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!