Row, row, row your boat............

Individuals can and do make a difference, but it takes a team to really mess things up. - Unknown.

The intelligence of the creature known as the team, is the square root of the number of people in it - Terry Pratchett 

Another busy couple of weeks but thought I’d try and get a quick blog post done on progress against challenge No. 5 participate in a team sport. I have been offered chances to play a bit of 5 a side football and other fairly common activities for blokes of my age in order to fulfil this one but have been turning them down on the basis that I’ve done these sorts of things before (with varying levels of success) and it would be a little bit too familiar. I have also been asked about joining a mixed netball team at work which I’m still planning on having a try at (before anyone else makes any comments, I will NOT play said game wearing a gym skirt!!) but in the mean time I had a chance to practice a bit of team work whilst on a break in the Lake district with Laura, Scott, Saqwindar, John and Abbey.

Me and Scott needed a couple of days to recover from the race we’d done at the start of the week away so we had the idea of catching a ferry from Ambleside down to Bowness and then pottering about for a day. It then occurred that we could hire a rowing boat (or two) this would keep us off our legs but still be a bit of exercise (I think me and Scott were really expecting this to turn into another race).

The boat trip down Windermere was very pleasant and we had a nice morning pottering around Windermere then found our way back to the lakeside and hired a 4 person row-boat for me, Scott, Saqwindar and Laura. Some elaborate points system was devised based on whether we managed to catch up with (and collide with) particular species of wildfowl but I can’t remember the details. As you might imagine me and Scott didn’t let the girls anywhere near the oars but they were quite content to sit at the back of the boat and let us do the physical work – they would be the eyes and direct us as required – being the cox so to speak. I got in the front of the boat and Scott took the stroke seat.

Lake Windermere - and some of the boats we nearly rowed in to.

 

Everything start off well…. Actually who am I kidding, it started very badly and proceeded to get worse – no sooner had we left the jetty than we started to head straight towards the most expensive looking motor boat in the marina – going in a straight line just wasn’t working for us, we kept veering left, something that would keep happening for the remainder of our little cruise. Our inadequacies as a rowing team are too many to describe in full here but in summary……..

·         Scott’s maximum power approach (get the oars in as deep as you can then pull as hard as you can, as fast as you can) meant that we consistently got more power on the right hand side of the boat and kept going left.

·         My breaking approach (literally sticking my oar in the water on the left side to arrest our left turn) didn’t work.

·         The savagery of Scott’s oars hitting the water at the start of each stroke led to a double tidal wave being launched into the front and soaked me through.

·         As I was in the front seat, I was supposed to keep time with Scott, but as the photo below shows I just couldn’t match his frenetic pace.

·         Our coxes tried their best to provide steering instruction, but after 15 minutes of putting up with the boys ignoring them, they gave up and chatted instead.

starting off - note the perfectly unsynchronised oars 

We decided the least we could do is make a lap of a nearby island and made slow winding progress until a chap on a nearby motor launch pointed out (rather urgently) that we were heading straight for some shallow water with some very pointy rocks. Me and Scott both started taking counterproductive actions to avoid hitting the rocks and putting a hole in the bottom of the boat until, according to Laura and Saqwindar, I used my “Dad voice” to instruct Scott to “get your oars out of the water now, please!”. Much of the remaining voyage was conducted in silence but we did eventually manage to get things co-ordinated enough to steer our little boat back to the jetty (avoiding hitting the Ambleside ferry along the way) and everyone was friends again at the finish.

my angry dad face

 

There was a slightly more successful bit of teamwork done on the same day. Near the boat hire kiosk there was a small bird of prey demonstration and for a few quid the public could hold one of the birds for a few minutes while chatting to the handler. Myself, Laura and Saqwindar all had a go (see picks below). It turns out that so long as we each stuck to a team of two, and as long as one of the team wasn’t a human being then we could for a successful Stand While Big Bird Sits on Your Hand Team, I’m not sure if this sport will make it to the summer Olympics in Rio but we enjoyed it.   

 

 

Saqwindar with a little owl (sorry, I can't remember what type of owl it is)

 

me with Henry the female Eagle Owl - couldn't quite get her to look at the camera the same time as me

 

then Laura shows how it should be done

 

 

p.s. I almost forgot to mention - John and Abbey also took a boat out, it was too small for John to row in as he's 6 ft 4, so they showed a perfect bit of teamwork and agreed to head back to the jetty after 15 minutes.

 

Lakeland 50 – 2014

I’m indulging myself here again by blogging about something not on the list. Regular readers may recall a blog entry from this time last year (Lakeland 50 - to DNS or to DNF) about an aborted attempt to complete the Lakeland 50 that ended with a torn calf muscle and some hard lessons learned. I wrote in that post, and will repeat here, that as this event is definitely out of the comfort zone it qualifies for a blog post.

