Last year I bought the Anquet version of the OS mapping of Great Britain. Having ummed and arrrred over whether the £125 price tag was worth it, and having since used it extensively, I can now declare that for us it was a worthwhile purchase.
However, the software is not, in my opinion, entirely intuitive to use.
With practice, I seem to have grasped the basics and I've been getting on quite well with it with plotting the LEJOG route, but a few weeks ago I had an incident where a spurious waypoint appeared that made a 10 mile day into something like a 50 mile day. I couldn't find the spurious point to delete it (you follow it so far and then you page down and the tell-tale straight line is no longer there). After running out of ways of solving the problem I went for what must have been the easiest option of deleting the entire day and starting it again. I thought at the time that it must have been my error.
Tonight, Husband plotted a day (his first one!). Having shouted instructions across the room to him, he declared that something had gone awry. Upon inspection it turned out that a point had been added to the previous route section (ie not the one upon which he was working) making a 19 mile day into a 350 mile one. After trying to back-track to delete it for fifteen minutes or so, I again reached the same conclusion that the route section had to be deleted and re-plotted.
One such incident I could put down to operator error. Two similar incidents by different operators and with no evidence of the mystery way point actually existing, I have to surmise is a bug in the software. And very annoying it is too.
So, we've ended today just one small section ahead of where we were two days ago (but, hey, at least we're heading North now!).
Saturday, 16 June 2007
Thursday, 14 June 2007
LEJOG Planning - How Far South?!
Just looked at the map again and realised that not only does the Langdon Beck to Dufton stage head south west, but it ends the day a whole 3 miles further south than it started.
That's really just feels wrong!
That's really just feels wrong!
LEJOG Planning - I'm Going the Wrong Way!
As part of my continued LEJOG route planning, I've just plotted the section on the Pennine Way between Langdon Beck and Dufton.
It just doesn't seem right in a walk that is inherently south to north in nature, to be plotting part of the path that heads generally in a south-westerly direction, with the day ending furher south than it started.
But, it does take in High Cup Nick on the way, so hopefully that will make the seeming detour worthwhile.
It just doesn't seem right in a walk that is inherently south to north in nature, to be plotting part of the path that heads generally in a south-westerly direction, with the day ending furher south than it started.
But, it does take in High Cup Nick on the way, so hopefully that will make the seeming detour worthwhile.
Monday, 11 June 2007
Inov8 Terrocs - Thoughts So Far
After our two day trip in the Rhinogau a couple of weeks ago, I said that I would talk about my Inov8 Terrocs separately. It's about time that I got around to that - particularly as I've been reminded to do so by the discussion that's been had on the subject of light-weight footwear on the new TGO Magazine forum.
The Innov8 range, particularly the Terroc, has been receiving a lot of attention over the last eighteen months or couple of years, with the general consensus being that they are fantastic shoes. Those people who may be put off by the lack of ankle support are reassured that the support comes from the heel cup not the height of the ankle cuff and those who fear walking for days on end with wet feet are reassured that the water pumps out quickly and within minutes of a dunking your feet feel warm again and soon feel dry.
Indeed, Andy Howell on his blog has said that the water leaves the shoes so effectively that when he comes to a river or stream crossing when wearing his, he just walks on through, saving any need to change footwear or remove socks.
Having read all these rave reviews and the reassurance that walking with wet feet isn't a bad experience, I was definitely sold on the concept.
At the end of August last year, I bought a pair of Terrocs, intending to wear them on the West Highland Way in October. As it went, I didn't get to try them for a while and I didn't get to walk the WHW. Their first real outing was on a very short walk on the hillside behind Barmouth, in pouring rain, back in October (a walk memorable for the fact that I had forgotten my jacket so ended up walking wearing the coat equivalent of a green wellington boot).
I was unconvinced either way after my first outing wearing them. My feet did get wet, but they didn't have continuous dunkings, so they warmed back up pretty quickly; they weren't sloshing around feeling wet the whole time. My feeling was that I needed to have a few more walks over wet terrain and at least a couple of days backpacking in them to decide whether they were for me. I thought that, after my first backpacking trip wearing them, I would have formed a definite opinion either way.
Eight months later the jury is still out. I think that if I wasn't so desperate to like the shoes (the concept of such light weight flexible footwear really appeals to me) I would have given up on them by now.
Back in January I wore them on local walk and spent hours with wet feet. Although my feet were warm for most of the time spent walking, when we stopped for lunch they cooled down and I spent the rest of the walk (fortunately not too long) with very cold feet. I decided that maybe I should reserve the non-waterproof option for warmer weather.
Not learning my lesson, I wore them a couple more times (just a reminder: back in January/February it was jolly wet; all of our local paths were truly waterlogged). When, at the end of February I went back to my boots (which are Brasher Superlites, so are light and flexible in any case), it was a revelation. Walking in my boots was just so much more pleasant! Not only did my feet stay warm and dry for the entire walk, but I didn't have the mud trying to suck my shoe off my foot every step, as I had with the shoes.
Not to be defeated, I continued to wear them through March and April when the paths started drying out, and as the weather became very dry they became my new best friend. Even spending a day walking exclusively on hard surfaces, I didn't get the foot fatigue that I would have expected from wearing my boots. My only grumble was that the heel cup on the right shoe seems to be slightly out of shape (or maybe it's my foot that's out of shape, but I've never had the problem before) causing the outside of the shoe to dig in just under my ankle bone on uneven surfaces.
