Last weekend, whilst out enduring my solo 28 miler, I listened to Andy Howell's (www.andyhowell.info/trekblog) series of podcasts (http://www.theoutdoorsstation.co.uk) from The Outdoor Show at the NEC back in the middle of March.
During the first podcast, he talked to Paramo, who described a particular pair of trousers: the Women’s Azuma Vent.
I’ve been after a new pair of summer walking trousers since late last year (when the zip in my previous pair became a little temperamental). I’ve persisted with the old trousers since, which has occasionally led to some embarrassing and airy times, when the zip has just refused to do up.
I was verging on accepting ‘his & hers matching’ status and buying a pair of Montane Terra Pants, but from the verbal description the Azuma’s seemed to be just the alternative that I was after.
Getting home I wasted no time in getting on the internet to find out more. They seemed to fit the bill (except not being water resistant, but in their favour they are £15 cheaper than the Terra Pants), so I ordered a pair.
I got my hands on them late last week (after a trip to the sorting office). Today I tried them out.
In their favour, they’re very lightweight and feel lovely against the skin. They have plenty of pockets (for reasons unknown some designers believe that women don’t need anywhere near as many pockets as men), and omit the zip that I would never use on the bottom of the leg, as sported by the Terra Pants.
Also in their favour, I found out to my benefit today that the thigh vent does exactly what it should. From my first look at them when they arrived, I didn’t think it would be so effective.
On the downside, I don’t think that Paramo has got the female design quite right. The waist is quite comprehensively elasticated, which should be comfortable, but is surely not a flattering look on anyone. Less than a flattering look would not be a problem, if it was comfortable and practical. However, this is where the designers seemed to have erred most. The elastic is just too strong; there’s plenty of give in it (indeed, I can remove the trousers without having to undo them), but its natural state seems to be squeezing you as hard as it can, which leads to sweatiness all around the waistband (as well as being less comfortable).
I’m sure that I’ve not got a size that’s too small. Everything else fits fine (at least, it fits as well as someone my size can expect; I got the extra small and the hips are a bit big and the legs a bit long), and I’m well within the published measurements for that size.
My other complaint is about the ‘patch’ pockets. As soon as you have a handkerchief in each, they pull the material so that it creases across the thigh, so the pockets are really no designed to hold very much. The standard type of pocket (hand through a slit in the trouser, into a shaped pocket liner) in my previous trousers seemed a much better design.
So, a good pair of trousers with which I’m very pleased. Just a couple of tweaks in the design would make them superb.
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Sunday, 22 April 2007
A Solo Training Walk
After yesterday’s half mile stroll along Ogden Water with his mother, Husband decided that his knee was not well enough to join me on our 30 mile jaunt today, so off I set by myself at 8am this morning.
It was almost a repetition of last week’s walk, with the main difference being that I started out by walking through and out the other side of the village to meet up with the canal, rather than cutting a corner off to meet it further along.
The next three hours were spent in the company of a huge number of narrow boats – they really were out in force today, before I reached the pub at which we had lunched last week.
I had just finished dealing with a blister on my big toe (it was actually the one that I got in the last couple of miles last week – I forgot to deal with it last week hence it was still there today) when Husband pulled into the car park, bringing my lunch.
After lunch in the car and a quick glass of sugary juice in the pub (once it finally opened at noon), I was off again, but this time with Podcasts to keep me company.
I’d not been going for long before the rain started – some six hours earlier than the weather forecast had predicted. It turned out to just be the edge of a shower, so I didn’t even break out the jacket and it soon passed by.
Fields were crossed and lanes were walked along until I found myself a couple of hours later nearing another pub. A quick phone call to Husband and he decided to come and meet me again for another glass of sugary drink. I was 22 miles down and feeling good – until I sat down in the pub.
Starting back up after a twenty minute stop went against nature. My body wanted to be lying on a sumptuous mattress under a duvet, not plodding along more lanes (without even Podcasts to keep me company; on the winding, narrow lanes it’s bad enough dodging cars even when you can hear them approaching from quite a distance away (why is it that you don’t see any cars for ten minutes, then two come from opposite directions and find that they need to pass each other just as they reach you walking along?).
Unlike last week, I took the longer route back home from the next village along, by which time my mind was fully embracing ‘last mile syndrome’ and on the one hand I desperately wanted to stop, but on the other hand I was thinking that to make the 30 miles, I should probably carry on past the house to do a quick circuit of a local estate (of the landed gentry sort, not the housing sort).
The desire to be home won, which turned out to be the right choice as Husband met me outside of the house to lead me to the garden bench where a bottle of chilled beer was uncapped and waiting for me. Top man!
Measuring the route that I actually took, I found (rather disappointingly) that I had only walked 28 miles. On the plus side, I did it faster than last week’s 26 miles.
With twenty walks and just over 300 miles having been covered in training (compared to last year’s 10 walks and 140 miles) I’m content that I’ve done a reasonable amount of preparation. The next two weekends will be walks of more sensible proportions before the big one in 3 weeks time.
It was almost a repetition of last week’s walk, with the main difference being that I started out by walking through and out the other side of the village to meet up with the canal, rather than cutting a corner off to meet it further along.
The next three hours were spent in the company of a huge number of narrow boats – they really were out in force today, before I reached the pub at which we had lunched last week.
I had just finished dealing with a blister on my big toe (it was actually the one that I got in the last couple of miles last week – I forgot to deal with it last week hence it was still there today) when Husband pulled into the car park, bringing my lunch.
After lunch in the car and a quick glass of sugary juice in the pub (once it finally opened at noon), I was off again, but this time with Podcasts to keep me company.
I’d not been going for long before the rain started – some six hours earlier than the weather forecast had predicted. It turned out to just be the edge of a shower, so I didn’t even break out the jacket and it soon passed by.
Fields were crossed and lanes were walked along until I found myself a couple of hours later nearing another pub. A quick phone call to Husband and he decided to come and meet me again for another glass of sugary drink. I was 22 miles down and feeling good – until I sat down in the pub.
Starting back up after a twenty minute stop went against nature. My body wanted to be lying on a sumptuous mattress under a duvet, not plodding along more lanes (without even Podcasts to keep me company; on the winding, narrow lanes it’s bad enough dodging cars even when you can hear them approaching from quite a distance away (why is it that you don’t see any cars for ten minutes, then two come from opposite directions and find that they need to pass each other just as they reach you walking along?).
Unlike last week, I took the longer route back home from the next village along, by which time my mind was fully embracing ‘last mile syndrome’ and on the one hand I desperately wanted to stop, but on the other hand I was thinking that to make the 30 miles, I should probably carry on past the house to do a quick circuit of a local estate (of the landed gentry sort, not the housing sort).
The desire to be home won, which turned out to be the right choice as Husband met me outside of the house to lead me to the garden bench where a bottle of chilled beer was uncapped and waiting for me. Top man!
Measuring the route that I actually took, I found (rather disappointingly) that I had only walked 28 miles. On the plus side, I did it faster than last week’s 26 miles.
With twenty walks and just over 300 miles having been covered in training (compared to last year’s 10 walks and 140 miles) I’m content that I’ve done a reasonable amount of preparation. The next two weekends will be walks of more sensible proportions before the big one in 3 weeks time.