The Lakeland 50 is an Ultra Marathon held on the last weekend of July each year in the Lake District along with it’s sister race the Lakeland 100. The course runs from Dalemain in the North lakes down to Coniston. As the name suggests it is 50 miles long with the added bonus of ten thousand feet of assent/decent (that’s two and half Ben Nevises or two thirds of a Mont Blanc in mountain terms), you get twenty four hours to complete the course which when you work it out is quite generous provided you can just keep moving and do without sleep. There’s more on both races here…….. http://www.lakeland100.com/the-lakeland-50 .

I’ve completed the course a couple of times before, each time in about 17 hours, a perfectly respectable time but since my first go I’ve really wanted to finish in under 15 and then I can move on to a different challenge. My last attempt ended badly – I tore my calf muscle and withdrew after 4 miles – the truth is that I shouldn’t have been running anyway (I knew there was a problem with my calf) but my ego took a bit of a blow and it then took 4 months and a lot of physio work to get running again. Despite the disappointment I knew I had to come back for another attempt so I signed up as soon as entries were open on September 1^st – my friend Scott had signed up again to and as my recovery progressed we talked about this year’s race and times/targets, easy to do when the race is more than 6 months away. Scott was keen to run together and try to go under 13 hours, my ambitions were a little more modest but I told him I would see how the training went.

Lakeland 50 route

 

As 2014 started everything was going well – I did a couple of trail marathons in reasonable times and I started to think that Scott’s 13 hour target wasn’t so mad after all. I’d improved my training regime, it now included much more cross training and particularly more on strengthening my calf muscles – this included some particularly painful lower limb circuits classes at Newcastle Sports Injury Clinic that usually left me unable to work down stairs the following day but it would all be worth it in the end.

The feel-good factor lasted till around mid-March when the calf injury came back and was joined by a hamstring strain (both picked up on a slow short jog with my running club – injuries can come out of nowhere!). I lost another month of training and my weekly distances were way down for another month after that – I had to tell Scott that running together was not an option now and revised my time target back to 14-15 hours. The final blow came when it turned out I needed minor surgery for an unrelated issue 8 weeks before the race. My legs were unaffected but running was forbidden for two weeks while I healed up – I’m not a superstitious person but I was beginning to think that this race was just not meant to be this year – for a few days I was considering pulling out altogether as it looked like I wouldn’t be able to complete the distance, I just didn’t want to have the same disappointment as last year. Thankfully my mood picked up and I decided to go for it anyway and on the 25^th of July I set off for the lakes.

Registration takes place the night before the race. You go along and have your race kit checked (all runners must carry a pack with spare gear, survival blanket, hat, gloves, waterproofs, spare food, first aid kit, map, compass, hydration tablets and water etc) depending on how much you’re prepared to spend this can weigh up to 6kg and more when the weather is hot as you need to take more water. Failure to have all the gear leads to immediate disqualification and unsurprisingly the race organisers take this very seriously. As part of the registration all runners are also weighed (slightly embarrassingly your weight is then written on your race number for all to see!) and we are given a timing chip which has to be dibbed into a reader at each check point along the route. The hall where registration took place was packed and we couldn’t help noticing that the competitors this year looked even more wiry, athletic, experienced, well equipped than usual. As it turned out there was a good reason for this as this year the race was the official UK athletics national ultra running championship, most of the country’s elite ultra runners were here hoping for a top ten placing and selection for the national team. Suitably humbled by the company we were in me and Scott got through registration and headed back to our digs to carb up on pasta and a couple of beers, secure in the knowledge that we wouldn’t see much of the elite guys except at the start line.

The morning of the race we fuelled up on porridge – Saqwindar took a proof of life photo in case she needed to claim on Scott’s life insurance and we made our way to the race safety briefing. Mark Laithwaite (the race director) gave a mostly fun but occasionally stern briefing with the main message being “this is a hard race and the weather forecast is for temperatures in the high twenties with high humidity and no breeze, if you haven’t made a plan B yet you have short time to make one, today is not a day for records. You all signed up for this because you wanted a challenge so when the heat gets to you and you are thinking of giving up, remember this is what you signed up for!”. Briefing over we were bussed out to the start – there was about an hour to wait before the 11:30 start time during which we could feel the temperature steadily building and go to the loo three times (for non runners – this sounds a bit weird but is an essential pre-race activity and leads to some very long queues in front of the porta loos).

Saqwindar's proof of life photo

At 11:25 we were summoned into the starting pen, there was music coming from the PA system. There were a few minutes to think about everything that had happened in the year since I was last here on top of the injuries there had been some big highs (new job) and some big lows (a breakup with my now ex-girlfriend and other difficulties that I just don't want to post about here) – I always get a bit emotional before races start and this was no exception. Then there was a ten second countdown and we were off!