With my recollection of all of the winter cold/wet feet experiences fading in my memory, I decided to give them a proper test at the end of May when we had planned a two day trip in the Rhinogau. It looked like the ideal test. Not only is the terrain rough and often boggy, but the forecast was for good weather on Saturday (which would hopefully see me maintain comfortable dry feet all day) but for heavy rain on Sunday. I set out on the Saturday braced for having wet feet on the Sunday, but optimistic that I would finally see the light and decree that the shoes were great in the wet too (and if all else failed, at least the wet feet would be limited to one day, with a hot shower and dry socks at the end of it).
Alas, I again came away with mixed opinions. On the Saturday, I remained dry-footed, but in the early part of the day the rough terrain was making me doubt the abilities of the shoe. On reflection, where my right foot was being forced into a twisted position inside of the shoe, the same problem would probably have occurred with a boot (I have a smaller right foot so my right shoe is always too big). But, by the end of the day, which saw me scrambling on some rather fun terrain, the shoes were getting a definite thumbs up for comfort and performance.
The down-side came on the Sunday. After my first period of wading through a marsh, the water didn't pump out of the shoes as quickly as people had described, and although my feet warmed up reasonable quickly once the water did start to leave after their initial dunking, after an hour of walking through boggy land, I had cold wet feet for most of the rest of the day. They probably would have warmed up after a couple of hours, but just as I was feeling warmth seep back in we would set off through another bog and the hint of warmth would be gone with the first shoe-full of water.
When I did finally spend a couple of hours without encountering a water obstacle, my feet did start to feel drier (even though later inspection of the socks proved them to be still waterlogged).
The real downside of all of this cold, wet footedness was that it made me cold. I ended up wearing a ridiculous number of layers; in fact, I ended up wearing all of the clothes that I had with me, and was still cold (even after resorting to stopping for a cup of tea). I'm sure that given warm, dry feet, I would have been much warmer.
But, there was a big plus side: once my shoes were full of water, there was absolutely no point in prancing about, being careful about each footfall, trying to find the firm, dry ground. Once they were wet, it made sense to just wade on through the marshes, which was a strangely liberating experience. Even accidentally stepping straight into a stream upto mid-calf was amusing, which it surely wouldn't have been had it led to a bootful of water.
Although I felt like the shoes lost their lightweight edge when filled with water and despite not being happy about the slow-drain induced cold-footedness, I will perservere yet. I still have more sock options to try (again, I'll talk about that separately, I think that I've waffled enough for the moment). Failing everything else, they're still a great pair of shoes for day walks that don't involve too much water and I will be forced to look at waterproof lined trail shoe options for wet backpacking terrain.
The Innov8 range, particularly the Terroc, has been receiving a lot of attention over the last eighteen months or couple of years, with the general consensus being that they are fantastic shoes. Those people who may be put off by the lack of ankle support are reassured that the support comes from the heel cup not the height of the ankle cuff and those who fear walking for days on end with wet feet are reassured that the water pumps out quickly and within minutes of a dunking your feet feel warm again and soon feel dry.
Indeed, Andy Howell on his blog has said that the water leaves the shoes so effectively that when he comes to a river or stream crossing when wearing his, he just walks on through, saving any need to change footwear or remove socks.
Having read all these rave reviews and the reassurance that walking with wet feet isn't a bad experience, I was definitely sold on the concept.
At the end of August last year, I bought a pair of Terrocs, intending to wear them on the West Highland Way in October. As it went, I didn't get to try them for a while and I didn't get to walk the WHW. Their first real outing was on a very short walk on the hillside behind Barmouth, in pouring rain, back in October (a walk memorable for the fact that I had forgotten my jacket so ended up walking wearing the coat equivalent of a green wellington boot).
I was unconvinced either way after my first outing wearing them. My feet did get wet, but they didn't have continuous dunkings, so they warmed back up pretty quickly; they weren't sloshing around feeling wet the whole time. My feeling was that I needed to have a few more walks over wet terrain and at least a couple of days backpacking in them to decide whether they were for me. I thought that, after my first backpacking trip wearing them, I would have formed a definite opinion either way.
Eight months later the jury is still out. I think that if I wasn't so desperate to like the shoes (the concept of such light weight flexible footwear really appeals to me) I would have given up on them by now.
Back in January I wore them on local walk and spent hours with wet feet. Although my feet were warm for most of the time spent walking, when we stopped for lunch they cooled down and I spent the rest of the walk (fortunately not too long) with very cold feet. I decided that maybe I should reserve the non-waterproof option for warmer weather.
Not learning my lesson, I wore them a couple more times (just a reminder: back in January/February it was jolly wet; all of our local paths were truly waterlogged). When, at the end of February I went back to my boots (which are Brasher Superlites, so are light and flexible in any case), it was a revelation. Walking in my boots was just so much more pleasant! Not only did my feet stay warm and dry for the entire walk, but I didn't have the mud trying to suck my shoe off my foot every step, as I had with the shoes.
Not to be defeated, I continued to wear them through March and April when the paths started drying out, and as the weather became very dry they became my new best friend. Even spending a day walking exclusively on hard surfaces, I didn't get the foot fatigue that I would have expected from wearing my boots. My only grumble was that the heel cup on the right shoe seems to be slightly out of shape (or maybe it's my foot that's out of shape, but I've never had the problem before) causing the outside of the shoe to dig in just under my ankle bone on uneven surfaces.
With my recollection of all of the winter cold/wet feet experiences fading in my memory, I decided to give them a proper test at the end of May when we had planned a two day trip in the Rhinogau. It looked like the ideal test. Not only is the terrain rough and often boggy, but the forecast was for good weather on Saturday (which would hopefully see me maintain comfortable dry feet all day) but for heavy rain on Sunday. I set out on the Saturday braced for having wet feet on the Sunday, but optimistic that I would finally see the light and decree that the shoes were great in the wet too (and if all else failed, at least the wet feet would be limited to one day, with a hot shower and dry socks at the end of it).
