Ah, but on Saturday I travelled on the rail line the other side of the Arboretum, from Birmingham to Derby via Lichfield, due to the line at Water Orton being closed for engineering works (presumably for HS2). Very slow, following a stopping train. Then at Derby a mad dash with my bicycle across the bridge from platform 1 to platform 6, with hordes of football supporters coming the other way. Fortunately the train to Loughborough was running 4 minutes late.Originally Posted by Marco
For seven years as a young engineer I worked shifts in three increasingly responsible jobs. I could do the
work and I was paid very well.
Then one day my assistant, who was about 25 years older than me and had spent his whole working life on shifts, said something like "it doesnt matter how well we are paid we will always be second class citizens when it comes to making social arrangements for a Saturday night". It wasn't long afterwards that I elected to move into personnel work.
10.76 miles, 3,011 feet, 3 hours 45 minutes: Travellers Rest - Grasmere - Silver How - Lang How - Swinescar Pike - Blea Rigg - Sergeant Man - Tarn Crag - Butharlyp How - Travellers Rest. Almost wall to wall sunshine - just a few small high fluffy clouds. No precipitation. A moderate very cold wind from the north west. Terrain mainly dry with good grip: firm/crunchy in places above 600 feet. The snow line is up near 3,000 feet where sun exposed, several hundred feet lower where it isn't. Very few walkers about. No other runners seen.
Ah yes, the South Staffordshire railway - aka the railway that time forgot. It's been a freight-only line for decades, and modernisation has passed it by. It has a genuine, still working, manned signal box at Lichfield Trent Valley high level, and between there and Alrewas it has two level crossings with staffed crossing-keeper's huts (they've been upgraded to portakabins) where staff actually come out of the hut and padlock the gates across the road minutes before a train arrives.
On the plus side, you would have had a good view of the HS2 carnage to the east of Lichfield. If you'd have gone the day before, the day after, or this afternoon, if you'd looked to the east on the Lichfield-Alrewas stretch you may well have seen me on the 'hell of the north' course - a narrow, badly surfaced, farming road that runs parallel to the railway at this point.
12.11 miles, 3,470 feet, 3 hours 43 minutes: Fairfield Horseshoe clockwise from Rothay Bridge, taking the 2nd, 3rd and 4th trods to the left on the ascent, staying on the right side of the wall for most of the descent, and going down the rock step. Sunshine and thin high clouds, no precipitation, a strong very cold wind from the north east. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Drainage lines frozen even in the valley floor. Snow/ice above 2,700 feet - it was about 5 cm deep on the top. Lots of walkers ascending from Rydal; 1 fellow runner seen.
I don't usually take the third trod to the left when ascending, but today it meant I was less wind exposed.
Lots of kit on today - double gloves, double tights, a buff, all over waterproofs - it was cold in that wind.
Your photos on facebook today were brilliant.
Thanks Travs!
9.29 miles, 3,317 feet, 2 hours 59 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including up/down the race route from/to the kissing gate. Overcast/misty - no distinct cloud base, but I could not see any terrain above about 1,500 feet. Virtually continuous light snow, settling above 1,000 feet. A moderately strong cold wind from the north east. The ground was firm/hard with good grip. Many drainage areas frozen. Very few many walkers about; 1 fellow runner seen - his dog was barking aggressively a few feet from my face and should have been on a lead. Did he call it back? Did he apologise? Don't be silly.
9.06 miles, 2,792 feet, 3 hours 17 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including down the race route to the road at High Close, up the steps opposite Loughrigg Tarn, Todd and Ivy Crags, and Lily Tarn. Blue sky, with thin high clouds, and one or two fluffy clouds catching the high tops. A cold breeze from the north east. No precipitation. Snow overnight down to the valley, with 5 cm or so in Ambleside itself - higher up there had been a lot of wind so the depth varied from none to 60 cm drifts. Where not snow covered the ground was dry and hard with good grip. Lots of walkers on the fell; 1 fellow runner seen.
That's impressive Mike especially in those conditions. On today's run locally, I could only manage just over 6 miles before getting fed up of ploughing through, or stopping at and climbing over, countless snow drifts, making attempts to develop any sustainable rhythm a chew. The altered landscape was pretty though
Am Yisrael Chai
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote