DON'T LAND ON YOUR RIBS

Maybe the extra running was a bad idea - 26th April 2011


So I did see the Dr and it transpires that although the ribs themselves are OK, I have probably
inflamed an old skiing injury and damaged the cartilage on the ribs which is why it appears to be getting worse at present. There is not a lot that can be done other than rest, so there isn't going to be much of that with the Challenge in just under 15 days.  BUGGER!


 I think I will be taking pain killers with me, and the dog is going to be pissed off for the next week. I guess I could walk with the dog rather than run. Now there's an idea!


Addendum 28th April


Ribs now have light swelling, and click when you press them and sometimes when I move.
They don't hurt when you press them lightly, just click.
It is sneezing that hurts the most.
Hmmmmmmm.......... 2 weeks to get better then ..........


Addendum 29th April


Another day and they are worse than they were.
This is NOT looking good at the moment.

GRAVITY'S A BITCH

It was only a short distance - Friday 22nd April 2011 - 'Not so Good Friday!'

Now as a Mathematician, I greatly admire Newton, but it has to be said that "Gravity is a Bitch".
There I was running along with the hound, minding my own business, when I was unceremoniously tripped up by a Crocodile (Tree Root to you).
Try as I might I could not thwart the power of Gravity. And so it came to transpire that I landed with a hefty thump on yet another Tree Root.
This is normally ok, if the point of contact is not your RIBS.

So grazed knees, elbow, palms, and rather painful left rib.
It is of course at this point that I should have stopped running. But then when I broke my leg in 2004 (another gravity induced incident), I should have stopped walking. Lessons of the past not learnt.

Well thanks to endorphins and whatever else it is the body manufactures to stop pain we did our run. I say we, because Jasper was fine apart from the fact I think he needs glasses.

The next morning, was less than easy though. It is the breathing bit that hurts the most.
Never mind, I am sure it will get better by the start of the Challenge.
I did try a run today, and a bike ride. T'was rather painful, and breathing could be easier (well, a lot easier to be honest), but I am sure it is just rather bad bruising. I had a broken rib once, and it was a lot worse than this.
It feels a bit better anyway, although that could be the cocktail of Paracetomol, Ibruprofen and Alcohol.


So anyway, 'Gravity's a Bitch - It's Official', Oh Yes, and look where you are going.

Note.. Mon 25th .. Perhaps I need more alcohol
For some reason it is worse today than it was a couple of days ago.
Is this a sign it is getting better, or should I have refrained from creosoting fences and cycling to Cambridge? Never mind, 16 days before the sleeper train to Strathcarron, I am sure it will be better by then. Or I could go to the Dr and find out if it worse than I thought!


And as bit of the past because it is just so good

FAMOUS FIVE GO HIGH IN LANGDALE

WOT? You want me to go up that!  Fri 15th to Sun 18th April 2011


So there I was minding my own business when this bloke knocks on my door and says grab your bag, you're coming with us. And that's how I ended up on my way to Cumbria with Sloman and Lambert.

On the way we picked up Dave and ended up in the Langdale camp site in ample time to pitch our tents. This was the first time out for Wendy since I was lucky enough to purchase her from Mick and Gayle, and I have to say she turned out to be a little beauty.  

Luckily we had ample time to make it to the The Old Dungeon Ghyll for the required hydration material.

Alan, Phil and Dave preparing. Later Shirley arrived with Piglet

Obviously we were all off to our tents early to awake the next morning to a rather dull overcast day with cloud cover on most of the tops.

So it was that the Famous Five Played by


Phil Lambert
Alan Sloman
Andrew Walker
David Wilkinson
and
Shirley Worral and Piglet


(It is not my job to allocate the specific parts)


set off about 9.45, but Alan lured us into the The Old Dungeon Ghyll again for a cup of coffee, and so we finally headed off on our big adventure about 11.00.

The weather being rather closed in, it was decided to follow the Cumbria way to Rossett Pike, stopping on route for Lunch. You can tell how good the conditions were by the faces of the happy campers.

This looks quite clear, but in reality it looked like this.

We worked our way over to Angle Tarn and then the climb up to Esk Hause and the Alan Crags.

Having a break at Angle Tarn

There were little breaks in the clouds, but as we made our way to High House Tarn, the visibility decreased, to the point were it was not that easy to determine we had got there. However eventually, we arrived at our high camp for the night, and although cloud continued to drift across, the rain had stopped and tents were put up in a rather splendid location.

As we put up our tents, King Kong raised his head over the top of the hill.

