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minjoonchild-blog · 5 years

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LIBRARY ~

TO READ:

- SERIES -

carousel - arrangedmarriage!au myg

charmolypi - hobi x kook x joon x jin x reader

the devil skates on thin ice - hockeyplayer!yoongi

does this make sense - yoongi x reader

entanglement - namjin x reader

fall for you - fuckboy!kook

the firework boy - jimin x reader

flirt - fuckboy!kook

four letters - e2l!au jjk

grey area - soulmate!au myg

hidden - minjoon x reader

imaginary friend - yoongi x reader

insemination wars - babymaking!au ? myg

la douleur exquise - incubus!yoongi

the little things - accidentalpregnancy!au myg

make a home out of you - ex!kook

mr. min - yoonkook x reader

nymphet garden - non-idol!bts x idol!reader

part of your world - mermaid!au jhs

playgirl series - ot7 x reader

private tutor - namjoon x reader

sandwich boy - jungkook x reader

sound the alarms - jungkook x reader

suga daddy - yoongi x reader

tainted - demon!hobi

tantalizing - jungkook x reader

we’ve got you - sope x reader

written on our veins - soulmate!hobi

- ONE SHOTS -

100 to 1 - hoseok x reader

7 ways to meet min yoongi - mafia/gang!au myg

after dark - vampire/knight!au jjk

akrasia - fwb!au myg

...and cheese - e2l!au jhs

ares - general!jungkook

bad religion - devil!kook

a bastards etiquette - royalty!au knj

beastly gods - hybrid!tae

before the high tide - f2l!au jhs

beg for it - yoongi x reader

by its cover - fosterkittendad!yoongi

chance encounter - taehyung x reader

change of direction - roadtrip!au kth

change your ticket - carnival!au pjm

chasing horizons - yoongi x reader

classic ceramics - shopowners!au myg

cool cats (and dogs too) - singledad!yoongi

cum!bts - ot7 x reader (THERE IS A PART TWO)

dichotomy - arrangedmarriage!au kth

dirty laundry - jimin x reader

do it for you - dom!jimin

dont stop - boyfriend!kook

double trouble - jihope x reader

embroidery - ceo!tae

exposed - e2l!au knj

festivities - yoonkook x reader

f--- the police - detective!au pjm

fuck you all the time - namjoon x reader

get you the moon - jock!tae

the guardian - panther!yoongi

guilty as charged - FBIagent!au knj

hell’s coffee - coffeeshopowner!joon

hold me by the heart - sport!au jhs

hoping for the best - lifeguard!hoseok

i’ll give you my heart - yoongi x reader

illusion of choice - heir!au jjk

last christmas - e2l!au badboy!kook x nerd!reader (two-shot)

the lionheart’s oath - royal!au jjk

love is for the birds baby - tattooartist!yoongi

love language - soulmate!au knj

the love swings - exes!au jjk

luxuria - incubus!jimin

the making of love - actor!au knj

me, you, and this thing we have between us - pregnant!au pjm

mixtape - college!au myg

more than us - roommate!au kth

moving in - boyfriend!kook

nocturne - nymph!yoongi

no need for dreaming - roommate!au pjm

not quite lovers - office!au jjk

obligated - arrangedmarriage!au knj

oblivious - f2l!kook

paired up - yoongi x reader

paper cranes - bf2l!au kth

pinky promise - bestfriendsbrother!au kth

play pretend - soccerplayer!kook

poseidon - merman!jimin

prop-anal - taekook x reader

protection - bodyguard!kook

puppy language - puppycafe!au jjk

pusher love girl - possessive!tae

pushing buttons - jungkook x reader

put your records on - cheating!yoongi

raise the bar - jimin x reader

red mistletoe - sopemon

request - jungkook x reader

risky business - boyfriend!joon

road trip - jimin x reader

salvation - zombieapocalypse!au myg

since day one - werewolf!kook

smiles with a grain of salt - idol!yoongi

so i can have you - foxdemon!tae

something in the way - werewolf!joon (there is a pt. 2)

sonder - taehyung x reader

sound - fratboy!jungkook

stress reliever - kim line x reader

sugar - escort!au myg

suitors - arrangedmarriage!au knj

sweet one - vampire!yoongi

teach me - teacher!au jhs

teen idle - hoseok x reader

three musketeers - maknae line x reader

to the beat of my heart - dancer!hobi

to the hilt - jimin x reader

triplicity - sope x reader

the truth between us - editor!yoongi

tryst - junghope x reader

T&S - jungkook x reader

waiting game - college!au myg

welcome home - wolf!hobi

what a feeling - yoongi x reader

when the power goes out - yoongi x reader

wildest moments - yoongi x reader

worth the wait - richboy!tae

your every wish is my command - genie!au jjk

CURRENT READS:

