I spent the last night of 1999 camping on top of Whernside in the Yorkshire Dales which, for those who don't know, is only about 736 metres, but pretty wild.

The weather was initially murky and turned worse very quickly until the summit was reached in a howling gale and loads of snow/sleet. The only option was to dive straight into the tents (at about 4pm!) with a bottle of vodka and forget about any thoughts of a New Year's Eve party. The evening was miserable, to say the least and the necessary forays from the tent to answer the call of nature were harder to bear (or bare) than either Greenland or Spitsbergen!

The tent, for its part, leaked badly and both our down sleeping bags were soon covered in water. BUT - the Pertex shell worked and the bags stayed totally dry and unbelievably warm. Well done, Rab! As my fleece jacket was also wet, I wasn't going to try my luck by taking my Down jacket outside, though!

BUT - all was not lost. As midnight approached, the sleet stopped, the wind subsided and the skies cleared to reveal a fantastic star-filled sky and a firework display somewhere over towards Dent. The weather stayed good through the night and the morning sunrise was well worth the harsh night, with good views of Ingleborough. The walk back down to the pub the next morning was in glorious sunshine but the ice made the descent treacherous. And - just to make my day - as I walked down, I passed 3 men from my hometown (unknown to me) who said they's been to a local nightclub on New Year's Eve and it was nearly empty! C'est la vie!