Leg 1 – Dalemain to Howtown (distance 11.7km [7.4miles] – Ascent 294m [965 feet]) – temperature 25°C, humidity – 61%

and they're off!

The race starts with a lap of the Dalemain estate, mostly undulating on good tracks – running felt comfortable but with two litres of water my pack felt heavy, the heat was high but not awful though I could feel the humidity and was sweating heavily straight away. With the first 4 mile loop out of the way the track heads to Pooley Bridge and the runners start to spread out. I got chatting with a chap I met at The Steyning Stinger earlier in the year, I would keep bumping into him for the rest of the race. We jogged through Pooley Bridge and there were lots of cheers from supporters. Once through the track heads uphill for about a kilometre before hugging the contours along Ullswater. On this section I was passed by Gemma Carter wearing a particularly fetching bikini top/boy shorts combo but despite my best efforts I just couldn’t keep up! – the track then headed downhill for a bit until we hit CP1 Howtown – five minutes to grab a couple of bits of flapjack, re-fill the water bladder in my pack and add hydration tablets (I’d drunk 2 litres already), and dib in to register I’d got there.

Leg 2 – Howtown to Mardale Head  (distance 15.2km [9.4miles] – Ascent 765m [2510 feet]) – temperature 30°C, humidity 55%

Out of the Howtown checkpoint the track runs up a steep south facing valley, the heat was really starting to build by this point, there was no shade and no breeze. All along the way runners were stopping to either soak hats in streams to try and cool down, or in many cases just shoving their heads in. At the end of the valley the path gets even steeper and running is impossible – the heat was horrendous and walking was hard enough. I just had to focus on keeping the feet moving and not stopping, after what seemed like an eternity I reached the summit at High Cop and could see the track dropping down to Haweswater. As the track levelled out I could start to jog again……… then run…….. and then I was flying down the hill J. The path eventually drops down to the lakeside and levels off – the heat had built up again (we later found out it had hit 30 degrees at this point) and it became an exercise in heat management, I could only run for a few minutes at a time then had to walk and cool down for a bit, then run again. This kept up all along the lakeside until at the south end I saw the sign below that showed I was arriving at CP2.

The checkpoint was well stocked with flat coke (this is nectar of the gods when you’re running!) and more flapjack. I took 5 minutes to cool off in the shade, re-filled my empty water carrier and headed off again.

coming up the valley from CP1

 

 

Leg 3 – Maredale Head – Kentmere (distance 10.4km [6.5miles] – Ascent 511m [1677 feet]) – temperature 26°, humidity 51%

The track out of Maredale heads straight up Gatesgarth Pass – this is another very steep section and I had a chance to think about my pace. I’d made better time than I was expecting and it looked like I would make 15hours comfortably so long as I kept the pace up. After the top of Gatesgarth there is a long downhill section, a bit steep in places and very stony so you definitely don’t want to fall here but it is runnable – the problem was that my shoulder and back were starting to ache. This is one of the problems with having to run with so much water, on the downhill sections your pack gets bounced around and you get shaken to bits. As the track continued the pain got worse and I had to stop and walk a couple of times, even when the track levelled off I was in pain – I readjusted the straps and that did improve things but it still wasn’t comfortable and my progress slowed as I headed in to Kentmere. The heat had reduced a little but the humidity was still high and this was continuing to sap energy levels.

The Kentmere CP is an important point on the 50 mile course as you’re past halfway when you get here and it's a big morale boost – I’d got here in 6 hours, again way sooner than I’d expected but there was still a long way to go and I was well and truly knackered. I fuelled up on flat coke and pasta (many people have described ultra races as merely eating competitions) and re-filled the water carrier yet again. An attempt at using the loos here yielded no results – sorry if this is too much information but running these distances puts your digestive system under quite a lot of strain with all the shaking about and no-one wants to have to do a Paula Radcliffe in public if it can be avoided.

Leg 4 – Kentmere to Ambleside (distance 11.8km [7.3miles] – Ascent 491m [1611 feet]) – temperature 22°C, humidity 65%

Coming out of the CP I started running/walking with a chap I’d met on the Hardmoors 55 a couple of years ago. We got chatting about that race and the freezing temperatures/headwinds/blizzards we’d had to run through, we both agreed that we’d rather have freezing weather than the heat we were having today. We were also both experiencing difficulties taking in calories and suffering after effects from the last CP. My companion couldn’t stop belching (too much flat coke drunk too fast) and I couldn’t stop farting, he thought this was unfair as whilst I was gaining a small amount of forward thrust from this he was experiencing the opposite, none of this seemed to impress the couple of middle aged hikers we came across who seemed horrified by the noises we were making. We made our noisy way up the Garburn pass together and then parted company at the top, the track down to Troutbeck is a good section so I wanted to make as quick progress as I could. The ache in my back and shoulder had now become a sharp pain that was getting harder and harder to ignore but I knew I had to make the most of the good sections and could let this recover one the slower uphill parts. I got an unexpected boost when I saw Mark Willet at Troutbeck and that gave me some added impetus to push on into Ambleside. The town was packed as I ran through and got loads of cheers from folk in pub gardens along the main road – couldn’t resist hamming it up a bit and doing a Rocky running pose as I went through which seemed to go down well – lots of the people I passed were shouting encouragement, by this point in the race it really does give you a lift.