Alas, I again came away with mixed opinions. On the Saturday, I remained dry-footed, but in the early part of the day the rough terrain was making me doubt the abilities of the shoe. On reflection, where my right foot was being forced into a twisted position inside of the shoe, the same problem would probably have occurred with a boot (I have a smaller right foot so my right shoe is always too big). But, by the end of the day, which saw me scrambling on some rather fun terrain, the shoes were getting a definite thumbs up for comfort and performance.
The down-side came on the Sunday. After my first period of wading through a marsh, the water didn't pump out of the shoes as quickly as people had described, and although my feet warmed up reasonable quickly once the water did start to leave after their initial dunking, after an hour of walking through boggy land, I had cold wet feet for most of the rest of the day. They probably would have warmed up after a couple of hours, but just as I was feeling warmth seep back in we would set off through another bog and the hint of warmth would be gone with the first shoe-full of water.
When I did finally spend a couple of hours without encountering a water obstacle, my feet did start to feel drier (even though later inspection of the socks proved them to be still waterlogged).
The real downside of all of this cold, wet footedness was that it made me cold. I ended up wearing a ridiculous number of layers; in fact, I ended up wearing all of the clothes that I had with me, and was still cold (even after resorting to stopping for a cup of tea). I'm sure that given warm, dry feet, I would have been much warmer.
But, there was a big plus side: once my shoes were full of water, there was absolutely no point in prancing about, being careful about each footfall, trying to find the firm, dry ground. Once they were wet, it made sense to just wade on through the marshes, which was a strangely liberating experience. Even accidentally stepping straight into a stream upto mid-calf was amusing, which it surely wouldn't have been had it led to a bootful of water.
Although I felt like the shoes lost their lightweight edge when filled with water and despite not being happy about the slow-drain induced cold-footedness, I will perservere yet. I still have more sock options to try (again, I'll talk about that separately, I think that I've waffled enough for the moment). Failing everything else, they're still a great pair of shoes for day walks that don't involve too much water and I will be forced to look at waterproof lined trail shoe options for wet backpacking terrain.
Monday, 4 June 2007
Phew! Hot Water Again.
Not outdoors related, but:
Today I gave Husband the task of visiting a local electrical merchant in his lunchbreak. Upon asking for the specific type of 2A fuse he says that the rather vacant assistant got a case of fuses out, looked through it and said 'haven't got any 2A ... I've got 1.25A'.
It's a bit like asking for a size 5 walking boot, the assitant going away to look before coming back and enthusiastically saying 'We've not got a 5; we've got a 3 or a 7'. What do they expect you to do? Say 'Okay, I'll just lop off my toes and try the 3'?
Husband resisted his urge of saying he'd take two of the 1.25A to join them together, reported back to me and I ordered a pack of ten online (I must be desperate - £2.80 for a pack of 10 fuses, and £5 P&P!!).
In the meantime, Husband managed to liberate a couple of fuses of the right type from the shop floor at work - so we do have hot water whilst waiting for our own to arrive (whereupon I will of course replace the liberated ones).
On the outdoorsy front, I'm just about to return to my Anquet maps to find out where we're going from Grindley Brook. I've almost concluded that we're taking the South Cheshire Way, so now all I have to do is follow it and see what route it takes.
Today I gave Husband the task of visiting a local electrical merchant in his lunchbreak. Upon asking for the specific type of 2A fuse he says that the rather vacant assistant got a case of fuses out, looked through it and said 'haven't got any 2A ... I've got 1.25A'.
It's a bit like asking for a size 5 walking boot, the assitant going away to look before coming back and enthusiastically saying 'We've not got a 5; we've got a 3 or a 7'. What do they expect you to do? Say 'Okay, I'll just lop off my toes and try the 3'?
Husband resisted his urge of saying he'd take two of the 1.25A to join them together, reported back to me and I ordered a pack of ten online (I must be desperate - £2.80 for a pack of 10 fuses, and £5 P&P!!).
In the meantime, Husband managed to liberate a couple of fuses of the right type from the shop floor at work - so we do have hot water whilst waiting for our own to arrive (whereupon I will of course replace the liberated ones).
On the outdoorsy front, I'm just about to return to my Anquet maps to find out where we're going from Grindley Brook. I've almost concluded that we're taking the South Cheshire Way, so now all I have to do is follow it and see what route it takes.
Sunday, 3 June 2007
The Good and the Bad of the Weekend
No walking this weekend. I felt the need to stay at home and do some useful things, like point around the top of the chimney where water’s been getting in and do something with the wilderness that is our boundary hedge. Not everything about this weekend was good. Here’s a quick summary of the good and the bad:
The good: My route planning for our LEJOG expedition next year stalled a couple of weeks ago, when I reached Chirk Castle on the Offa’s Dyke Path and decided that the Maelor Way was the most sensible way to head East from there. I finally got around, on Thursday, to phoning Wrexham TIC to mail order the guide book for this 24 mile route. It arrived on Saturday – and what a good book! It’s a little dated, but the detail inside of it appears to be fantastic, with route instructions given in both directions and huge amounts of detail about the things you can expect to see on the way, from trees and plants to wildlife and butterflies, and of course landmarks and buildings of note. The book is very neatly hand-written (in the Wainwright style) and the biggest benefit for me is that the sketch maps, whilst mildly difficult to tally up with the 1:50k OS map on which I am route planning, will be adequate to go alongside the OS maps in order to keep us on the Way. So, for £3.65 (including P&P), we’ve saved the need for 4 off 1:25k maps.
