I haven't been able to spend much time on the fells recently, but I have kept myself busy in other ways.
The most important thing to mention firstly is about an article I was lucky enough to get published in the Lakeland Walker. It's a more compressed version of the 12 Peaks Challenge post that I wrote in July. It is on Sale in Booths and I think WHS. Possibly Cotswold sell it as well. Have a look if your interested it's a great magazine, which offers advise and inspiration to those who visit the area.
About 2 weeks ago, a day or two before I was due to start school, me and Calum went on a walk in the Howgills. We were planning to go camping in the Lakes for a night but with the Met Office Mountain Weather suggesting winds of up to 70mph I suggested we didn't. We ended up spending the day going to Weasdale and walking up to Green Bell and Randy Gill top instead. Apart from the Lake District the Howgills are my favourite fells in the country and I have a feeling I will be writing a lot more about them in the winter months. At this height and location the winds were at an exciting speed, more than the dangerous speed that Scafell was probably taking. I can only hope nobody set out for the summit in that weather. We then went for a game of pool in Tebay before heading to the cinema with Fergus. We saw that film about apes taking over the world. We had a much more comfortable evening then the one I had planned for us originally.
I then started school on Thursday and only had to suffer two gruelling days of it before the weekend came. The Saturday was my Birthday and the 2 days were spent at Langdale Charity Folk Festival where I had been booked to play Sat and Sun. Langdale is the place where I discovered my love for the Lakes and I have the folk festival to thank for getting me out to that part of the country. The night of my Birthday we ate at the thai restaurant in Ambleside. As we set off we picked up a lad a bit older than me hitching, who lived in Ambleside. He studied Geography and Mountain Walking at the uni there, and had been to the Picos and many other fantastic places. I took the opportunity to rabbit on about mountains to him. I think he was glad to exit the car once we'd arrived (and I'm almost surprised he didn't attempt an escape while the car was still moving.
I will be starting a climbing course at Kendal climbing wall on Wednesday. I have been wanting to get into rock climbing for while and I'm glad I finally have the opportunity. I'm also looking at getting some experience in winter hillwalking and mountaineering. I am looking at getting some B2 boots, crampons and Ice axe first and then will try and find a way to learn. Whether its going out on some of the safer fells learning on my own by trial and error or saving up to go on a course.
This week I have managed to fit in a few 13km runs, to keep fit while I'm off the fells and also to improve my running in itself. I'm thinking about possibly entering a 10km race next month but I'll see how I'm doing nearer the time.
I'll try to update my blog at least every two weeks, even if I'm not getting up to much, but hopefully I'll find something to speak about before then.
Thanks for reading and keep checking back every so often.
Feel free to leave comments.
The most important thing to mention firstly is about an article I was lucky enough to get published in the Lakeland Walker. It's a more compressed version of the 12 Peaks Challenge post that I wrote in July. It is on Sale in Booths and I think WHS. Possibly Cotswold sell it as well. Have a look if your interested it's a great magazine, which offers advise and inspiration to those who visit the area.
About 2 weeks ago, a day or two before I was due to start school, me and Calum went on a walk in the Howgills. We were planning to go camping in the Lakes for a night but with the Met Office Mountain Weather suggesting winds of up to 70mph I suggested we didn't. We ended up spending the day going to Weasdale and walking up to Green Bell and Randy Gill top instead. Apart from the Lake District the Howgills are my favourite fells in the country and I have a feeling I will be writing a lot more about them in the winter months. At this height and location the winds were at an exciting speed, more than the dangerous speed that Scafell was probably taking. I can only hope nobody set out for the summit in that weather. We then went for a game of pool in Tebay before heading to the cinema with Fergus. We saw that film about apes taking over the world. We had a much more comfortable evening then the one I had planned for us originally.
I then started school on Thursday and only had to suffer two gruelling days of it before the weekend came. The Saturday was my Birthday and the 2 days were spent at Langdale Charity Folk Festival where I had been booked to play Sat and Sun. Langdale is the place where I discovered my love for the Lakes and I have the folk festival to thank for getting me out to that part of the country. The night of my Birthday we ate at the thai restaurant in Ambleside. As we set off we picked up a lad a bit older than me hitching, who lived in Ambleside. He studied Geography and Mountain Walking at the uni there, and had been to the Picos and many other fantastic places. I took the opportunity to rabbit on about mountains to him. I think he was glad to exit the car once we'd arrived (and I'm almost surprised he didn't attempt an escape while the car was still moving.
I will be starting a climbing course at Kendal climbing wall on Wednesday. I have been wanting to get into rock climbing for while and I'm glad I finally have the opportunity. I'm also looking at getting some experience in winter hillwalking and mountaineering. I am looking at getting some B2 boots, crampons and Ice axe first and then will try and find a way to learn. Whether its going out on some of the safer fells learning on my own by trial and error or saving up to go on a course.
This week I have managed to fit in a few 13km runs, to keep fit while I'm off the fells and also to improve my running in itself. I'm thinking about possibly entering a 10km race next month but I'll see how I'm doing nearer the time.
I'll try to update my blog at least every two weeks, even if I'm not getting up to much, but hopefully I'll find something to speak about before then.
Thanks for reading and keep checking back every so often.
Feel free to leave comments.
3 comments:
Starting racing eh? There's a 10K trail race around Lowther Park on Oct 9th, from Hackthorpe Parish Hall, that might be a nice one to start with and not too far away. On Nov 26th, there's a good low key 10K at Ravenstonedale which I've run a couple of times and can recommend. On Dec 10th or 11th you could run the Christmas Pudding 10K from Stickle Barn in Langdale - but it can get a bit congested on narrow roads with around 1,000 runners.
Will be interested to read how you go on, so keep on blogging!
Hi Ethan
Your readership is growing!
Well done on getting the article published - I'll try to get a copy of the mag when we head up the M6 on Friday.
If you can keep up with 'Old Running Fox' you'll be doing well. He's a 25 year old who wears a special running mask to fool the innocent....
PS Your blog archive column looks a bit odd on my browser.
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