Gave myself 5 minutes to stop at the Ambleside CP, enough time for more coke and to grab a sandwich – which for reasons I can’t properly explain I waved at the cameraman waiting outside the CP – I think my head was starting to go by this point.

Leg 5 – Ambleside to Chapel Stile (distance 9.0km [5.6miles] – Ascent 234m [768 feet]) – temperature 20°C - raining

There was another chance to walk for a bit over the ridge to Skelwith Bridge before getting on the path up to Langdale. I was struggling more and more with downhill sections due to my back and my legs were gone but then it started to rain and I started to cool off properly for the first time during the race. I decided to walk for a bit more and did a bit of a self diagnostic………

·         Feeling light headed – and sucrose tablets/energy gels weren’t helping

·         Quads knackered

·         Right calf cramping a bit but ok

·         Blisters on centre of both feet

·         Stumbling a little, balance a bit wobbly

·         Back, left shoulder and ribs giving sharp pains

·         Still well hydrated

Not great but not desperate either – started jogging again through Langdale village and into the CP and Chapel Style. For the first time I didn’t need more water!

Leg 6 – Chapel Stile to Tilberthwaite (distance 10.6km [6.5miles] – Ascent 387m [1270 feet])

Leaving the CP I had decided that I wasn’t running anymore – I knew if I held a good walking pace I would make it to the finish well under 14 hours, exceeding my expectations for the race by a good margin. I was sore, tired and I knew I wasn’t thinking straight – it was the time to activate the race directors “plan B”. Another runner passed me and encouraged me to start running again saying “if you pick up your pace you’ll be in before midnight” – pah! I thought, but started running again anyway.

The light was starting to go as I jogged up the Langdale Valley – not dark enough to get the head torch out but seeing the path was getting harder. I really was struggling and more worrying I also started to see things. This happens quite a lot to people doing 100 mile races due to the sleep deprivation but is less common for distances under 50 miles. I suppose it must have had something to do with the heat but suddenly I became convinced that all the sheep I was running past were wearing mortarboards and were really very angry with me. I knew this was all in my head and it wasn’t scary but it was a very odd experience indeed. I just had to try not to look at them – other objects seemed transformed to – a rock turned into a big black dog (Sirius Black from Harry Potter movies). The hallucinations stopped as I got over the pass at the end of the valley and jogged the last bit of flat track into Tilberthwaite.

Final leg – Tilberthwaite – Coniston (distance 5.7km [3.5miles] – Ascent 283m [928 feet]) – temperature 18°C, raining. 

Tilberthwaite is only 3.5 miles from the finish once you’ve got here you know you’ve effectively made it. There is a nasty final sting of a hill as the path climbs nearly a thousand feet in the space of a mile and half but you know this is the last steep bit and that helps.

Yet again I was thinking I would just walk this last bit, even slowing the pace right down I knew I was going to be in in under 13 hours – the target we’d set 6 months ago but then I got onto the final climb and I thought no, balls to that, you might not get another chance to set this sort of time so fucking make the most of it! I threw everything I had left at that final climb. It was dark and there was no one within 400m of me either in front or behind, the rain had come in and with my rubbish head torch I could only see about 3 meters in front of me, I must have looked ridiculous slipping and lurching up the hill but there was no-one there to see me. After a mile or so the path levelled off and I got up to running again – all the aches and pains faded into the background and I got the runners high that we all do this sort of thing for. I remember thinking there is nowhere else I would rather be and nothing else I would rather be doing than pounding along this path right now, and best of all there are no other buggers around to spoil it for me! The hallucinations came back along this section – this time the ground turned into a sort of green mist up to knee height (a bit like a bad dry-ice special effect on a 1970s horror movie), but at least there were no sheep that I could see.  

There’s a steep section coming off the hill down into Coniston that with a clearer head on I might have slowed for but I could almost taste the finish line. I slipped and stumbled my way down the rocky track onto the quarry road and all fatigue forgotten put the hammer down for the final mile into town. There were a few folk about as I went past the pubs and there were a few cheers – then the final left hand turn and as I had planned I made aeroplanes for the last 50 meters. Dibbed in to the final CP and it was over. 

