Willie Wife Moor

I cannot believe how quickly my trip to Turkey went! In much the same way as the weekend before this one flew by and I ended up over in Istanbul, I've now been home, spent a weekend based in Keswick in the Lakes and then returned to Yorkshire and the office

Turkey was a great trip. Hard work with really long days but useful for the business, and fun. I landed back at Manchester Airport mid-afternoon on Friday. After a quick mug of tea it was down to Barden Bridge for what's becoming my regular end of week birdwatching walk. Stef had Friday off so I had company for a change, which was lovely. Highlights of the evening were sand martin (lots along the river), dipper, red-legged partridge and a pint of Raspberry Blond in the Craven Arms after the walk!

On Saturday we went up to the Lakes and met Geoff and Linda before walk / jogging over Beck Head to Wasdale, then recceing leg 4 of the BG in perfect conditions. I bonked horribly climbing Great Gable (when am I going to learn you can't keep going for seven or eight hours on a Mars bar?) but was fine again after eating near the summit. A quick shower in the B&B (Clarence House, recommended) preceded our now usual evening in Keswick (Dog and Gun followed by Lakeland Spice)

On Sunday we parked at Dunmail, hacked up to Dollywagon Pike over the excellently named Willie Wife Moor, reversed leg 2 as far as Sticks Pass then turned round and ran back. We had a peregrine pass directly over our heads on the long initial climb onto the ridge. A real treat!

I was tired at the start of the day and we spent more time walking than you could on a round but we both flew up the dreaded climb of Fairfield. I've been over leg 2 maybe eight times now but somehow got us completely lost coming back down from Seat Sandal. In spite of a long detour and dropping down right into Raise Beck we still managed 26minutes back to the car

Totals for the weekend were around 30miles and 13,500ft of climb. I'm sure I've never been fitter and I'm just starting to get excited about having another go at the BG