- SERIES -

all to myself - yoonmin x reader

angelic - jimin x reader SM AU

blood in the water - avatar!au pjm

break the ice pt. 2 - jikook x reader

the doms next door - taekook x reader

dust to dust - mafia!au pjm

duvet days & vanilla ice cream - spermdonor!au jjk

falling into you - jungkook x reader

heartbeat - gang!au jhs

i need you - ot7 x reader

a lack of color - soulmate!au pjm

life with bangtan - ot7 x reader

onsra - jungkook x reader

protege - jungkook x reader

rewind series - ot7 x reader

string of fate - ot7 x reader

a sweet touch, a finer delicacy - jikook x reader

tempting - taehyung x reader

tip 143 - camgirl/boy!au jhs

true care - jungkook x reader

the turing test - android!kook

wouldst thou like to live deliciously? - virgin!jimin

#cheekylibrary

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thatswhenyourefrom · 5 years

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Cotton teeth - the snake the cross the crown

My freshman year of high school was a highly formative time in finding music. I completely understood what a record label did. Less on day-to-day business type of way and on more of a curation level. I understood that record labels exist as touchstone for a scene or a style of music. You could regularly find new artists by simply going to the website for the record label of a band that you currently like, look at the roster, and bam, you’re full up on new music. Hit one of those band names into Limewire or PureVolume, and you’re rolling. This is exactly the method I used to stumble upon The Snake, The Cross, The Crown.

It was kind of undeniable that in the mid-2000’s, there was a scene that existed that was all about screaming and teens with bangs in their face. [Call it emo, screamo, i don’t care. It’s hyper timely and that scene as a whole is long out of style. But that’s okay. If you like it, enjoy it. It rocks it’s exciting.] Plenty of these bands landed on the same few record labels like Victory and Equal Vision, to name a few. I would scroll through websites and just listen and try to find something that spoke to me. Every once in a while, I’d find something that I liked, but usually it would be more of the same. I was sitting in an echo chamber of the scene. Occasionally there would be a weird signing that would be vastly different than everything else on the label. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. When I got to the S’s on the Equal Vision page, I found the band with the long name and their song “Empires”. And I was captured.

The song is twangy and dark. I thought it a good skateboarding song for some reason. (I made a skate video for a high school video project and this was the song. Also looking back, this is not at all a good skate song.) The song offered a perfect bridge into the folk music I would learn to like. The singer croons over a guitar that is slow, but carries momentum. Not sad or desperate; just sentimental. (I wish I could speak on this lyrics in the song, but even after a decade of knowing this song, I have no clue what they are or what they are about.)

For a year or two, I kept this single song on my MP3 players (not always iPods in my day). This was another band I was afraid to venture into in the event that the rest of their music was not very good. I was afraid of shattering my perception of something I held so true to myself. This song lasted as such for a long time, until one night I realized i was a glutton for punishment. I went to the band’s PureVolume page and found another song on the page; “The Sun Tells the Moon”. I genuinely stared at the computer screen for minutes contemplating clicking play or not. Finally, i decided to tempt fate, convincing myself that if it was something I didn’t like I would call myself a glutton for punishment. I clicked play and a kick drum started a tempo, and when the singer rolls in with a high pitch, pulled back wail, I knew I had another song to add to my list.

I was in love. “The Sun Tells the Moon” is a much bigger aggressive song than “Empires” but still not angry like one would expect from mid-2000’s Equal Vision band. At this point, I knew I needed more. I’m two for two. Let’s go. So I found more. I tried two songs that are the two most folky songs from the album, “A Brief Intermission” and “On The Threshold of Eternity.” These two songs clicked with me.

“On The Threshold of Eternity” is a great song with Beatles-esque vocals. Constant acoustic guitar strums keep the song going. The song I take to be about standing in the front of existence trying to make sense of “why am I here”. (Personal interpretation) This is a huge concept to bring into a little folk song. “A Brief Intermission” is a much more folky, storytelling song, but a sorrowful one of a family splintering and a son (child) not really understanding what is going on. Beautiful songs that kept me hooked for years.

