I got blisters on my fingers!

July 18-19 2023 - Nassereith, Tirol, Austria

“I got blisters on my fingers!” So Ringo Star famously screamed at the end of the Beatles track, Helter Skelter. I got to utter the same thing just yesterday. My blisters though weren’t from drumming but from climbing.

Ouch!

Ouch! Part 2

I went off to do a via ferrata (klettersteig, if you are German, or Austrian). For those that don’t know, a via ferrata is a climbing route protected by a steel cable. A harness, helmet, via ferrata kit and a serious head for heights are all that are required to partake of these fun routes. In England they cost money, in Europe they are free and there are thousands of them. We love a good via ferrata. They are graded from A (easy routes) to E (committing and strenuous routes only for experienced climbers). This one was graded C/D.

On this occasion Mrs P deemed it too hot and decided to sit it out at the van. I was on my own. Maybe she knew something I didn’t.

It’s tricky getting a decent photo of yourself on a via ferrata. Mostly because it involves letting go with at least one hand.

Shortly after I left the ground it started to rain with the odd distant rumble of thunder thrown in for good measure. I decided to get a move on. High on a cliff face attached to the rock only by hundreds of metres of steel cable is not a sensible place to be in a storm. Funny in a Tom & Jerry cartoon, less funny in real life.

To cut a long story short, the combination of hot steel cables and the need to haul upwards hand over hand at speed caused friction and blisters.

It was a good job I got a move on as within minutes of getting down (after one -and-quarter hours of speed climbing) the heavens properly opened. Thunder and lightning preceded by an almighty wind which brought down large bits of tree all around me. I quickly took off my harness and legged it for the campsite along a forest trail that had turned into a river. I left my helmet on as bits of tree were still falling.

The very image of a drowned rat

Mrs P had been worried that I was still on the route, but I had managed to send her a quick message that I was down and safe shortly after the storm hit the campsite. On my return I discovered that a number of large tree branches had been felled by the initial blast of the storm, one landing on a car and one narrowly missing a tent.

Painful though the blisters were and still are, I later discovered a silver lining, there is always a silver lining, I was unable to wash up. Too painful… RESULT! I wonder how long I can get away with it?

The storm continued, though the wind died down, for the rest of the day and night. That’s about 16 hours! In the middle of the night, unable to sleep through the noise, we watched as night was constantly turned to day for a nano-second over and over again. All to the constant crash of the thunder and the staccato drum (Ringo?) of the rain. What a night it was. Elemental. Fantastic. Noisy.

IN OTHER NEWS…

As some of you will know, I often post my adventures on Instagram (and my art) To improve my posts I have been learning how to link videos, how to add text and how to add music and in my latest post I managed to overlay the video with the voice of the legend that was Julie Andrews singing, you guessed it, the sound of music. I was mighty pleased with myself.

A sample from my Instagram page in which Julie Andrews sings.

I am however concerned that some of you may wish to see this masterpiece of cinematic excellence, but don’t know where to look. Well, fear not. Below are two QR codes for you to scan that will take you simply and easily to my instagram pages. One takes you to @neilpittsadventures…

Scan the above image to follow my adventures on Instagram

…and to @neilpittsart (read: cartoons what I drew)

Scan the image to view my cartoons on Instagram

Hope you enjoy. Tell all your friends, relatives, passing strangers etc.