I've had my eye on the weather forecast all this week, hoping and praying that the long range forecast was going to be proved wrong. By Friday afternoon it still wasn't looking good and I had a few difficult decisions to make. Decisions that mainly revolved around how wet I wanted to get! I'd had an idea kicking around in the background for a while involving running the entire length of the Basingstoke Canal. At 31 miles (plus a few more to get home again) it looked like an achievable day out. However it's a bit of a logistical nightmare, due to having too either get to the start, or back from the finish, depending on which way you go, and with the chances of another Covid lockdown getting more likely by the day it's not going to get any easier. "The Emma" worked a full nightshift Friday night, which coincided with her getting home at 06:30 Saturday morning (perfect timing for a lift to the train station then) and thus, this looked like the ideal weekend to put my plan into action. If only the weather would play ball. An early alarm call Saturday morning saw me ready and raring to go for my lift to the station when "The Emma" got in. OK, I'll admit I was still sat in my pants having my breakfast, but I was nearly ready and in my defence it was pretty early! Early or not, part A of my plan was in place and I was sat on the train on my way to West Byfleet by 07:00. By the time the sun had actually come up and the day proper started things weren't looking too bad. Granted it was overcast and windy, but the rain was holding off for the time being and it was still warm considering the time of year. A brisk walk from the station to the start at the point where the canal joins the Wey Navigation gave me ample opportunity to stretch my legs, tighten my shoes and get comfy, ready for the miles ahead and by 08:00 I was set for the off. Straight back the way I'd just come then! Keeping the pace slow and steady I was back to West Byfleet in half the time it had taken me to walk to the start and I was soon shedding my gloves and hat as I warmed up. The canal's quite built up at the West end, with a number of houseboats moored along the banks and a well surfaced, smooth towpath, which made for some quick progress, the boats providing a welcome distraction from the job in hand. A few issues early on with my camelback leaking caused a bit of a delay. It took me a while to work out why my backside was getting wet, a situation which soon became sufficiently annoying to make me stop and have a look. A small hole in the bottom of the offending water reservoir was slowly dripping water down my backside, like some form of water torture. I tried resealing it with a bit of tape, with no effect and turning it upside down, but soon gave up on both options, eventually discarding it (and the majority of my water) in a handily placed bin as I passed through Woking. Knowing that there were plenty of shops en-route I wasn't overly worried about the loss of my water supply and continued steadily on Eastwards. With the rain still holding off, the fallen leaves were crunchy underfoot and at times that water of the canal was totally covered by a beautiful golden brown carpet of fallen Beech leaves. The Deepcut flight of locks came and went at around the 10 mile point, marking the first major milestone in my journey. At the top of the lock flight you pass through a cutting (hence the name). At 1000 yards long and 70 feet deep it's rather an impressive undertaking and it always amazes me to think that all the canals and railways were dug out by hand. When you look at the scale of some of the cuttings you pass through it's an amazing achievement and quite some undertaking. I can always imagine the look on the guys faces when the gaffer says on day one of the new job "Right then lads we've just got to dig a hole 6 feet deep, 10 feet wide and 31 miles long" Plodding steadily onwards, I paused briefly at the Canal Visitor centre to fill my water bottles from a handily positioned tap and grab a couple of photos. Unfortunately these proved to be the last photos of the day as within the next 20 minutes the heavens opened and the promised rains materialised. And boy-o-boy did it rain. Considering I was only just coming up for the half way point I was looking at another 3 or so hours out in the rain if it didn't stop!