A Quick Dash Up A Small Hill
Acknowledging that hills have been woefully lacking in our Keswick to Barrow training, when I found myself in Yorkshire visiting Ma & Pa-in-law yesterday, it seemed like a good opportunity to go and find a hill to walk up and down a couple of times.
Off I went to Ogden Water with Husband and Ma-in-Law and whilst they strolled along the reservoir to the visitor centre for a cup of tea, I set off up along the inlet stream to the moor which houses a wind farm.
The problem with my plan came when I saw the barriers across the path just after I set out. So as to avoid any actual knowledge that the path was closed, I peeled off into the woodland to my right, following a path that was clearly visible on the ground, and came back onto my intended route a way after the barrier – only to find that the stile has been covered in barbed wire by way of further indication that the path was closed (although interestingly all of the sign posts were still in place). I did the obvious thing and clambered over the barbed wire.
Making my way up the edge of the stream it became apparent why the path had been closed, for the erosion of the bank has crept perilously close to the path. I didn’t feel in any danger making my way up there, but considering that Ogden Water is something of a family-out-for-a-stroll-in-sandals sort of a place, I can see why it’s been felt necessary to close route.
At the top I walked around further barriers (which confirmed that it was due to ‘severe erosion’ that the path is closed) and from there I trotted up the stone steps to the gate onto the moor.
With limited time, I decided against a full round, across the moor and back down the hillside at the other side of the reservoir, but instead turned around and retraced my steps to the stream to then trot up the steps the other side of the small valley. Not wanting to disobey the ‘path closed’ signs having now seen them, I took a route back down the spur, although on reaching the bottom I turned back around and made my way half way back up, before returning to waters edge to make my way to the visitor centre to find Husband and Ma-in-Law (where I had a Yorkshire Dales ice cream and disappointingly found that it is made in Cwmbran!).
It was only a half hour walk, but I maintained quite a pace and it involved a bit of a slope, so I was happy with that; after all, I didn’t want to tire my muscles for today.
Off I went to Ogden Water with Husband and Ma-in-Law and whilst they strolled along the reservoir to the visitor centre for a cup of tea, I set off up along the inlet stream to the moor which houses a wind farm.
The problem with my plan came when I saw the barriers across the path just after I set out. So as to avoid any actual knowledge that the path was closed, I peeled off into the woodland to my right, following a path that was clearly visible on the ground, and came back onto my intended route a way after the barrier – only to find that the stile has been covered in barbed wire by way of further indication that the path was closed (although interestingly all of the sign posts were still in place). I did the obvious thing and clambered over the barbed wire.
Making my way up the edge of the stream it became apparent why the path had been closed, for the erosion of the bank has crept perilously close to the path. I didn’t feel in any danger making my way up there, but considering that Ogden Water is something of a family-out-for-a-stroll-in-sandals sort of a place, I can see why it’s been felt necessary to close route.
At the top I walked around further barriers (which confirmed that it was due to ‘severe erosion’ that the path is closed) and from there I trotted up the stone steps to the gate onto the moor.
With limited time, I decided against a full round, across the moor and back down the hillside at the other side of the reservoir, but instead turned around and retraced my steps to the stream to then trot up the steps the other side of the small valley. Not wanting to disobey the ‘path closed’ signs having now seen them, I took a route back down the spur, although on reaching the bottom I turned back around and made my way half way back up, before returning to waters edge to make my way to the visitor centre to find Husband and Ma-in-Law (where I had a Yorkshire Dales ice cream and disappointingly found that it is made in Cwmbran!).
It was only a half hour walk, but I maintained quite a pace and it involved a bit of a slope, so I was happy with that; after all, I didn’t want to tire my muscles for today.
Sunday, 15 April 2007
The Canal on Our Left
Last weekend we took a 22 mile linear training walk. The plan for today had been 25 miles, but when I came to measure a route last night the one that I planned was actually 26.5 miles. Near enough, I thought, so that’s the route that I printed out.
With much concentration we managed to get out of the house far more speedily than we usually manage (our ability to faff on a Sunday morning is reaching legendary proportions) and were out walking at 9am.
Rather than heading out across fields and coming back along the canal, as we have done an uncountable number of times this year (actually, I could count, but it’s still a lot) today we decided to walk through the village to the canal and follow it for around 14 miles to meet up with the Staffordshire Way, where we were to leave the waterside to take a few fields and lots of quiet lanes, to bring us back home.
We speed walked the first 12 miles in three and a quarter hours (with one break), which brought us nicely to a pub at around lunchtime. With the sun beating down a drink that didn’t taste of plastic (hydration systems are great, but they do have a taste all of their own) was calling, so we popped in for a fruity drink that is no doubt full of sugar and E numbers, and a selection of side dishes.
Half an hour or so later, we hauled ourselves back outside and dispensed with the last couple of miles until we hit the Staffordshire Way.
We followed the Way for a while, then it was on to lanes.
I don’t know how hot it got today, but I would say it was around the 22-23 mark, and even with regular sips of water I was feeling the heat. So, when we met another village and found a pub it seemed rude not to go in an give them some business. As it turned out, half of the world was giving them some business, but we managed to get ourselves a table pretty quickly (I did resist taking my shoes off; although I desperately wanted to, it seemed to be a socially unacceptable thing to do when people were eating in the same room) and discovered that not only is a glass of Apple and Melon J2O not particularly nice, but in this establishment it was also more expensive than a larger glass of ale.
Setting back off for the last 6 or so miles, I didn’t feel too bad, although fatigue did set in over the next few miles, which by way of a change to our planned route (it's bad enough being anywhere near fields of rape in flower, we didn't fancy walking through one) involved more tarmac than I would have liked.
Reaching a village that’s only 2 miles from our house (albeit that our planned route avoided the busy, narrow B road that gives that distance and was thus twice as far), Husband had something of a catastrophic failure of his knee. I left him sitting in a bus shelter as I said that I would pop back home, get the car and go back for him.
Looking at the map I found a shorter route, although it didn’t quite go as planned. As I hit a huge crop field, with no view of any of the other boundaries and without any path on the ground, I kicked myself for not having the 1:25k map with me, from which I could quickly have deduced where I was and where I needed to go.
As it went, I indulged in a little trespass and hopped over a gate to find myself on the B road sooner than I wanted to. A bit of a jog to get the worst part of the road over with before any traffic came, and I soon left the road to take a slightly longer route that would see me crossing fields rather than diving out of the way of cars.
I covered these last 3 miles in record time (amazing how you can find energy in weary legs when you need to), but for my haste did incur a small blister on the inside of my big toe (never had one there before).
My mileage for the day was 26 miles in 9 hours (including all of the breaks we took). Husband’s mileage was 23 miles.
Plan next week is for 30 miles. Here’s hoping for a miraculous recovery of Husband’s knee.
With much concentration we managed to get out of the house far more speedily than we usually manage (our ability to faff on a Sunday morning is reaching legendary proportions) and were out walking at 9am.
Rather than heading out across fields and coming back along the canal, as we have done an uncountable number of times this year (actually, I could count, but it’s still a lot) today we decided to walk through the village to the canal and follow it for around 14 miles to meet up with the Staffordshire Way, where we were to leave the waterside to take a few fields and lots of quiet lanes, to bring us back home.
We speed walked the first 12 miles in three and a quarter hours (with one break), which brought us nicely to a pub at around lunchtime. With the sun beating down a drink that didn’t taste of plastic (hydration systems are great, but they do have a taste all of their own) was calling, so we popped in for a fruity drink that is no doubt full of sugar and E numbers, and a selection of side dishes.
