Snowmageddon

Got lots of snow this weekend, but I've been shut inside with a severe bout of Alun-flu... managed to get out for a short walk with Alex this morning though... serious amounts of snow drifting about!

Dog enjoying the snow, she loves snuffling around in it trying to find treats/pieces of metal/stones/anything that would be bad if she swallowed.

Lane up from Wash, not really passable in anything.

Good for being silly though, if you catch my drift.

I am actually hovering here, snow joke.

Tiny bit of blue sky about, I'm expecting a flurry of emails about this post.

Alex using the official method for crossing a deep drift... erm I've run out of snow puns now.

This is a gate, under lots of snow.

You can see how it's drifted behind walls here, not too deep in exposed places.

More Mr Whippy.

Wolf's Pit Fell Race

Ran the Wolf's Pit Fell Race on Sunday, which was pretty fun. I'm meant to be training on the bike at the moment for the Majorca 312km ride in late April, so I thought I'd cycle there and back too. This turned out to be a good idea as I was nice and warmed up when I got there and met a couple of friends also running.

I found the running ok actually, the bike fitness must do some good. After the initial steep climb I toddled along the moorland paths, just keeping pace with the people around me. I should have pushed harder in this section as it's flat but the excuse of 'i should be bike training' was enough to stop me trying too hard.

Good thing too really as the second half is the harder part, with a couple of ups and downs, which were pretty muddy and therefore quite sapping. You feel like you're not making very good progress although the people around you also seem to suffer which is helpful! By the end of the final ascent I was glad I'd taken it easier earlier and managed to pull away from a few around me towards the top. However as is usual on the last descent they all came whistling back past me. The added problem of an untying shoelace meant I lost a few seconds. No bother though as I came in at a reasonable 71/286 in 51:55 minutes.

The cycle back was very cold as I'd cooled down a lot in the chilly wind after the race, but a slow grind up winnats pass soon warmed me back up and gave me the warm glow of thinking I'd actually done some bike training! I then buggered up all the good work by drinking too much beer watching the Milan san Remo and then visiting the pub, which meant I suffered the next couple of days with the nasty 'fighting off a cold' feeling. Seem to be better now after a rest day on wednesday though so back to training.. By training of course I mean cycling to work and maybe doing a slow longer ride at the weekend. Watch out wiggo!

Here's the GPS of the run:

Monday Evening Run

Numbingly cold on Monday, with temperatures just below zero and a howling wind. Perfect for some nice piccies from my new camera though. Sorry there is loads but hey, I like stopping.


Flurry moving across Chapel.

For the full experience look at this photo while sticking your head out the car window on a frosty commute.

Cowering from the wind produces a nice angle.

Taken in between South Head and Mount Famine, feckin freezing!

Some peakenglow for Kev.

Downfall doesn't look in (not surprisingly), hope these key words point loads of climbers from ukclimbing to my blog.

Kinder Low and other bits like Sandy Heys.

Sun setting over chinley churnish kind of area.

These clouds have almost exhausted their supply of snow, thought they looked a bit like jellyfish.

Bonus picture illustrating how I can survive arctic conditions without losing my flair for style.

Week off/mountain biking

So I just had a week off to look after Ffin, and have decided it's a rest week from road biking so have been doing a bit of mountain biking. Went out a few times, below are some photos from wednesdays ride.. not very spectacular but wanted to try out the new camera.


Kinder resevoir.. misty and dull.

Looking towards Hayfield, wish camera had arrived on Monday, the views were sponktacular.

The sun making a lame effort to break through.

Twenty trees. At this stage i had a made a small error of letting most of the air out of my front suspension in a quest for more squishyness. Not being the sort to carry a shock pump around with me meant the bike rode not entirely well all the way home.

New camera AND DOG

So I splashed out and got the middle of the range Olympus Tough TG-820 camera, which seems to be jolly good and all that. Just in time to take millions of photos of our new puppy- Ffin, who is currently on a campaign to destroy household and persons via teethy doom.


Perhaps i will poo in front of the telly next then eat it.

Destroying heather on a typicial rampage.