I pushed on through the rain towards Fleet, knowing that there was a train station, shops and possible bail out point there if need be. Through Aldershot with the wind throwing the rain horizontally at me through the exposed areas of the military training grounds. I shouldn't complain though as it's the military's use of this entire area that has preserved much of the open space as rural heathland, their use preventing building or agriculture taking over as it has everywhere else. By the time I got too Fleet I was as wet as could be. With the rain showing no sign of easing I had to decide whether to push on or chicken out and slink shyly for home. Stopping to grab a sandwich and more water from a local shop I stood dripping and considering my next plan of action. I'd got this far and couldn't get any wetter, I might as well push on then! From Fleet I'm on local ground which always helps and it's only 7 miles to Odiham and the next major milestone. Through pouring rain and increasing winds I pushed on, the towpath slowly becoming more and more flooded. By the time Odiham came along at mile 29, the rain still hadn't eased off and by now I was pretty much running though one big long puddle. I knew however, that the back was broken and with the worst behind me it's only 2 miles to the end of the canal at Greywell and 10 miles to home from here. A Marmalade sandwich from my backpack (if it was good enough for Paddington it's good enough for me) helped the last couple of miles to the Greywell Tunnel and the 31 mile mark pass in a watery blur. The Greywell Tunnel marks the end of the navigable section of canal, the tunnel itself having collapsed at some point in the past. The old route over the top used for leading tow horses over still exists though and I followed this over the top, rejoining the last walkable section of canal on the other side. Within a mile or so the canal totally disappears though, swallowed up by the advent of the M3 motorway and the expansion of Basingstoke and I was finally forced to take to the roads for the last 6 miles. Helpfully, as I reached the outskirts of town the rain finally stopped. Typical isn't it, a good 3 hours of trying to wash you away and break your spirit and just as you get home it stops! Stripping off my wet clothes on the door step, "The Emma" asked if I'd had a good time? Of course I had. 39 Miles and 6:13 of running along a beautiful route, what's not to like about that. Yes, I got a bit damp and my feet hurt a bit, but what a great day out and what a great sense of achievement. How many other people can say that they've run the length of the canal? It sure beats sitting in front of the TV eating biscuits and drinking tea. And to that end, I'm off for a biscuit. Well I have just burned off 4500 calories, that's got to be worth a few HobNobs!
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It's a shame my rubbish phone camera won't take a picture in the dark as Friday night was a real treat. I'd taken the van down to Alresford after tea, ready for a bit of early morning running on Saturday. The day had been dull and overcast with a few rain showers, but just as I set off the sky's had started to clear, and by the time I was safely ensconced in my little hideaway the moon was up and shining brightly. My quiet little haven for the night was sufficiently far away from the major towns that there's a lot less light pollution and the stars were out in force. So, with an extra jacket and wooly hat on, and with brew in hand, I sat out in the dark for half an hour or so, contemplating life and admiring the millions of tiny lights above my head. With the stars shining, an owl calling in the distance and the sounds of the little critters going about their business in the undergrowth, it was a magical 1/2 hour. I'll happily confess that I'm as bad as the rest of us for hiding myself away behind closed curtains, staring at the idiot box night after night. But, it's amazing what's hidden behind those closed curtains. There's a whole new world that wakes up when the sun goes down. A world that we are missing out on with our hectic lifestyles and requirement to be constantly entertained. In my opinion, there's a lot to be said for occasionally turning off the trappings of modern life and taking the time to just stop, listen and stare. After my early night, I was up early Saturday morning, ready and raring to go by the time it got light just after 07:00. My ever faithful weather forecaster ("The Emma"), informed me that the weather was going to get worse as the day progressed, so it made sense to make hay whilst the sun shone. Well, I say the sun shone, it was more of a dark, dank, overcast, autumnal morning than wall to wall sunshine. Never mind though, at least it's not raining (yet). Pushing out from my overnight spot my plan was