This will teach me won't it! A couple of weeks ago I commented on the fact that Spring appeared to be just around the corner and things were looking up (Blog - 31 Jan). Well, next time I open my big mouth will someone please tell me to shut up, as it would appear that as per usual, I was wrong. I don't think that the temperature has actually got above freezing this week and it's severely limited my adventures. In fact looking at the recently completed parts of Project Patio it's probably set things back quite a bit. I won't know for sure until it's fully thawed, but some of the pointing on the recently finished steps doesn't look too clever and the newly laid concrete around the gates taken a bit of a hammering. I'll get a better look once it warms up and dries out a bit but I suspect I will need to cut some of the pointing back out and redo it as a minimum! Oh well, these things are sent to try us and that's always the risk of trying to do any building work in the winter. So what have I been up too this week? Well, mostly hiding and shivering is the honest answer, although the cold, crisp and dry days have presented opportunity of their own. With it being so cold, a lot of the tracks and paths that are usually water logged and overly muddy at this time of year have frozen over, giving me the opportunity to get out and about without getting wet! Saturday, was a prime example of making hay whilst the sun shone (or in this case the ground was frozen) with an early start in the still freezing conditions presenting the opportunity for 16 miles of off road running fun, around what is normally a summer only route. The problem with these particular tracks in winter, is caused by the "off road driving fraternity" insisting that as its a Byway Open to All Traffic "BOAT" then they need to drive their off road cars and motorbikes down it as fast as possible, no matter what the weather or ground conditions present. Now don't get me wrong, I've got no problem with people enjoying the countryside, no matter how they choose to do that; be it running, walking, cycling, driving or on horse back. But when your chosen option is purposefully driving down a muddy track, wheel-spinning and turning the whole thing into a swamp and thus rendering it unpassable for anyone else, then personally I think that's a bit anti social! Anyhow, with the temperature at -4 a whole new world became my playground for a few chilly hours and although the wind was cold when it caught you in it's icy embrace the low humidity and the weak sun shining through the cloud cover actually made it quite pleasant out. Taking it slowly for fear of falling or breaking an ankle on the deep, frozen ruts and ridges, and tip-toeing gingerly over what I knew to be the deepest of the frozen puddles I was out for a good couple of hours and I don't think that in all that time I saw another person. I guess that I was the only one stupid enough to be up at an unreasonably early hour on a Saturday instead of hiding away watching TV and eating biscuits in front of the fire like the sensible people! It may have been cold, my fingers and toes certainly felt it, but it was certainly good to be out and made coming home to a brew and the chance to warm my chilly bits in front of the fire all the more enjoyable.
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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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