Telegram Sam

Wednesday night at the Swan

Stef was late home from work last. Too late for our club run at the Old Hall in Haworth and too late for us to have a run up the Beacon, or along the river. Not too late however for us to have a walk over to the Swan!

Wednesday night is quiz night at the Swan and it's a real shame it clashes with just about the one other regular thing we like to do in the week. Last night we got seats in the snug and managed 36 out of a possible 60 (I'm not including the bonus 5 points in the last round; we were never going to get them)

A large team of regulars also sat in the snug won and were very kind to give us a free pint token for helping them with one or two answers including knowing which out of New York City, Dallas, Texas and Chicago is not a real band name. We were about ready for coming home when we received the token so another night out is on the cards soon!

Andy Williams R.I.P.

Boredom

Wonderful Wasdale

We spent the weekend in Wasdale staying in a pod at the National Trust campsite. It was lashing down on the way over there via Berker Fell but from Friday morning (we both had a day off to make a long weekend)  the weather was great

On Friday after a lazy morning sat in the sun we ran up Lingmell and up to Scafell Pike before coming back the same way. We weren't sure what to do on Saturday until a friend reminded us that there was a Bob Graham attempt passing through the valley around 1pm. Leg 4 with six other runners, in perfect conditions was a real treat and Andrew, the 'attemptee', had a great run out even if he didn't complete the round under 24hours. Yesterday we had a walk up and over the Screes and back after moving out of our pod. The photo above was taken on the way back down

Everything flows

Let there be light!

Headtorches were needed last night for the first time this autumn on our Wednesday night club run. We managed to get up Beamsley Beacon from the Swan car-park okay (I ran up well; the walking and running we've been doing in the Dales and Lakes is paying off now) but John P suggested we get the torches out for the run back down

We had a round a dozen runners out again plus four dogs (three collies and John's lurcher / long-dog, Skye) and I think all the runners plus a couple of the dogs adjourned to the Swan after the run for hoppy ales (Ossett Mellow Yellow was excellent), BBQ Hula Hoops and in John's case, pork scratchings!

Scott

Genius

Brent Dowe

Rocking Stroll

Stef and I were out running yesterday with Martyn and Helen. Martyn's route passed Rocking Hall and the Rocking Stone. It was a cracking 14mile run over the moors and my first ever climb of the consessional path up the 'front' of Simon's Seat. A full English breakfast, chocolate cake and two pots of Yorkshire tea at Storiths rounded the outing off nicely!

Who was that masked man?

The George

A new pub for a Wednesday night last night: The George at Cullingworth. Cullingworth is close to the Yorkshireman Marathon route but I'd not been to the pub before and I don't think it'd been on our Wednesday night list either

We had around a dozen runners out for a short but muddy along the Harden Beck (the waterfalls were impressive after the recent rain) and back over Hewenden Viaduct. Old Spot beers were taken while hungry runners salivated at the plates of food whistling past (the pub seems to be doing very well and the onion rings with steak looked like battered bagels!), A good night then and plans are afoot already for some full moon headtorchers to liven up the coming winter 

April skies

Weekend up the dale

We bought an Alpkit tarp recently and last weekend was our first chance to try it out. On Friday evening we parked in Starbotton and climbed up into the clag, nearly to the top of Old Cote Moor Top before finding a discreet place to roost for the evening. The following morning we went over to Arncliffe before re-crossing back in to Wharfedale, calling in the cafe in Kettlewell, climbing Great Whernside, then Buckden Pike and having dinner in the White Lion in Cray. That evening we were up on Yockenthwaite Moor just about time for sunset

On Sunday we looped round over to Gilbert Lane, dropped into Buckden, climbed over to Litton, and called in the Queens Head for a lunch-time pint. After that it was along the Skirfare back to Arncliffe and a finish by reversing the climb we did on Friday evening

All in all we managed around 30miles with 8,000feet of climb carrying eight or nine kilo mountain marathon bags, visits to two new pubs and all with only five minutes of rain!

The Universal

I was in a real Britpop mood all weekend and it's carried on into the week

La Isla Bonita

One of my favourite Madonna songs covered in a Neil Young and Crazyhorse style? What's not to like?

Orange Juice

Ilkley Moor

For various reasons but mostly to do with the rubbish weather we've missed a few Wednesday night club runs recently. However, last night our run was from Ilkley and the weather has been decent for a few days. There was a good turn-out and a great route had been planned beforehand in contrast to some of our ad hoc 'off the cuff' outings. We did around seven miles including one or two at decent pace and the beer was good at the Bar t'at afterwards!

The Welcome Wagon

Jo Whiley played a track off the new Welcome Wagon album on the radio this evening. I'd never heard of them but love this!

Hunt for the perfect trail shoe

The ground is reputed to be hard and rough on the Lakeland 100 route and tales of mashed feet are legion , even long before the runners have finished. I wore Inov-8 Mudclaw 270 for my Bob Graham and apart from sore feet for a few days escaped relatively unscathed. I'm not a fan of cushioning in running shoes but something with decent grip and a medium-ish mid-sole will be needed I think. Current options include Inov-8 Roclite 315 (I ran the Three Peaks fell race in a box-fresh pair), Mizuno Wave Ascend (Mizuno shoes worked well for the Yoredale 100) and either Adidas Kanadia, or maybe an Asics trails shoe (I've only ever had one pair of proper road shoes and they were Asics Cumulus, which were fine for the Round Rotherham 50 and LDWA White Cliffs challenge event). Decisions, decisions...

In the right way

Walk on by

Sad news about the passing of Hal David. R.I.P.

Lakeland 100

Back in 2008 I entered the LDWA Yoredale 100 event starting and finishing in Skipton. I'd been injured leading up to the event and walked the whole distance with poles. It took me over 41hours and it was weeks and weeks  before my feet recovered properly. It was much harder than my Bob Graham and I swore I'd never do another hundred mile race / challenge. All that is in the past and this morning I entered the Montane Lakeland 100 I've been looking for another target all year and this should be a good one!