to pick up the Oxdrove Way, for what would hopefully be a few pleasant hours out. Within the first 30 minutes I'd passed 2 groups of Deer, quietly minding their own business, numerous rabbits, pheasants and similar game birds and paused for a few seconds to watch a Red Kite scanning the ground below for it's breakfast. The trees are still carrying a lot of leaves for the time of year and the autumn colors are still quite spectacular, so there was no shortage of scenery to distract me from the task in hand. Surprisingly, considering the amount of rain we've had over the past few weeks, the going was still quite good, with the paths continuing to hold up against the ongoing deluge. How much longer that will be the case is anyone's guess. I suspect that the ground in this area doesn't drain too well as previous experience has shown that this can be a really muddy run in the winter, today though, things were still fine and dandy. As the morning progressed I got caught in a couple of showers and the wind steadily increased, making for some quite hard sections at times. It's surprising how much harder things become in a head wind, and even more so when it's coupled with the rain in your face! You wouldn't think that the wind could make such a difference and require so much effort to overcome. A steady plod eventually saw me back at the van well before the worst of the forecast weather hit, with an easy 22 miles under my belt. Not bad for a gentle Saturday morning jaunt and more than enough to build up a bit of an appetite ready for lunch. "The Emma" was spot on about the weather and by the time I'd got home and had a shower it had really deteriorated. The wind had picked up significantly and was tearing the dying leaves from the trees, before giving them a good soaking with lashings of rain. With bad weather putting a stop to project patio, I filled the afternoon with some productive pottering's. I was going to make a Orange and Sultana tray bake for a bit of a treat. That was until I realised we didn't have any orange juice. Not to worry, if nothing else I'm inventive, so Tea cake it will have to be, and very nice it is too. Half an hour or so peeling the little onions from the allotment yielded enough to make a couple of jars of Pickled Onions. And I finally got around to crushing up the bonkers hot chilies which have been hanging in the airing cupboard drying for the last 2 years. It's taken this long to get round to it as if the truth be told, I'm scared of them! They are without a doubt the hottest thing I've ever come across. Just handling them is a risky business, one false move or wipe of your face and it's game over! I've got no idea what to do with them, so for the time being they've moved from their long term airing cupboard hideaway to a jar, whilst I consider my next move! Sunday morning still didn't look too promising when I got up at an even stupider time than normal. Nice one clock changing stupidity. Why we have to mess around with the time is beyond me, why can't we just leave it as BST all year round and enjoy the lighter evenings? I really didn't feel like getting cold and wet out on the bike so went for a wander round the local hills for a couple of hours instead. Granted I still got thoroughly soaked in the process but it never seems quite as bad when your on foot as it does on the bike. I guess there's no wind chill to worry about and somehow you seem to stay dryer walking than you do on the bike. It was an enjoyable morning out though, despite the rain and the sun even managed to make a brief appearance a couple of times. With there still being no chance of getting any proper productive work done on the patio I pottered around on the allotment in the drizzle for an hour or so Sunday afternoon, before retreating into the workshop where it was a touch drier.
There's always something to be busying yourself with and I've got a couple of little back burner projects on the go, ready for just such an occasion. That's the joy of having an endless supply of hobbies and interests. Whilst there's never enough time to be doing everything you want to do, there's always something to occupy yourself with! Before we get into this weeks excitement, or lack there of, I just need to share this picture with you. I had a bit of a late start at work on Friday, so thought that I'd make good use of the extra hour by getting out for an early run. I was out of the house a few minutes before 7, just as it was starting to get light. As far as I'm concerned this is the best bit of the day, the roads are still quite, most people are just getting up and the worlds still peaceful. Anyhow, I'd plodded along for an hour or so and was just heading back for home with the sun slowly coming up behind me, making my way back down from Cliddesden towards the M3 and home. There's always