The little tarn itself gave or would give the following morning wonderful views to the Langdale Pikes, and in the opposite direction Great Gable.

I was lured into Wanda for a game of Rummy

Unfortunately I had just started to boil a litre of water, which I forgot. Not only did I lose at rummy, but nearly destroyed my cooking mug. 

Luckily Phil spotted it and turned it off for me. 

Unluckily, it had used nearly all my gas.

Luckily I had just enough for a breakfast brew.

It had nothing to do with the Wine and Whiskey, and can definitely say that with authority. I think.
It was during this that the dastardly Piglet had it away with Phil's breakfast pancakes. That would be the whole packet that would. When scolded for said deed, she siad in a sheepish hang dog like manner, "Weren't me guv it was some other dog that looked like me, honest", but the truth was evident, and the guilty demeanour obvious.

As the moon came up and the temperature dropped, it was time to get some sleep.

The next morning as the sun began to break through, the magnificent location became all the more apparent.

As we headed back towards Alan Crags, the cloud drifting below us in the valley it was time to consider our route for the day.

However, the cloud at the higher levels was still very patch and clinging to the tops, and we went down to Sprinkling Tarn and Sty head, then followed the path down to Wasdale for a lunch time meal.

After a very nice lunch at the Wasdale Head, and Alan buying his new Designer Montane Pants with special stretchy bits (you can see them in the picture below), we headed back up for our second high camp. We followed the track to the right of Mosdale Beck round to Blacksail Pass.

The weather was getting better, and although the climb was not too steep, it was a little indistinct underfoot.

There were fine views back to Ennerdale and High Stile could clearly be seen.

It took me back to my c2c walk from 2008.

We reached the camp in fine weather, and luckily no wind, with a lovely pitch, a small stream nearby for water, and views to both Ennerdale and Wasdale.

As the sun dropped it became very cold on a clear night, and thermals were order of the day.

That is the Moon not the Sun at around 11.00 pm

The next morning we made a reasonably early start for us. I will not even discuss here the photo that was taken of me with a 16x zoom by some so called friends whilst I performed my morning ablutions. That is for someone else's blog.


Anyway, the weather looked like it was going to be very different. The views were clear, but the steep climb up and over the top on track of slippery shale, with full packs was hard work.

We dropped down to Styhead Tarn for a break and watched a rescue taking place on the corridor route to Scafell near the crags.

Back over to sprinkling Tarn and up to the Shelter for Lunch.

Some of the lunch items were open to interpretation

Here are the Caption Entries so far - I'll let you Decide...
Louise - "This is the bit I left behind on the way to Moffat"
Me- "After the incident with the barbed wire fence, Alan's skin graft was not quite what he was expecting!"
Alan- "The team thought they had done rather a good job performing Al's vasectomy. Alan wasn't so sure."

Even up here, amidst all this, some total ARSE, the capitals are important, had used the wall as a litter bin.

Some people should just not be allowed out.

From here the return journey was via Angle Tarn again and then the more direct route along Mickledon Beck back to the Car.

Dave collecting water on the way down

We finished as we began at The Old Dungeon Ghyll before the long drive back to the Fens.

A rather fine 3 days with nearly 6500 feet of Ascent, and a BIG THANK YOU to Phil for organising it, the route and dragging me up there. Plus some excellent company, and lot's of laughs as always.

EEEhh It were GRAND!


Monday morning was interesting though. I spent the first few hours walking like Spotty Dog. For some reason my calf muscles had stopped working and my knees had forgotten how to bend.


Parting Mood ...............................................

Where's My Shed?

And then it was Gone......Sun 10th Apr 2011


Today I have mostly been taking down the old Shed!
Don't get me wrong, I would love to have gone somewhere really nice.
The weather was brilliant.
BUT.. and here is the problem, the shed needed knocking down, and today was the day.
Well it wasn't the day, but when I got up, Lucy had already started so that was it for the day.
Knock down shed stack wood and take contents to the tip. 
Now, last week I cleaned the car. 
This is a very worrying development. Fortunately it is too late for me to get an office job, otherwise I would be getting a company car next, and moving into a nice semi in a nice new housing development in Cambourne. Then I could take an overdose!


Sorry about that, back to the shed. So the shed is gone, the gravel needs moving to the top of the garden, and hole needs dirt and grass seed. But that will have to wait.


Later I did manage to pop out wi t' doggo but the route was a bit samey, so not really worth a big write up. However there were some interesting bits. Interesting for me anyway.
I did manage to stumble upon a wigwam in the middle of Quy Fen, and from nearby there was rather loud music playing. Back in the day I might have popped in for the experience, but I had to get home so I didn't.
Is it worth putting all this in the blog NO, not really, but I don't keep a diary so there you go.