Now that the route planning has reached Grindley Brook, I’ve the decision to make as to whether we follow canals to Prestbury or whether to follow the South Cheshire Way to Mow Cop (which in my head is Cow Mop) and a canal from there. I think that the latter option is winning at the moment.
Bad things: For those people who may be reading this and don’t know me, let me just say that I’m quite a practical person. I’ve re-plumbed a number of houses, I’ve fitted central heating (back when all you had to be was ‘competent’ in order so to do legally; ie before the Building Regs decreed that one could only be competent if one holds certain qualifications and memberships), I’ve re-wired and wired in new circuits (similarly before Building Regs decreed that I could no longer do that). So, the prospect of fitting a room thermostat to our boiler was not a daunting one.
Alas, in a moment of female blondness/stupidity/carelessness, I shorted the circuit, blowing the internal fuse. Sunday afternoon is not a good time to do something like that when you don’t just happen to have a spare in the house. It’s even worse when that combi-boiler is your only source of hot water. Having had a cold shower after my run this afternoon, I don’t know how Paula manages those ice baths! Tomorrow I will be on a mission to get a replacement fuse. Then I will wire the thermostat in and pay a bit more attention this time!
Whilst creating disasters with the boiler, I had a load of washing in the maching. The bedding had been washed so many times before that I felt quite safe putting two cream towels in with the blue and green. I now have green tinged towels. Doh! Two mini-disasters in one afternoon.
But, back to the positive: the lawn is mowed, the hedge is 25% trimmed (it’s a huge hedge!) and the chimney is pointed.
The good: My route planning for our LEJOG expedition next year stalled a couple of weeks ago, when I reached Chirk Castle on the Offa’s Dyke Path and decided that the Maelor Way was the most sensible way to head East from there. I finally got around, on Thursday, to phoning Wrexham TIC to mail order the guide book for this 24 mile route. It arrived on Saturday – and what a good book! It’s a little dated, but the detail inside of it appears to be fantastic, with route instructions given in both directions and huge amounts of detail about the things you can expect to see on the way, from trees and plants to wildlife and butterflies, and of course landmarks and buildings of note. The book is very neatly hand-written (in the Wainwright style) and the biggest benefit for me is that the sketch maps, whilst mildly difficult to tally up with the 1:50k OS map on which I am route planning, will be adequate to go alongside the OS maps in order to keep us on the Way. So, for £3.65 (including P&P), we’ve saved the need for 4 off 1:25k maps.
Now that the route planning has reached Grindley Brook, I’ve the decision to make as to whether we follow canals to Prestbury or whether to follow the South Cheshire Way to Mow Cop (which in my head is Cow Mop) and a canal from there. I think that the latter option is winning at the moment.
Bad things: For those people who may be reading this and don’t know me, let me just say that I’m quite a practical person. I’ve re-plumbed a number of houses, I’ve fitted central heating (back when all you had to be was ‘competent’ in order so to do legally; ie before the Building Regs decreed that one could only be competent if one holds certain qualifications and memberships), I’ve re-wired and wired in new circuits (similarly before Building Regs decreed that I could no longer do that). So, the prospect of fitting a room thermostat to our boiler was not a daunting one.
Alas, in a moment of female blondness/stupidity/carelessness, I shorted the circuit, blowing the internal fuse. Sunday afternoon is not a good time to do something like that when you don’t just happen to have a spare in the house. It’s even worse when that combi-boiler is your only source of hot water. Having had a cold shower after my run this afternoon, I don’t know how Paula manages those ice baths! Tomorrow I will be on a mission to get a replacement fuse. Then I will wire the thermostat in and pay a bit more attention this time!
Whilst creating disasters with the boiler, I had a load of washing in the maching. The bedding had been washed so many times before that I felt quite safe putting two cream towels in with the blue and green. I now have green tinged towels. Doh! Two mini-disasters in one afternoon.
But, back to the positive: the lawn is mowed, the hedge is 25% trimmed (it’s a huge hedge!) and the chimney is pointed.
Monday, 28 May 2007
A Couple of Days in the Rhinogau - Day 2
Saturday night was, per the forecast, wet and windy. Also as forecast, the wind swung around from the east to the west, which was a bit unfortunate as our pitch as nicely protected from the east, but not at all protected from the west and of course we were pitched the wrong way around for a westerly wind.
On Saturday night we had looked at a map (which is full of holes and must be replaced either with a new one or with some 1:25k mapping software of that area) and chose a route back to Barmouth for the Sunday. It’s becoming a bit of a challenge to come up with something new as we’ve walked quite a bit in that area, but there was an obvious low level route that we’ve not tried before.
The first section exercised our right to roam, which always presents the danger (in fact, almost a certainty) in this area that it will be either marshland or boulder/heather. This route didn’t disappoint. We left all trace of a path after the first mile and then spent the next hour or so yomping through knee-deep marsh. Even tussock jumping didn’t help as none of the tussocks was sufficiently firm. It was energy sapping to the extreme, with having to lift the leg so high on every step, but perversely it was good fun at the same time. It was also an excellent test for the Terrocs (of which I will post later).
Finally, we reached a track (not a moment too soon) which we followed through a forest for quite a while, stopping for a brew on the way, taking advantage of the shelter that the trees offered from the increasingly heavy rain.
Out of the forest, my feet almost started to feel dry, which was the cue for us to leave the road along which we had been walking and venture into the biggest marsh of the trip. The good thing about the Terrocs turned out to be the fact that once the feet are wet you may just as well wade on through any terrain, rather than taking care as to where each foot fall will be, which is what I would have been doing in boots so as not to let the water over the top.
All was going well until about an hour later we realised that we had misplaced ourselves. Suddenly what we saw on the ground didn’t match the map and we realised that we were a kilometre adrift. More boggy, tussocky ground put us right.
