Wednesday 26 May - Coniston (with excursions to Ambleside and Tilberthwaite)

Where's Erica? She's back on her pitch at Coniston Park Coppice.
**Weather: slightly damp start then dry but almost entirely overcast. Cool.

At Caravan Club sites you don't get allocated a pitch, but get to look around and choose your own. You then return to reception to nominate your pitch, whereupon (at most club sites) you get given some keys and/or key cards with a fob matching your pitch number. For the system to work, there's a requirement for campervans/motorhomes who go off-site during their stay to mark their pitch to show that it is in use. The sites sell plastic signs for the purpose, but at £20 I've never felt inclined to buy one. Instead, many years ago in the time of Colin, I made a sign saying 'TAKEN' from a cereal box, some clear, waterproof duct tape, and some cable ties. That sign got transfered from Colin to Bertie and over the last ten years we must have used it all of two or three times, because its rare for us to leave a site once we're pitched, other than on foot.

Last weekend, thinking about our plans for this week, I had the fleeting thought that we needed the sign in Erica. Yesterday I realised we'd forgotten to transfer it to her, and that we were going to be leaving our pitch empty this morning. Often people simply leave some chairs or some levelling ramps, but we didn't have those options, so thought went into what resources we did have.

This was the only answer I could come up with:

A little inconvenient as that collapsible crate is a valuable resource when one of us is driving support for the other, being used to hold all of the things that may be required at a support point so that time isn't spent rummaging in cupboards (there's a lot of rummaging going on; Erica hasn't quite worked out where things go yet). Today it was me driving for Mick.

Having dropped him off, in light rain, in Ambleside, I made my way to Tilberthwaite where, after second breakfast and a bit of faffing, I laced up my trainers, shouldered my pack and set out in the direction of Ambleside, taking the Lakeland 50 route in reverse. Surprisingly, given yesterday's efforts, my legs were happy with this activity.

Having received a text from Mick when he reached Skelwith Bridge, I worked out where I was likely to meet him, and was a bit disconcerted when he wasn't there. If I carried on any further it was with the knowledge that, if I'd missed him, then we would be getting further and further apart (although thanks to the incident on the Welsh Coast a few years ago, the lesson was learnt to carry a vehicle key each, so at least Mick could access Erica to eat, restock and leave me a note). I decided to just go a couple of minutes further, to the point where I could look down into the valley, and there he was, almost at the top. 

It was 6.5km back to Erica, during which we enjoyed dry, but still overcast weather. Walkers we met were dressed variously in full waterproofs or winter hats and gloves, and I'm sure I can't be the only person daily whinging that 'It's nearly June, for goodness sake!'

Tilberthwaite car park was busy by the time we got back there, but once Mick had been fed and watered, I freed up a space and pootled back to the campsite.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, we've been a bit lazy this afternoon.

Tuesday 25 May - Coniston via Mardale Head and Troutbeck

Where's Erica? She's at Coniston Park Coppice Caravan Club site, where her big brother Bertie spent a few days a couple of weeks ago.
Weather: Disappointingly damp and ridiculously cool for the time of year.

We were awake, and so got up, at just gone 5am. A few minutes later rain started drumming down and a peek out of the window suggested that it wasn't a passing shower.

It was still raining as we pulled into the road-end to the SE of Pooley Bridge an hour and a half later, which made my application of suncream seem pointless, but I grasped at a bit of optimism (mainly that it wouldn't be washed off before I saw some sunshine!).

Happily, within minutes of stepping out of Erica, that batch of rain petered out and I had a goodly-long dry spell, so whilst it was grey and the cloud base was low, at least I wasn't getting wet from above. From below was a different matter. After all of the recent rain the paths were mainly streams today and the bogs that had been frozen when I did this route 6 weeks ago were puddly morasses, through which I had no option but to splosh.

The air temperature was much warmer today than 6 weeks ago too, but with the lack of sunshine and the presence of a breeze, it didn't feel that way. By the time I'd hauled myself up out of Fusedale (where a bird flew between my legs as I stepped across a stream!) I was starting to cool down, in spite of the physical effort. Between High and Low Kop I reached the point where I was cold enough to want another layer, but also knew that in about 15 minutes I would drop down out of the wind and into a warmer temperature, and if I could just hold out that long, I would save myself two jacket-faffs. Then it started raining again, forcing my hand on the waterproof. I popped it on over my windshirt, expecting soon to take it off again, but at no point between there and Mardale Head did I overheat (running, wearing two jackets, when it's almost June. Ridiculous weather!).

