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22 October 2007

A Lake District Weekend

In Braemar, mid way through the TGO Challenge section of my LEJOG, I was interviewed by Podcast Bob. At the time I was a fit, lean walking machine. I had never been more fit in my entire life. At the time I could never imagine not wanting to stay at this peak of fitness.

Ho hum...

Time marches on and I am sitting here on my settee, (the settee is my friend) with a fine glass of red in my hand and a comforting little belly pushing Len the Laptop further down my thighs...
However!

In my podcast with Bob, I did mention that I would be getting out more after the walk and at last I managed to get a weekend away with my fitness and training guru, Lord Elpus.

We bowled up the M6 in some style and raced into Ambleside to rid the shops of sandwiches and chocolate before heading off into the leaden gloom of Langdale. The high pressure promising fine weather had in fact shut the valley down in a clag of mist and cloud, so there was nothing for it but to enjoy the convivial fug of the Hikers Bar at the Old Dungeon Ghyll until kicking out time. (When did it change it's name from the Climbers Bar?)

We tried the XB; nice enough, but settled on The Black Sheep; much better.Sauntering back to the campsite I also noticed that someone had pinched the rather nice hip-banging wall stile that had been there for the last forty years and replaced it with a rather tame wooden gate. No sense of adventure, these planners.

Well, we made the morning after several night-time excursions from the tents (to examine the cloudscape, you understand) and packed up deliberately. The plan was to stroll up past Angle Tarn and take a right and find a nice spot to pop the tents up. We wanted to see dawn in and with a high pressure system in play there was a good chance of a cloud inversion. Well, that was the plan. And we all know that plans often go awry...

Well! Not this time! I will let the pictures speak for themselves.



If you click on the slide show, you can see the pictures at a larger size, either as a slide show or as individual pictures. (I think - Remember, I am pretty crap at this technology thing)

4 comments:

  1. Great stuff Alan, it was superb at the weekend wasn't it?. Your Sunday sunrise was fantastic, rather better than mine on the Saturday.
    That Saturday pitch looks like Lincombe Tarns with Pike of Stickle and Bowfell in the background, a great spot we used last year.

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  2. A great week end indeed - and very well spotted Geoff, Lincombe Tarns is exactly where we were, right next to High House Tarn.

    Special thanks to Alan for the chauffering and good company.

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  3. After ambling the length of Britain it's a bit of a shock to find that after just a few miles with Lord Elpus my thighs are still aching two days later!

    I shall have to tell him not to sit on my lap in the pub next time.

    Yes Geoff - as Lord E has pointed out - you are spot on - a lovely little spot - but let's keep it a secret!

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  4. Shocked and stunned that the 'greyhound-like-sloman' I interviewed could have succumbed to the sensual pleasures of a good Claret and fine fayre so easily. 'I can resist anything but temptation', he once said to me .... at the bar ;-D

    I notice no close ups were included in this atmospheric slideshow. Alan only 5 months to go to keep your reputation intact as the 'road-runner' of the TGOC 07!!

    Hopefully we'll see you up there next year.

    Bob and Rose

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