Half an hour or so later, we hauled ourselves back outside and dispensed with the last couple of miles until we hit the Staffordshire Way.
We followed the Way for a while, then it was on to lanes.
I don’t know how hot it got today, but I would say it was around the 22-23 mark, and even with regular sips of water I was feeling the heat. So, when we met another village and found a pub it seemed rude not to go in an give them some business. As it turned out, half of the world was giving them some business, but we managed to get ourselves a table pretty quickly (I did resist taking my shoes off; although I desperately wanted to, it seemed to be a socially unacceptable thing to do when people were eating in the same room) and discovered that not only is a glass of Apple and Melon J2O not particularly nice, but in this establishment it was also more expensive than a larger glass of ale.
Setting back off for the last 6 or so miles, I didn’t feel too bad, although fatigue did set in over the next few miles, which by way of a change to our planned route (it's bad enough being anywhere near fields of rape in flower, we didn't fancy walking through one) involved more tarmac than I would have liked.
Reaching a village that’s only 2 miles from our house (albeit that our planned route avoided the busy, narrow B road that gives that distance and was thus twice as far), Husband had something of a catastrophic failure of his knee. I left him sitting in a bus shelter as I said that I would pop back home, get the car and go back for him.
Looking at the map I found a shorter route, although it didn’t quite go as planned. As I hit a huge crop field, with no view of any of the other boundaries and without any path on the ground, I kicked myself for not having the 1:25k map with me, from which I could quickly have deduced where I was and where I needed to go.
As it went, I indulged in a little trespass and hopped over a gate to find myself on the B road sooner than I wanted to. A bit of a jog to get the worst part of the road over with before any traffic came, and I soon left the road to take a slightly longer route that would see me crossing fields rather than diving out of the way of cars.
I covered these last 3 miles in record time (amazing how you can find energy in weary legs when you need to), but for my haste did incur a small blister on the inside of my big toe (never had one there before).
My mileage for the day was 26 miles in 9 hours (including all of the breaks we took). Husband’s mileage was 23 miles.
Plan next week is for 30 miles. Here’s hoping for a miraculous recovery of Husband’s knee.
Time for a Lengthy Update
I’ve been quiet of late as I’ve been trying to put together my full write-ups of my last three walks (I’ve no doubt got lots of relatives staring at their letter boxes on a daily basis waiting for them to arrive).
By way of a summary:
Cumbria Way
On 28 March we went off to walk the Cumbria Way. We could hardly have wished for better weather given the time of year. The first day was fine, but very hazy; the second brought drizzle; the third was back to fine and very hazy. Days four and five were stunning clear blue skied days. We’re just not used to being out in the hills in such conditions! Of course, the clear days did bring cold nights and on two mornings we did wake up to a frosty tent. The night up by High Pike was definitely the chilliest – that tested my lighter sleeping bag down to its lower limit (and I was impressed)
We completed the walk without a problem and had a fantastic time. We happily would have continued beyond Carlisle and seen where our feet would take us – but alas responsibility gave the louder cry so we had to return to reality.
Alan Sloman
Alan Sloman is currently walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats via a somewhat interesting, and longer than normal, route. I’ve been reading his blog since he started it (www.alansloman.blogspot.com), and after listening to his podcast with Podcast Bob (www.theoutdoorsstation.com) I got in touch and arranged to meet up with him to walk with him for a day.
So, Good Friday (6 April) was a bit of a departure for me, as I’ve never before met up with a complete stranger to go for a walk. I caught a couple of trains to get me to Prestbury, from where I walked the 2.6 miles to Bollington where Alan was staying. Having introduced ourselves, we set out for the scheduled walk to Edale, and after twenty minutes or so realised that we were walking in completely the wrong direction. Ooops. I must be a bad influence.
We got back on track and only had one other minor navigational issue before we finally got ourselves out of Bollington in the right direction an hour later.
The day was perfect for walking – clear and sunny, but with a nice cool breeze.
I walked with Alan (who is a very nice man) as far as Chapel-en-le-Frith, when, after he had led me to spend an hour with him in the worst pub in the entire place (it was the first pub we saw; upon leaving we found another five or six pubs up the road that looked infinitely nicer – but sods law would dictate that if we’d shunned the first pub we wouldn’t have found another) I left him to his final few miles and I walked up to Chinley to find a train to take me back as far as Derby. Standing on the platform at Chinley (where it really is just a platform in the middle of two tracks – there’s nothing else there to warrant calling it a station) I called Husband who kindly agreed to come and pick me up from Derby.
An excellent day – and a few tips picked up for our LEJOG expedition next year – the main one (particularly after the start we had to the day) that 1:25k maps are definitely worthwhile.
Pity this is just a summary – I could enthuse at some length about this day!
Easter Saturday
Despite having walked 15 miles with Alan Sloman on Good Friday, a training walk was called for on Saturday. Husband and I set out under clear skies to take our usual route across fields and along lanes, but after a couple of hours rather than swinging back around to make it a circular route, we continued along paths that we haven’t walked since this time last year.
These paths eventually brought us to the Trent & Mersey Canal at Armitage and we followed the canal (with a brief detour via a pub for a spot of lunch) for what felt like about 20 miles, but in reality was only 8 (ooh, the feet ached by the time we left the tow-path at Shugborough).
It was then but a hop skip and a jump to get ourselves onto Cannock Chase, where by freak coincidence we found ourselves approach Stepping Stones at the exact same moment as another chap who is on our Keswick to Barrow Team was crossing over our path. He had also been walking for 6 hours, so the fact that we happened to reach the same point at the exact same time was quite a feat.
We met him again a while later (when we decided to climb a slope up to the high point of that part of the Chase, just for the fun of it), but by then we had called my Mother to ask for a lift home, so had to head off back to Rifle Range Corner where we had arranged to meet (even summoning the energy for a bit of a jog in the last mile).
The mileage for the day was 22 miles in around 7.5 hours (including breaks).
And that brings us up to today…
By way of a summary:
Cumbria Way
On 28 March we went off to walk the Cumbria Way. We could hardly have wished for better weather given the time of year. The first day was fine, but very hazy; the second brought drizzle; the third was back to fine and very hazy. Days four and five were stunning clear blue skied days. We’re just not used to being out in the hills in such conditions! Of course, the clear days did bring cold nights and on two mornings we did wake up to a frosty tent. The night up by High Pike was definitely the chilliest – that tested my lighter sleeping bag down to its lower limit (and I was impressed)
We completed the walk without a problem and had a fantastic time. We happily would have continued beyond Carlisle and seen where our feet would take us – but alas responsibility gave the louder cry so we had to return to reality.
Alan Sloman
Alan Sloman is currently walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats via a somewhat interesting, and longer than normal, route. I’ve been reading his blog since he started it (www.alansloman.blogspot.com), and after listening to his podcast with Podcast Bob (www.theoutdoorsstation.com) I got in touch and arranged to meet up with him to walk with him for a day.
So, Good Friday (6 April) was a bit of a departure for me, as I’ve never before met up with a complete stranger to go for a walk. I caught a couple of trains to get me to Prestbury, from where I walked the 2.6 miles to Bollington where Alan was staying. Having introduced ourselves, we set out for the scheduled walk to Edale, and after twenty minutes or so realised that we were walking in completely the wrong direction. Ooops. I must be a bad influence.