Looking happy to be there even though it was raining as I took this

Same view of Haweswater but without my mug blocking it

I arrived at Mardale Head for lunch (at 1015am; good job lunch is a moveable feast) soggy and filthy, and just as the next shower hit. Half an hour later, after a cup of tea, a couple of egg mayo sandwiches and a few biscuits, I donned brand new socks, put them into sodden shoes and stepped back out into the rain. I was up at the top of Gatescarth Pass before it finally dried up again. (Gatescarth Pass was, incidentally, where I finally started seeing people. It was really quiet out today.)

The main thing that was remarkable between Gatescarth and Troutbeck was how good I felt. Whether due to the amount of food I managed to eat today, or the extra 6-weeks of training (including far more hilliness than before the end of Lockdown), I finished the day having covered 38.5km with 1700m of ascent/descent yet still feeling human and like I could happily continue on. Even better, I didn't hate Garburn Pass today. All quite a contrast to 6 weeks ago.

The sun came out for the final pass of the day and I stripped down to my shirt sleeves for a while.

Continuing wasn't an option, as by the time I arrived at Erica in Troutbeck, Mick should have been on his way to Ambleside, where I was to pick him up. As it went, he had to wait so long for a parking space to become available that he was only just heading out as I arrived.

An hour later, I picked him up in Ambleside and down to Coniston we came. Unfortunately, the pitch we wanted was already taken (as were most of the 250 here), so we got Erica nice and level on the next-but-one pitch, which would have been fine if her electric hook-up cable was 5 metres longer. We moved Erica around and got her tolerably level, but still the cable was a bit short. Off went Mick on a search for a pitch nearer to a hook-up point. He returned and we drove down there, just as another van manoeuvred onto it. Darn!

With the limiting factor of not yet having any leveling ramps for Erica, we surveyed the few other options and came up trumps. This will do us for the next couple of nights.

Bonus photo for Conrad, who I'm sure will know exactly where this was taken:

Monday 24 May - to Yanwath

Where's Erica? She's on the same bit of hardstanding at the certified (5-van) site at Yanwath as she was on 12 April.
Weather: a showery drive north, and a showery evening too.

Last week I examined various weather forecasts and, based on what they told me, we booked a couple of campsites for this week. The intention is for me to repeat the north end of the Lakeland 50 route tomorrow and, on Wednesday, for Mick to recce the south end (which he missed doing when we were here a couple of weeks ago due to a sore knee). The forecast for both days looked good...

...until the bookings were made, whereupon raindrop symbols started appearing on Tuesday's forecast. Harrumph. After my wet recce a couple of weeks ago, I really wanted to do this one in fine weather. It's the problem of booking things in advance: it removes flexibility.

As for our day, it was an early start and a drive up to friends near Preston, where (having all taken lateral flow tests to be sure we were safe to meet) we went into their house and had a lovely time over several hours catching up with over a year and a half's news.

Late in the afternoon we bade them farewell and up to Yanwath, near Penrith we headed, arriving to find, with some relief, that the hardstanding was available (given the amount of rain lately, I wasn't keen on driving onto grass). Finding someone to pay was something of a challenge, but eventually cash was handed over to someone, even if that someone wasn't the owner.

We've tried to get ourselves as organised as possible tonight, so as to get an early start tomorrow. My intended 0600 alarm has now been modified to 0530, in view of the changing forecast that is now suggesting that rain is coming in at around 2pm.

Talking of being organised: as we're staying on campsites which have electricity included in the price, we brought the electric kettle out of Bertie. Unfortunately, I failed to think about the fact that Bertie's kettle is fitted with a 2-pin European plug, whereas Erica's electric set-up is British. We've also discovered that the new hob-top kettle that we bought for Erica: a) leaks; and b) whilst technically of 1-litre capacity, has a usable capacity smaller than our two mugs.

Erica's First Retrofit - Privacy Glass Window Tints

When we were looking for a vehicle to convert into a campervan, one of the 'nice to have' items on our wish list was dark tinted windows. It wasn't high enough up our priority list to make it feel like a compromise when we bought Erica with her clear windows.

We looked at getting her windows tinted last autumn, when we finished the build, but with lockdowns and other demands on our time, her glass remained unmolested. I didn't consider their tinting to be a priority issue, so was happy to wait. 

