Birthday Boy

No not me, my Nephew was 1 at the weekend! So for a difference we were over in south wales having much cake and (loud) fun opening lots of present and playing with toys. It was a brilliant weekend playing with my niece and nephew plus seeing the family.

However, i also felt i needed to be getting my running shoes back on and in a pique of madness set an alarm for 7:15 on the sunday. Failing to realise that i was in unfamiliar territory and it was very dark outside.. Luckily i had a bright headtorch in the car so headed out.

I proceeded to find a bramble patch veering off course, then struggled to find the proper path. Got lost in a very dark forest, found another path. Missed a turning, got chased by some sheep. Missed another path and had to backtrack. Veered off-course again into a logging operation which was VERY muddy and impossible to run through. Then finally got to habitation only to be slightly lost. Luckily I headed the right way and then recognised a farm name (marked on the map) and found the same path back home. Which then meant heading down a muddy steep path (aka a slide fest) before collapsing back at the front door an hour later. I'd covered a barely 4 mile 'run'.

Still I had a cracking view of the sunrise over Hay Bluff and apart from the scratches and blood had a pretty good time. I'm not sure anyone else would have if they'd have been with me....

Happy New Year!

Well the festivities are well and truly over and i'm probably a little bit heavier (but not by much) than i was before..

Christmas was over in a blur of seeing family and cooking lots. Although there was a very enjoyable visit to a tiny cinema to see the Hobbit (loved it 5/5). There wasn't much running or activity as i hadn't been feeling well in the run up to xmas so took it a bit easy. However, we did have a very short walk to blow away some cobwebs on the Sheringham sea front.


Sea...

Back to work for a few days between xmas and new year which was extremely quiet, but beneficial in getting lots done and being off work early both days. After this it was a jaunt up to the cotswolds with friends to see in the new year. Having a cottage was a god-send and we took full advantage by going for a long bike ride in the cold and wet sat (42km ish). Sunday was a dry but very windy walk around Broadway tower. Monday a horribly muddy run round Ilmington. During which i suffered slightly from a lack of running in the past month and also taking the bolder option of shorts - brrr. However, all was forgiven by a quick half in the pub after and standing by the open fire. 

Broadway Tower

The night itself was much food, merriment and suave dressing by all and Lo another year has passed by in a wonderful blur of good times, activity and fun with friends.

Wishing you all the best in 2013.

Goteborg

Over the weekend was a long awaited trip to see friends over in Sweden. It was fantastic fun to go over and catch up and mostly involved a lot of food, talking and generally not doing much on the Saturday. However, Sunday being cold and just above freezing seemed like a perfect time to go for an ice skate. I would have said run, but i was feeling a bit clogged up and coldy.

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

Sorting and chores

A weekend with wifey away in Bath meant that I had a list of things that i needed to get on with. New tyres for her car, food shop, hoovering, cleaning, laundry etc.. I also had some time for a bit of exercise, but with a tight hamstring (i blame the decortaing) i took it easy from running (even tho it was a brilliant day for it) and went for a swim instead ;-). The rest of day was sorting out a few more bits and repairing some brickwork that i'd noticed decorating.

Whist sat down enjoying the fruits of my labours, I thought a spot of Yoga would probably help the hamstring. So devised a session based on some of the things from the wednesday previous. Unfortunately my memory isn't that good, and a phone call meant that i needed to get on with Dinner. This turned out perfect and Soup a l'onion was pretty darned tasty.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Fun decorating

Soo, not much to report on the exercise front. However, i have managed to strip, prepare and wallpaper our dining room over the course of last week. My evening job turned into stipping* and then at the weekend i was wallpapering and putting it all back together again.

Still have some boxes to unpack, but it's pretty much there. Although i do have a few odds and sods that came up from doing it, which i'll be trying to get to this weekend.

Ho hum, the gorgeous wintery forecast and my mate running round the Kentmere Horseshoe will have to wait for some other time. Hopefully i'll get out for something else this weekend.

* clean up that thought.

Birthday!

last friday that was.. So taking a single day of holiday i had a long list of things that i wanted to get done. Some involved ferrying wifey around to a few appointments. Being at home for delivery of a parcel, getting some tyres fitted and also going to the gym. Followed by a swim which was a very nice way to spend the day. The evening was a bit quieter and involved a nice meal out just the two of us.

Over the weekend was spending some time in Warwick meeting up with an old friend over from NZ and eating some wonderful lasagne prepared by Tara. Then an onward trip to Brum slightly inebriated to meet up and stay with some other friends Jon+BB. During which a plan was hatched to bike from their home, along some canals (of which Brum has many) and then end up at a Cafe to meet up with our lovey ladies.

It was a brilliant days riding, if blooming hard work in some of the sludge, mud and ice that we came across. Jon particularly suffered as he hasn't been doing a lot of late. However, we arrived, slightly late, and consumed much cake and flapjack whilst having a hot choccie. Before putting the bikes back onto his car and heading 'home' for some slow cooked stew that had been on the go!!!

Brilliant,,, another point to point session with some amazing service courtesey of our respective ladies.

Hmmm, re-reading this it seems a lot of food was consumed!

Lakeland snow

Apologies for an interim silence. However, we were up in the lakes for our summer hols. It's a long story as to why it's our summer hols, involving a lack of concurrent free weekends and a non-existent jury service in the middle of August!

So with our normal cottage booked for northern lakes, a lovely retreat hand crafted by the owner who's a carpenter, we spent a little time wandering round Keswick on market day picking up the bits we needed and then a week of relaxing fun ensued.

Highlights were a nice walk to Grange from Seatoller and back (stopping in at the bridge cafe and watching the 10mile road race run by). A day out to Brantwood house, home of John Ruskin. An walk up and around Loweswater Lake, stopping in for lunch at the Kirkstile inn. Several Yoga sessions in front of the woodburner plus a bit of relaxation.


Clough Head first thing - it's a long slog

However, there was a small run that i did.. On a very clear, still, and snowy ridge. I had planned to drive myself and then bus back to the start, but Wifey was very agreeable in dropping me off and collecting me whilst i ran Leg2 of the Bob Graham round. The route is here and some photos of the run below. It was such a good day out, if hard work. Apart from a small delay getting lost in the only bit of cloud on Great Dodd (must remember to believe the compass) the entire run was in glorious skies and i was mostly following some old XC skiers tracks! There was the odd bit of trail bashing which made for a slower time than aniticipated. This did mean that i had to miss out Fairfield at the end otherwise i'd be much later than expected back at Dunmail Raise. This would have freaked Wifey out unduly, so i skipped that and went straight to Grisedale hause then up Seat Sandal.



Following tracks

Food was perfect, i took too much kit (waterproofs, warm layer and emergency shelter/bag) but was worried about being out in the fells alone.. in the end once i got to Raise i was with the 'relative' hoards (for a monday) going to Helvellyn (and on the ski tow!). The added bonus of having wifey pick me up was hot choclate in a flask, and a home cooked stew for when i woke from a crafty nap!



A gorgeous looking Striding Edge up Helvellyn

All in all, a better holiday could not have been had.



Panorama of the day, Fairfield on the right, Grisedale tarn (Grisedale Hause is bottom right) and Dollywaggon Pike on the left.