a good view to the East from here, but today, with the sun just creeping over the hill and the low lying mist it was an absolute treat. I couldn't help but stop and stare for a few minutes, and a couple of minutes is all the time I had. Between my stopping and getting the camera out it can't have been more than 2 or 3 minutes before the sun came over the hill and totally changed the view. Those couple of minutes more than made up for the early start, the cold fingers and the days work ahead though. I'll let the picture below do the rest of the talking! Sometimes I wonder why I'm so tired. I often get to the end of the day and think, this isn't right, I've not done much today, surely I shouldn't be this worn out? Today (Saturday) was one of those days. I'm sat here now and can feel my eye lids drooping. So lets have a look at what I've been up to and see if we can figure it out; 06:30 – Woken up by the heating coming on, (yes I know, it's only October). I'm surprised I'm still in bed to be honest, I'm normally up by 06:00. Still, I obviously needed that extra half hour. 06:35 – As Homer Simpson once said, "I'm up, I'm on my way". Well I'm downstairs, waiting for the kettle to boil, at least that's a start. 07:45 – 2 brews and breakfast done, time to go and play bikes. It's a bit grey and chilly out, but there's no wind and it's not raining. Nothing an extra pair of gloves and a jumper wont keep at bay. 11:55 – Back home with another 60 miles in the bag. It's been a good morning out. The trees have got some lovely Autumn colours on them, the fields have been replanted ready for spring and the fallen leaves are crisp under my tyres. Another few weeks and they will be a slippery mess, fallen leaves churned up by the cars and rain, but at the moment it's still got that lovely Autumn smell to the air and the light is beautiful. 12:00 – The lovely Emma's made me a brew as I came in, just time for a bit of a stretch before lunch. 12:30 – Lunch. Home made Corgette and Tomato soup (from the freezer) with a bit of bread that needs eating up. Lovely, and just what the doctor ordered after the mornings exertions. 13:00 – Wander up the allotment for a couple of hours pottering around. I've set out the edges for a new path down the middle of the fruit cage to save stomping on the mud. Done a bit of gentle digging, sown the overwintering Broad beans and 150 onion sets, picked chili's and veg for next week before wandering back home. 15:20 – Spend 30 minutes adding more anti pigeon spikes to the satellite dish. The Emma's got a lot to answer for with her pesky pigeons! 16:00 – Finish off digging the foundations for Project Patio that I started last week (it's not got any easier) followed by an hour of smashing up and levelling hardcore ready for concreting tomorrow. 17:50 – For F***s sake it's nearly 6 O'clock. 18:00 – Wash and put away the veg that I bought home earlier before heading up for a shower whilst the lovely Emma makes tea (Bacon Sarnies with fresh bread, Oh baby!) 18:30 – Wash up. 18:50 – 20 Minutes stretching and rolling my tired legs! 19:20 – It's a nice night and I want to get a decent run in tomorrow, so grab some clothes and head out to the van. 20:00 – It's only a short drive up to one of my favorite overnight spots and I've stopped at the supermarket for some milk and a beer on the way. 20:15 – Now I'm all set for the night and it's lovely and quiet, I might as well have a beer and an hour working on this spiel! 21:15 – Enough, I can't keep my eyes open any longer! H'mmmmm, maybe that explains it? Having sung the praises of early mornings and sunrises at the start of this weeks installment, I got lucky again Sunday morning. After my lay in Saturday morning, I was up bright and early Sunday after a cosy night in the van, ready and raring to go. With the forecast looking good I'd elected to head up to Kingsclere for a few miles along the Wayfarers way, it can be pretty grim along the high spots if the winds blowing hard so this ones a route to save for a reasonable day. Leaving the van just as it started to get light I'd plodded up the long climb to the high point and just dropped down the other side as the sun started creeping over the hills. I'm not sure if there's much more I can add. So I'll let you make up your own minds if getting up early was worthwhile. I certainly got the best bit of the day too, as within 30 minutes the clouds had thickened and the temperature dropped by a good couple of degrees. In this case the early bird definitely caught the worm. Not to be outdone by "The Emma's" cakes last week, I've been in on the game too. Granted I've squeezed my efforts in between concreting, planting out Foxgloves, Hollyhocks and Lupins grown from seed in the front garden and the plethora of other little jobs I did Sunday afternoon. But at least I've tried.