Race HQ - Recovery

Within 10 seconds of crossing the finish line my legs went. Some very nice marshals helped me get into race HQ and I got a massive round of applause when I got in. I was plonked down on a plastic chair while my timing chip was removed and a printout was made of my overall timings – the marshals were a little bit worried about me as so held me there for 20 minutes while I was force fed energy drinks and crisps and Harribo (the later two mixed together!?) – once may colour had returned they let me go and get some proper food. I had a look at my print out and couldn’t believe my eyes – 11 hours 40 minutes and 53 seconds! And a top 100 position! I was absolutely over the moon.

printout of race splits

All finishers are given pasta at race HQ – it can be hard forcing yourself to eat but it’s pretty important to get carbohydrates in your system to help you recover. I had an added difficulty to go with the loss of appetite as my hands were shaking pretty badly – my first spoonful of pasta was inadvertently flung over the woman sat to my right the shakes were so bad but I got the rest down without incident.

It turned out Scott was a little way behind me on the course, he’d had big problems with the heat near the start and had had to slow his pace a lot. (he finished in a very respectable 13 hours and ten minutes) While I was waiting I got chatting to two veteran runners, they asked what my finishing time was and when I told them one replied “you have to do the 100 next year, you’re done with the 50 now”. Bollocks! Was my first thought but I smiled and said I would think about it. It’s a few days later, and I have been thinking about it. The 100 is a big step up and there are other 100 miles races which are a lot easier (so I’m told) but well……….. a week ago I never would have believed I could go under 12 hours (and have so much fun doing it), maybe it is time to step it up again………

the following morning - very pleased with t-shirts and medals

 

 

official post race video........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_bkR7KnWds

Untangled

In my post on the third of June, whilst explaining the general lack of posts/completed challenges, I wrote that I was making good progress on the learning a craft challenge and that I hoped to have some photos of my finished handiwork – well on schedule I have completed challenge no. 4!

Back on New Years Eve 2013/2014 Ann suggested that I could complete challenge 4 by making friendship bracelets for the adjudicating panel. I have had a go at this (I’ve finished 3 so far – see crafty blog post from February). But I did think at the time that this was wimping out a bit, I can make a friendship bracelet relatively easily and this wasn’t exactly out of the comfort zone. I wanted to upscale things a bit. It occurred to me that knitting might fit the bill – I remember knitting being a nightmare of knots, frayed bits and frustration during home economics classes when I was at school. Plus this has the advantage of bucking a bit of gender stereotyping. It is now many years since I was at high school and the few things I could remember about how to do it I’d long since forgotten – perfect!

To start off I got some supplies from John Lewis and was given some slightly bemused advice from a helpful sales assistant. Her main tip was “use thick wool and big needles” and “check that the wool is all from the same batch”, she then advised me that there were lots of knitting for beginners videos on you tube and a scarf would be the best thing to begin with. I had thought wool would be quite cheap, but 5 balls of wool and two very chunky knitting needles cost me, well……… more money than I expected anyway.

I found a suitable you tube video (they all seemed to be American) and set to work knitting a scarf – casting on was easy but then the first couple of lines of actual knitting were less so - I kept missing bits or doing too many knots on the same loop – the first attempt had to be unpicked and I started again. This time the knitting came a bit easier but after using up the first ball of wool I realised that this would be the widest and shortest scarf in history. So attempt no.2 was unpicked and I started yet again.

The third attempt was a little narrower but then I ran in to a new problem – this scarf was going to be fish shaped – I just couldn't keep the width constant. So with a sigh attempt 3 was unpicked and I began once more.

The beginnings of attempt 2- the scarf would have been a foot wide! 

The mark 4 scarf began well – but for various reasons there were some interruptions in getting in finished. The knitting itself, once I got past the first ball of wall ,was quite easy (actually it's quite a relaxing thing to do if you want to clear your head – a little bit zen) – this had me worrying it was now too easy and not really in compliance with the spirit of the challenges.

I had hoped to have the scarf ready for in time to give it to Laura (de facto head of the adjudicating panel) for her birthday at the end of June but it just wasn't quite done. But this did provide an opportunity to go a little deeper into the challenge. Seven of us went for a weekend on the welsh borders to celebrate Laura’s birthday and whilst we were there we stopped by a little village fete (sorry Laura, I can’t remember the name of the village). There were various craft demonstrations on show (including a cocktail mixing master class – not something I’d associated with that part of the world but very entertaining/tasty) – another of the demos was wool spinning. Needing little encouragement I sidled up and asked if I could have a go on the spinning wheel – the woman doing the demo was more than happy to oblige and showed me which bits to turn, pull, step on, keep my fingers away from. It’s really quite tricky, a bit like trying to tap your head and rub your stomach at different tempos but after five minutes or so I did manage to make some reasonable wool thread. My instructor was trying to line me up to enrol in her spinning class and disappointed when I explained that it would be a bit of commute from the north east.

"this is bloody difficult"

in the zone

 

This gave me the impetus I needed to finish the job off and you can see the result in the photo below. Yet another challenge I’ve enjoyed doing and may do some more of – and again one that started out quite tricky and became surprisingly quite fun J

the finished article!

