A Lazy Weekend? Dinnae be Silly!

I was excited as I was off to the Lakes for a run and to help out at the first Open 5 adventure race of the season. It was an early start as I I wanted to be in Lower Wray (just round the corner from Ambleside) on Lake Windermere by 12pm.

My lunchtime sandwiches were eaten by 10am as I sat on the train. A looney tune of a man was singing out loud. As he stopped a cat started to meow. "Surreal" said the posh lady sitting next to me and I nodded in polite agreement, not wishing to engage further. You see, I had bought a magazine for the journey and wished to read it.

Amateur Photographer, which although often too cliched, I enjoy. It's funny insofar as amateur photographers are similar to cyclists......some have natural talent, some are geeky, some think they can achieve success through buying fancy equipment and others are purists. I sit on the fence.....

The joy of photography for me is that it makes me look at things more closely, beautiful light or a perspective that one wouldn't notice otherwise. My wee sony camera, a Sony RX100 satisfies the geek in me. It's small, light, can be clipped to my rucksack and I take it places a DSLR would be awkward.

The weather was ok when I alighted the train. I had two choices, either to get the ferry in Windermere and go the short way or Take the main road via Ambleside. I chose the latter which was a bad move. The road was busy and the cycle path was thick with autumn leaves, not ideal for Brompton tyres.

Already changed, I dumped my rucksack On arrival in the camp site office, bought a bag of mini-cheddars, phoned Rosemary to say I had got there safe and then started my run.

The legs instantaneously felt crap, but I was still cheery. The weather wasn't bad and I was in the Lakes. The path along Windermere was a bit boring, too sanitised with a man-made surface. It took around 45 minutes to reach the turn where I headed up into the hills, Via a mix of trails and roads. I passed the house of Beatrix Potter, seeing snap happy Chinese tourists. It was a relief to find the bridleway, which was a bit confusing as there was a sign saying it was also a private road. I confirmed with a few hill walkers that I was heading towards Moss Eccles Tarn ......and they kindly told me it was all uphill.

The next bit of adventure was that I found myself in a field of cows. Checking the map, I realised I had come off the bridleway. Not to worry....there was a shortcut across the field. I then saw a particularly large cow with a dangley udder! "Ohhh no, it's got a ring in its nose" I thought! The cows were now blocking one way and the bull the other. Rather, I gingerly circumnavigated the field finding myself ankle deep in a cold bog. Then it started to chuck down and I started to get cold.

I soon reached the tarn which looked mystical in the rain.....such views make forgetting about the cold rain easy. The rest of the way was mainly on downhill forest and fire trails making the going much easier. Through Upper Wray, into the estate of Wray Castle and down to Windermere I headed. Getting closer to the camp-site a man ran to a gate and open it for me" "No need to stop mate" he said gleefully. I smiled wryly, pleased that "thanks mate" had come out my mouth rather than "wanker" that I had actually been thinking.

The main marquee had been pitched by the time I arrived back at the camp-site. It was good to see friendly familiar faces that I hadn't seen since the ITERA adventure race. Even though the legs were a bit wobbly after a 3 hour run, I set about helping unload the big van. "Can you get the (huge plasma weighing a ton) tv's down" James asked!

After a while, I started to get cold so decided to get showered and into warm clothes. It was then back to do the final few jobs. We then had a communal dinner in a Berber tent with a wood burner in it! Very cosy! By this stage the rain was battering down torrentially. It didn't stop me falling asleep rather rapidly. A wonderful day!