Then we went on a few trips, both local day-trips where I wanted to get changed after a run, and a couple of overnights, and it highlighted quite how useful those window tints would be. To strip off or use the toilet initially required the tedious exercise of closing all of the curtains (then, of course, re-opening them and buttoning the tie-backs). That quickly became tiresome enough to cause me to have a little think, which resulted in the application of a couple of bits of velcro such that, rather than putting the front curtain up across the cab, I could suspend it diagonally from the rear central pillar to the back corner. With that in place, plus the rear blind put up*, and one rear curtain closed, a 'bathroom' was created. It was a lot less faff, but the space created was compact in the extreme.

That brought us back to the need for window tinting, and also persuaded me that a 5% tint would be better than the 15% tint I thought I'd settled on (5% = 95% light blocked etc). 

All we needed to do was to book Erica in somewhere to have the tints applied ... or bite the bullet and give it a go ourselves. I fancied doing the latter, albeit with the conviction that we would do it remarkably badly, rip the film back off and take it to a professional after all, wasting the money spent on buying the film.

In April I bought the film and a couple of weeks later I finally opened the package, read the instructions and chose a fine day to see how I would fare as a window tinter.

The story of how it went, and the outcome, can be seen in this video:

(*In reality, most times I didn't bother with the rear blind. When backed into a space on the edge of a car park it's reasonably unlikely anyone's going to walk behind your vehicle.)

Thursday 20 May - Carsington and Home

Where's Bertie? He's unpacked and patiently awaiting his next outing. It's currently undecided who is coming with us next week (Bertie or Erica) so they're currently giving each other dirty looks with the odd derogatory jibe being thrown between them.

Weather: Dry and calm until about 2 minutes before we decamped, whereupon it rained all the way home. Nicely timed!

There's not much to report from today. In view of the weather forecast and the need to be off our pitch by noon, there wasn't leisure for a lie-in, so it was all quiet (indeed, the Severn Trent car park adjacent to the campsite was still locked) as we set out for another lap of Carsington Water, this time at a run.

Because it's more beneficial for our current purposes to run/walk, we both felt like it's been ages since we'd last just run for several miles. So, this morning we set out with the intention of doing just that ... and that's exactly what we did - even up the steepest of the inclines on the east side of the water.

The flattest bit of the circuit: crossing the dam

We were back at Bertie in plenty of time to stretch, wash, change, have breakfast, have coffee with a crossword, pack away, use the service point and be away well before the latest departure time (I've frequently timed it to drive off site on the dot of noon (I do like to get my money's worth!)).

It was a good and relaxing couple of days, into which we could undoubtedly have crammed a lot more, but then that's not really our style. We can always go back another time to do more in the area, and I'd happily do a few more laps of the reservoir in the future too.

Now, to decide whether it's Erica or Bertie to come with us next week. Do we go for Erica's agility or Bertie's extra comfort (with the side consideration of which one gets to have the extra mileage added to their odometer, considering that Erica's sailing a bit close to the wind; when we insured her last August our annual mileage calculation assumed (erroneously, as it turned out) that we would be spending several months abroad over winter in Bertie)?

(As a slight aside, for the record: Bertie's thermometer was showing an outside temperature of 11 degrees all the way home. This may be acceptable if it was just the effect of a transient weather system, however, it's nearly June and we've still only had two notably warm days this year. Otherwise it's been decidedly cool. Surely it's time for some warmth?)

Wednesday 19 May - Carsington Water

Where's Bertie? His wheels have not turned; he's still on his pitch at Carsington Water Caravan Club site.
Weather: Sunny intervals, with just one brief shower.

With the forecast giving an increasing probabilty of showers as the day went on, we headed out this morning for a walk around the reservoir. I think that we've walked the circuit before, and fancied that I remembered the dam, but it would have been (I reckon) in around 2002 or 2003, so before the days when I started keeping records of our walks.

Nice morning for it

With the complete circuit being in the region of 11.5km, stopping at 5km for elevenses was a little early, but the picnic benches at the Sheep(something) Car Park seemed well appointed ... until we poured the coffee, whereupon we realised that the installers had failed at the task of levelling the surface.

View in front

Not so scenic behind

On the return leg, we opted for the (per the signpost) 'More difficult route', which involved a pull up through some delightful bluebell-carpeted woodland. 

