young sock friend. I suppose that I should first explain how I came into existence, and why I am, rather unusually, a cuddly pineapple." "When M was a student studying at the University of Nottingham, she was in a club called the Munro Pineapple Society. This club was founded to take students up to Scotland to climb the Scottish Munros. Those are the mountains up there that are over 3000ft, as I know that you have discussed in your last book. The word Pineapple in the club's name came about due to a misunderstood shout when two of the early members were scrambling on the spiky "Pinnacle" towers of Crib Goch, in Snowdonia." "M became the club's first "Publicity Officer", which meant that she made posters to advertise the club trips to other students. She drew posters with me on, and then created me with a sewing machine. " Odd:"I went up to Scotland earlier this year, and enjoyed climbing a few Munros with M. Is it true that you yourself have climbed many of the Scottish Munros?" Gordon: "Yes, Odd, I was lucky enough to join the students on many trips up to Scotland, and did indeed climb many Munros with them. Then my felt cloth started to wear into holes, and I had to retire from this exciting activity. " Odd:"Which is the most exciting trip that you can remember?" Gordon:"I think my very first trip up to Scotland is one of my most memorable. We drove all the way to the far north coast, and climbed hills everyday for two weeks, with rain only falling on one of those days. We had bright sunshine and clear views for the rest of the trip, and I was lucky enough to climb on the beautiful, jagged Cuillin Ridge, on the Isle of Skye. I joined the students in climbing the "Inaccessible Pinnacle". This is the hardest Munro summit to reach, and involves a steep roped-up rock-climb, followed by abseiling down the rope for about 80ft to get down again. M, I and most of the other students had never abseiled before in our lives, so we were all very excited!" "Here you can see us all standing on top of the Inaccessible Pinnacle. I'm partly hidden in M's arms. There wasn't much room, so it was a bit of a squash. Both M and I are looking a lot younger, but this was taken 24 years ago!" Odd:"Wow, that does sound exciting! Yes, you do look very young and clean, Gordon. I'd already seen this other photograph up with you on. Would you like to tell us a bit about this day too?" Gordon:"Yes, of course. I'd already retired from hill-walking at this point, but it was a very special day, so I came out of retirement especially. I'm standing with M at the top of her very last Munro, and I felt proud to be there. It had taken her many years, and many hundreds of miles of walking, to climb them all. As is tradition, we were having a bit of a party up there, to celebrate with some of her hill-walking friends!" Odd:"Before we finish, can I ask you how you managed to get so many great clothes, Gordon?" Gordon:"Ah, well, I didn't get them all immediately. In fact I was quite naked for my first trips! I acquired my knitted jumper from an old boy doll of M's. It had been knitted for him by M's grandmother, but he had lots of other clothes too." "M then made my kilt and sporan, then my leather boots and my knitted socks." Odd:"Oh, I see, so pestering M could well be my best way of getting more clothes then. Hmmm.. Well, thanks so much for letting me interview you, Gordon. I hope you will enjoy being back home again." Gordon:"Thank you Odd, I'm sure that I am going to enjoy relaxing and being at home again a great deal." The only other news I have for now is that, due to an error of unknown origin, M and I had to "fire fight" before going away. This was to try to prevent further problems when our free book promotion failed to happen on the intended day. I decided to dress accordingly, which had the rest of the gang in stitches! I'm so glad that I can help to make everyone laugh during a crisis! Bye for now. Love, Odd xxx
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Continuing Day 1 of my Big Scottish Adventure... After walking along the river for a while, we turned right at this little green hut. I wanted to know who lived here, but there seemed to be no one home! M said it was owned by a Mountaineering Club, for them to use when they visited to climb in the hills. It's quite small though, so I don't think many of them can stay here at once... The sign outside the hut said "Respectez les fleurs". M said that meant "Respect the flowers" in French, so I immediately started looking for some flowers to respect. I found these beautiful tiny pink flowers. They were hidden in the grass. M said she thought they were tiny wild orchids. If you look closely at them then they DO look just like miniature orchids! AS we started going uphill, I found this curious pile of rocks. M said it was a "CAIRN", and that they are built to label paths and mountain summits. This one showed where the path we would take on our way back joined our outward path. I thought it made a great place for me to have my picture taken! Our path zigged and zagged up our first mountain. Sometimes we were looking at other mountains down the main river valley we'd walked in from... Sometimes we were facing what would be our second mountain of the day... I was surprised to see small white patches of SNOW up there! It was May, and at home the snow had gone long ago! Oooo...a mini cairn for my next photo opportunity! Then some rocky bits to scramble up... And FINALLY a big summit cairn to sit on top of! Hard work getting there, but the view was GREAT! Heading along the ridge to our next mountain, I found my first patch of snow! M was busy explaining to me that both of these hills were called "Munros", I just wanted to play in the snow! Sadly she wouldn't wait for me to build a snowman... Oh...a "Munro" is a Scottish mountain over 3000ft high, and there's a list of them that "Munro baggers" try to "tick off" and complete. (How strange humans are!) See M, I WAS listening after all! There were also rocky bits to negotiate on the ridge... And quite a bit of snow along the edge of the ridge. M said we needed to be careful and avoid this as much as we could. (Apparently bits called "cornices" can break off over the edge of the solid ground. You can fall off a long way with them!) It seemed to take a very long time, and it was a bit steep to get to, but EVENTUALLY we reached our second and final summit of the day. Great views in all directions. This one looks down the way we will head next. There was an old row of fence posts up there. It must have been hardwork for whoever put that fence up! We walked down on a muddy path next to this waterfall... Then lots more grass and uneven ground to negotiate... Before finally meeting the bigger path we took on the way out. (I was getting quite worn out by now. I only have tiny legs, and it had taken me a LOT of tiny steps to get that far!) I was so glad to make it back to this bridge, and shortly after to the car! That was the end of my first long day. I got back to the tent very hungry and very tired. I was hoping M planned to cook something yummy for my tea! That's all for now! Catch you later...Love Odd xxx Hi everyone! Odd Sock here! Sorry it's taken me so long to remember to write my blog again! I've been up in Scotland with M and Buster, on a BIG adventure! This was the first Scottish loch (lake) that I'd stood by, and the mountains we saw on our car journey looked beautiful. When we got the tent out, I was glad to see that M had remembered all the essentials - like my chair! On our first night, I discovered that a big bag of maps make quite a comfy bed. Especially if you can find a nice fleecy hat to snuggle up in! In the morning, M and I ate a big bowl of cereal each. (Mine had a chopped up banana in it, as I love bananas. Someone once asked if I was related to the purple Minions, but I don't think I am.) Then we set off in the car to the start of our first walk, leaving Buster behind to guard the tent! From what M had told me about Scotland, I hadn't been expecting to need the sun cream out. As we started walking, this was my first amazing view. We'd be heading into the mountains ourselves very soon... More to come in Part 2! Bye for now, Odd xxx
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AuthorsThe Top of the Wardrobe Gang: Oscar Rabbit, PD Monkey, Odd Sock, Burton Bear, Terry Tiger (TT), Burton Bear; helped by Melinda Kinsman Archives
October 2018
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