We got back on track and only had one other minor navigational issue before we finally got ourselves out of Bollington in the right direction an hour later.
The day was perfect for walking – clear and sunny, but with a nice cool breeze.
I walked with Alan (who is a very nice man) as far as Chapel-en-le-Frith, when, after he had led me to spend an hour with him in the worst pub in the entire place (it was the first pub we saw; upon leaving we found another five or six pubs up the road that looked infinitely nicer – but sods law would dictate that if we’d shunned the first pub we wouldn’t have found another) I left him to his final few miles and I walked up to Chinley to find a train to take me back as far as Derby. Standing on the platform at Chinley (where it really is just a platform in the middle of two tracks – there’s nothing else there to warrant calling it a station) I called Husband who kindly agreed to come and pick me up from Derby.
An excellent day – and a few tips picked up for our LEJOG expedition next year – the main one (particularly after the start we had to the day) that 1:25k maps are definitely worthwhile.
Pity this is just a summary – I could enthuse at some length about this day!
Easter Saturday
Despite having walked 15 miles with Alan Sloman on Good Friday, a training walk was called for on Saturday. Husband and I set out under clear skies to take our usual route across fields and along lanes, but after a couple of hours rather than swinging back around to make it a circular route, we continued along paths that we haven’t walked since this time last year.
These paths eventually brought us to the Trent & Mersey Canal at Armitage and we followed the canal (with a brief detour via a pub for a spot of lunch) for what felt like about 20 miles, but in reality was only 8 (ooh, the feet ached by the time we left the tow-path at Shugborough).
It was then but a hop skip and a jump to get ourselves onto Cannock Chase, where by freak coincidence we found ourselves approach Stepping Stones at the exact same moment as another chap who is on our Keswick to Barrow Team was crossing over our path. He had also been walking for 6 hours, so the fact that we happened to reach the same point at the exact same time was quite a feat.
We met him again a while later (when we decided to climb a slope up to the high point of that part of the Chase, just for the fun of it), but by then we had called my Mother to ask for a lift home, so had to head off back to Rifle Range Corner where we had arranged to meet (even summoning the energy for a bit of a jog in the last mile).
The mileage for the day was 22 miles in around 7.5 hours (including breaks).
And that brings us up to today…
Sunday, 25 March 2007
A Short Walk, Then a Shorter One
Earlier in the week, Husband expressed a desire to up the distance of our training walk this weekend to 25 or so miles. I was thinking more along the lines of 20 miles.
This morning, despite waking up with my cold more fully developed, I was still in the 20 mile mindset. Husband, with a couple less days than me to prepare for going away on Wednesday (as he’s away Monday/Tuesday), was feeling the pressure of too much to do and too little time and had shortened his ambitions to just a short walk of 10 miles.
Rather than walking separately, we started out together this morning and walked 9.25 miles, arriving back home at lunchtime. After lunch, and a quick change of jacket, I set back out for an extra 5 miles. I figured that that would still get me back home in time to cook a curry to be dehydrated overnight tonight and get the packing done, not to mention whipping up a roast dinner for tea tonight.
The routes taken were entirely uninteresting repetitions of parts of previous weeks’ walks. To be fair, the routes weren’t uninteresting in and of themselves; they were only rendered less interesting by the fact that we’ve walked them so many times in recent weeks.
But, the weather started out fair and turned to good (and the return home in the middle of the day allowed me to change my Velez for my Fuera in recognition of the improving weather), and repeated route or not, you can’t beat walking along under sunny blue skies.
The wind, which was quite noticeable in places, had a bit of a chill to it, but my new Mountain Cap (another item that I’m loving and wish I’d bought a long time ago) dealt with it admirably and without me overheating.
The mud of previous weeks had dried up (save for a couple of interesting spots by gates), so I remained dry-shod the entire day, even though I had opted for my Terrocs today. Husband tried out his RocLites for the first time, he started out thinking that they felt strange, but pushed for an opinion as I write this he says “They’re all right, aren’t they?”. To be fair, he is trying to work and so probably isn’t relishing my constant interruptions.
Best go and put that curry on, I guess.
This morning, despite waking up with my cold more fully developed, I was still in the 20 mile mindset. Husband, with a couple less days than me to prepare for going away on Wednesday (as he’s away Monday/Tuesday), was feeling the pressure of too much to do and too little time and had shortened his ambitions to just a short walk of 10 miles.
Rather than walking separately, we started out together this morning and walked 9.25 miles, arriving back home at lunchtime. After lunch, and a quick change of jacket, I set back out for an extra 5 miles. I figured that that would still get me back home in time to cook a curry to be dehydrated overnight tonight and get the packing done, not to mention whipping up a roast dinner for tea tonight.
The routes taken were entirely uninteresting repetitions of parts of previous weeks’ walks. To be fair, the routes weren’t uninteresting in and of themselves; they were only rendered less interesting by the fact that we’ve walked them so many times in recent weeks.
But, the weather started out fair and turned to good (and the return home in the middle of the day allowed me to change my Velez for my Fuera in recognition of the improving weather), and repeated route or not, you can’t beat walking along under sunny blue skies.
The wind, which was quite noticeable in places, had a bit of a chill to it, but my new Mountain Cap (another item that I’m loving and wish I’d bought a long time ago) dealt with it admirably and without me overheating.
The mud of previous weeks had dried up (save for a couple of interesting spots by gates), so I remained dry-shod the entire day, even though I had opted for my Terrocs today. Husband tried out his RocLites for the first time, he started out thinking that they felt strange, but pushed for an opinion as I write this he says “They’re all right, aren’t they?”. To be fair, he is trying to work and so probably isn’t relishing my constant interruptions.
Best go and put that curry on, I guess.
Saturday, 24 March 2007
No-News Round-Up
There was nothing to report from an outdoorsy point of view last weekend, which was spent at CenterParcs. Despite missing our weekly training walk, plenty of other (unfortunately unaccustomed) exercise was taken.
A flexiball class, line dancing, a pilates class, plus two games of badminton (the first two games I’ve played in 18 years) certainly worked muscles in different ways to usual. It was Thursday before I was free of aches.
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I’m hoping to get a walk in tomorrow – all depending upon how I feel in the morning. I’ve been fighting a cold/ear infection this week; hopefully the battle will be won overnight.
Hopefully Husband, who is sitting working at this late hour of a Saturday night, will have sufficient work done that he is able to join me.
And, if I do get out for a walk, hopefully it will rain. I would really like to test my new Paramo Velez before taking it away for the Cumbria Way next week.
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Talking of the Cumbria Way, my earlier predictions have materialised. With only two more nights at home, I have tonight stirred myself to get some fruit into the dehydrator. Tomorrow will be a curry. There are maps still to be printed (although I concluded a couple of days ago that where I don’t already have maps, we can easily make do with 1:50k Anquet prints, rather than scanning 1:25k versions, which saves lots of time). We’re fairly organised on the packing front – kit has been sorted out (and all found without the usual multiple ‘have you seen the X?’ searches) and is sitting in two piles ready to be packed.
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My hunt for a Psion 5 or 5mx continues (I’m not sure whether I’ve already mentioned this subject before?). I’m taking the Psion 3c with me next week, but in the absence of a memory card and a PC link cable I’m not only risking losing all of my notes, but also I’m going to have to type everything up again once I get home – but it will certainly be quicker and easier than a pen and paper in the tent each night.
