So off we trundled en masse to a local lake 30 mins away. There was a bit of checking of ice thickness and snow coverage which was a minor worry. However, it was pretty much perfect conditions! Having only skated on ice rinks in the UK it was pretty weird to step out onto a frozen lake and to hear the reverberations of Stefan whacking the ice with his stick to check the thickness.
I then also had to remember how to skate and also change slightly as it was quite weird having the borrowed skates on my boots. It was AWESOME fun and amazing to be able to skate for several miles in the morning and be able to meet up with our other halves for lunch at a shorline shelter that they'd walked to. Unfortunately we had no matches otherwise we'd have lit a fire to warm ourselves by. But the sweet rosehip soup and rolls did a pretty good job. We then went back out for more and the Girls walked back to the car.
There were a few differences; carrying a bag of spare clothes, saftey ice picks to pull you out of the water, a throw line and also having to look out for hazards. Such as not going too close to shore/reeds, large cracks in the ice (solid but bumpy) and then checking now and again for thickness! There was a few worries, one being a narrowing in the lake which had caused a crack to form across the entire width (at the southern end). Stefan stopped suddenly and whilst standing uncomfortably close plunged the testing stick straight into water about a foot away from him. Also when trying to get over to the shelter for lunch I had a minor, 'i'm skating through quite deep water' moment and was told to back up quite quickly..
All in all i don't think i've had a better day of skating and i'm not entirely sure that i ever will again..
I'm reminded of a lord of the rings quote
Gimli: "Certainty of death, *small* chance of success... What are we waiting for?"
Some track logs:
pre lunch
post lunch
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