It’s not a big secret that I am a fan of The Early November and thus, the lead singer Ace Enders. Once upon a time, he went on tour with The Color Fred (Fred mascharino of Taking Back Sunday) and Craig Owns (Chiodos, Cinematic Sunrise, a million other bands). Mike and I went to go to this show at The Pike Room in Pontiac to see Ace Enders and no one else really, but what we did not know was that Enders dropped off the tour right before hitting Michigan. We go to the show, he’s not there, we are bummed. Trying to find th best in a bad situations, the best part of the night was actually that a local band called The Silent Years opening the show, but that’s another story for another time. After the show, broken hearted, we tried to get as much cheap merch as possible. I bought a Color Fred EP on CD and got an Equal Vision sampler from Craig’s table. You know how car rides home from shows go; you look for something to listen to on the way home, so you grab your new merch and put in the sampler. I saw that there was a TSTCTC song on this sampler that I have never heard. A new song. This song changed my life.

In the rough of young people expelling feelings about girls and being a teen, there’s a gem of a folk song on this sampler that starts off with a deep folky voice that goes “Well if both of these horses just lay up and die…” It starts off with voice and an acoustic guitar. It tells you a story. It’s a father. A song about a dying man (possibly from war) who, as he realized death is upon him, is sharing an ethereal experience with this loves and family in understanding his own passing (personal interpretation). The song walks you through this story and is peppered with explosions of full band performance. After the first explosion, we ease back into more story from dad. It heaves and ho’s until it ho’s on a story beat about everyone coming to terms with the passing and then builds into death catching up to the man. At this point, the song crascendoes into a partial repeat of the first verse and a brand new verse crossing and complementing each other in a loud, open, cohesive mass of music. The song is a masterpiece.

There are more to come.

I believed this song fully. I didn’t change any paths to go get this cd, but I always looked for it when I went cd shopping. Not long after hearing that song, I was at FYE at Great Lakes Crossing, back when it was large enough to cut through the middle of the mall. [Side note, this was a heaven. Such a beautiful place for media. Second and Charles is a spiritual successor.] While flipping through the S’s, i saw a whole divider for The Snake The Cross The Crown. This blew my mind enough. Seeing the new CD, “Cotton Teeth”, blew what was left. Literally the only Equal Vision release with that comes with a sticker on the front to tell you to listen if you’re a fan of The Band. Could anyone ever imagine that? Incredible. I remember telling my dad this is the CD i wanted and he looked that the recommendations sticker, and gave out a little chuckle. He is a fan of The Band. (We are a fan of The Band.) I bought the CD and was so excited to listen to it. Pop it in and guess what: all folk.

“Cakewalk” starts the album with some slow guitar plucking and the singer letting out a direct song about wanting to play music forever (keep this in your pocket). “I want to live on a stage. I want to play the guitar. And I wanna get paid.” All of the lyrics. So simple beautiful. The song starts lonesome and grows into a full band performance with a great drum pattern that includes the whole band. This song is to sing along to. The next song “The Great American Smokeout” reminds me of a campfire song. It sings along in such a fun foot-tapping way, but also has it’s own personal progression. Throughout the song, it sets up patterns and changes them up to keep the song exciting. It would still be fulfilling even it just played through, but the dynamics are so enjoyable. Track three, “Gypsy Melodies” is the usual one you show people when you introduce this band. Again, feels like a campfire song or a road song. Take your pick. I heard the song on a rainy day. I was at Mike’s house once and I showed him this song on a rainy day where we were inside playing cards and when I heard the song I thought “this is it; this is how this song is meant to be experience.” The title track continues the folk tradition set by the last songs. Songs about or at least from the perspective of families. This song is much more involved from the full band. Slide guitars and bass right from the beginning of the song, all the way into the finale with guitar solos and the whole lot. An amazing continuation. “Electronic Dream Plant” is not a song I was prepared for.

Track five is a seven minute epic that lands every beat it tries. It starts off with a piano. The singer comes in and softly calls over the keys. Drums and harmonies build the song more. By the second verse, guitars, bass and drums are singing along with the singer. After the second verse, you know this song is going to get huge. A reverb laden guitar solo, cooling you down with the melody of the verse three. The rest of the song builds on what is established and tells the love “I don’t want to go without you so I just wanna go with piece of mind.” Then tells them “Save your sorrow.” The song plays out and gets larger and bigger and maintains beauty. Never abrasive. A masterpiece in my own opinion. (There’s some “na-na-na’s” at the end that tend to remind the listener of The Band’s “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down.”)