No man may twice visit the same country

We’re well past halfway point of year 2 of the challenges and despite the setbacks and slow progress I’m still very much enjoying trying to complete them. As regular readers of the blog will know I do like to go back and repeat some of the activities I’ve particularly enjoyed – baking being the most obvious case.

Another of the challenges I’ve been enjoying has been travelling to new countries (with the exception of Romania late last year – I’ve never blogged about it as it would turn into a bit of an angry rant about the Romanian Geological Society and one member of it particularly). I’m very lucky in that my work gets me travelling quite a lot and one of my recent trips was sufficiently full of out of the comfort zone incidents that it is worth blogging about.

The trip in question was to Nice and the Park National Geologique around Digne les Bains in France. Ah! You may be thinking, surley you’ve been to France before! Well, yes, I have been there a few times in the last 3 years, several times with work for short visits to Paris and two of the nicest, most relaxing holidays I’ve ever had with the Wilmott family in Boise. Another trip to France doesn’t then obviously fit with out of the comfort zone theme of this blog. However, on this particular trip everything that could go wrong did go wrong and hence my mis-quote from Heraclitus in the title.

In May I was asked to assist with an MSc Engineering Geology field trip to southern France. This should have been wonderful – a week of tramping through the mountains looking at rocks, what could be more fun? Well it started with forgetting my drivers licence and catching the plane by the skin of my teeth then arriving in Nice to find they had no record of my reservation at the hotel – but this was just a warm-up for what was to come.

A couple of shots of some of the glorious weather and scenery we had (when things weren't going wrong!)

The following day I had to drive my car load of students (6) into the centre of Nice to get them their dinner. Southern French drivers have a “relaxed” attitude towards the rules of the road and the safety other road users/pedestrians/pets but thankfully, with less than half a dozen near misses, I made it to the town centre and squeezed the Ford Galaxy into a multi storey carpark. We had a lovely meal in Nice and then it was time to head back to the hotel – sadly this involved having an argument with a French parking attendant – who finished our animated discussion with “entente cordiale fini – dead, dead!” accompanied by making throat slitting gestures (I did get the car out though!).

The following days continued in the same spirit – too many incidents to mention, but the highlights were…………..

·         Driving along many many narrow roads with 300 foot drops and no safety barriers (and having to hang the back end of the people carrier off the edge of a cliff Italian Job style whilst doing a 3 point turn.

·         Losing a wheel on the hire car due a collision with, ironically enough, a landslide.

·         A 100km taxi ride to Gap to pick up a new hire car (see above) with a suicidal French taxi driver.

·         Getting lost in Monaco and accidentally doing a la of the Grand Prix circuit (it was in full GP set-up with painted curbs and everything J

·         One student leaving a ruc-sack by the side of the road, subsequently stolen with passport and purse in it.

·         One student getting sprained ankle on side of mountain and another being stung by a madussa jelly fish.

·         Leaving two students behind in Nice as they weren’t let on the flight home (see stolen passport above – it’s ok they’re home now though).

·         Another student being accused of shoplifting at Nice airport (he was innocent and released in time to catch the plane).

One of the students attempted to write a list of what had happened half way through the week  (see photo). Thankfully we all made it home ok in the end despite all the incidents it was still a good trip away – some wonderful scenery and a fantastic visit to Monaco at the end – driving on the Mediterranean coast in the chaos started stressful as hell but became v enjoyable in the end – and that is what being out of the comfort zone is all about J.

Matt's list of everything that had happened by day 5

 

Monaco

 

Team China - two of them had to stay behind in Paris for 2 weeks due to the lost passport (at Newcastle Uni's expense)

 

This little dog stole one of the lecturers shoes!

 

 

 

Hi-ho, Mouse!? Away!

Back in April I took advantage of a bank holiday weekend to get one of the challenges crossed of the list – I remembered to post some photos on Facebook but neglected to actual get the bog post sorted. So, this is a bit on the late side but this is how it went…………

I’d actually been looking forward to completing this one and had started to make plans to do it last year either in the lakes or up near Alnwick on the north east coast. When I realised I would have time (and more importantly good weather) in April I crossed the lakes off as being a bit too far to go for an hours riding so I confined the options to closer to home.

Looking about – the local riding schools specialise in training in a yard on a rope – just going around in circles. I’m sure the schools know what they’re doing and this probably is the best way to learn but I was really just after a taster session and wanted to go for a trek (preferably with some nice countryside to view – even if it might be in a bit of a blur depending upon the friskiness of the horse involved!).

A lot of phone calls and emails over the space of a week narrowed my search down to one option – Sinderhope stables near Allendale on the Northumberland Moors  -grew up not far away and the countryside on a nice day is breath taking. The woman on the phone sounded very nice and was confident they’d be able to find a riding hat to fit my big head.