On our way back to our intended route we encountered the first two D of E groups (from Stafford).
Once back on track, we followed the intended path which turned out to be very pleasant, in yet more showers, until we reached an area with which we are familiar (where we met the next two D of E groups, from Halesowen this time).
With a further deviation onto previously unwalked terrain, we were soon back onto the familiar path via the mast and the slab, back to Barmouth. The D of E chaps were the only people we saw out walking until we were within half a mile of Barmouth.
The weather was much better than expected (no torrential rain) and although some of the terrain was hard going the verdict from the weekend was that it was tremendous fun. Roll on the next outing…
On Saturday night we had looked at a map (which is full of holes and must be replaced either with a new one or with some 1:25k mapping software of that area) and chose a route back to Barmouth for the Sunday. It’s becoming a bit of a challenge to come up with something new as we’ve walked quite a bit in that area, but there was an obvious low level route that we’ve not tried before.
The first section exercised our right to roam, which always presents the danger (in fact, almost a certainty) in this area that it will be either marshland or boulder/heather. This route didn’t disappoint. We left all trace of a path after the first mile and then spent the next hour or so yomping through knee-deep marsh. Even tussock jumping didn’t help as none of the tussocks was sufficiently firm. It was energy sapping to the extreme, with having to lift the leg so high on every step, but perversely it was good fun at the same time. It was also an excellent test for the Terrocs (of which I will post later).
Finally, we reached a track (not a moment too soon) which we followed through a forest for quite a while, stopping for a brew on the way, taking advantage of the shelter that the trees offered from the increasingly heavy rain.
Out of the forest, my feet almost started to feel dry, which was the cue for us to leave the road along which we had been walking and venture into the biggest marsh of the trip. The good thing about the Terrocs turned out to be the fact that once the feet are wet you may just as well wade on through any terrain, rather than taking care as to where each foot fall will be, which is what I would have been doing in boots so as not to let the water over the top.
All was going well until about an hour later we realised that we had misplaced ourselves. Suddenly what we saw on the ground didn’t match the map and we realised that we were a kilometre adrift. More boggy, tussocky ground put us right.
On our way back to our intended route we encountered the first two D of E groups (from Stafford).
Once back on track, we followed the intended path which turned out to be very pleasant, in yet more showers, until we reached an area with which we are familiar (where we met the next two D of E groups, from Halesowen this time).
With a further deviation onto previously unwalked terrain, we were soon back onto the familiar path via the mast and the slab, back to Barmouth. The D of E chaps were the only people we saw out walking until we were within half a mile of Barmouth.
The weather was much better than expected (no torrential rain) and although some of the terrain was hard going the verdict from the weekend was that it was tremendous fun. Roll on the next outing…
A Couple of Days in the Rhinogs - Day 1
By Friday afternoon I had finally got the Psion and the computer reliably talking to each other and Husband had made a route choice for Saturday.
It perhaps looked like a lazy choice that we would repeat a ridge walk that we did at the end of January, but there was good reason: at the end of January we spent two days up in the clouds with no visibility. We felt sure that the views would be superb, if only we could have seen them, so vowed to return in good weather. The forecast for Saturday was good, so it was an easy decision to make.
We set out from Barmouth late on Saturday morning, went past the slab and onwards to the mast, from where we headed diagonally up the hillside until we hit the ridge at a junction of two walls. Then all we had to do was follow the ridge to Y Llethr.
The downside of having good weather was that we could see what was to come; back in January we couldn’t see the big inclines coming, so uphill section seemed to be longer than the visible 10 metres! But on the plus side, what views! It was one of those unusual days when neither Cadair Idris nor Snowdon was shrouded by clouds, and from the ridge we had a view of both.
The most amusing incident of the day came at our lunch stop, when we were crouched down behind the ridge wall, commenting that it was amazing that on the Saturday of a Bank Holiday weekend we had walked for over 3 hours without seeing a single person, when just then we heard someone approaching on the other side of the wall. He became visible to us as he climbed the stile over the wall, it turned out to be a chap wearing boots, socks and a rucksack – and nothing else. A Naked Rambler!
Husband forgot the rule of not laughing out loud at other people’s appearances and guffawed.
After lunch, we headed up to Diffwys, on to Y Llethr and then down the ridiculously steep ‘path’ down to Llyn Hywel (so this was where everyone was!) before popping up to the top of Rhinog Fach. Peace on the summit was shattered by an unruly group, mainly of children, and we didn’t dally long.
We then made our way down to our intended pitch for the night and settled down to wait until a decent time to pitch the tent.
We were joined by three chaps who decided to pitch ten yards away from us. I was all for moving on somewhere else, but Husband was intent on staying (I have to say, it was a fairly spectacular pitch). I’ve never had to share a wild camp with anything but wild life before – but the chaps didn’t disturb us, and were gone before I made it out of the tent in the morning.
An excellent day in excellent weather.
Day 2 to follow - I've got to go and do some chores just now...
It perhaps looked like a lazy choice that we would repeat a ridge walk that we did at the end of January, but there was good reason: at the end of January we spent two days up in the clouds with no visibility. We felt sure that the views would be superb, if only we could have seen them, so vowed to return in good weather. The forecast for Saturday was good, so it was an easy decision to make.
We set out from Barmouth late on Saturday morning, went past the slab and onwards to the mast, from where we headed diagonally up the hillside until we hit the ridge at a junction of two walls. Then all we had to do was follow the ridge to Y Llethr.
The downside of having good weather was that we could see what was to come; back in January we couldn’t see the big inclines coming, so uphill section seemed to be longer than the visible 10 metres! But on the plus side, what views! It was one of those unusual days when neither Cadair Idris nor Snowdon was shrouded by clouds, and from the ridge we had a view of both.