Track six is the aforementioned “Behold the River”. Name another album that has two massive masterpieces in a row. We then go to “Hey Jim”; a darker, guitar rock song. I have no interpretation on what the song is about, but it feels like a night drive through the south. There’s these beautiful glowing keyboard sections. After the first verse, they emanate sound. As per usual, they know how to crescendo. This band knows how to write an amazing melody to repeat and keep on. If this crescendo doesn’t get stuck in your head, you don’t have a head. “Floating In And Out” sounds like it comes from the progressive era of Mander Salis, but also tends to transcend that this album. The song has this incredible section where it stops and starts a new drum pattern that the singer sings over. “Maps” is a fan favorite. This song epitomizes the entire album. Family perspective. Growth into a crescendo. No matter how you look at this song, it’s powerful. This song sounds like less of a story though. It feels like it’s personal. And it cuts the same way. The last song is a song that still dumbfounds me but I never skip it. “Back to the Helicopter” is a noisy experimental finale. But it still feels like the band. It’s like they sucked out all of the beauty and story from the first nine tracks and were left with this Eraserhead-like fetus that was birthed of the band. It has power. Aggression. But it’s a bastard of everything from “Cotton Teeth”. Oddly beautiful.

I bought this CD in 2008. I still hold this CD very close to my heart a decade later. It is one of the few CD’s that stays in my car. The real shame of this album is that it doesn’t know where it belongs. Certainly not with Equal Vision. It belongs with me. But everyone I’ve shared this album with doesn’t feel a thing. I have an intense connection with this entity and I want the world to know but they ignore it. Imagine if it were a person. I am annoyed.

I gave up trying to share it years ago, but instead let it be my friend. I sing with it in the car. I lay down with it. I spend time with it. It’s my imaginary friend.

The band would continue to have one more release in 2009, but not a standard album. A documentary.

In 2009, the band was the subject of a documentary called “On A Carousel of Sound, We Go ‘Round”. The film documents the band on tour (if I recall with mewithoutyou and Manchester Orchestra; an insane tour), playing live songs in different places, and an set of entirely new songs which comprise the album of the same name. [You can see this release as a doc with a soundtrack or a new album with a documentary.] In the documentary the band plays these songs with such emotion and power in such an intimate way. Once you know the songs, you need to see the documentary. The band also speaks out on being where they are in life without ever really making it (again maybe because of the market) and how difficult it is to be touring. I ‘m really left with the sense that there was a bit of defeat from this group. And I do not blame them. I have tried to vouch for them.

Since the release of “On A Carousel of Sound….” the band has gone quiet. They have not released a lick of music or any update since then. They have disappeared. They are ghosts. But what they have left me is a brother. If it is a ghost, they still haunt me and always will. “Cotton Teeth” is baked into me. Without it, I would never have found the love for The Band, Songs: Ohia,Right Away! Great Captain, Townes Van Zant, and many others that I can call folk. I will celebrate this album forever, even if it is only ever me and him celebrating.

#by luke #r

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outdoorguyuk · 5 years

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Wye Boyo, Wye?

I know I keep banging on about it, but being unable to walk for a year got me itching to get out. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I got into climbing in a big way and have managed to do some short runs (10k and under, with a single 18k run) but I’m still not too confident my knee is fully ready for running regularly. I’ve been dying to do a fastpacking trip, however decided that for the time being hiking, wild camping and climbing would have to do.

Deciding it’d be good to catch up with some of the Gosport boys, I sent a few invites, with Matt & Joe saying they were up for it. Matt had recently had surgery on his knee after a split meniscus so was in a similar state to me, which was a good thing in many ways. God we’re old. I decided that seeing as Matt lives in Bristol and Joe’s in Gosport, the Wye Valley would be an easy place to meet & hike. The Wye Valley is stunning, fairly wild, not too mountainous but with some lovely hills, well forested with a huge water source flowing through the middle. Not to mention some great pubs. Matt lives in Bristol, Joe was coming up from Gosport and me from London, so it was probably the closest location of the sort for all 3 of us.