What goes up must come down, and the gradient was such that a warning was required for bicycles:

I'm not sure the superhero cape was originally part of the sign

Don't want to have a head-on collision at the bottom either

It was on that descent that a shower hit, but whilst we were protected by the trees it didn't bother us. Emerging, we found great raindrops splatting down and, with a quick look at the direction of cloud movement and the state of the sky in that direction, decided that jackets would be wise. By the time we'd completed the lengthy faff to retrieve them from the bottom of the bag, the rain had stopped.

The sky was looking threatening again as we made the final approach back to Bertie, but, despite the forecast, it never did rain again.

It would thus have been a good afternoon to take another walk, perhaps over to the local village. Instead I took the opportunity to edit an upcoming Project Erica video. (I also had my change of mobile phone provider complete this afternoon and it turns out that my new provider doesn't have 4G at this location, which doesn't bode well for it being a long-term switch.)

My verdict on Carsington Water: it's a pleasant circuit on good paths, which would probably be busier than I would like on a sunny weekend, but were fine today (plenty of people around, but not overly busy). I'd happily spend more time in the area, although perhaps next time on one of the other campsites, as Club Sites are now getting into 'unacceptably expensive' season.

Tuesday 18 May - Carsington Water

Where's Bertie? He's at Carsington Water Caravan Club Site, where it's costing £47.24 (total) for two nights.
Weather: Good sunny intervals this morning, then clouding in this afternoon and starting to rain just before 3pm.

At 1445 yesterday afternoon, I accosted Mick in the hall, as he was on his way between the kitchen and the living room and asked him if he fancied doing something impulsive.

"What?" he asked me with caution, to which I proposed that we should pack Bertie as fast as we possibly could and nip away for a couple of nights.

"Why?" he asked, to which I responded that running around Carsington Water (where I don't think we've been for the best part of 20 years) would be more interesting than plodding the pavements or slip-sliding through the increasing muddiness around home.

"But I'm about to put a chicken in the oven" he said. I'd forgotten about the chicken, which did put a spanner in the works.

"Well, let's go in the morning then!" I said. So we did.

As we couldn't check in at the campsite until 1300 we needed a plan for the morning, so thought we'd park in Ashbourne and run out-and-back along the Tissington Trail (ex-railway line) on the way. We duly parked in our intended car park, which is plenty big enough for a Bertie-sized vehicle, only then to spot the weight limit that prohibited him. So, the council didn't get our parking fee and instead we parked for free at Alsop-en-le-Dale.

After no small amount of faffing, off we headed on foot, gently uphill towards Parsley Hay. On the way a straggling group of 6 cyclists passed us, with the lady at the front commenting that they were the slowest moving caravan of cyclists ever seen. We greeted them all, then again a few minutes later when we overtook them whilst they paused. The next time they passed us the lady at the front commented that she'd be inviting us around for tea now she knew us so well. Little did she know that we were going to carry on playing leapfrog not just on the outward leg, but on the return too. They were even at the snack waggon in the layby when Mick returned.

Views from the Tissington Trail 

Mick was by himself by then as I'd veered off at the previous road bridge to add a bit of descent and reascent (not to mention some more distance) into my outing, but dropping down into Wolfscote Dale, which was lovely (and surprisingly quiet after the busyness of the Tissington Trail) on this unexpectedly fine morning. 

Where I emerged in Wolfscote Dale

My ascent was to be up the tree line on the left. It's quite a pull! 

Once both back at Bertie we could have come straight to the campsite, but by the time we'd driven the distance, checked in, filled up Bertie's water tank, found a pitch, plugged Bertie in and been back to reception to tell them which pitch we were on, it would have been a late lunch, thus we opted to eat before moving (door-wedges of toasties; took the good bread knife out of Bertie last week and thus had to hack away at the bread with the emergency in-case-we-forget-the-good-breadknife breadknife).

Arriving at the campsite, Mick went to check us in and asked if they were busy. "Not very" came the reply, with the further comment that more were expected and by late afternoon they would probably be three-quarters full. It's a 104-pitch site, and we managed to find half a dozen empty pitches, all in the same area. We took the least sloping of the bunch. We would have a view of the water, if we were facing the other way.