A flexiball class, line dancing, a pilates class, plus two games of badminton (the first two games I’ve played in 18 years) certainly worked muscles in different ways to usual. It was Thursday before I was free of aches.
--------------
I’m hoping to get a walk in tomorrow – all depending upon how I feel in the morning. I’ve been fighting a cold/ear infection this week; hopefully the battle will be won overnight.
Hopefully Husband, who is sitting working at this late hour of a Saturday night, will have sufficient work done that he is able to join me.
And, if I do get out for a walk, hopefully it will rain. I would really like to test my new Paramo Velez before taking it away for the Cumbria Way next week.
---------------------
Talking of the Cumbria Way, my earlier predictions have materialised. With only two more nights at home, I have tonight stirred myself to get some fruit into the dehydrator. Tomorrow will be a curry. There are maps still to be printed (although I concluded a couple of days ago that where I don’t already have maps, we can easily make do with 1:50k Anquet prints, rather than scanning 1:25k versions, which saves lots of time). We’re fairly organised on the packing front – kit has been sorted out (and all found without the usual multiple ‘have you seen the X?’ searches) and is sitting in two piles ready to be packed.
--------------------
My hunt for a Psion 5 or 5mx continues (I’m not sure whether I’ve already mentioned this subject before?). I’m taking the Psion 3c with me next week, but in the absence of a memory card and a PC link cable I’m not only risking losing all of my notes, but also I’m going to have to type everything up again once I get home – but it will certainly be quicker and easier than a pen and paper in the tent each night.
Tuesday, 13 March 2007
Colour Co-ordination
I am not a follower of fashion. Neither would I class myself as a frump, but I’m far too tight to buy clothes that are going to be dated within three months, so I’m quite happy with my casual wardrobe of jeans and not-going-to-go-out-of-fashion tops, which I wear until they fall apart.
Perhaps it’s because I don’t often peruse high street clothes shops that I don’t think ahead on the co-ordination front.
A few years ago, I bought a Buff, which still gets a huge amount of use. It’s red.
Last year, I bought a Powerstretch top, which I love. I bought that in purple. You may spot that there was a bit of a clashing issue at that point between the powerstretch top and the Buff (in fact, there’s a bit of an issue that the purple top is made by Lowe Alpine and thus has an orange logo; there should be laws against clothes that clash with themselves).
Then, for Christmas I requested a pair of Buffalo Mitts (which really are made of magic and I can’t compliment them enough). Surveying the colour options, I selected for the purple (but a slightly different hue to my top).
Last week I ordered my Paramo Velez smock. Needing an XS size, I had a choice of only two colours: black or ‘amber’. As most of my current outdoors clothes are black or navy blue, and as Husband keeps extolling the safety virtues of clothing that stands out on a mountainside, I was persuaded to buy the ‘amber’ (for those not familiar with the Paramo colour scheme, ‘amber’ means bright orange).
So, yesterday I went for a walk wearing an orange jacket, a red Buff on my head and a pair of purple gloves.
What a fashion leader I am.
Perhaps it’s because I don’t often peruse high street clothes shops that I don’t think ahead on the co-ordination front.
A few years ago, I bought a Buff, which still gets a huge amount of use. It’s red.
Last year, I bought a Powerstretch top, which I love. I bought that in purple. You may spot that there was a bit of a clashing issue at that point between the powerstretch top and the Buff (in fact, there’s a bit of an issue that the purple top is made by Lowe Alpine and thus has an orange logo; there should be laws against clothes that clash with themselves).
Then, for Christmas I requested a pair of Buffalo Mitts (which really are made of magic and I can’t compliment them enough). Surveying the colour options, I selected for the purple (but a slightly different hue to my top).
Last week I ordered my Paramo Velez smock. Needing an XS size, I had a choice of only two colours: black or ‘amber’. As most of my current outdoors clothes are black or navy blue, and as Husband keeps extolling the safety virtues of clothing that stands out on a mountainside, I was persuaded to buy the ‘amber’ (for those not familiar with the Paramo colour scheme, ‘amber’ means bright orange).
So, yesterday I went for a walk wearing an orange jacket, a red Buff on my head and a pair of purple gloves.
What a fashion leader I am.
Monday, 12 March 2007
A New Toy!
I ordered a Steripen from a shop in the USA just over a week ago. On Friday I got home to find a Royal Mail card on the doorstep. Knowing that the item was waiting at the Sorting Office for me made me want to get my hands on it immediately (irrespective of the fact that I won’t be using it for another couple of weeks yet), but as I was away on Friday night, it was going to have to wait until this morning to be collected.
On Saturday night I got home to another Royal Mail card (the Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap that I ordered), giving me double the reason to make myself late for work by swinging by the Sorting Office this morning (and no, leaving the house earlier doesn’t help; the Enquiry Office opens at 7am, which is the time I start work 15 miles away).
I’ve not had the chance to get it out of its box, to touch it and to feel it yet, but I am now the proud owner of the Steripen Adventurer (100g) for the princely sum of £62 (including P&P) – £30 less than I could have bought the heavier version for in the UK and around half the price of the Adventurer in the UK.
I’m very pleased with that. My first foray into buying kit from the USA seems to have been a success (should I say that before I’ve opened the parcel to find out whether it got broken en-route?).
On Saturday night I got home to another Royal Mail card (the Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap that I ordered), giving me double the reason to make myself late for work by swinging by the Sorting Office this morning (and no, leaving the house earlier doesn’t help; the Enquiry Office opens at 7am, which is the time I start work 15 miles away).
I’ve not had the chance to get it out of its box, to touch it and to feel it yet, but I am now the proud owner of the Steripen Adventurer (100g) for the princely sum of £62 (including P&P) – £30 less than I could have bought the heavier version for in the UK and around half the price of the Adventurer in the UK.
I’m very pleased with that. My first foray into buying kit from the USA seems to have been a success (should I say that before I’ve opened the parcel to find out whether it got broken en-route?).
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Warm AND Sunny!
Yesterday I spent most of the day laying a laminate floor for the girlfriend of elder step-son (hadn’t anticipated the flooring exercise, so had taken a hand saw, but not an electric one). The rest of the day I spent lying under the bath, uttering the occasional expletive, as I fitted a new set of taps (and let me just say, twelve screws just to hold the bath panel on – had I taken my drill/driver? Course not!).
Spending a day laying a laminate floor is like spending a day at the gym doing squats. Sawing a room’s worth of laminate flooring by hand certainly uses the arm muscles to an uncustomary degree.
This morning I woke up aching quite considerably. The glutes, the inner thigh, the back: it all ached.
But, I wasn’t going to allow such aching to put me off the planned 18.5 mile training walk today.
The route was the same as last Sunday. The difference was that whereas last Sunday it rained for the entire 6 hours, today the sun shone on us for the entire 5.5 hours (half an hour time difference – amazing how fast you can walk when you’re not slipping sideways on mud the whole time).
Perversely, having taken delivery of my new Paramo Velez this week, I was hoping for rain today. As it went, I completed most of the walk in shirt sleeves. Had I had convertible trousers on, I would have zipped the legs off. How Husband managed to remain comfortable in merino baselayer under this Paramo outer and with long johns under his trews, I do not know. He didn’t even take his hat off until over half way.