Joe and I arranged to meet at 7pm in Chepstow and miraculously arrived 5 minutes apart which was a good omen. We parked the cars up in a side street and decided to go for a few pints, leaving our gear in the car. I’d scoped out the Three Tuns, a lovely pub right by Chepstow Castle with the friendliest staff, awesome local beers (very affordable too) and a great beer garden. About 7 pints and a few rums later, the pub closed, we were turfed out and decided to get our gear and start the hike. Obviously I’m sure you can see the potential for things to go wrong here.

Lads lads lads! Dogs dogs dogs! Chepstow massive.

Somewhere, during the first and last drink, Joe realised that he had forgotten a minor bit of kit. No biggie, it was only his sleeping bag, the tit. We got to the cars to pick up our gear and he managed to find a blanket to strap to his backpack. I probably hadn’t mentioned but Ripley my dog was also with us, and she was also super hyped for a drunk hike through the forest.

The Three Tuns - Ace boozer, ace beer, ace staff.

I had probably over estimated how easy it would be to find somewhere to camp. The only wide open spaces on the first many drunk kms of the hike were cow fields with grumpy looking bulls, farmers fields full of crops or a massively overgrown Offa’s Dyke Path with high fences on either side.

The entire way Joe was roasting me as I’d been giving it the large one about my new Black Diamond Storm head torch (review to follow), as my Silva Trail Runner 2 had died after years of abuse. The damned thing didn’t work at all and looked like I’d strapped a tea light to my head. Luckily Ripley seemed to instinctively know to follow the trail and dragged me along safely/drunkenly in her wake.

After many kilometres and over 3 hours, we finally found somewhere to camp in forested area, set up the tents & fired up the Primus Lite stove for a couple of drinks before bed. I was using my trusty Coleman Raid for Ripley and me, while Joe had bought the amazingly priced (£19.99) Decathlon Arpenaz 2 man tent (which only weighs 2.2kg, great at the price).

Get off the tent Ripley. Man’s best friend they said. Dick.

I had an amazing night sleep, as did Ripley. Joe suffered the entire time, which was amazing and definitely karma for him being mean about my head torch. It turns out the blanket he picked up whilst spannered, turned out to be really thick, but really small and just about covered one of his legs. Basking in the glow of his suffering and my comfort, I decided to have a look at my head torch and it turns out I don’t know which way batteries are supposed to go around when I’m completely munted. The Black Diamond Storm lit up the trees like a miniature sun in my hand and all was well in the world. I knew this was going to be a good day.

Joe, Ripley and I decided to set off without further ado, as we’d planned to meet Matt in a car park approximately halfway between Chepstow & Symond’s Yat. We had an amazing hike, the scenery was stunning, and we got to see a few of the climbing areas around Ban-y-Gor, Wintour’s Leap & Tintern Quarry. We even found a place called the Devil’s Pulpit and after Googling it, this turns out to just be a square rock on the footpath, but we assumed it was the tree that seemed to have turned into a giant rock with some sort of weird pagan clearing & steps vibe going on right behind us.

Feeling Cute. Might do a sacrifice and delete later.

Being the planner I am, I’d decided that a mid morning stop at a boozer with maybe something for the hair of the dog and a bite to eat might be in order. The Brockweir Country Inn was at a good point on our route and looked stunning. Unfortunately, when we got there, they had lynched a hiker from the top window and the man scouring the brickwork in a painstaking effort to bring the pub back to its former glory, informed Joe that it was closed for the first time in 400 years. Just our bloody luck. The next boozer was miles along the hike if we didn’t want to take a huge detour. Still, the chap was kind enough to fill up my backpack bladder, so onwards and upwards.

The valleys are dark, the hills have eyes #lynching

Following on from Brockweir, most of the steep inclines and declines were behind us and the Offa’s Dyke trail opened up some stunning & picturesque wide open views as we hiked along the riverside. Our progress was much faster unimpeded by hills and we made good time before stopping for lunch at Bigsweir Bridge. Joe and I cracked open our freeze dried foods, fired up the ridiculously fast Primus Lite stove (seriously, this thing is ace) and chowed down. I also took pleasure in pointing out that my 1000kcal Expedition Foods were not only tastier, but considerably better value for money than the Decathlon 600kcal packs. We didn’t give ourselves much time to eat as Matt was due at the Cadora Woods car park just up the road and we realized we didn’t have any reception at all.

Lunch at Bigsweir with the Primus Lite stove! My Expedition Foods are bigger than yours, and I’m like...

