three and a half weeks

The absence of blogging has been down to the fact that I had a lovely couple of weeks off, most of the time away from home. We had aimed to be in Scotland for the whole time, but that was always going to be dependent on the weather. Well we managed just over a week before the rain well and truly set in. In that time, we managed a lot of bouldering at Loch Katrine, Reiff, Reiff in the Woods, Ardmair Beach near Ullapool, Richonich and Glen Lednock. We walked up An Gearanach, Stac Pollaidh and Schehallion, and we had a good day’s bolt clipping at Creag Nan Luch crag near Gairloch. Then the weather changed. We had also planned a trip up Suilven and Slioch but it was not to be. We did a lot of dodging snow showers and it was bitterly cold for the time of year, seeing snow settle for a short while on the beach at Ullapool! For those who know the geography of Scotland you will be able to tell we moved around a bit!


Once the weather broke, we headed for home for a couple of nights which allowed me to get out for a long run over leg 4 and back. Again a cold day out but it was dry! We then headed for our old hunting patch in the Peak, and had 3 great days climbing, 2 on the slimestone in Cheedale, and a wonderfully quiet day at the Plantation. I got out for a good run in the Goyt Valley too, again old territory! It was then back home for the bank holiday. Why spend it in the busy peak when home is so much quieter and more stunning!!

On the Saturday I risked a mountain bike ride on local trails, and despite being very cautious, felt strong. Sunday was bolt clipping down at St Bees, and Monday another long run, although after all this I was quite tired so I only covered 14 miles! Was pretty disappointed with how tired I felt but there had been very little rest in the last two weeks so I have to believe that that was why.

Since then I have also had a sore knee. I wore some old walshes for my last big run and I can only think they caused the problem. Very worrying seeing as I have less than two weeks to go before my attempt. It is not too bad but there is some inflammation under my knee cap. I managed a run out last Wednesday, up over Muncaster in what I thought was a very slow pace, but was very surprised to see that my time from home to the trig point was my second fastest ever! This was encouraging despite the soreness in my knee. At this point I wasn’t that worried about it! I rode to work and back on Thursday for a spin out and again no real problem.

This weekend we were over in Langdale for a friend’s birthday gathering. P and I checked out the Chapel Stile bouldering circuit and the Langdale boulders, the first has some good problems and also some very poor ones, and the latter is one of those places that the more time you spend there the more there is to do even on 3 boulders!! But I think a day of bouldering and dropping off problems finally made me realise that my knee was not so good, so Sunday’s plan of running home from Langdale, picking up Leg 3 on the way had to be shelved, and was replaced with some retail therapy in Ambleside!

So I am now taking it easy, icing and resting the knee. No more running can make a difference to my fitness, so it’s a case of rest up and have a go!