Despite growing up about 20 miles away – finding the place took some doing due to my legendary navigation skills but with 10 minutes to spare before the trek was due to start I arrived.

Sinderhope riding school

As I pulled up in the car I did start to worry a bit. Horses are rather big creatures and falling off one would be a long way down – what if my horse suddenly took a dislike to me and decided it would be better off without some lump sat on top of it? Or decided the other side of the valley looked more appealing and set off at gallop? I was reminded of a passage I read in a Terry Pratchet novel (going Postal) a little while ago………..

“Hobson had tried Boris as a racehorse and he would have been a very good one were it not for his unbreakable habit, at the off, of attacking the horse next to him and jumping the railings at the first bend. Mist clapped one hand on to his hat, wedged his toes into the belly band and hung onto the reins as broadway all at once, carts and people blurring past, his eyeballs pressing into his head……. Hobson was right, you couldn’t steer him with a mallet, but at least he was heading in the right direction, which was away from his stable. Boris didn’t want to spend the days kicking bricks out of his stable wall while waiting to throw the next bumptious idiot – he wanted to bite the horizon. He wanted to run.” Copyright Terry and lynn Pratchet, 2004 – I’m hoping they don’t mind me borrowing this small bit of text.

The office for the school was in a farmhouse kitchen (with a cardboard box full of new-born lambs in the centre of the room. The woman who ran the school was very nice found me a helmet and assured me that they had just the right horse for a beginner – he was a big thing but as docile as could be, didn’t like being at the front and was called Mouse.

10 minutes later I was sat ontop of mouse in a group that included 3 other beginners and two guides – both called Emma I think. As I’d been told Mouse was a gentle giant and was in no mood to throw me off or make a dash for it – in fact he seemed very happy to have his nose 6 inches from the horse in fronts bum. It tried a bit of steering but Mouse clearly though he knew better about where we were going and ignored me.

Mouse - a very big horse!

We set off at a sedate pace along a stretch of road for about 20 minutes and then the guides decided we could try trotting for a bit – this was rather uncomfortable for me! The guide told me to bounce on the sadle and try and time it with Mouse’s movements, what actually happened is no matter what I did we stayed perfectly out of phase and I repeatedly hit the saddle with my bits! Thankfully we got off the road and settle down to a walk and I could spend the remainder of the trek enjoying the scenery – chatting to my fellow learners and Mouse even allowed me to do a bit of steering.

View from on top of Mouse - once we'd stopped trotting!

We got back to the stables after an hour and I was surprised that I didn’t feel to sore. I got of Mouse, helped get him into a jacket and gave him a couple of treats, I was rewarded for this by being given a bit of a lick.

All in all I’d rate horse riding as one of the most fun challenges I’ve completed and recommend it to anyone. I hope I’ll try it again sometime but I’d better keep going with the rest of the challenges first J.

 

Poetry Please

Remembering a conversation with Laura from last weekend suddenly got me worrying, its been 3 months since my last post! Not only does this mean that I'm not crossing anymore challenges off the list having effectively stalled on this whole enterprise - but I'm actually in danger of going backwards! One of the challenges that I was busy patting myself on the back for at the end of last year was writing this blog about my progress, but technically it's only completed when everything is done if I don't keep it up then I'm back down to 6 rather than 7 challenges sorted.

To be fair I have been making some progress - just not blogging about it. I've been busy on the learning a craft challenge and hope to have some pictures of my finished handiwork to post here in the next month. I've also done the horse riding challenge but never got around to writing the post, my practising with the uke is still not hitting the high notes but I feel I have made some progress.

However, it's twenty past eleven on a school night, I've just got in from the cinema and I'm not quite up to writing about any of the above - but I need to get something down. A flash of inspiration on the number one bus on the way home made me think about writing a short poem - alas no further inspiration was forthcoming about what the poem should be about. I did read an article on the bbc website about a poem with no words (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27680904) but that would be cheating - this did get me on to thinking about a poem I was introduced to by an old friend and fellow blogger a few years back that sums my situation up quite well................

The Old Sailorby A.A. Milne

There was once an old sailor my grandfather knew
Who had so many things which he wanted to do
That, whenever he thought it was time to begin,
He couldn't because of the state he was in.

He was shipwrecked, and lived on a island for weeks,
And he wanted a hat, and he wanted some breeks;
And he wanted some nets, or a line and some hooks
For the turtles and things which you read of in books.

And, thinking of this, he remembered a thing
Which he wanted (for water) and that was a spring;
And he thought that to talk to he'd look for, and keep
(If he found it) a goat, or some chickens and sheep.

Then, because of the weather, he wanted a hut
With a door (to come in by) which opened and shut
(With a jerk, which was useful if snakes were about),
And a very strong lock to keep savages out.

