2°C, clear with approaching cloud.
Packing and clearing stuff out. It appalling the clutter you accumulate while living in a house for twenty years.
With the deadline approaching, the stress feeling is rising. Last night, I slept badly and woke very early. Not helped by that abortive ride yesterday.
5°C, light breeze, sun and showers.
I rode Paddy Wagon with MapMyRide+! Distance: 44.69km, time: 01:53:02, pace: 2:32min/km, speed: 23.72km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/2630644450
A duck died today. That marred my outward stage. Crossing the moors the road approached a wood. Suddenly it erupted with a fusillade of shotgun blasts. There were 4x4s parked on the lane and men with dogs standing is fields. Small groups of birds flew quickly away from the wood. Good, some escaped.
Then I saw a shape scurrying across the field, it was a bird unable to take off. It was very fast though, desperate no doubt. Then a dog ran from the Hunter and chased it down. Efficiently, the dog returned the bird, a duck. The next thing I saw was the worst part. The hunter took the bird from the dog and held it out at waist height. He swung the bird in a circle to break its neck.
Seconds before, that bird had enough fight to make am escape though it was wounded by shot which prevented it taking to the air. It’s speed across the field was as great as the adrenaline filling it’s blood. Hope was dashed when the dog was sent after it.
I found myself filling with rage. At the top of my voice I swore at these men. At least one looked round so they must have heard me. What else could I do?
What despicable examples of humanity were these men?
9°C, light W breeze, light sun.
I rode Paddy Wagon fixed with MapMyRide+! Distance: 36.81km, time: 01:34:44, pace: 2:34min/km, speed: 23.31km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/2628640216
I rode Mustang with MapMyRide+! Distance: 34.22km, time: 01:40:52, pace: 2:57min/km, speed: 20.36km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/2629007473
Half a year since I rode twice in the same day. I’m owed this mmdwadtdp a 3 day abstinence. This morning and last night I was becoming rather irritable without spending energy. Worse because I have more energy than me late after some good news on Friday.
I’ve bought a house. It’s been a long time searching, 3 months. Not just gaining a house, but also loosing a mortgage.
Now, I can look forward and stop feeling as though I’m treading water. Thus, more ‘go’ in my legs while riding.
14°C, grey, dry but very strong wind W then SSW.
I rode Arrow with MapMyRide+! Distance: 44.17km, time: 02:06:22, pace: 2:52min/km, speed: 20.97km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/2587362901
Rather slow but there’s a reason for that. Yesterday, I developed a horrible, painful back injury. My lower back went into spasm and locked me into a corkscrew. I’ve had these, from time to time, all my life. I knew what to do.
I went for a bike ride. It was hard at first but I rode on slowly taking care at those times I needed to put a foot down. I headed out with a good tailwind to a cafe for some toast for lunch. During the return stretch, the wind had swung round to the south; again, in my favour. For the rest of the day and evening, the stiffness has gone and normality feels close.
Getting into bed will be slightly tricky, that’s a crucial time if it’s not to flare up again.
12°C, Brian’s gale, sunny
I rode Mustang with MapMyRide+! Distance: 26.93km, time: 01:28:01, pace: 3:16min/km, speed: 18.36km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/2537231175
Quick canal route to clear the figity feeling and fizzy legs. My weekly milage is significantly lower currently compared to normal October weeks. It’s time to start night rides.
16°C, some showers, some sun. Mostly grey.
I hiked with MapMyRide+! Distance: 13.53km, time: 03:34:10, pace: 15:50min/km, speed: 3.79km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/2412514553
With Carl and Chris to practice nav. techniques. My GPX track does not include the first 1/3. S). Shame because we practiced timing, pacing (including leap-frogging to find features like ponds and ring-contours. We could place ourselves within 10 meters, and estimated grid references matched OS locate each time. The whole thing was very reassuring, especially for the others because they will do the HML assessment in a few weeks. Good luck, though they may not need it. I haven’t booked my ML(s) assessment yet, I’m not ready, there are too many variables in my life right now.