Miraculously, we got to the car park (only 20 minutes late), sat down for 5 minutes and panicked a bit trying to work out how to get a hold of Matt, when he rocked up in his car. Thank God. With the team assembled we took stock of our situation - having realised that there was a hog roast and mini beer festival with local bands in Redbrook (we saw an advert on the bridge a mile earlier) it was obviously something we couldn’t miss, however it was still quite a hike there. If we were going to spend any meaningful time there, we decided it’d be best for us to skip a leg of the trail, head there in Matt’s car and leave it there so we had transport closer to Symonds Yat. Fate was on our side.

Gspot Squad all up in your hogroast!

Arriving in Redbrook, we were a bit disappointed to see that the festival appeared to be predominantly populated by small children. I’m ok with this when I’ve got mine with me, but looks a bit weird when you don’t. Still, after we’d parked up and got some stuff from the village shop, the number of adults had increased so we dived right in. Local beers were on tap for an amazing £2.50 a pint from a local brewery. The bands were good, people were lovely and it was too tempting to stay, but we had a mission to complete and wanted to get some climbing along the way, so we decided to get our skates on and head uphill into the forest.

The last thing Matt’s victims saw

The trek through the forest towards Symonds Yat turned out to be considerably more steep than we expected. Perhaps it was having had a few beers in the sun, but it was a bit of a shock. It shouldn’t be, as I can read a map, but I’m an optimist and often suffer as a result.

We followed the official border between England and Wales, having departed from Offa’s Dyke (the old border) and were rewarded by some truly stunning views. I had hoped to visit Rodge Wood along the way where (I found on the amazing UKClimbing site) there was apparently some good bouldering, but we somehow missed it and decided to carry on. Continuing along the border, we continued our search for the famous Suckstone (jokes ahoy, boom boom). The suckstone is apparently the UK’s biggest boulder and it didn’t disappoint. Walking along the path, we spotted it jutting out amongst the fronds and Ripley shot off to investigate.

The sight of the famed Suckstone from the trail! #winning

One side of the Suckstone is a head height overhang, whilst the other side is a huge slab. Apparently it had been cleaned a few years ago, but unfortunately it was completely covered in moss, making climbing it a little tricky. There are some really nice routes with little crimpy holds, a nice side arete route, and some cracks too. When cleaned I imagine it’d be a nice place to spend a good afternoon climbing but things felt a bit hairy with moss crumbling off the wall on every hand and foot holds.

Posted again, for extra ego - The suckstone. Not nearly as dramatic as this photo suggests but don’t tell anyone.

Further up from the Suckstone is Hearkening Rock, which looked better for trad and top roping so we had a little scout around but as things were getting late, we headed on towards Symonds Yat.

The route was pretty steep and downhill, with our quads really taking the brunt of it. With all 3 of us old men having shot knees (mine from smashing it up skateboarding, Joe from the Brecon Beacons fastpacking trip and Matt from Basketball) things got punishing but we pushed on. At the bottom of the hill, we found a nifty rope bridge leading to a scout camp at Biblins Cave and followed the trail around to Symonds Yat.

Symonds Yat is quite a strange place. It’s a bit hobbity with everyone living by the river on steep hillsides, with little rope pulley boats to take you from pub to pub on either side of the river. Absolutely amazing - boat pub crawl ahoy! Except we’d finally arrived there at 10pm so only had an hour and a half to sink a few at Ye Old Ferrie Inn rather and cross the river to try the Saracen’s head in the morning. As to be expected, we arrived 3 minutes after the chef had closed down the kitchen so the pub were kind enough to let us crank up the Primus Lite stove and get some Expedition Food packs down us (mine is bigger than Joe’s #1000k4TW).

Wolfing down as many pints as we could cope with (they had amazing beers there) we decided to hike back up the extremely steep hill that Symonds Yat West is based on and find somewhere to camp. Brutalised by the climb, we arrived at camp stone cold sober and crashed out.

Dog Pillow

We had a great night’s sleep (even Joe seeing as Matt had brought him a sleeping bag) and when Ripley and I woke to get out of the tent, we were confronted by a scene that looked like Jurassic Park. There were giant fronds everywhere, with a huge cliff face surrounding us that we hadn’t managed to notice, even with the sun like beam of my new Black Diamond Storm head torch. It turns out that we had inadvertently camped in the middle of Bailey Quarry without realising - what a stroke of luck!