The most amusing incident of the day came at our lunch stop, when we were crouched down behind the ridge wall, commenting that it was amazing that on the Saturday of a Bank Holiday weekend we had walked for over 3 hours without seeing a single person, when just then we heard someone approaching on the other side of the wall. He became visible to us as he climbed the stile over the wall, it turned out to be a chap wearing boots, socks and a rucksack – and nothing else. A Naked Rambler!
Husband forgot the rule of not laughing out loud at other people’s appearances and guffawed.
After lunch, we headed up to Diffwys, on to Y Llethr and then down the ridiculously steep ‘path’ down to Llyn Hywel (so this was where everyone was!) before popping up to the top of Rhinog Fach. Peace on the summit was shattered by an unruly group, mainly of children, and we didn’t dally long.
We then made our way down to our intended pitch for the night and settled down to wait until a decent time to pitch the tent.
We were joined by three chaps who decided to pitch ten yards away from us. I was all for moving on somewhere else, but Husband was intent on staying (I have to say, it was a fairly spectacular pitch). I’ve never had to share a wild camp with anything but wild life before – but the chaps didn’t disturb us, and were gone before I made it out of the tent in the morning.
An excellent day in excellent weather.
Day 2 to follow - I've got to go and do some chores just now...
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
Damned Technology
Today I finally got my hands on a USB to Serial Port adapter. The supplier that I ordered it from 2 days ago (after office hours) was good to their word and delivered the next working day. Tronisoft on the other hand has not only taken my money and failed to deliver, but they’ve also failed to respond to my (perfectly polite) complaints (but I’m not bitter…).
So, this evening my task was to connect the Psion to the PC.
I used to think that I was computer literate. I now realise that I’m just quite good with the standard Office Products and a few bespoke systems. The inner workings of a computer confound me.
So, the first challenge was to install the driver for the adapter when faced with a dozen possible driver files on the supplied CD. I finally got over that challenge and expected a connection to be formed. Unable to connect was the message I kept getting.
An hour later, I finally stumbled upon the answer to the connection problem after so much cursing and head-scratching that I was ready to put the Psion back on Ebay (the answer being, quite obviously (!?) a simple matter of selecting the right COM Port for the synchronisation software to search for the device).
Now that I’m connected (I danced a jig when it finally happened after an hour and a half of trying), and I can see the files on the Psion, tomorrow night’s task is to work out why the synchronisation programme is terminating every time I click on one of those files.
So, this evening my task was to connect the Psion to the PC.
I used to think that I was computer literate. I now realise that I’m just quite good with the standard Office Products and a few bespoke systems. The inner workings of a computer confound me.
So, the first challenge was to install the driver for the adapter when faced with a dozen possible driver files on the supplied CD. I finally got over that challenge and expected a connection to be formed. Unable to connect was the message I kept getting.
An hour later, I finally stumbled upon the answer to the connection problem after so much cursing and head-scratching that I was ready to put the Psion back on Ebay (the answer being, quite obviously (!?) a simple matter of selecting the right COM Port for the synchronisation software to search for the device).
Now that I’m connected (I danced a jig when it finally happened after an hour and a half of trying), and I can see the files on the Psion, tomorrow night’s task is to work out why the synchronisation programme is terminating every time I click on one of those files.
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Random Thoughts: Dry Food, A Backpack, A Trip and A Computer
The dehydrator was on overnight, working on some fruit (we seemed to have a surfeit of bananas and mangoes, plus some pineapple that needed to be used). I’ve read before that it’s not possible to over-dry food, however I’m definitely finding that, when drying at 70 degrees, it’s possible to dry it for so long that it takes on a hint of a burnt flavour. It would have been fine had I swapped the top and bottom trays half way through the drying time but, alas, I didn’t make the effort at 2am this morning, so we’ll just have to put up with slightly burnt mango.
Said fruit should hopefully come in handy this weekend. The plan is for a short backpacking trip in Wales. I’ve delegated the route planning to Husband on this one, so I’ve no idea where we will be going (neither does he at this time; I don’t believe that he’s given the subject any thought yet, but hopefully he’ll make some moves towards a tentative plan by the end of tomorrow).
What I am intent on doing this weekend, no matter where we end up, is using my brand new 35 litre pack, rather than my usual 50 litre. Next year I’m hoping to squeeze everything that I need for 3 months into the space of a 35 litre, so hopefully a short night or two away will present no problems.
I did a test pack in the 35 litre when we got back from the Cumbria Way and happily fitted everything that I needed for a week in there, except my bulky down jacket (which won’t feature on next year’s packing list), so for the weekend coming I should find that I have lots of room to spare. I shall report back next week.
Also coming with me on the weekend will be my new (by which I mean old and second hand, but new to me) Psion 5. The Psion 3c used on the Cumbria way proved to have keys far too small to be able to type properly, so I’ve upgraded to a model with a sensible keyboard. I’ve finally given up on Tronisoft ever supplying the cable that I paid for nearly two months ago, or indeed responding to my complaints, so have ordered a replacement cable from elsewhere. Fingers crossed that it arrives by the end of the week, then I won’t have to go through the pain of having to retype my notes when I get back.
Said fruit should hopefully come in handy this weekend. The plan is for a short backpacking trip in Wales. I’ve delegated the route planning to Husband on this one, so I’ve no idea where we will be going (neither does he at this time; I don’t believe that he’s given the subject any thought yet, but hopefully he’ll make some moves towards a tentative plan by the end of tomorrow).