It was certainly the warmest day of the year so far, which also brought everybody out of their houses. Last Sunday we say two other people. This weekend we saw dozens in the space of twenty yards at Fradley Junction alone.
By the time we reached the 16 mile point I was hurting a lot. Temptation to take the short route home was strong. However, I plodded on – even managing to jog the last hundred or so yards to home – reaching the front door just as the national anthems were being sung by France and England for the rugby. What perfect timing.
Spending a day laying a laminate floor is like spending a day at the gym doing squats. Sawing a room’s worth of laminate flooring by hand certainly uses the arm muscles to an uncustomary degree.
This morning I woke up aching quite considerably. The glutes, the inner thigh, the back: it all ached.
But, I wasn’t going to allow such aching to put me off the planned 18.5 mile training walk today.
The route was the same as last Sunday. The difference was that whereas last Sunday it rained for the entire 6 hours, today the sun shone on us for the entire 5.5 hours (half an hour time difference – amazing how fast you can walk when you’re not slipping sideways on mud the whole time).
Perversely, having taken delivery of my new Paramo Velez this week, I was hoping for rain today. As it went, I completed most of the walk in shirt sleeves. Had I had convertible trousers on, I would have zipped the legs off. How Husband managed to remain comfortable in merino baselayer under this Paramo outer and with long johns under his trews, I do not know. He didn’t even take his hat off until over half way.
It was certainly the warmest day of the year so far, which also brought everybody out of their houses. Last Sunday we say two other people. This weekend we saw dozens in the space of twenty yards at Fradley Junction alone.
By the time we reached the 16 mile point I was hurting a lot. Temptation to take the short route home was strong. However, I plodded on – even managing to jog the last hundred or so yards to home – reaching the front door just as the national anthems were being sung by France and England for the rugby. What perfect timing.
Sunday, 4 March 2007
18 Muddy Miles
An 18.5 mile walk around the local area today, starting off across fields, then resorting to lanes in order to get ourselves onto the tow path of the Trent and Mersey canal for the walk back home.
Water was, once again a big feature of the day. Apart from that falling from the sky (the rain started as we left home and stayed with us for the entire 6 hours that we were walking), the ground has again suffered from the recent rain. The fields around the Trent which had almost drained from their previous lake-like state are now more flooded than ever. All of which meant that the going underfoot was muddy – even the tow path involved a lot of slip-sliding around.
Husband was smugly comfortable in his new Paramo Vasco jacket and his Cascada trews. I was less comfortable in my Wynnster bottoms. Once again, my Buffalo mitts get a round of applause for keeping my hands snugly warm even when they became sodden after all those hours of rain.
Water was, once again a big feature of the day. Apart from that falling from the sky (the rain started as we left home and stayed with us for the entire 6 hours that we were walking), the ground has again suffered from the recent rain. The fields around the Trent which had almost drained from their previous lake-like state are now more flooded than ever. All of which meant that the going underfoot was muddy – even the tow path involved a lot of slip-sliding around.
Husband was smugly comfortable in his new Paramo Vasco jacket and his Cascada trews. I was less comfortable in my Wynnster bottoms. Once again, my Buffalo mitts get a round of applause for keeping my hands snugly warm even when they became sodden after all those hours of rain.
Saturday, 3 March 2007
Gear-fest
We have an entire spare bedroom of backpacking and camping stuff. Strictly speaking, there is nothing that we don’t have that we need. But, we don’t have any other expensive habits or hobbies, I try to avoid ordinary clothes shops and don’t do make up or hairdos. All of which seems to justify our obsession with outdoor gear.
When we first made the bold step from just walking into backpacking, we bought a whole pile of new lightweight stuff. Unfortunately, at the time I hadn’t found the OM forum and hadn’t done a whole lot of research. A number of those items turned out to be functional, but not ideal from a lightweight point of view. Other items turned out not to even be entirely functional.
I have now learnt a lot and I spend plenty of time reading people’s opinions.
I’ve also come to realise that what’s good for summer is not necessarily the best choice for winter, and vice versa.
So, despite having an entire spare room full of stuff, I still have a ridiculously long wish list. Today inroads were made into that wish list. The carrier bags contained:
- A Paramo Vasco top for Husband (he wanted a jacket rather than a smock, good for me as I’ve been lusting after the Velez for quite a while and I didn’t want to be ‘his and hers matching’ yet again; today I resisted buying the Velez in any case)
- A Paramo Velez Smock for me (okay, I resisted it at the time; on the 3 hour journey home I realised my mistake and ordered it as soon as I got home)
- A pair of Inov8 Roclite 330’s for Husband (must talk about the service in George Fisher separately and about my experience and thoughts on the Terrocs)
- One of those ridiculously lightweight towels for Husband (I make do with a small chamois-esque towel, Husband likes something larger, this seemed like a good compromise)
- A pair of Icebreaker boxer shorts for Husband (I’m contemplating the Smartwool alternative for myself, but again, that’s a different story; for Husband, I was relishing the ‘no stink’ claim!)
- An Osprey Aura 35 litre (I had the 50 litre for Christmas, but one can never have too many backpacks (surely?) and I think that this one will get a lot of use);
- An Osprey Atmos 50 litre for Husband (he just has to copy…)
- A Rab thermal pro fleece for Husband.
I think that completes the extravaganza. As you will note, I was a whole lot more restrained than Husband was.
More about individual items to follow.
When we first made the bold step from just walking into backpacking, we bought a whole pile of new lightweight stuff. Unfortunately, at the time I hadn’t found the OM forum and hadn’t done a whole lot of research. A number of those items turned out to be functional, but not ideal from a lightweight point of view. Other items turned out not to even be entirely functional.
I have now learnt a lot and I spend plenty of time reading people’s opinions.
I’ve also come to realise that what’s good for summer is not necessarily the best choice for winter, and vice versa.
So, despite having an entire spare room full of stuff, I still have a ridiculously long wish list. Today inroads were made into that wish list. The carrier bags contained:
- A Paramo Vasco top for Husband (he wanted a jacket rather than a smock, good for me as I’ve been lusting after the Velez for quite a while and I didn’t want to be ‘his and hers matching’ yet again; today I resisted buying the Velez in any case)
- A Paramo Velez Smock for me (okay, I resisted it at the time; on the 3 hour journey home I realised my mistake and ordered it as soon as I got home)
- A pair of Inov8 Roclite 330’s for Husband (must talk about the service in George Fisher separately and about my experience and thoughts on the Terrocs)
- One of those ridiculously lightweight towels for Husband (I make do with a small chamois-esque towel, Husband likes something larger, this seemed like a good compromise)
- A pair of Icebreaker boxer shorts for Husband (I’m contemplating the Smartwool alternative for myself, but again, that’s a different story; for Husband, I was relishing the ‘no stink’ claim!)
- An Osprey Aura 35 litre (I had the 50 litre for Christmas, but one can never have too many backpacks (surely?) and I think that this one will get a lot of use);
- An Osprey Atmos 50 litre for Husband (he just has to copy…)
- A Rab thermal pro fleece for Husband.
I think that completes the extravaganza. As you will note, I was a whole lot more restrained than Husband was.
More about individual items to follow.
Skiddaw
After a mud-fest at Keswick C&CC Site last night, we took a quick jaunt up Skiddaw this morning. The first time I’ve been up there in about 25 years.
