Wednesday
Where was Erica? She spent a small chunk of the day at Milnthorpe.
Weather: Overcast morning, coming in mizzly later on. No recollection what the afternoon was like.
It was a running day for Mick, but a rest day for me and, in a continuation of yesterday's route-swap theme, Mick opted for the Fairy Steps route I did last week.
Fairy Steps
With no other plans, and not wanting to spend the day sitting in Bertie and/or walking the access road, I played chauffeur, taking him the 2.5 miles to a parking area near Milnthorpe. From there we set out together but soon parted, as Mick trotted off at the first access to the deer park, and I walked up the road to the second access point.
Somehow Mick didn't see me as I snapped this photo of him (admittedly from a bit of a distance, but not *that* far away)
The length of his run gave me plenty of time to sit around and enjoy Erica's amenities once I'd finished my walk, and I opted to use that time by casting on my first attempt at knitting a pair of socks simultaneously on one long circular needle. (Update: these socks were meant to be for Mick. However, between buying the needles (January) and now, I forgot that I'd decided to go down a quarter of a millimetre in needle size, and thus I didn't adjust the stitch count accordingly. I'd got to the heel before noticing that they looked a bit small for Mick. I don't think I can be moved to rip them back out, so it looks like this pair will be for me.)
About an hour later it seemed, from inside Erica, that the rain that had come in was fine but driving. Mick returned reporting that it was just a fine mizzle and rather pleasant for running. Indeed, he'd had a nice time in general, enjoying the route.
Not the clear views I'd enjoyed.
Weather: Overcast morning, coming in mizzly later on. No recollection what the afternoon was like.
It was a running day for Mick, but a rest day for me and, in a continuation of yesterday's route-swap theme, Mick opted for the Fairy Steps route I did last week.
With no other plans, and not wanting to spend the day sitting in Bertie and/or walking the access road, I played chauffeur, taking him the 2.5 miles to a parking area near Milnthorpe. From there we set out together but soon parted, as Mick trotted off at the first access to the deer park, and I walked up the road to the second access point.
The length of his run gave me plenty of time to sit around and enjoy Erica's amenities once I'd finished my walk, and I opted to use that time by casting on my first attempt at knitting a pair of socks simultaneously on one long circular needle. (Update: these socks were meant to be for Mick. However, between buying the needles (January) and now, I forgot that I'd decided to go down a quarter of a millimetre in needle size, and thus I didn't adjust the stitch count accordingly. I'd got to the heel before noticing that they looked a bit small for Mick. I don't think I can be moved to rip them back out, so it looks like this pair will be for me.)
About an hour later it seemed, from inside Erica, that the rain that had come in was fine but driving. Mick returned reporting that it was just a fine mizzle and rather pleasant for running. Indeed, he'd had a nice time in general, enjoying the route.
The problem of not writing these blog posts on a daily basis is that I have no idea what, if anything, we did for the rest of the day. (Given that the reason I write the blog posts is to act as my memory, I feel there's a lesson to be learnt here!)
Thursday
Where was Erica? She spent a sweaty couple of hours in the car park to the south of Hutton Roof Crags.
Weather: Much sunnier and warmer than forecast.
Mick had some work to do, and I had a Marilyn to bag, so I left him staring at a laptop screen and allowed Erica to take me over to Hutton Roof Crags. It's one of three English Marilyns that we pass close to a few times each year, but I'd not yet visited, partly due to access in a Bertie-sized vehicle (there's a 2.1m height restriction on this car park, although I now know that it wouldn't be difficult to park outside), and partly because of the "We'll be passing again soon" feeling.
Unsure as to whether I was going to do an out-and-back or something longer, the latter became the case, finally completing a 14.5km figure-of-eight. It was 85% enjoyable, marred only by a section of pathless knee-high grass, needing to escape a yard guarded by high gates (and this on a public footpath), and being plagued by horse flies. As I write this on Saturday, I have itchy legs.
Back at Erica, the thermometer on her dashboard, with her nose facing into the sun, read 51.9 degrees. In the back was 37 degrees. Definitely sunnier than forecast.
The only notable occurrence of the rest of the day was the chunk of time spent trying to work out how the mapping and navigation features work on Mick's new watch. Nugatory effort as it turns out. More research and playing around is going to be required. Meantime, I'm loving the navigation features on Mick's old watch. Even without having plotted a route for my morning's outing, just being able to see paths on a map on my wrist was incedibly helpful (moreover as it uses open maps, and thus isn't limited to just showing the Public Rights of Way).
Friday
Where was Erica? She visited Sadgill, Kendal, Skelwith Bridge, Tilberthwaite and Coniston.
Weather: Early morning fog soon burnt off, giving a glorious sunny day until early afternoon when some cloud started developing.
Another early start had us at Sadgill, at the end of Long Sleddale, at 7am. The clue about the nature of that valley is in the name, as it's a 4.5-mile drive in from the A6. Given the nature of the location, it wasn't a surprise that the road up the dale is single-track, but being the height of growing season, it's currently hemmed in by hedgerows and undergrowth, making it barely wider than Erica, with curtailed visibility, both of which factors made it a slow drive. It certainly wasn't a relaxing start to the day, made worse by the knowledge that as soon as I reached the end, I needed to turn around and drive back out*.
As it went, I only encountered one vehicle on the way back out: a bin lorry!