Snippets from April - Part 2

17 April

The fine, if cool, weather continued and I took myself out for a circuit, starting on the estate, which is where this selfie was taken. My review of the outing was "As an exercise in running tired, that went well. In the absence of that context, it wasn't good. Bit more recovery* needed, methinks." (*referring back to the 40km with 1700m of ascent in the Lakes earlier in the week)

18 April 

A circuit with Mick, but this one taken at a walk, on another fine day. I tested my watch in 'ultratrac mode' for this one, which extends the battery life from 14 hours to 40 hours, albeit at the expense of some tracking accuracy. The distance recorded was accurate enough (within 100m of what Mick recorded using standard GPS tracking), but it achieved this with a recorded line that wiggled around on the straights (adding distance) and cut corners (cutting distance).

19 April

The spare room had become a dumping ground and needed tidying. Usually this involves me taking the stuff that has accumulated on the bed and putting it away in the proper places. Today I got a bit sidetracked and decided to see if there was anything in the drawers and cupboards that I could rehome or otherwise dispose of. Mick arrived home from taking Erica to have some new tyres to find the upstairs in the state shown above. It was a successful endeavour.

20 April 

Still fine weather...

...although still too cool for the time of year. Finally just about all of the local mud had baked dry:

This was early in a 25km run/walk with Mick, before I left him to pursue a different run/walk strategy. The plan was that when I reached the 'big hill' (50m ascent!) I would do some reps up and down it until Mick caught up, then we would continue together. When he didn't appear, a couple of phone calls eventually clarified that he had taken a route at variance with the one I'd marked on his map and was doing reps on a different hill whilst wondering where I'd got to. Once that was clarified we were soon reunited and it was some time later, on our flat return route, that he observed that I was uncharacteristically colour coordinated. Not sure how this happened:

Even the sunglasses and socks are blue!

21 April

The water level in the pond was finally dropping significantly, although not yet quite to normal levels.

22 April

April will have to go down as the month when we kept running cross-country under glorious skies!

23 April

I was to have lunch with a friend in her garden. She lives 13km away, which conveniently was the distance I was due to be running that day, so I ran there. I'd intended to then have Mick come and pick me up, but then it occurred to me that there was no reason not to run home too, particularly as it was such a lovely day.

24 April

It's not just in cafes and restaurants that I take photos of my food! Mick made me exactly the lunch I'd been hankering after for days and I deemed it photo-worthy:

25-28 April

These were the Reading(ish) days, about which I already wrote a series of blog posts.

29 April

Our luck with the weather ran out! In the five hours I spent gassing in Maike's garden (on top of the 3 hours I'd spent doing the same 6 days prior) we endured multiple rain and hail showers. She commented on how very British our behaviour was, to sit out, covered in blankets and with umbrellas, in spite of the weather (clearly, we would rather have escaped indoors, but Covid restrictions still prohibited that, so outside we stayed).  

30 April

Thanks to contents of veg boxes, we'd built up a glut of lemons, some of which were looking a bit sorry for themselves. The resulting lemon curd turned out very well indeed:

Apparently I made an apple crumble too:

I'm pretty sure that was also the day on which I dehydrated three mangoes that had all reached peak ripeness at the same time, and for which I was struggling to find an immediate use. 

All of which brings us to the end of April, just days before we headed back up to the Lakes.

Thursday 7 May - Home

(Written on 7 May, posted on 14 May. Memory like a sieve these days!) 

I woke this morning glad that the prepayment for our pitch had stopped us from abandoning our trip a day early, as whatever I'd impinged in my back yesterday had completely resolved itself, whether by all of those stretches (not to mention some sciatic flossing) or just by the passage of time. What I therefore fancied doing was repeating Wednesday's circuit via Tilberthwaite, but I couldn't help but feel, given how incapacitated I was yesterday, that might be an overly ambitious plan. I opted instead for a 5km circuit into Coniston via the old railway track and back along the lake path, and Mick sprang out of bed to come with me. 

It was only when Mick asked how my leg was, a while after we set out, that I realised that I'd not even given it a thought, as not a single twinge was to be felt. How bizarre! Being pain-free on such a fine morning, as we passed through Coniston Hall campsite*, I thought it would be a fine idea to extend the circuit to Torver. Fortunately Mick remembered that Bertie's keys were in my possession before we parted ways. 

The extended circuit was only 8km, so I was back at Bertie in plenty of time to have elevenses before packing away and vacating our pitch. 

