Sunday 14 to Wednesday 17 June - Carsington Water

Where was Bertie? He's just spent three nights at the C&CC Temporary Holiday Site at Hognaston, next to Carsington Water, at a cost of £12 per night.

Weather: Mixed, and not as good or warm as forecast!

Sunday 

Mick was in need of another long training run, and the obvious choice was Cannock Chase. Then it occurred to me that it's the time of year when the Temporary Holiday Site (THS) is on at Carsington Water, and that it would be slightly more novel* for Mick to run a few laps of the reservoir rather than doing our usual route around Cannock Chase. (*Not entirely novel, as he has done the circuit probably three times before, but it's been a few years since he last did it.)

Saturday was spent at home catching up on laundry, and Sunday morning was spent packing before heading off to Carsington around lunchtime. There we were directed to the exact same pitch as we were given when we were there two years ago. 

Our only activity on Sunday afternoon was to wander down to the Visitor Centre, as we'd not previously investigated what was there. We located the 'restaurant' (glorified cafe really) where I promised to take Mick before we went home, took a look at the exhibition (more like a Severn Trent Water propaganda display), and established that the queue out the door of the ice cream shop was too long to tempt us (particularly when we had a tub in Bertie's freezer). 

Monday

Mick sprang out of bed the moment the alarm went off and was soon dressed in his running gear and had breakfast on the table. Given that I'd said that I would join him for his first lap of the water, I had little choice but to follow suit.

Even though I went up quite a few hills over the last month and a half, I'd only been out on one run/walk in the last 6 weeks, and only 2 in the last 3 months. So, clearly the obvious progression on this record was to do 13k on the undulating reservoir circuit! In all honesty, I'd thought that we'd fast walk most of it, with a few runs thrown in here and there. Mick had other ideas, but I managed to keep up until the car park at the S end of the water, where I nipped into the toilets and Mick continued on ahead. There was no value in him waiting for me, as he was continuing straight on for another lap, whereas I only had a couple of kilometres left to go. 

I then took the opportunity to do some housework whilst Mick was out (the amount of debris I swept off the shower floor, from under the duck boards, was impressive. We didn't use the shower at all whilst we were in Scotland (preserving gas, we only used campsite/friends' showers) and lots of wet and dirty gear was dried in there in the latter parts of the trip), before having a cup of tea and some lunch ready for him when he popped in between laps 2 and 3. His final lap was actually a 9k out-and-back, bringing him up to 35km, exactly per plan.

Tuesday

Mick had been planning a lazy day, just involving going out for lunch, but it didn't take much convincing to have him come along to do the Dam Circuit with me. It's only just over 5km, and he'd not done it before. 

The walk was timed nicely to see us arrive at the Visitor Centre cafe at lunchtime, and a leisurely lunch was had. Looking around the place, I realised I was out of place, being about 20 years younger than the average age, ignoring staff.

Lunch was followed by coffee, which was then followed by ice cream from the shop out in the courtyard. Apparently, the ice cream shop is in the top 10 in the UK according to one of the national newspapers. It wasn't cheap and I was disappointed, but that's mainly because I like cheap ice cream that doesn't resemble a dairy product. Mick was happy with his choice.

By the time we made our way back up to Bertie the sky was looking a little ominous and a couple of hours later it started to rain, continuing on and off into the night. 

Wednesday

We awoke to rain, but even so I'd decided it would be a waste not to take advantage of our location and go for another turn around the reservoir before we headed home. I was out the door a few minutes after 8, and managed a faster circuit than on Monday (but still a full 20 minutes slower than my fastest on this route). I wasn't lucky with the rain, with it raining on me for a good chunk of the far side of the water. 

Arriving back at Bertie it was to find that Mick had belatedly remembered that he had a phone call scheduled ten minutes hence, so it wasn't a swift exit homewards. By the time he was off the phone and we were ready to go, I'd decided that a pizza was necessary for lunch, which in turn necessitated a stop in Ashbourne. I couldn't find that there's an Italian restaurant in the town, but I like to have a Dominoes pizza every few years, just to remind me why I usually make my own!

Then back home we went.