Today's poet

[Nathaniel Lee]

I see mountains all around,
Lakeland beauty surrounds me,
Within a moment i hit the ground,
Where am i ? How can this be ?.

Stomach churning, Head turning,
Marshalls come to my aid,
To reach the finish was my yearning,
Well there goes my plan best laid.

Coming round i thank them all,
Strangely i've enjoyed myself,
There's always next year to stand tall,
When i shall be in better health.

It was a joy to meet the forumites,
And put their names to faces,
We'll have fun on the poetry nights,
Round the campfire drinking whisky chasers.

By Herakles.

[freckle]

I see mountains all around,
Lakeland beauty surrounds me,
Within a moment i hit the ground,
Where am i ? How can this be ?.

Stomach churning, Head turning,
Marshalls come to my aid,
To reach the finish was my yearning,
Well there goes my plan best laid.

Coming round i thank them all,
Strangely i've enjoyed myself,
There's always next year to stand tall,
When i shall be in better health.

It was a joy to meet the forumites,
And put their names to faces,
We'll have fun on the poetry nights,
Round the campfire drinking whisky chasers.

By Herakles.

I am still at work (what a top grafter!) so I haven't got time to comment fully on all the good stuff on this here thread today but I just wanted to say that i really liked this poem herakles, i am glad that all is well that ends well....

I particularly like the hopeful yet slightly incongrous image of fell runners necking large amounts of whiskey chasers whilst discussing the finer points of armitage poetry...i do hope I will not be toooooooo lairy! but the chances are...i probably will be if whiskey is on the cards

[Harry H Howgill]

Lovely. I do like Thomas Hardy.

where once there was one
the sunrise through the curtains
makes two soft shadows

Sweet x

[Harry H Howgill]

It strikes me that my humble blog at http://poet-in-residence.blogspot.com may be something for somebody?

That looks fabulous. That'll keep me entertained for hours.

[Harry H Howgill]

I met someone out running tonight who is a lurker around these parts and they said some really positive things about this thread. Thanks for that as you didn't have to share those thoughts. Please keep on lurking and enjoying the thread.

[mr brightside]

if someone pleeeeeease promises to give me an intensive course in navigation!

There was a thread a while back called 'how do you navigate' or something but the search isn't working at the moment.

I'd look at it in two sections; interpreting what's drawn on the map which is the hard bit, and dead reckoning using the compass which is the easy bit. Dead reckoning is based around the fact that the top of a map is always north, and it requires you to know where you are at the start and where you want to finish. If you align the side of your compass on an 'imaginary line' between the start and finish on your map then point the painted N for north arrow on the bezel to the top of the map (north), when you line up the red end of the compass needle with the N on the bezel then the blue arrow on the perspex plate is giving you a direction of travel to meet your finish point and directly representing the 'imaginary line' on your map. You move from one known point to another like this until you're done but if you ever fail to know where you are you can't plot both a start and a finish and are lost. I've never had to use a compass while running because i can sort of transfer the map lines and features i see to a 3D image in my head which i can cross reference with topographical features i'm looking at, and this recognition of things by eye is just as important as dead reckoning ability.

It won't be an overnight thing to pick up it has to be improved on over time with experience, i'd liken it to learning to play a musical instrument, you keep doing it and it keeps coming. Don't be afraid of being 'geographically mislocated' either, it's different to being lost and it just happens, if you know which way is 'out' you're not lost. I remember being on the side of Skiddaw years ago having followed a gamekeeper's track accidentally, i knew i was somewhere within a half mile square box on the fellside and this is what i mean by geographically mislocated rather than lost. In the end i just ascended and came accross some hikers who set me right, i'd been fannying around for ages trying to pin down my location when i should have just followed my nose.

I tried to put this in Haiku but it just wouldn't fit, sorry ;D

[freckle]

There was a thread a while back called 'how do you navigate' or something but the search isn't working at the moment.

I'd look at it in two sections; interpreting what's drawn on the map which is the hard bit, and dead reckoning using the compass which is the easy bit. Dead reckoning is based around the fact that the top of a map is always north, and it requires you to know where you are at the start and where you want to finish. If you align the side of your compass on an 'imaginary line' between the start and finish on your map then point the painted N for north arrow on the bezel to the top of the map (north), when you line up the red end of the compass needle with the N on the bezel then the blue arrow on the perspex plate is giving you a direction of travel to meet your finish point and directly representing the 'imaginary line' on your map. You move from one known point to another like this until you're done but if you ever fail to know where you are you can't plot both a start and a finish and are lost. I've never had to use a compass while running because i can sort of transfer the map lines and features i see to a 3D image in my head which i can cross reference with topographical features i'm looking at, and this recognition of things by eye is just as important as dead reckoning ability.

It won't be an overnight thing to pick up it has to be improved on over time with experience, i'd liken it to learning to play a musical instrument, you keep doing it and it keeps coming. Don't be afraid of being 'geographically mislocated' either, it's different to being lost and it just happens, if you know which way is 'out' you're not lost. I remember being on the side of Skiddaw years ago having followed a gamekeeper's track accidentally, i knew i was somewhere within a half mile square box on the fellside and this is what i mean by geographically mislocated rather than lost. In the end i just ascended and came accross some hikers who set me right, i'd been fannying around for ages trying to pin down my location when i should have just followed my nose.

I tried to put this in Haiku but it just wouldn't fit, sorry ;D

thank you mr brightside you put a lot of thought and consideration into this post and I really appreciate it. I will take your advice and have come to the conclusion that as well as honing my navigational skills I generally just need more time in the hills which isn't easy with the way my life is organised at present but will be my aim! I am looking forward to putting these tips into practice as soon as possible. I was thinking about Fairfield horseshoe but think that it is too near another road race that I am already doing (Blaydon Race)....thanks again

[freckle]

I have only done the Rydal Round Hes but I believe the two courses are very similar. First time I did the Rydal I came off the wrong side of one of the Peaks in the clag and ended up a long way away (that should make freckle feel better about her AW experiences as it happens to us all). I think it may clash with another race so I don't know if I will be able to make it.

Now another poem by Mr Hardy



First sight of her and after

A day is drawing to its fall
I had not dreamed to see;
The first of many to enthrall
My spirit, will it be?
Or is this eve the end of all
Such new delight for me?

I journey home; the pattern grows
Of moonshades on the way:
"Soon the first quarter, I suppose,"
Sky-glancing travellers say;
I realize that if, for those,
Has been a common day.

Thomas Hardy

this is lovely...there is such a gentleness in the way hardy writes i think....hes i loved your haiku it was beautiful i hope you get your knee sorted as soon as possible....the thread has been really great over the past 24 hours i can hardly keep up...welcome home dt!!!!!

[emmilou]

I might try and make Fairfield which I've done once before and absolutely loved (the descent is just brilliant and never ending), although I have to survive (and recover from) the fellsman first.

I'm planning on running at Fairfield.

I could leave you a trail of jelly babies
to the summit up the scree
I'll be hitting the top much earlier
probably around 3

[Nathaniel Lee]

Freckle's Navigational Woes.

Hoorah, Hoorah for the canny lass,
Freckle wants a navigation class,
Sort out on your compass and map what is true north,
Then with confidence you can go forward step forth,
You must find time to master these skills,
Or we will lose you in the hills,
It doesn't help your not very tall,
We won't find you because your cute and small.

By Herakles.