It would have been nice to have then stopped off somewhere for an All Day Breakfast, but given the cool temperatures and incoming rain, combined with the need to sit outside, we took a raincheck. Even though we're currently largely avoiding shops, I would also have liked to have nipped into a running shop in Ambleside to try on a specific pair of shoes, except that I'd established that they are currently out of stock of just two sizes, those (of course) being the two I wanted to try (arguably one size in two different widths).

So, home we came, but with good intentions to be heading northwards again in the not-too-distant future.   

(*I've been surprised this week at how quiet everywhere has been, and until today Coniston Hall Campsite has been all but deserted when we have passed through. This morning, however, there were a handful of vans and a few tents. A pitch for a van at Coniston Hall costs £24, for which you get a patch of grass (no electric) and access to one basic toilet block (where the showers are currently closed, per Covid restrictions). I appreciate that you have to pay a membership fee for the adjacent Caravan Club site, where we stayed, but a mid-week pitch there for 2 adults currently costs £18.90 for a hard-standing with unlimited electricity, with plush, heated toilet blocks never too many paces away and with motorhome service points. We've stayed at Coniston Hall in a backpacking tent in the past, but no way could I bring myself to pay £24 to park on a patch of grass and nothing more, particularly given what's on offer next door. (Incidentally, at Coniston Hall it 'only' costs £22 for a tent and car; if one was to go there in an Erica-sized camper, one could pitch a tent next to it and save £2, even though you were taking up twice the space. Somewhat nonsensical?))

Thursday 6 May - Coniston

Where's Bertie? It's his final night at Coniston Park Coppice.
Weather: Gloriously sunny start, but it was short-lived and by half past nine a day of showers had commenced.

That was a day that didn't go to plan, but first let me grumble about the weather forecast. A while ago I started using the BBC Weather App as my first port of call, having previously used the Met Office. I had become fed up of looking at the forecast at five minute intervals and finding it had changed completely. It became a bit of a sport to see how many different forecasts I could get for the same location in the space of an hour.

The BBC App had thus far seemed more consistent, and for the last few days it has told me that this morning would be sunny. I checked it again when I got up this morning and it still said that. I put my phone down and Mick asked what the temperature was like and, as I'd failed to register that information, I picked my phone back up and checked, only to find that we now weren't due a sunny morning, but we were soon to start getting showers, followed by a 90% chance of heavy rain from 11am. Harrumph!

We hurried to get ourselves ready to go out, with the plan (already revised, based on Mick's knee) being a 15km circular walk with the furthest point being Tarn Hows.

Light rain had already started by the time we set out and we cursed again our blinkered approach to this trip. Because we knew we were running on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and resting on Wednesday, we didn't think to bring useful things such as a daypack or walking attire. Clearly, our running gear and packs are useable for both purposes, but things like a bigger daypack, Paramo trousers and our small flask wouldn't have gone amiss. It's not even that we can claim a lack of space, as being in Bertie for such a short trip, we could have thrown in a spare kitchen sink and not troubled his carrying capacity. Let's hope a lesson has been learnt there.

As for the walk, we'd not even got 50m before I began to suspect that I wasn't going to get far today. Having completed yesterday's run without any problem at all, and gone for a 3-mile walk in the afternoon, again without any hint of an issue, I found this morning that I could barely walk, with my left leg (and to a lesser extent my lower back) suffering pain as my right leg went forward and the left back. Bizarrely, I could still run okay, and walking uphill was fine, but walking on the flat was a pained limp. We made it a mile before I decided that it wasn't going to ease up and, fearing doing more harm than good with my limping gait, we returned to Bertie.

Thus began another quiet day, albeit interspersed with me contorting myself into various stretches on Bertie's floor. We went for another small strollette this afternoon and, promisingly, I could walk almost normally and with much less pain, so hopefully whatever had tied itself in a knot or trapped a nerve, is now resolving itself.

It's really rare for us to book multiple nights at a campsite. Usually, even if we intend to stay for more than one night, we'll extend our stay as we go. Had we worked on our usual basis, I'm sure we would have saved our pennies and gone home today. However, in Covidian times, rather than having to go into the office every day to arrange an extra night, we booked the whole week and paid on arrival, so until tomorrow we will stay.

