Glide Path to Britannia

After two cancelled trips due to Viral Unpleasantness I am wheels up, heading off to excavate at Vindolanda shortly.  

Some of my digging gear and garb has been in the travel bag for three years.  Of course I unpack and repack it, occasionally borrowing out some dirt friendly garments for a particularly grubby task locally.  

One of the home stretch aspects of packing is looking at the weather in northern England.  It is rather changeable due to the proximity to the North Sea.  But I try to anticipate what I'll need.  We are now in the "glide path" phase of planning.....close enough to see the ground so to speak.   

Here's the latest forecast with Monday highlighted and a bunch of other days in the background. Admittedly the forecasts in the UK are as fallible as those Stateside, but this is pretty typical.  There will be no day in which the likelihood of at least minor precipitation is under 30%.  The temp will vary between 35 and 50 F.  There will be a lot of sheep wandering around dimly.

I've gotten pretty good at the logistics of this trip.  I keep a few "manky"* garments over in the UK along with a pair of wellies.  This helps me attain my standard goal of only traveling with a bag that fits in the overhead compartment.  If you can't throw it on your back and start walking you have too much junk.

On one or two occasions I have been misled by the forecasts.  When this happens I nip into one of the UK equivalents of our Thrift Stores or Yard Sales.  These are respectively known over there as Charity Shops and Jumble or Boot Sales.  Pick up a few extra T shirts or a sweater and layer up.

I might have a chance to toss a few items in the laundry during my one month stay....depends on which local friends I can impose upon.  Or I can just do what I usually do, pack a bag of laundry powder, wash up things in the sink and hang them out to dry.

Helpful hint....bags of white powder in your carry on luggage should be clearly labeled LAUNDRY SOAP. 

You can tell I'm an Old Campaigner in clothing matters.  I do not want to end up like the miserable Roman soldier whose pleading message home somehow ended up preserved on a writing tablet in the anaerobic layers of the fort ditch.  He requested:

“Paria udonum ab Sattua solearum duo et subligariorum duo,” (translation -socks, two pairs of sandals and two pairs of underpants’.)

Checked my list.  I have everything but the sandals.

 I'll have the usual foreign internet stuff to figure our but you can then expect digging and pub reports for an entire month.

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*Manky is one of my favorite bits of North Brit slang.  It means dirty, shabby or in bad taste.  I have some garments in each category.