I've got to admit though that Emma does a better job. I suspect my inability to measure anything properly and propensity to change the recipes by throwing in whatever takes my fancy doesn't help! I'm having a right old struggle for motivation at the moment. After a week at work I get to Friday and I'm cream crackered. Handily that's all set to change, but for the moment it's business as usual and another few weeks of falling asleep on the sofa on a Friday night. On a more lighthearted note, I had a couple of hours on the allotment Saturday afternoon clearing the runner beans, Tomato plants, Courgettes and generally pottering around amusing myself. Whilst standing around between tasks a little robin was hopping around on the freshly dug ground in front of me looking for his tea. Now there's nothing unusual about that, except both the Robin and I were in the fruit cage! As I stood watching my little friend go about his business I wondered how I was going to get him out. Guessing that he'd followed me in through the open door, I couldn't just leave him in there all on his own, could I? Whilst pondering my next move, I wandered round to the compost bin with some pruning's and there was my little Robin mate waiting for me. Result, he's obviously managed to get back out of the cage, I'll shut the door and not have to worry about that problem, thinks I. Back to the digging with the cage door shut and, hello, Mr Robins back inside with me. Well now I'm confused, maybe there's two? although being quite territorial you don't normally see a pair of Robins. It was quite a while later that it finally dawned on me that it was the same little Robin, somehow getting through the cage mesh. A bit of investigation around the Raspberry canes and under the Strawberry planter finally revealed a small hole in the mesh that my little friend was using as a door to a free lunch. I've not got the heart to seal it up and I think that if Mr Robins been clever enough to find the hole and remember where it is then as far as I'm concerned he's entitled to free run of the place for the time being! After a morning out on the bike enjoying the Autumn sunshine I thought I'd better knuckle down Sunday afternoon and get a few hours in on project "Back Garden". I've heard this week that we had the highest one day rainfall ever recorded at the start of October and the state of the ground pays testament to that. The grounds sodden and fully compacted after god knows how many years buried under patio slabs, so it's hard going. A few hours with the big hammer, mattock, crow bar and stomping boots saw a bit of progress though. I've always said this was going to be a long term, slow going project and there's a limit to how much I can get done in a day before the daylight fails or my tired old muscle's start protesting. I suppose I could just work on the garden instead of running and cycling, but that's not going to happen, so slow going it's going to have to be. Here we go again then, best get them in before we all get locked down again, so it's number 10 in the "Marathon a Month" challenge and I'm slowly ticking them off (Although this is actually the 13th month in a row, but I'm only counting 2020). Last months Ultra was a bit cheeky and being only 2 weeks ago I'm not sure if my legs are up to anything too strenuous, so I needed something a little bit easier. Hunting around the RunBelievable Bounceathon caught my eye. 5.75 mile loops around Ashdown Forest, home to Tigger and co (hence the name) with the chance to do as many or as few laps as you feel like within the 6 hour time period. 5 laps gives you just over a Marathon and being all trail, with 400 Feet of height gain per lap it looked like an interesting day out, although maybe not quite fitting into the "something less strenuous" category. It's a bit of a slog from home but with a bit of pre planning there's the chance to see the old folks while I'm down that way, so why not. As with all great plans the god of weather had other ideas and the weekend forecast was not looking to clever. Storm Bob, or whatever stupid name this ones got was forecast to dump a fair few inches of rain on our heads. A bit of rains never put me off before though and there's only so wet you can get. Setting of Friday night for the drive down the weather certainly lived up to its promise, but when I woke up Saturday morning it didn't sound to bad and by the time I'd had a brew and got myself ready it had stopped. How long for was anyone's guess, but even starting in the dry is a psychological boost, so I'm not going to complain. The guys from RunBelievable did an excellent job issuing numbers and setting us off at short intervals as soon as people were ready. Avoiding congregating and maintaining social distancing was the aim of the day and I set off pretty much on the stroke of 08:30. A short climb from the off before a long steady drop into the valley below made for an easy start. What's too follow was a bit of a different matter though. Having to regain all that lost height soon got the old heart rate up and it wasn't long before I'd whipped my lightweight jacket off to try and keep a bit cooler. There's nothing more annoying that a jacket flapping around