It may not look much

This collection of cogs attached to a counter is the only internationally recognised method for measuring road running events.

When the athletes line up at the start of the Olympic Marathons later this year, the route will have been measured using one of these Jones Counters attached to the front wheel of a bike, and calibrated against a known straight line of around 400 metres.

With all the advancements in online mapping and GPS technology, there is still nothing as accurate as a person on a bike to guarantee the accuracy of road running events.

I have been out with other measurers and used our calibrated bikes alonside GPS devices. The bikes were never more than a foot different over 6 miles. But the GPS devices all had very different readings.

Today's blip was planned to be a view over Coniston Water as I measured the Coniston 14 mile race. But seeing as how the weather conspired against us (again!) I settled for this one today. The Coniston view awaits in the near future