I like to set off up to popular summits as early as possible. A number of reasons: mainly the fact that you don’t have to share the path up with a thousand other people and don’t have to take a photo of the summit with nineteen other people in the shot; also, if you want to drive to a local car park, it’s a darn sight easier to park early than it is mid-morning.
The down side of reaching a summit by mid-to-late morning is that the cloud hasn’t had the opportunity to burn off.
So, once again, we stood on a summit with pretty poor visibility. This time we also had a little bit of an arctic ‘breeze’ with which to contend. I managed to stay on my feet, but only just.
By the time we got back down to the car park, the last wisp of cloud left the summit, so that long line of people we passed on our way down will have experienced spectacular views.
Hey ho. We still got the solitude … and the views from below the cloud level were pretty good anyway.
Getting back to Keswick by early afternoon, there was then a gear-fest to be had. But that’s another story.
I like to set off up to popular summits as early as possible. A number of reasons: mainly the fact that you don’t have to share the path up with a thousand other people and don’t have to take a photo of the summit with nineteen other people in the shot; also, if you want to drive to a local car park, it’s a darn sight easier to park early than it is mid-morning.
The down side of reaching a summit by mid-to-late morning is that the cloud hasn’t had the opportunity to burn off.
So, once again, we stood on a summit with pretty poor visibility. This time we also had a little bit of an arctic ‘breeze’ with which to contend. I managed to stay on my feet, but only just.
By the time we got back down to the car park, the last wisp of cloud left the summit, so that long line of people we passed on our way down will have experienced spectacular views.
Hey ho. We still got the solitude … and the views from below the cloud level were pretty good anyway.
Getting back to Keswick by early afternoon, there was then a gear-fest to be had. But that’s another story.
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Fit to Walk Keswick to Barrow?
Keswick to Barrow
The Keswick to Barrow Walk is an annual event that will be held for the 41st time this year. It’s quite simple; you walk (or run, if you’re that way inclined) from Keswick to Barrow-in-Furness, with a set route which gives a distance of 40 miles, passing through a number of checkpoints along the way.
The entire walk bar a couple of hundred yards is along roads (so no need to sweat about the erosion that would occur with 1500 walkers tramping along Cumbrian footpaths in a single day).
Two years ago, I supported a team and promised that I would take part in 2006 – a promise that I made before I saw the state of most people as they passed through the 34 mile checkpoint.
Despite starting the event last year with the completely wrong mindset that I wouldn’t get past the 34 mile point, I managed to finished the entire course two hours faster than the target I had set (in twenty seconds shy of 11 hours).
Having seen the results of people thinking that they can go and walk 40 miles in a day without doing any prior preparation, there is no way that I would take part in this event without building up my speed and stamina over the preceding months.
Okay, so it’s still February (just), and the walk is still two and a half months away, but I’m already getting concerned that I’m not going to get enough training in to make a success of this year’s walk.
A bit of re-jigging is going to be needed over the next couple of months to free up our Sundays (oh I almost envy those people who week after week tell me that they have no plans for their weekends; how do I always manage to book mine up for three months ahead?).
The Keswick to Barrow Walk is an annual event that will be held for the 41st time this year. It’s quite simple; you walk (or run, if you’re that way inclined) from Keswick to Barrow-in-Furness, with a set route which gives a distance of 40 miles, passing through a number of checkpoints along the way.
The entire walk bar a couple of hundred yards is along roads (so no need to sweat about the erosion that would occur with 1500 walkers tramping along Cumbrian footpaths in a single day).
Two years ago, I supported a team and promised that I would take part in 2006 – a promise that I made before I saw the state of most people as they passed through the 34 mile checkpoint.
Despite starting the event last year with the completely wrong mindset that I wouldn’t get past the 34 mile point, I managed to finished the entire course two hours faster than the target I had set (in twenty seconds shy of 11 hours).
Having seen the results of people thinking that they can go and walk 40 miles in a day without doing any prior preparation, there is no way that I would take part in this event without building up my speed and stamina over the preceding months.
Okay, so it’s still February (just), and the walk is still two and a half months away, but I’m already getting concerned that I’m not going to get enough training in to make a success of this year’s walk.
A bit of re-jigging is going to be needed over the next couple of months to free up our Sundays (oh I almost envy those people who week after week tell me that they have no plans for their weekends; how do I always manage to book mine up for three months ahead?).
Maps
Groan. Looking at my scanned maps this morning, I realised that I don’t have the full set for the Cumbria Way. When I scanned these a couple of years ago, one of the maps I only had in 1:50000, whereas I would prefer to take (and now have the missing map at) 1:25000.
That means that I have to unbury the scanner sometime in the next four weeks and do battle with a very large piece of paper on a very small glass surface. It’s not a job I look forward to doing, but I’m not prepared to carry entire maps and I don’t want to make do with 1:50,000 when I own the bigger scale. Four weeks sounds like a long time in which to do such a simple job. Somehow (maybe the fact that we’re busy every weekend between now and then?) I just know that I’m going to be doing battle with the scanner at the same time as trying to dehydrate food at the same time as packing in three and a half weeks from now.
That means that I have to unbury the scanner sometime in the next four weeks and do battle with a very large piece of paper on a very small glass surface. It’s not a job I look forward to doing, but I’m not prepared to carry entire maps and I don’t want to make do with 1:50,000 when I own the bigger scale. Four weeks sounds like a long time in which to do such a simple job. Somehow (maybe the fact that we’re busy every weekend between now and then?) I just know that I’m going to be doing battle with the scanner at the same time as trying to dehydrate food at the same time as packing in three and a half weeks from now.
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Cumbria Way, Here We Come!
Yeah! After a bit of a faff with Husband trying to arrange some leave from work, train tickets are now booked for the end of March. We’re off to walk the Cumbria Way.
I’m hoping the train tickets were a good idea. We don’t have a good track record when it comes to catching trains. On a previous incident that also involved the Cumbria Way we managed to confuse the Aberdeen train with the Ulverston train at Lancaster Station and found ourselves heading at high speed in the wrong direction in the gathering dark. Then there was the planned WHW trip last September, for which I duly booked the train tickets months in advance, only to then have family health conspire against us causing the tickets to go unused.
For this one, I considered the various travel options and once again plumped for the train. As I’ve bought non-refundable tickets, it’s fingers crossed that nothing occurs between now and then to stop us going.
Then it’s fingers crossed that we don’t have a joint momentary lapse of concentration that sees us heading north through Scotland.
Having walked most of the route before in various bits, we’re pretty sorted for knowing where we’re going (I’ve already got the relevant bits of the maps scanned, so just need to print them out again). All I need to think about over the next couple of weeks is what we’d like to eat – then I need to get cooking and dehydrating it. I’d like to think that I’ll be organised on the cooking/dehydrating front, but odds-on it will all be a last minute rush.
I’m hoping the train tickets were a good idea. We don’t have a good track record when it comes to catching trains. On a previous incident that also involved the Cumbria Way we managed to confuse the Aberdeen train with the Ulverston train at Lancaster Station and found ourselves heading at high speed in the wrong direction in the gathering dark. Then there was the planned WHW trip last September, for which I duly booked the train tickets months in advance, only to then have family health conspire against us causing the tickets to go unused.
For this one, I considered the various travel options and once again plumped for the train. As I’ve bought non-refundable tickets, it’s fingers crossed that nothing occurs between now and then to stop us going.
