Backpackers Beds/Northants weekend

Drove to Grendon, just outside Northampton. The tarp was set up in no time at all and a meal on the go. Then over to the pub for the evening. A pretty cold night, just a touch below freezing. Saturday we walked to Yelden in Bedfordshire, about seventeen miles. There was a fair amount of snow around the further east we went. There were twelve of us. Stopped at the Green Dragon in Higham Ferrers - Greene King IPA at £1.95 a pint! We pitched in the snow behind The Chequers at Yelden where it was quite cold. They couldn't provide food for us as they were catering for a village function so we went down the road a mile to The Swan at Newton Bromswold where, by arrangement, the landlord had laid on a special for us - steak or gammon with chips & peas. I had an excellent medium rare rump steak and only £6.00. The temperature had dropped to a few degrees below freezing during the evening. However, when I woke at around 7.30, my nose told me it was not quite so cold and, when my eyes focused, I saw that the sides of the tarp had caved in with the weight of snow on them and it was snowing hard. We had an excellent full English at The Chequers with plenty of good coffee. Snow had settled but it left off after a while and we made our way back to Grendon via Wymington and Podington, where we stopped off for refreshments at the garden centre tearoom at Podington. Walking was quite hard work, either through snow or, where that had gone, through much mud. Once again, the tarp proved itself as a suitable winter shelter. Some of those with tents had problems with condensation and wet sleeping bags.