Here we go again then, another weekend and another adventure to be had. The weekends seem to be coming round quickly at the moment. Not as quickly as Monday morning does mind you. But if the weekends are coming round quick, it must mean that the week days are passing even quicker, which when your stuck in the office all week must be a good thing.
What have I been up to this week then? Well for a starters there's the small matter of another Marathon, more of which later, but lets start with Saturday and a little bit of bike fun. As I mentioned last weekend, if I'm travelling for a run on Sunday then I'm determined to try and make the most of the trip, and with things still quiet on the allotment front, there's probably no better time for a weekend away than now. A bit of tea with "The Emma" Friday evening and then off to find a little hideaway at this weekends location of choice (Tilford in Surrey), for what should have been a nice quiet night in the van. You'll note that I said "Should" there, because my solitude was somewhat interrupted in the middle of the night by the local youths picking the same remote spot for an impromptu argument. I suppose it could have been worse, it could have been a Rave, but I ask you, who drives miles out of their way, in multiple cars to stop and have a barney? The youth of today, hey. When I was that age I'd have still been in the pub, incapable of having a row, let alone driving! Anyway, by the time the sun came up to reveal one of those overcast but dry February days, where there's a vicious cold wind blowing, but the sun makes the occasional appearance to brighten your spirits, I was up and ready to go, with a cheeky little 60 mile loop through the gorgeous Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex countryside lined up. Just what's required to warm up my legs ahead of Sundays main event.
And warm my legs up nicely it did too. As I've already mentioned, the sun made plenty of appearances to raise my spirits, although the wind was particularly chilly, with a nasty edge to it. Not enough to spoil the first signs of Spring that are starting to appear here and there though.
There's plenty of Snowdrops in the hedgerows and verges, adding a splash of gorgeous white to the otherwise brown landscape. There's Catkins in the trees aplenty and the first of the Daffodils and Pussy Willow wont be far away. The Blackbirds are singing their hearts out and the Goldfinches and little Tits are busy out foraging for supplies to see them through the cold days that are still to come, but better days are certainly on their way. To be honest there's not a great deal else to say about Saturday. Unlike last weekend when everything was a struggle, the miles just rolled along, whilst I happily watched the world go past. Lost in my own little world, thinking about everything and nothing, and to me it doesn't get much better than that. And here I am now, back in the van, safe from the biting wind, with the heating gently warming my little safe haven, kettle on, ready for a brew before tea (soup with crusty bread if your interested) ready for an early night before tomorrows next round of fun. But before then, I'm going to spend an hour or so with my brew, planning what I'm going to grow on the allotment this year and what flowers we are going to have in the gardens, ready to get my seed order in next week. Because, by my reckoning, its only few more weeks until the sowing season begins and I'd hate to get left behind!
You'll have to forgive me the fact that there's a bit of a shortage of pictures this week, that's mainly due to the weather for Sundays running fun.
Having been keenly watching the forecast for the latter part of the week. It looked like the run of dry weather was about to come to an abrupt end, right about Marathon O'clock. Typical! So, bearing that in mind and with the updated forecast still showing a band of heavy rain due to arrive by lunchtime, I'd taken all the normal precautions. Wrapping my phone in numerous plastic bags and burying it safely in the middle of my pack, just to be on the safe side. I mean, what would be the chances of the heavy rain arriving bang on time? Fully prepared for every eventuality, I'd checked in with the lovely people from the Surrey LDWA group who were kindly organising this weekends fun, aiming for as late a start time as possible within the allocated window. Now, there's a bit of a problem with LDWA's event's, namely that they are designed for walkers and not idiots that think it's a good idea to run around the countryside at the weekends. As such the checkpoint opening times are set for fast walkers and slower runners and if I'm not careful (and I get lucky) I can just about get ahead of the checkpoint opening times. The simple solution to which, is to start at the latest possible time, whilst taking it slow and enjoying the route for what it is, a great day out through some stunning scenery.
Although this was to be the 51st running of the Punchbowl Marathon, today's route was somewhat different from previous years, with not only a new start location, but a new route too, taking in Frensham Ponds and staying North of the A3 for a change. In keeping with all LDWA events though, within 50 yards of the start at Tilford village hall we were off the beaten track and onto the footpath network, where, apart from a few small road sections, we stayed for the next 30 miles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Frensham Ponds, complete with early morning swimmers and geese aplenty, came and went within the first few miles, accompanied by a surprise checkpoint, specially set to catch out anyone thinking that they'd save themselves a few miles. From there, it's just a short jaunt across the sandy soil towards Rushmore and the first checkpoint proper, where a quick time check showed that I was making good time, a touch too good in fact. The dry sandy soil in this area coupled with the recent lack of rain, meant the ground was dry and firm and the initial miles were passing easily at a steady pace. The long slog of a climb up to the Devils Punch Bowl slowed things down a bit, but even this didn't seem to present much of a challenge today and being in the lee of the hill provided a modicum of shelter from the howling gale that was blowing steadily on the more exposed parts of the course. With the rain holding off the view from the top was as majestic as ever (you'll just have to take my word for that) and it wasn't long before I was enjoying some easy downhill running, as I dropped back down towards the next checkpoint. ______________________________________________________________
Checking my watch again as I arrived at checkpoint 2 I realised that my initial fears had come true and I was 20 minutes ahead of the opening time. Not a problem, today's not a race, just a great day out and being ahead of time gave me ample opportunity to get some fluids on board and partake of the biscuit selection on offer, whilst having a chat with both the lovely people manning the checkpoint and the few other runners who started to arrive shortly after and also found themselves in the same situation. The only downside to this terrible predicament, being that by the time I came to set off again, not only was I pretty cold, but I was also stuffed full of biscuits and a lie down would have been preferable to running another 16 miles!
Moaning about being full of biscuits isn't going to get me to the end though, so push on and try to stay ahead of the rain. That plan lasted for about another hour, and just as I passed through the third and final checkpoint the rain started. A few gentle spots to start, followed minutes later, as I crested a hill, by the full force of the wind throwing bucketful's of freezing rain straight into my face. Nice! Back in the trees I persevered for a few miles, hoping that it might stop again, but eventually sense prevailed and I stopped to pull on my waterproof jacket and hat. Having the right kit makes any weather bearable and now correctly attired I pushed on for the last few miles, steadily ticking them off as the rain dripped incessantly from my hat, before running down the back of my neck in time with my foot fall. And that was that, as they say. Surprisingly quickly I found myself back at the start, with another 30 miles under my now waterlogged feet. And a wonderful 30 miles it was too, high points, sandy commons, ponds, rivers and a plethora of wildlife, all accompanied by my fellow adventurers out for a great weekends fun. And most surprisingly I got round in exactly 5 hours, including the 20 minutes I spent stopped at checkpoint 2, now what's the chances of that, 5 hours dead?
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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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