What I am intent on doing this weekend, no matter where we end up, is using my brand new 35 litre pack, rather than my usual 50 litre. Next year I’m hoping to squeeze everything that I need for 3 months into the space of a 35 litre, so hopefully a short night or two away will present no problems.
I did a test pack in the 35 litre when we got back from the Cumbria Way and happily fitted everything that I needed for a week in there, except my bulky down jacket (which won’t feature on next year’s packing list), so for the weekend coming I should find that I have lots of room to spare. I shall report back next week.
Also coming with me on the weekend will be my new (by which I mean old and second hand, but new to me) Psion 5. The Psion 3c used on the Cumbria way proved to have keys far too small to be able to type properly, so I’ve upgraded to a model with a sensible keyboard. I’ve finally given up on Tronisoft ever supplying the cable that I paid for nearly two months ago, or indeed responding to my complaints, so have ordered a replacement cable from elsewhere. Fingers crossed that it arrives by the end of the week, then I won’t have to go through the pain of having to retype my notes when I get back.
Friday, 18 May 2007
Catch-up Time
Time for a bit of a catch up, as I seem to have been a bit slack on updating lately:
29 April 2007
I had declared our training for the Keswick to Barrow Walk to be almost complete, but in cognisance of our training having been woefully lacking in hills, I had earmarked a day of this weekend for a spot of hill work.
Tentative plans had been made for a weekend of backpacking in the Bala area, but we completely failed to firm up those plans or do anything towards packing, so instead we opted for a weekend at home, with just a trip to Cannock Chase on Sunday afternoon to walk up and down the side of a small valley there.
The walk in from our usual car park turned into a bit of a ‘run/walk’ affair. Not sure how that happened: husband accused me of running down a hill, causing him to join in, I reckon it was him who upped the pace. Once over at Mere Valley, we just spent the best part of a couple of hours walking up one track, along the top and down the next.
Not the most exciting way to spend the afternoon (although it beats sitting in front of the telly any day), but the weather was fine, if a bit windy, and at least the views made a change from the canal and lane walking that we’ve been doing for months.
I didn’t measure the distance that we walked, but I reckon that we covered at least 10 miles in the 2.5 hours that we were out.
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5 May 2007
Given that Husband had missed out on a couple of the longer walks, and given that he had (another) new pair of running shoes to try out for suitability for the K2B (both of us bought new runners earlier in the year that we decided that we didn’t like and wouldn’t be comfortable over a distance of 40 miles), we decided to pop out for a quick 20 miler.
I glanced at a map and chose a route that looked like it was about the right distance and off we set.
Things did not go well for me. I think the effects of the entire week had caught up with me.
On Tuesday I had had a long day when I had to pop down to London for a meeting. I got home late, then had a full day at work on the Wednesday before flying out to Denmark in the evening, arriving at 10.30pm. At 8am on Thursday morning, I was sitting in a lawyers office, with the impossible task of reviewing 7300 pages of documentation in two days. At 8pm, after 12 hours of solidly reading and making notes, I left the office and went out for tea. At 8am the following morning, I was back in the lawyers office, again plodding through files. At 5pm I flew home, arriving at gone 7.
Some people do that sort of thing day in, day out and thrive off it. I have a life and am not one of those people. By the weekend, I was mentally exhausted (and it’s amazing how much of this long distance walking malarkey is a mental issue) and sleep deprived too.
So, by 15 miles through this walk (and with an annoying pull in the back of my knee) I was fit to drop, declared defeat and sent Husband on ahead to get the car to pick me up.
Having sent him on ahead, I managed to muster a little energy and kept up with him, until with only 1 mile to go the pain in my knee was getting worse and I couldn’t face the last fifteen minutes of yomping over fields and stiles. I therefore lay myself down at the roadside (a very small and quiet lane; I didn’t feel too conspicuous) as Husband jogged off across country.
Lying there in the sun was quite pleasant respite for me, and I could happily have fallen asleep. Whilst I lay there, however, Husband was having a bit of drama. He approached the exit from the first field, to find it guarded by a herd of cows. Waving his arms and shouting dispersed them, but as he started making his way past him to the stile they decided to ambush him. He legged it to the stile and vaulted over.
The next field was fine, but as he enter the following one the cows decided to chase him the whole way across, causing him to sprint the entire width of the field to fling himself over the next stile (this one’s covered in barbed wire, but he managed to avoid it, even in his haste). Fortunately, the next couple of fields are cropped and the ones beyond that are used for sheep grazing.
I was surprised to hear the tractor-like rattling engine of my car approaching me a good ten minutes before I expected it and was soon resting my weary bones in an armchair, hoping that a week of good healthy food and lots of sleep would sort me out for 40 miles in a week’s time.
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The 41st Keswick to Barrow Walk – Saturday 12 May 2007
If I go into too much detail about the day, I’ll fill at least fifteen pages (that’s how long my full write-up is so far, and I’m not finished yet), so I’ll keep this very short:
After record breaking warm and dry weather throughout April, it was inevitable that the weather would have broken by mid-May and that we would be rained upon for the big walk.
Sure enough the forecast was poor, and the day dawned grey and drizzly. It remained drizzly with occasional showers throughout the morning. However, after a very heavy shower at the half way point, the weather got better. By early afternoon the sun had won through and the day was warming up.
The first half of the walk went remarkably well. We reached the 20 mile point in exactly 5 hours. From around 22 miles, I entered a bit of a slump. Unfortunately, I didn’t recover from that slump and was thoroughly miserable through the next fifteen miles.
A return of the pull in the back of the knee and a short lived hip problem at 32 miles didn’t help my mood and I started to doubt my ability to finish.