Oh dear, it is all doom and gloom today, so let's just finish with one more whinge (I promise, I'm not as miserable as I'm coming across in this post; we are having a good time, honest!):

How clear are these signs, displayed on the door to the dishwashing room? Mick and I were in there this afternoon when along came a woman. She looked at the door then, in contravention of the clear instruction and without troubling herself to don a face covering, walked straight in. We pointed out that the room was already in use and she apologised and left. What is it with people?! (Mick said afterwards that he wished he'd greeted her with an exclamation of 'Mother!', on the basis that she must have thought she was a family member.)

Wednesday 5 May - Coniston

Where's Bertie? He's still on his pitch at Coniston Park Coppice.
Weather: Yesterday was decidedly damp until late afternoon, whereas today was mainly sunny. Still far cooler than I would prefer.

The plan for this trip was that I would run Troutbeck to Coniston on Monday and Mick would run on Tuesday. We would then do little but potter today and most of tomorrow, before a night-run tomorrow (mainly driven by a desire to see if our head torches are up to the job, as in July it will be dark by the time we reach Ambleside).

The plan got scuppered by Mick suddenly developing a sore knee. Not debilitating, but not the sort of thing he wants to risk making worse. So, instead of him trotting off into the rain yesterday morning, we had an extremely lazy start to the day and finally headed out for a walk into Coniston (there via the old railway line; back via the lake path) in the afternoon.

Today dawned bright, but with a chill that didn't have me leaping out of bed eager to don flimsy clothing and rush outside. Thus it was 0830 before I was ready to go, whereupon Mick suddenly made a move to come with me, albeit only as far as Coniston.

I continued on to complete a 15km circuit via Tilberthwaite, taking in the final few miles of the Lakeland 50 route that I'd omitted on Monday. As I ascended today I couldn't be sorry to have missed this section two days ago, as it proved to be so spectacular that it would have been a shame to do it in foul weather, with low cloud and my head down.

I took lots of photos:

You probably can't see the amount of snow on the more distant tops in the bottom left snap, but there was quite a covering

I was back at Bertie a couple of hours after setting off, which left plenty of day free, so after a few more hours of lazing around* we popped out to walk a circuit to Torver.

Returning via the lake path

Apparently we've got some more sunny weather tomorrow morning, before rain comes in during the afternoon, so I'm hatching a knee-friendly plan to take advantage of it.

^{(*We're pitched overlooking a toilet block. They're running a very simple system to ensure there are no more than three people in either ladies or the gents at any one time: you take a wristband out of a bucket of Milton solution and hang it on a peg. If all pegs are taken, you can't enter. On exiting, you deposit a wristband back into the Milton bucket. All very well in theory, but it's amazing how many people are just ignoring the system (presumably because they haven't read the information given out at reception when booking in and don't feel the need to read the big notice at eye level on the toilet doors either). It's largely the same people who don't put a face covering on to enter the facilities either.)}

Monday 3 May - Coniston

Where's Bertie? He's at Coniston Hall Caravan Club Site where a 4 night stay is averaging out at £22 per night (tonight is significantly more expensive than the rest of the week).
Weather: Mainly rain with increasing wind.

After last week's failure with setting the timer on Bertie's heating controller, I had another poke around at the buttons and found where I thought I'd gone wrong. I had another go at setting it last night. Success! At a minute to 5 this morning the boiler roared into life. A minute later my alarm went off, and a minute after that I had the kettle on the stove.

Breakfasting and getting ready was a streamlined affair and at 0545 we pulled out of the campsite (I'm sure our neighbours loved us...), nipped in through the back of the services to regain the M6, and headed north.

An hour later, with rain gently falling on Bertie's windscreen, Mick waved me off at Troutbeck with the promise of being at Skelwith Bridge when I arrived there 10km later.

The first ascent went unremarkably. The first descent was notable for me catching my toe on a rock and, as I was running at the time, the momentum took me forward such that I didn't just hit the ground but did a full roll too. I peeled myself back up whilst inspecting for damage and found that, thanks to having gloves on my hands, a baselayer and jacket on my elbows and tights on my legs, all of the places that had skidded along the ground had been protected from grazing. Miraculously, I was completely uninjured, as was my phone (in a thigh pocket). My new(ish) running pack does, however, now have a small hole in one of its front pockets.

The only four photos I took today. My phone spent the rest of the day in a waterproof case.

I made it to Ambleside without more drama and passed through the town at a time of day when it was so quiet that all I encountered was a single dog-walker and a bin lorry.