After packing up the tents, we decided to have a bit of a climb. Bailey Quarry has got a number of fantastic trad routes of varying grades, but as we didn’t have any kit beyond shoes, we decided to have a bit of fun soloing the routes up as far as we were comfortable. It’d be cool to come back and try these top roping which we’re planning to do later in the year.

Heading off back down the hill, we reached the rope ferry and crossed over to the Saracen’s Head pub to get a bit of mid morning lunch. We didn’t want to spend too long here (despite the pub, food, beer and view being second to none) as we were pushed for time and wanted to check out some of the bouldering up the hill in Symonds Yat proper, with still having quite a long hike back to the car in Redhook, so we stuffed down a meal and a pint before heading off.

The hike up the hill was steep but not too far, although some of the road hiking was a little hairy. We got back on the trail and wandered around, managing to find a few of the cliffs and some boulders probably a bit above our pay grade.

Despite having two climbing guides, an OS map and GPS on our phones, we struggled to find the boulders we were looking for. Perhaps because we were exhausted, perhaps because we’re useless, or perhaps because we were becoming aware of how short on time we were for the 4 hour hike back to Matt’s car followed by a 30 minute drive back to ours, with a 3:30 drive back to London on the end, we decided to call it a day and start the trek home.

The trek back to the car was probably a bit more arduous than we were expecting.

4 hours later we got to Monmouth and 20 metres from the boozer (of course, a quick pint was necessary) Ripley dropped into a fur puddle on the floor and refused to move. To be fair she’d probably done around 40 miles and hadn’t complained once so fair game. Upon entering the pub and enquiring about taxis, a fella named John at the bar was kind enough to offer us a lift so I put some money (which he had refused) behind the bar for him and we headed off to Redhook.

Rippers, doing the butterfly chicken, I’m not moving another inch pose.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend with the lads and I’m looking forward to more again soon. TBC!

#Hiking #fastpacking #Wyevalley #offasdyke #wildcamping #climbing #sproodles #sproodle #springerpoo #symondsyat #climb

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bravevulnerability · 7 years

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Imagine your OTP looking up at the stars. Person A is really enthusiastic, pointing out the constellations and person B just falls asleep to their voice (taken from the prompts blog I hope you don't mind 🙈)

“And that’s Cassiopeia,” he listens to her murmur, her voice low, so soft in the darkness of the car that he has to blink a few times to stop the drugging sensation of sleep from lapping at his consciousness.

“I still only know the Big Dipper,” he states, smirking at Beckett’s huff of exasperation from his side. They’ve been at this for nearly half an hour now, camped out in her dead cruiser in the middle of a New Jersey highway after being abducted by proverbial aliens, staring into the sky full of stars while they await Ryan and Esposito to come pick them up.

He never would have guessed Beckett to be such an astronomy nerd, to know the constellations like the back of her hand, to want to share them with him.

“Look,” she says, scooting in closer to him, her shoulder bumping his as she points her finger to the glass of the windshield, and he holds his breath to avoid inhaling the sweet scent of cherries. “See that ‘M’ shape?”

Castle sits forward, genuinely tries to follow the direction of her index finger towards the sky, to locate the constellation she speaks of, and - oh, oh he sees it.

“There?” He traces the ‘M’ with his finger along the glass and Kate nods, actual excitement radiating from her body, transferring like waves of pleasant energy into his.

“Yeah, and to the left is Cepheus,” she continues, curling her knees up onto the seat, just a breath away from folding atop his thigh. “You know the Greek mythology behind stars, don’t you, Castle?”

“Mm, no, actually,” he replies, sitting back, narrowly avoiding the spring beneath the leather that always pokes him in the ass, settled comfortably in the middle instead. Sharing space with Kate Beckett. “I always wanted to know more, but I just never got around to it.”

“You’re missing out,” Kate quips, her gaze still roaming the sky, the stars alight in her eyes, brighter there than they are up above in the blanket of inky darkness.

Mythology, tales of gods and monsters and unfathomable heroic feats, doesn’t seem like something she would be interested in, not when he knows her stance on magic and fate, but he doesn’t want to question her intrigue in the subject, doesn’t want to dissect and overanalyze it.

Doesn’t ever want that spark in her eyes, the rare look of celestial wonder, to disappear.

“Fill me in,” he suggests, casting his gaze to the sky once more, attempting to find the stories she speaks of in the slew of constellations they can hardly catch a glimpse of in the city without a telescope.