Thanks to Husband (and his insistence that we weren’t going to be beaten by the oversized chicken that was hot on our heels; we’d already been overtaken by Scooby Doo) not only did I keep putting one foot in front of the other right to the end, but we even managed to summon a sprint up the crowd-lined drive to the finishing line.
We completed the walk in 10 hours and 37 minutes.
My first statement on finishing was that I would never take part in the event again.
The following day I conceded that I would take part again, but I wouldn’t do it so fast again.
By mid-week I was thinking that maybe it would nice to train harder in future and see if I could achieve a 10 hour finish…. Dangerous thoughts.
29 April 2007
I had declared our training for the Keswick to Barrow Walk to be almost complete, but in cognisance of our training having been woefully lacking in hills, I had earmarked a day of this weekend for a spot of hill work.
Tentative plans had been made for a weekend of backpacking in the Bala area, but we completely failed to firm up those plans or do anything towards packing, so instead we opted for a weekend at home, with just a trip to Cannock Chase on Sunday afternoon to walk up and down the side of a small valley there.
The walk in from our usual car park turned into a bit of a ‘run/walk’ affair. Not sure how that happened: husband accused me of running down a hill, causing him to join in, I reckon it was him who upped the pace. Once over at Mere Valley, we just spent the best part of a couple of hours walking up one track, along the top and down the next.
Not the most exciting way to spend the afternoon (although it beats sitting in front of the telly any day), but the weather was fine, if a bit windy, and at least the views made a change from the canal and lane walking that we’ve been doing for months.
I didn’t measure the distance that we walked, but I reckon that we covered at least 10 miles in the 2.5 hours that we were out.
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5 May 2007
Given that Husband had missed out on a couple of the longer walks, and given that he had (another) new pair of running shoes to try out for suitability for the K2B (both of us bought new runners earlier in the year that we decided that we didn’t like and wouldn’t be comfortable over a distance of 40 miles), we decided to pop out for a quick 20 miler.
I glanced at a map and chose a route that looked like it was about the right distance and off we set.
Things did not go well for me. I think the effects of the entire week had caught up with me.
On Tuesday I had had a long day when I had to pop down to London for a meeting. I got home late, then had a full day at work on the Wednesday before flying out to Denmark in the evening, arriving at 10.30pm. At 8am on Thursday morning, I was sitting in a lawyers office, with the impossible task of reviewing 7300 pages of documentation in two days. At 8pm, after 12 hours of solidly reading and making notes, I left the office and went out for tea. At 8am the following morning, I was back in the lawyers office, again plodding through files. At 5pm I flew home, arriving at gone 7.
Some people do that sort of thing day in, day out and thrive off it. I have a life and am not one of those people. By the weekend, I was mentally exhausted (and it’s amazing how much of this long distance walking malarkey is a mental issue) and sleep deprived too.
So, by 15 miles through this walk (and with an annoying pull in the back of my knee) I was fit to drop, declared defeat and sent Husband on ahead to get the car to pick me up.
Having sent him on ahead, I managed to muster a little energy and kept up with him, until with only 1 mile to go the pain in my knee was getting worse and I couldn’t face the last fifteen minutes of yomping over fields and stiles. I therefore lay myself down at the roadside (a very small and quiet lane; I didn’t feel too conspicuous) as Husband jogged off across country.
Lying there in the sun was quite pleasant respite for me, and I could happily have fallen asleep. Whilst I lay there, however, Husband was having a bit of drama. He approached the exit from the first field, to find it guarded by a herd of cows. Waving his arms and shouting dispersed them, but as he started making his way past him to the stile they decided to ambush him. He legged it to the stile and vaulted over.
The next field was fine, but as he enter the following one the cows decided to chase him the whole way across, causing him to sprint the entire width of the field to fling himself over the next stile (this one’s covered in barbed wire, but he managed to avoid it, even in his haste). Fortunately, the next couple of fields are cropped and the ones beyond that are used for sheep grazing.
I was surprised to hear the tractor-like rattling engine of my car approaching me a good ten minutes before I expected it and was soon resting my weary bones in an armchair, hoping that a week of good healthy food and lots of sleep would sort me out for 40 miles in a week’s time.
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The 41st Keswick to Barrow Walk – Saturday 12 May 2007
If I go into too much detail about the day, I’ll fill at least fifteen pages (that’s how long my full write-up is so far, and I’m not finished yet), so I’ll keep this very short:
After record breaking warm and dry weather throughout April, it was inevitable that the weather would have broken by mid-May and that we would be rained upon for the big walk.
Sure enough the forecast was poor, and the day dawned grey and drizzly. It remained drizzly with occasional showers throughout the morning. However, after a very heavy shower at the half way point, the weather got better. By early afternoon the sun had won through and the day was warming up.
The first half of the walk went remarkably well. We reached the 20 mile point in exactly 5 hours. From around 22 miles, I entered a bit of a slump. Unfortunately, I didn’t recover from that slump and was thoroughly miserable through the next fifteen miles.
A return of the pull in the back of the knee and a short lived hip problem at 32 miles didn’t help my mood and I started to doubt my ability to finish.
Thanks to Husband (and his insistence that we weren’t going to be beaten by the oversized chicken that was hot on our heels; we’d already been overtaken by Scooby Doo) not only did I keep putting one foot in front of the other right to the end, but we even managed to summon a sprint up the crowd-lined drive to the finishing line.
We completed the walk in 10 hours and 37 minutes.
My first statement on finishing was that I would never take part in the event again.
The following day I conceded that I would take part again, but I wouldn’t do it so fast again.
By mid-week I was thinking that maybe it would nice to train harder in future and see if I could achieve a 10 hour finish…. Dangerous thoughts.
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Paramo Azuma Vent Trousers
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.
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, 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.
--------------------
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?).
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