Oh, and the crash site was very interesting too. It was a B29 bomber that hit the hill in 1948. See more details here. We were all struck by how big it is. Details were noticed too, there are ripples and drips in the aluminium where the metal melted that day. We wandered about looking at various pieces of metal and mentally trying to work out what each piece was. the engines were easy, as were the undercarriage.
By now, we were all tired, it was getting late and I was hungry. Therefore, we chose the easiest route back to the car.
33°C, sunny nil breeze.
I rode Zing with MapMyRide+! Distance: 50.40km, time: 02:38:59, pace: 3:09min/km, speed: 19.02km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/2375533769
Roaring got cut I’m managing hydration better now. A big drink before I go and a top up at Corbara. The loop round the back of the valley passed Zillia and Calenzana soon looked more appealing. They have newly tarmaced the road too, so progress should be quick.
34°C, breeze with nil cloud.
I rode Zing with apMyRide+! Distance: 36.79km, time: 02:02:05, pace: 3:19min/km, speed: 18.08km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/2365994018
The heat is fierce today. I rode without a map. I remember the route from few years ago. On the climb towards Maggiomore, a four other cyclists took the same route. I did reasonably well and reached the top a close third. I sat with two french guys who chatted a bit. They even complimented me on my french. Silly really because my vocab is small. Perhaps, my accent was okay.
from 17 to 26°C, not much rain, some hot and close days.
Group A; This group had really hot weather on their practice expedition. On those days, they really struggled. Their stamina and concentration was really low. On Monday and Tuesday, they were problem free which supports my idea that it’s hot weather that really gets these kids. They become really slow and make mistakes with navigation.
Wednesday; it took three trips in the minibus to ferry the kids to Ilam for the pickup. The coach arrived on-time carrying the second half of the year-group who were ready to start their expedition. As you can imagine, there was much faffing about organising bags and the loan of boots to those who arrived in unsuitable footwear. Many more had decent boots on but wore trainer socks. Chris bought socks later to lend out.
Dense hill fog to start 11°C. Later nice sunshine with a chilly wind.
Woke at 7am, all nice and warm in the bag. I didn’t want t get up, especially now that thick hill fog had set in.
After a failed search for water, the descent near “The Clip” was easy to find. It is named Bwlch Gwynlio which takes you to the path down west to Cwm Bychan. Co-incidentally, I found water here too so turned it onto a coffee stop.
My bed for the night.
Once refreshed, turn right and drop down towards Cwm Bychan, some of the route is overgrown with bracken. Annoyingly, I lost the path and strayed down from the ‘correct’ route.
Back to the familiar Cwm Bychan site. Disappointingly, nobody has taken over the campsite and it remains only a car-park for hikers. The attraction for many casual hikers is the Roman Steps. Small family was starting out as I arrived and asked for directions. they had no map, but really, apart from the first part, they won’t need one if they stick to the slabs.
The excuse for this diversion was to find out whether the campsite has re-opened (it hasn’t). Then up the Roman Steps route which is familiar to me. The new bit is to drop down into the forest directly east. Navigation here was tricky because recent logging work has obliterated paths and their signs. I took a mixture of paths and foresters’ tracks to get to the extensive grasslands north. Every step was a ‘splosh’, hours and hours of welsh steppe. The walkout back to Trawsfynedd is very long; very long. These landscapes are heavenly.
While recovering back at camp something amazing happened. The family I met at Cwm Bychan pulled up in their car. They had my solar-battery pack. It had fallen off my backpack on the Roman steps. They felt that since I was so helpful that it was worth the slight detour to find me. I must have said where I was camping and there are only 2 sites near Trawsfynedd to try out. They had made their hike to the top of the Steps and appreciated the little arch bridge along the way. It’s a charming section which soon splits into two routes, the main path is clear enough all the way. People are good.
Micycle 