Lakes Weekend June

Lakes Weekend June
A great weekend with Garry and Elaine, Dave and Dave. We arrived late on Thursday so had time for a good catchup and a gentle walk on Friday. Wansfell above Ambleside. Some lovely views across Windermere and the surrounding Fells and Mountains. A possible walk to do with the children when we go to Cathy's next month.

Windermere from Jenkins Crag

Top of Wansfell

On Saturday we walked and scrambled our way up Sca Fell. A route that we did a few years ago in mist and rain. This time we could see for miles around, including a crowd of walkers at the top of nearby Scafell Pike. The climb up was especially good. This was the route in Paul Buttle's "The Twelve Best Walks in the Lake District".

Sca Fell ahead

"Boulder Field"

Scrambling up the gully near the top

The summit!

Scafell Pike not far away

Bowfell and Crinkle Crags

Sunday was spent on a 10 mile or so mountain bike ride from Windermere. A great way to spend a few hours before heading home.

Sunday 15 May

Another good day's walking, although not quite as spectacular scenery-wise as yesterday.  Also the weather was pretty damp and windy for much of the walk, which does take the edge off things somewhat.  We have now walked over 100 miles along the Pennine Way.  It is quite satisfying to have done the distance and interesting to see the scenery changing as we go along.  North Yorkshire and the Dales could soon rival the Lakes for my favourite part of Britain.

Alan took some video of me attempting to fly my kite on Saturday.  Very droll.......

Saturday 14 May

Great walk today. We got a taxi to Keld then started walking back towards the hotel. This went via some spectacular scenery as well as Great Dunmow Fell which was pretty high and very windy. I did try and fly my kite, and for once it was windy enough, but I found that the strings were tangled. The spirit of Charlie Brown lives on! I will try to unpick the string and try again on Sunday.
Near the end of the walk we came to a pub called the Green Dragon. This was good on two counts. There was a folk music festival going on, and the pub has an impressive waterfall called Hardraw Force in it's grounds. I think that it is the highest drop for a waterfall in England.
The folk festival meant that there were lots of interesting characters around, and that the pub held a raffle. In which I won a bottle of wine!

Sent from my iPod

Friday 13 May

We had a good drive up without any delays, and sat in the pub waiting for everyone else to arrive. Matt and Jonathan came along. We then found out that the pub had stopped serving food. Jonathan went out and found Steve in the cafe where he'd been for the last hour or so. On reflection this shouldn't have been a big surprise as that is where we had planned to meet up!

13 miles today. Keld to Hawes. Hopefully not too wet.

Sent from my iPod

Daniel at camp!

Daniel is off for a couple of nights camping with the cubs.  It is very odd not having him around.  I dropped him off at the campsite and he seemed very relaxed about the weekend ahead.  I hope that he enjoys it.

That was very tough!

Well, I finished the 2011 London Marathon in 04:33:47.  I found it a lot more difficult that I expected, but this was probably due to pre-race over-optimism on my part.  With about 6 miles to go, my right leg was really sore and I was really quite worried that I might pull up and have to stop.
There were people seeming to collapse all around me the more miles that went by.  A stark reminder not to go for a big finish!  The weather was very hot and this probably made it harder work than it would have been otherwise.
Overall very pleased to have completed the Marathon.  The support from Lynda, Zoe, Daniel and Hannah and other friends was great.
I'm not sure that I will do another one.  It was a big demand on mine and the family's time.

But then again.  It is the London Olympics next year and the ballot for next year's Marathon opens before the end of the month!
Full times for each 5km..
Split     time             diff     min/km     km/h
5K       00:28:08     28:08     05:38     10.67
10K     00:58:40     30:32     06:07     9.82
15K     01:30:38     31:58     06:24     9.39
20K     02:03:03     32:25     06:30     9.25
HALF   02:10:06     07:03     06:26     9.34
25K     02:35:58     25:52     06:38     9.05
30K     03:09:18     33:20     06:40     9.00
35K     03:43:25     34:07     06:50     8.79
40K     04:18:15     34:50     06:59     8.61
Finish  04:33:47     15:32     07:05     8.48

Two days and it will all be over!

Well, my final training run is complete.  A few niggles, but no injuries so far.  I have collected my running number, booked parking at work and have tomorrow to pack and load the car.


Quite looking forward to it now.  Hope that I get to the finish!