Weather / Tywydd
Cloudy and overcast with outbreaks of rain and drizzle and widespread hill fog. The rain heavy and persistent at times with occasional torrential downpours expected. It will also be very windy with severe gales or storm force winds at higher levels.
That’s what the weather report said about tonight. So I shouldn’t really have been surprised when I heard a pager go off not long after being in base. It was Dai’s – he gets messages from the Bridgend team as well since he lives in Bridgend. They’d just been asked to attend a search down on the Gower. Huw looked at Dai and whilst Huw got his kit to change into, Dai started repacking the Landrover after Saturday’s callout. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I grabbed my kit and got changed myself. Just as I was finishing, another pager went off and Huw called out. “This is it, then.”
Rushing out o the car I grabbed my rucksack and quickly got my boots on. Getting the first response Landrover ready, I ended up driving and Huw jumped into the passenger seat. Heading out of base, blue lights flashing, we headed up the lane. A quick note – if an emergency vehicle is trying to pull out of a side road with blue lights flashing and sirens blaring, let it out. Don’t just drive on in front of it. I mean, it’s not like we’re in a hurry to get somewhere. Bloody idiot.
With the joy of the weather, driving became very interesting. The heads of the valleys road was particularly wet with huge amounts of surface water and one hell of a gusty crosswind. It was definitely a challenge. We rapidly got down to the M4 and started heading west, towards the Gower…when the pagers went off with a standdown. Confirmed by radio with the police, we found that the Coastguard had found the lady in question and we turned off the blues, took the next exit and drove back in a rather more sedate manner.
The rest of the evening was taken up with a debrief on Saturday and it was good to hear from the ambulance service, the hospital and from the helicopter praise for the professionalism of our work with the casualty.
Oh one other announcement we had tonight. On Saturday, Brecon team has it’s Christmas party. Oh, so does Bridgend. So half of South Wales’ mountain rescuers will be drunk. Don’t say it. Just don’t. There’s an unwritten rule that this Saturday night Central Beacons team will be sober. Just in case.