I also visited the Clunch pits on the Fen. There are two Clunch pits, and this time we went to the smaller one.

Track to the Clunch Pit

These have been around for years. Clunch pits I believe is where years ago they used to extract limestone. The stone is a chalk from the Lower Chalk of the Cretaceous age, the period of geological time approximately 143-65 million years ago. It is a greyish white colour often with a greenish tinge. These have not been used for years, and are now just water filled pits, surrounded by reed beds.

It just looks like a pond now

Nearby the other clunch pit is this memorial stone. 
It is sited in the middle of a field, and more recently has been surrounded with a small fence.
All things considered, this was pretty unlucky. 
Makes you think though. Life is too short, you need to enjoy what you have and not worry about all the $hit!

So anyway, enough local history. Since the music drifted across form the tents I decided that today's music should have a bit more get up and go.
We boogied back to the car as the sun glinted in the trees, and listened to a bit of The Cult.

The Cult Edie

They were the days


Next time we will most likely be listening to Rob Balducci

Soon to be the ONLY hunting Birds in the Scottish Highlands

Sat 9th Apr - I went for a stroll and saw the future


This is not a big entry, just a short thought for the day.


Well, the weather was very fine again, and since I had to go out, and also fancied a different dog walking/running route, and also since I need to increase my fitness for the Challenge, I thought maybe a we 13 mile would be just the ticket.
Anyway, that is not the point of this little bit. While I was out I saw what I thought was a Kite hovering about 25 feet in the air. As I got closer I realised it was in fact a bird scarer, BUT it was very realistic.

You can see the rod that attaches the bird scarer to the wire
They could put them near the wind farms to show that no birds are harmed by them.

Well that got me thinking. In 10 years time, will these be the alternative birds to be seen in the Highlands, after the rest of them have been mutilated and puréed by the so called GREEN turbines. I shall not go on about them it will end in a rant. I also realised after their stance on turbines that after all these years I had misunderstood RSPB. It actually stands for 
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Birds.

Apart from that, the rest of the day was rather fine.
And the Music for today is ....Andy Mkee ( I have no idea how he does this)

Today I washed the Car

Tue 6th Apr - It Must be Spring


Before you read this go and sign this  Action Against Windfarm Petition if you haven't already done so!


Anyway, it was a lovely day today, so a bit of a pity that I had to spend a chunk of it doing some work.
At least I was working at home. Mind you I had to because the car was having the second anti-roll bar on the front repaired. This time the left one, about 2 months ago it was the right one.
Now I am not saying that this has anything to do with the shocking state of our roads, nor the ludicrous number of badly maintained speed bumps that we have all over the place here in Fenland. But it is! I have also needed new tyres. Now I know tyres wear out, but these bloody pointless over height lumps of concrete and frost damaged tarmac do far more damage than good.
Anyway, because of that I had to work at home. Mind you I work at home a lot of the time.



So it was that along with clearing dog $hit off the grass, and other wonderful distractions that I spent my day. I did get a bit of work done as well though. A BIT!
Many cups of tea later, and in an attempt to NOT take that dog for a walk I decided that it was...

Time to Clean the Car (It must be spring)


After all it had a new bit on it. There was also the grime on the windows, and the rather illegal number plates (although I do try to keep them clean).
At this point it is important to understand that GOD has been cleaning the car for the last 3 years, and try as he does, he was not winning this task. So bucket in hand and hose at the ready it was time for cleaning. What I mean here is hosing and washing with a bit of hot water. None of that waxing and polishing crap. What would be the point now.
To my amazement I discovered the car was actually Black. Not the rather grimy brown grey colour I had come to see each day. I am not good at car cleaning. Several years ago someone asked me which car was mine. I cannot remember why they asked me.
"It was that one, the Nissan 200", I said. 
"Oh" he said, "the brownish one". (It was Blue!).
Well it is clean enough for me. One day I'll clean inside the bonnet as well (NOT).


So car cleaned and dog still looking at me I had to go for a run again.
Not feeling at my best since everyone here appears to have a cold (yet again).

It was beginning to get a bit dark

So finish up the day with writing a few more days of my 2008 Wainright c2c walk.
I think I am up to day 6 or 7 now. About half way anyway. I should have written a diary when I was doing it, because recall is getting quite hard. There's a link to it on the left somewhere as well.


Probably won't be adding too much to this for another week. This is because very little is going on, and I might well be getting Man Flu!