Whilst Mick trotted over to Skelwith Bridge via Kentmere, Troutbeck and Ambleside, I nipped down to Kendal, put diesel** in Erica, bought a few groceries and drove on to Skelwith Bridge myself. There I breakfasted, did a crossword and generally procrastinated on changing into running gear. Having told Mick I would head out to meet him, I did eventually stir myself and with no regrets: what a fine day to be out.
The composition of this shot makes it look a lot cloudier than it was. The clouds were only sitting above the fells.
Waving Mick off from Skelwith Bridge after he'd been fed, watered and resupplied, it was just a short hop for me, up to Tilberthwaite. The Lakeland 50 route takes a rather more meandering line, so I had time for a coffee and a snack before heading back out to intercept Mick for the second time.
Thursday
Where was Erica? She spent a sweaty couple of hours in the car park to the south of Hutton Roof Crags.
Weather: Much sunnier and warmer than forecast.
Mick had some work to do, and I had a Marilyn to bag, so I left him staring at a laptop screen and allowed Erica to take me over to Hutton Roof Crags. It's one of three English Marilyns that we pass close to a few times each year, but I'd not yet visited, partly due to access in a Bertie-sized vehicle (there's a 2.1m height restriction on this car park, although I now know that it wouldn't be difficult to park outside), and partly because of the "We'll be passing again soon" feeling.
Unsure as to whether I was going to do an out-and-back or something longer, the latter became the case, finally completing a 14.5km figure-of-eight. It was 85% enjoyable, marred only by a section of pathless knee-high grass, needing to escape a yard guarded by high gates (and this on a public footpath), and being plagued by horse flies. As I write this on Saturday, I have itchy legs.
Back at Erica, the thermometer on her dashboard, with her nose facing into the sun, read 51.9 degrees. In the back was 37 degrees. Definitely sunnier than forecast.
The only notable occurrence of the rest of the day was the chunk of time spent trying to work out how the mapping and navigation features work on Mick's new watch. Nugatory effort as it turns out. More research and playing around is going to be required. Meantime, I'm loving the navigation features on Mick's old watch. Even without having plotted a route for my morning's outing, just being able to see paths on a map on my wrist was incedibly helpful (moreover as it uses open maps, and thus isn't limited to just showing the Public Rights of Way).
Friday
Where was Erica? She visited Sadgill, Kendal, Skelwith Bridge, Tilberthwaite and Coniston.
Weather: Early morning fog soon burnt off, giving a glorious sunny day until early afternoon when some cloud started developing.
Another early start had us at Sadgill, at the end of Long Sleddale, at 7am. The clue about the nature of that valley is in the name, as it's a 4.5-mile drive in from the A6. Given the nature of the location, it wasn't a surprise that the road up the dale is single-track, but being the height of growing season, it's currently hemmed in by hedgerows and undergrowth, making it barely wider than Erica, with curtailed visibility, both of which factors made it a slow drive. It certainly wasn't a relaxing start to the day, made worse by the knowledge that as soon as I reached the end, I needed to turn around and drive back out*.
As it went, I only encountered one vehicle on the way back out: a bin lorry!
The last of the morning's fog burning off
Waving Mick off from Skelwith Bridge after he'd been fed, watered and resupplied, it was just a short hop for me, up to Tilberthwaite. The Lakeland 50 route takes a rather more meandering line, so I had time for a coffee and a snack before heading back out to intercept Mick for the second time.
More representative of the reality of the weather
Back at Erica (who wasn't too hot as I'd taken the precaution of deploying all of her blinds before leaving her in the sun), I poured some more liquids into Mick and refilled one of his bottles, before waving him off on his final ascent of the day.
Looking down on Erica (far right) at Tilberthwaite
I soon had him back at Bertie, with the water heating for a shower.
Incidentally, my notion of what it would be like to support Mick on these long runs involved hours of sitting around in Erica reading and knitting. In reality, with the driving, preparing food and drink, and running out to meet him, there's barely any sitting around at all. On neither of the two Friday long runs of this trip have I picked up my knitting, and only a few pages of my book have been read.
Saturday
Where was Erica? She spent another Saturday morning at Fell Foot (£1)
Weather: Glorious sunshine and warm.
Saturday = parkrun day, and it was back to Fell Foot so that I could go better prepared for a post-run dip in the lake.
We also arrived earlier so I could get my extra kilometres in before the parkrun.
The dip in the lake was surprising. I thought it would be gaspingly cold and that it would be a quick in and out. The reality was a pleasant (cool, but not oh-my-goodness-gasp-gasp-gasp) temperature in which I happily swam around. There was no shivering at any point, even when sitting in the breeze drying my feet.
A stop in Milnthorpe on the way back had Mick visit the pie shop whilst I paid an outrageous sum for a few cooked-breakfast ingredients in Booths.
The final activity of the trip has been a tiny trip out this evening for a gentle stroll through Levens Hall Deer Park. Perfectly pleasant surroundings but somehow less pleasing than Dallam Tower Deer Park, just up the road.
(*I had originally intended to go and bag the Marilyn of Tarn Crag whilst at Sadgill, but decided the timings wouldn't tie up with supporting Mick's run, so I postponed it for another time. By the time we reached the end of Long Sleddale I was regretting that decision, as I would happily never drive the length of that valley again. I think I'll either do in in winter when the hedgerows are less of an impediment, or will approach from it from Mardale Head.
** I paid more for diesel at Morrison's in Kendal, than it was in Coniston or Milnthorpe (£197.4 vs £194.9). There's something wrong when a supermarket in a town is charging more than a 'branded' station in a village.)
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