and I'd have happily shoved it into my running vest, but for the fact that that would mean stopping and I'd probably need it again at some point. There was no way it would stay dry all morning, and even if it did the wind had a bit of a chill to it on the exposed sections. So round my waist it went, annoying or not, I'd just have to live with it and I'm glad I did. It can only have been 15 minutes later when the rain started again. Nothing too serious but enough to chill you pretty quickly and defiantly worth getting the jacket back on for! The middle part of the course levelled out a bit (more of a gentle uphill slog than a climb), but the change in gradient bought with it some monster puddles. On the first lap I gently picked my way around, or took a running leap to try and avoid getting too wet. That didn't last long though and by Lap 3 it was straight through, there's no messing around on tired legs! After a short detour and bit of back tracking on the first lap due to getting a bit lost, things soon settled down into a steady rhythm, Jacket on for the downhill, off for the uphill, back on for the stretch through the puddles and into the wind, off for the return leg out of the wind, back on for the downhill etc etc. (I know, it's only 5 miles how can you get lost? Well I wasn't the only one as the next 4 runners followed me and even then it took us a while to work out where we had gone wrong). It didn't take long for the small field of runners to be well and truly split up and from the middle of Lap 2 I'd started catching up with the slower runners and later starters. It's a nice way to run this as there's always someone to chase or chat briefly with as you catch them up. The joy of these smaller events, and Audax is very similar, is that everyone's there to have a good time. People are more relaxed, there's none of the pushing and shoving that you get at a big road marathon, it's all a lot more friendly and relaxed. The problem with the big events is they are totally focused on making money, with the majority of people running for some good cause or another and a lot of first time runners. With people running at their limit and with no experience of what they are capable of, it just becomes a balls out suffer-fest, with tempers fraying as people get tired, slowed down or cut up. There may be no glory in doing well at a small trail event, and it will certainly be a far harder day out, but it's a far nicer experience. No monster queues for the loos, no being herded into start pens with thousands of other people an hour before the off and no tripping over the thousands of people who think they can run a time that they've never got even close to in training and have started in totally the wrong place. Yep, I know where I'd rather be! Anyway I digress as usual. Where was I? I managed to hold a pretty steady pace for the first 4 laps, the changing terrain and elevation helping to keep the old leg muscles stretched out and the downhill's offering the chance to catch your breath after the effort of getting to the top. A few seconds stop at the end of lap 4 was enough to get some extra fluids on board and ditch my jacket before the last effort. With only 5 miles to go, I could afford to get cold and wet, there's a big difference between being cold for 40 minutes and 4 hours. Typically for the final lap the rain stayed off and the miles ticked off at a satisfying rate until the final climb to the finish line hove into view. One last push then and it's all over, an extra thank you to the lovely marshals who have been stood in the cold and rain all morning supervising the road crossing and finally back to the finish. Pretty much bang on 4 hours since setting off and the mornings works done. 4:00:01 by my watch for 26.74 miles on a hilly, rough, wet and windy course isn't bad going in my books and is a time I'm more than happy with. And as far as I'm concerned that's all that matters. Oh, and a cool little badge to go with the obligatory medal for being first loser (2nd place marathon distance runner). And that's about it for this weekend. I carried on down Saturday afternoon to do the rounds visiting the old folks and pretty much spent the rest of the weekend pottering around. I've had some big old decisions to make recently regarding where my futures heading, particularly regarding work and the old work life balance and to be brutally honest I think it's taken a lot more out of me than I've admitted.
I've been run ragged with work recently and trying to balance that, along with the things I want to do and that are important to me in life (running, cycling, allotment, projects and adventures) has just been too much. I've been struggling through the week to get to Saturday absolutely knackered before I even start and that's not the way I want to live my life. Decisions are made now though and change is coming, unfortunately it's coming at the wrong time of year, but that can't be helped. A few days spent getting my brain back into a good place and recharging my batteries is probably just what I need and even I'm probably allowed the odd lazy Sunday! |
Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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