He began on the fish-hooks, and when he'd begun
He decided he couldn't because of the sun.
So he knew what he ought to begin with, and that
Was to find, or to make, a large sun-stopping hat.

He was making the hat with some leaves from a tree,
When he thought, "I'm as hot as a body can be,
And I've nothing to take for my terrible thirst;
So I'll look for a spring, and I'll look for it first."
Then he thought as he started, "Oh, dear and oh, dear!
I'll be lonely tomorrow with nobody here!"
So he made in his note-book a couple of notes:
"I must first find some chickens" and "No, I mean goats."

He had just seen a goat (which he knew by the shape)
When he thought, "But I must have boat for escape.
But a boat means a sail, which means needles and thread;
So I'd better sit down and make needles instead."

He began on a needle, but thought as he worked,
That, if this was an island where savages lurked,
Sitting safe in his hut he'd have nothing to fear,
Whereas now they might suddenly breathe in his ear!

So he thought of his hut ... and he thought of his boat,
And his hat and his breeks, and his chickens and goat,
And the hooks (for his food) and the spring (for his thirst) ...
But he never could think which he ought to do first.

And so in the end he did nothing at all,
But basked on the shingle wrapped up in a shawl.
And I think it was dreadful the way he behaved -
He did nothing but bask until he was saved!

smart bloke that Alan Milne - time to get a bit more organised and getting some more of these challenges :-)

p.s. if you want to listen tto more authoritative ramblings about poetry then I can highly recommend poetry please on Radio 4 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qp7q - it's been the source of most of my research thus far.

p.p.s. if you want to read some of the blog by the friend that introduced me to the above poem check out the entry from March 7th 2006 at this link - http://drjosadventures.blogspot.co.uk/2006_03_01_archive.html

half baked

It isn’t one of this year’s challenges but I did say I would keep going with the baking. I’ve been keeping myself quite busy on this as I wanted to start making more of my own bread and I also wanted to make my own musli bars (I spend far too much on these) - you can see what I’ve been making below.

For the bread I’ve just been making basic bread mixes – white buns and wholemeal buns – these are just white or brown bread flour with a bit of yeast, salt, oil and honey. The white buns went very well but I had some problems activating the yeast on the wholemeal ones – I knew thing hadn’t gone so well when the bread didn’t rise whilst proving but decided to bake them anyway just to see what the result was – as you can see in the photo it resulted in some very small buns with the density of iron!

For the muesli bars I went with two different recipes, one from weight watchers and one from Nigella Lawson. They both mainly consist of seeds, nuts, dried fruit and porridge oats. The main difference between the two was where the weight watchers recipe uses butter and honey to bind the ingredients together the Nigella one uses condensed milk. Both sets of bars taste very nice (even if I do say so myself) – but the Nigella recipe tastes nicer to me. The other plus on this is that the ingredients cost less than 7 pounds for 32 bars – quite a lot cheaper than the ones I’ve been buying at sainsbury’s.

I’ll keep going with the bread and post further progress here in the weeks/months to come

 

 

raw white rolls.......

 

 

 

a little odd shaped - but risen well

 

 

 

brown bread cannon balls

 

 

 

missing muesli bars

 

 

 

the Nigella version

 

 

 

the weight watchers version (with one piece missing for quality control purposes)

 

a crafty blog post

We’re into February and am conscious that I don’t want to get to the end of this year without completing the (now extended) 12 labours. I’ve been making a start on the learn a craft challenge – it was agreed at New Year that as part of this making a friendship bracelet for each of the friends present should be part of completing this.

I was aware of friendship bracelets when I was a kid (and I may even have made one before though my memory is pretty hazy) but I’d be lying if I really understood what they are all about so I’ve done a little reading on the subject. To summarise what I’ve found out……….

·         The origin of friendship bracelets is believed to be from the indigenous populations of central and southern America though there are also examples from Qin dynasty china.

·         They became popular in the US from the 1970s when they were worn at demonstrations, their popularity then spread around the world.

·         There are lots of designs though the basic form is two threads in a series of double knots.

·         If you are given one, once you have put it on you are not allowed to take it off until it wears out (then you’re supposed to make a wish or something – I hope the judging panel realise what this means! You have to wear the brightly coloured teenage girly bands that I make for you until they drop off!! I promise to find the most hardwearing thread I can!!

 

These are some of the designs that can be done - I might have

 to work up to this level of complexity

Ann sent me a link to a webpage on how to make basic bracelets soon after NYE and Laura took me shopping for the bits and pieces I needed (on Oxford Street – on January 2^nd – it was a bit busy to say the least). It took me a few weeks to start giving it a go but you can see my first goes in the photos below – one of the bracelets I’ve made so far is more of a friendship bookmark but I’m not too disappointed with my efforts so far.

 

assembly - bit tricky not just making a gigantic knot

 

 

One friendship bracelet and one friendship bookmark - 6 more to go!