Then it’s fingers crossed that we don’t have a joint momentary lapse of concentration that sees us heading north through Scotland.
Having walked most of the route before in various bits, we’re pretty sorted for knowing where we’re going (I’ve already got the relevant bits of the maps scanned, so just need to print them out again). All I need to think about over the next couple of weeks is what we’d like to eat – then I need to get cooking and dehydrating it. I’d like to think that I’ll be organised on the cooking/dehydrating front, but odds-on it will all be a last minute rush.
Sunday, 25 February 2007
The Unexpected Muddy Speed Walk
At the beginning of last week the plan for this weekend had been to pop up to the Lake District for a small spot of walking and a large spot of retail therapy (mainly in the form of a new backpack for Hubby to replace his current monstrously heavy model). That plan went to pot when Husband revealed that he had to work this weekend.
The new plan was that I would move next weekend to this weekend and vice versa, so I would go to do some maintenance chores for my mother on Friday and Saturday leaving Sunday free to get in a local walk.
That plan then got turned upside down when I caught the lurgy. Sharing my germs with my Mother’s lowered immune system wasn’t looking to be quite such a clever plan. So, I moved Friday to Saturday which in turn moved Saturday to Sunday. That meant that I wasn’t going to get my walk on Sunday.
Arriving to work on Friday morning (still feeling a little under the weather but figuring that I would feel better once I got moving) I hatched a new plan that I would leave work somewhere between 11.30 and noon and fit Sunday’s walk in on Friday afternoon. I would be walking by 1pm, which would give me 4.5 hours to do a 15 mile circuit over local (very muddy and rutted) fields.
Being in training for this year’s Keswick to Barrow walk (more of that some other time), I was reluctant to miss out this weekend’s training altogether, so even when I didn’t manage to get away from work until a quarter past one, I still thought that I would fit my walk in.
What I failed to consider was the fact that being delayed by an hour meant that I now only had just over 3.5 hours of daylight to fit in the same 15 mile yomp over muddy fields that took us 5 hours last weekend (albeit this week I wouldn’t need a lucnhbreak, nor the time spent map reading).
It was 3.45pm, at which point I was still approximately 8 miles from home, when I realised that I had omitted to re-calculate the daylight remaining based on my actual departure time.
Well, that was one heck of a speed walk for the next 6.5 miles! I did have a couple of bail out plans up my sleeve, but as it went, I just managed to get myself off the canal towpath onto the road a full dusk fell, and made my way round a local lake, across some recreation ground and into the village proper with darkness around me (big kick to myself for having considered and dismissed taking a headtorch with me when I set out; I was only walking over local fields and it seemed to be a bit of overkill. I won’t make that mistake again).
The stats were 12.5 miles walked in three hours and fifty five minutes. Not too bad considering the muddy and slippery conditions underfoot. Admittedly the calf muscles hurt for a while afterwards, but a hot bath soon sorted that out.
Saturday saw me fitting a couple of new locks for mother and standing up a ladder doing a bit of pointing, so all in all, all of the required activities got accomplished. I can now start the new week with a clear conscience and counting down to next weekend’s trip up to Keswick.
The new plan was that I would move next weekend to this weekend and vice versa, so I would go to do some maintenance chores for my mother on Friday and Saturday leaving Sunday free to get in a local walk.
That plan then got turned upside down when I caught the lurgy. Sharing my germs with my Mother’s lowered immune system wasn’t looking to be quite such a clever plan. So, I moved Friday to Saturday which in turn moved Saturday to Sunday. That meant that I wasn’t going to get my walk on Sunday.
Arriving to work on Friday morning (still feeling a little under the weather but figuring that I would feel better once I got moving) I hatched a new plan that I would leave work somewhere between 11.30 and noon and fit Sunday’s walk in on Friday afternoon. I would be walking by 1pm, which would give me 4.5 hours to do a 15 mile circuit over local (very muddy and rutted) fields.
Being in training for this year’s Keswick to Barrow walk (more of that some other time), I was reluctant to miss out this weekend’s training altogether, so even when I didn’t manage to get away from work until a quarter past one, I still thought that I would fit my walk in.
What I failed to consider was the fact that being delayed by an hour meant that I now only had just over 3.5 hours of daylight to fit in the same 15 mile yomp over muddy fields that took us 5 hours last weekend (albeit this week I wouldn’t need a lucnhbreak, nor the time spent map reading).
It was 3.45pm, at which point I was still approximately 8 miles from home, when I realised that I had omitted to re-calculate the daylight remaining based on my actual departure time.
Well, that was one heck of a speed walk for the next 6.5 miles! I did have a couple of bail out plans up my sleeve, but as it went, I just managed to get myself off the canal towpath onto the road a full dusk fell, and made my way round a local lake, across some recreation ground and into the village proper with darkness around me (big kick to myself for having considered and dismissed taking a headtorch with me when I set out; I was only walking over local fields and it seemed to be a bit of overkill. I won’t make that mistake again).
The stats were 12.5 miles walked in three hours and fifty five minutes. Not too bad considering the muddy and slippery conditions underfoot. Admittedly the calf muscles hurt for a while afterwards, but a hot bath soon sorted that out.
Saturday saw me fitting a couple of new locks for mother and standing up a ladder doing a bit of pointing, so all in all, all of the required activities got accomplished. I can now start the new week with a clear conscience and counting down to next weekend’s trip up to Keswick.
Thursday, 22 February 2007
Am I sufficiently technologically advanced to do this?
Back in the days of computers that had green screens, when all I was expected to do was to type letters, I used to consider myself to be reasonably able with a computer.
These days, although my CV still claims that I’m computer literate, what I actually mean is that I can type and I can drive the usual Office programmes and a few other bespoke database systems. When it comes to setting up a website or creating a blog I’m lost within the first sentence of the first google result. The world of HTML confounds me. I feel a learning curve coming on.
But, here I am. I’ve managed to set up this blog (they said it was easy in the blurb – what they meant was it’s easy if you’ve already thought about a title and the like; if you haven’t and if you’re an indecisive person you could be scratching your head for hours).
So, what thoughts am I going to share with the world? I’m not quite sure yet, but it’s pretty much all going to be related to walking and backpacking. I like the outdoors. I like mud. I like kit (or kit likes me; I seem to have accumulated a lot of it either way).
I’m hoping that I’ve got enough to say and can find the time to be able to blog on something approaching a regular basis – only time will tell.
But for now, this is just my first test post to see what I can do with this blogspot thing.
These days, although my CV still claims that I’m computer literate, what I actually mean is that I can type and I can drive the usual Office programmes and a few other bespoke database systems. When it comes to setting up a website or creating a blog I’m lost within the first sentence of the first google result. The world of HTML confounds me. I feel a learning curve coming on.
But, here I am. I’ve managed to set up this blog (they said it was easy in the blurb – what they meant was it’s easy if you’ve already thought about a title and the like; if you haven’t and if you’re an indecisive person you could be scratching your head for hours).
So, what thoughts am I going to share with the world? I’m not quite sure yet, but it’s pretty much all going to be related to walking and backpacking. I like the outdoors. I like mud. I like kit (or kit likes me; I seem to have accumulated a lot of it either way).
I’m hoping that I’ve got enough to say and can find the time to be able to blog on something approaching a regular basis – only time will tell.
But for now, this is just my first test post to see what I can do with this blogspot thing.
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