Beckett is silent for a long moment, but he waits, releases a shallow breath of surprise when she relaxes beside him, the caps of her knees brushing his outer thigh, their arms flirting as she gets comfortable. Prepared to tell him a story.

“Cassiopeia used to be a queen,” she begins and Rick rests his head back against the top of the seat, tries to stare at the sky instead of her. Despite how severely she rivals their heavenly view. “But her vanity had her exiled to the sky in punishment.”

Rick drifts in and out of sleep beside her, dozing through her soft spoken lecture in Greek mythology, but he blinks and straightens every so often, tries his best to stay awake. She doesn’t mind, though, caught up in the stories her dad used to tell her when they’d sit in front of her telescope throughout the nights when she was ten years old on her bedroom floor, sometimes in the city, usually at the cabin.

The myths never fazed her, but the older she grew, the more fascinating she found them. The idea of being turned into a star, sentenced to illuminating the night sky for centuries to come, trapped but burning so bright.

“Don’t stop talking,” Castle mumbles, his head a mere inch away from falling to her shoulder, and part of her craves the warmth of it, the way she had felt waking up with her head on his chest only an hour ago, that split second of fleeting but blissful unawareness before memories of a dark room and bright lights and bruised necks had rushed back in.

“Hmm?” she replies, realizing she has in fact gone quiet, lost to the train of her thoughts, her eyes drifting from the constellations overhead to skate along his face.

She still wonders what it would have been like in the summer, in the Hamptons, with him, if they could have been on the beach, under a sky glittering with stars like they are now. Wonders if she could have curled into his side, pointed out constellations to him until his fascination was fed and the trace of his fingers up and down her arm became too much, until she shifted to find the dark blues of his eyes gazing at her instead of the stars, claimed the crescent moon of his upturned mouth. Two stars colliding, exploding-

“Like listening to you talk, Beckett. Great storytelling voice,” he continues, snapping her out of the silly - and totally inappropriate, jeez, Kate - fantasy.

“Great for putting you to sleep,” she retorts, watching his eyes slit open, ascending to locate her angled above him.

“Getting kidnapped by the men in black took a lot out of me, not my fault your voice can soothe me to sleep,” he quips, the corner of his mouth curling with a grin. “But I can promise you, I caught almost the entirety of the story about Cassie up there.”

“Cassie?” she chuckles, following the nod of his head towards his recently learned constellation.

“I want to learn more. We should have weekly stargazing sessions,” he muses and she hates herself, her utterly stupid heart, for internally jumping at the idea. “I actually have access to the roof on my building, and Alexis’s telescope… it’d be fun.”

Kate chews on her bottom lip, glances to Castle’s and lifts her gaze to his eyes when she notices the subtle breath he sucks in, the ripple of his throat as he catches the slide of her gaze to his mouth.

“Unless, of course - I mean, I know Josh is-”

“Not in the picture,” she fills in quietly, watching the constellations in his eyes come together, forming galaxies that illuminate the shades of blue as he shifts beside her, straightens in his seat and angles his body towards her.

“Kate-”

“Kinda sounds like the setup for date,” she hums, bearing witness to the explosion of those stars in his widened eyes, the supernova of colors shining bright and sprinkling stardust throughout his features, and she’s tempted to taste it on his parted lips.

‘It - yeah, it could be,” he murmurs, echoing the rise and fall of his gaze to her mouth and back again. “After this case? If the aliens don’t take us?”

Kate rolls her eyes. “Chances of the date are starting to dwindle.”

“Oh, I am so not getting abducted if it means missing a date with you,” he states, startling when a flash of light beams through the car, but it’s coming from their side. Headlights from Ryan and Espo’s cruiser.

“We’re going to find a completely logical, earthbound solution to this case, Castle.”

“And then we’re going to have a date under the stars,” he sighs, ridiculously wistful, but he grins at her, bright and true and making her heart leap, and she shakes her head, but… it sounded nice, kind of perfect, and she can’t wait.

The boys are emerging from their vehicle and Kate moves to join them on the road, but Castle catches her hand before they can exit the car, his thumb landing on the inside of her wrist, caressing the line of her pulse and momentarily stealing her oxygen, causing her lungs to stutter and seize.

“Thanks for showing me the stars, Beckett.”

#castle fanfiction #castle au #kate beckett #richard castle #3x09 #castle #prompt #anon #mine #this was in my drafts for far too long #and i feel like the prompt was filled by someone else?#(and probably done far better i'm sure)#but i do apologize if that's the case!

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