The rain had petered out soon after I'd set out, but as I made my way down to Skelwith Bridge, after the climb from Ambleside, I could see dark clouds approaching and soon enough they launched their contents violently at me. I was fair dripping when I climbed into Bertie.

Mick pointed out that I really didn't need to do this today and that I could do the rest of the route tomorrow or Wednesday. It was tempting, but I could also see the merit of continuing in foul weather, so after inhaling a hot cross bun slathered with homemade lemon curd (a fine combination!) I put my wet jacket back on, shouldered my sodden pack and headed out. We had, however, hatched a fallback plan: Mick was going to move a few miles up the road such that if I wanted to abort at Tilberthwaite, all I had to do was run 2.5km down the road to find him.

I made a meal of finding my exit from Skelwith Bridge. Then at the bridge by Wainwrights Inn I was convinced I didn't need to cross so didn't look at the map or route notes and simply carried on*. A few minutes later I belatedly looked at the route, did an about turn and returned to the bridge. The detour had allowed a couple called Sarah & John, who had also been struggling to find the path from Skelwith, to go past me.

I caught them up beyond Chapel Stile and we ran a few sections together until, just above High Tilberthwaite, they peeled off to return to Skelwith.

Being at a high point, I paused there and took advantage of a weak phone signal to call Mick to say I was going to continue on to Coniston. His phone rang, but he didn't answer. I rang again. He still didn't answer. I knew that as soon as I started descending I would lose the signal, but by now it was teeming with rain, the wind had picked up, and I wasn't warm enough to stay still waiting for Mick to notice the missed call. That decided it: I was calling it a day at Tilberthwaite and heading down to Lane Head Coppice.

It turned out that I'd called Mick at the very minute he went outside to pay for the parking (£5 for 2 hours!!!). It was three minutes after I'd called him that he called me back, but, as predicted, by then I had no signal.

No matter. By the time I got to Bertie I'd covered 28km with 800m of ascent and, as we're here all week, there will be plenty of time for me to do the missing section later (provided that my legs forgive me quickly for today's efforts).

There's nothing else to report from today. We were checked into the campsite and pitched up well before noon and, with the rain drumming** down, I've not stepped outside since. 

(*It confounds Mick as to how I could have been so careless. He's just shaken his head and muttered 'How?' and 'But why didn't you just check?' as he's been proof-reading this post.

**It's a wooded campsite, as its name suggests. I do dislike parking under trees in the rain (drip DRIP drip). Or in the sunshine, if they're sap-dripping sorts of trees. Grumble grumble grumble)

Sunday 2 May - Lancaster Services

Where's Bertie? He's at a certified campsite at White Carr Farm, which sits immediately behind Lancaster Services on the M6 northbound. It costs £10 per night, for which we have hard-standing. We could have had electricity for an extra £6.
Weather As I type, sunny with fluffy clouds, but we did have a few showers on our way north.

First, back to last Tuesday when, in the evening after our long run on The Ridgeway, it started to rain. Showers continued into the night, but on Wednesday morning, when I opened Bertie's kitchen blind to the sight of ten pheasants and a muntjac deer, it was dry. Incredibly (well, I found it incredible) my legs felt absolultey fine and fresh, so after a quick breakfast I headed out for a 15km run/walk.

I'd barely been back for ten minutes when the rain started to come down with vigour, but by then it mattered not. We slowly packed away and later in the morning we started wending our way back home.

Bertie may have feared another long lay-up, but hopefully he was reassured by the fact that we didn't fully unpack him, and two days later we started packing him afresh.

Contrary to last Sunday when we were on the road at 8am, today we were in no rush as 'the back of Lancaster Services' didn't sound like a location where we needed to spend a whole day. As it happens, it's not a bad location. The noise of the motorway doesn't seem to be too intrustive, and if you ignore the the mobile phone mast that shares the field and the power cables immediately in front of us, the view is pleasant and green.

The reason we're here is that I wanted to be dropped off at Troutbeck early in the morning for my next recce of the Lakeland 50 route, and therefore wanted to be a good way through the journey tonight. Working outwards from Pooley Bridge along our approach route, this was the first campsite we found that had a pitch available on this Bank Holiday weekend.

I say 'wanted to be dropped off' because I'm currently wavering on whether to run tomorrow or not. I'm torn between thinking that it will be a good test to do the route in bad weather and that it would be nice to wait until later in the week when the forecast is better.

I'll report back tomorrow as to which way I jumped.