And the Heat Goes On

Having recovered from a full week of effort up in Scotland it was back to local stuff and splitting up the weekend into climbing and non-climbing days.

Sunday was the climbing day and we decided to go to Hoghton Quarry. This is only open for a couple of months each year so, on the basis of get to the crags with minimal access while you can we agreed to meet there. This being the day of the England - Germany football match the roads were rather quiet and it was just 45mins to the parking. Mike hadn't arrived so I walked in to the crag to find a couple just leaving. "Turn round and go elsewhere!" was their first advice. Looking at the crag it was obvious why - it was filthy and would have taken all day to clean a single route - and that was just the clean bits! Mike turned up and we decided to head down to Wilton. By the time we got there it was nearly 4pm! Last time I'd been in the quarries, I'd struggled. This time things were much easier so it seems as if I'm getting my trad head back leading an E1 OK and finding an E2 very easy when seconding. Half a dozen routes later, only one of which I'd done before and it was time to go. There seemed to be a strange lack of cars with cheap St George flags on display on the drive home.

I'd got my HRM back the other week but hadn't used it much on local runs so Saturday I headed up the local hill and sweltered in the heat. Still I got round in just over 56 minutes which isn't bad considering the lack of racing I've been doing. My PB on a slightly different route is just under 50mins - the reason for the route change is the prescence of a herd of cows with calves, one of which attacked me last year so I'm erring on the cautious side. I reckon that the new line is somewhere between 90secs and 2mins quicker. By the time I got back I was suffering, I really don't like running in hot weather. Monday night I went out again and logged under 52mins, the only difference I can think of to account for the speed up is that it was about 8C cooler.

Running from home might be a bit awkward for a week or two as the spring supplying the house water has dried up! In a way it's quite interesting to see just how little water you actually need. We are helped by the fact that we have a large bowser connected to one of our gutter downpipes that we normally use for the garden that we can use to flush the toilet.

Coming up are two weekends supporting on long distance rounds. This weekend is another trip to Scotland to help Bill Williamson out on his Ramsay Round attempt. I'm on the Mamores section again so more sitting around at Loch Eilde Mor in the early hours. Then the following weekend is Andy Kitts' Bob Graham round, I've got leg one (Skiddaw) which I've not paced/supported before. Might be quick as he's looking at either a 6pm or 7pm start so it will all be in daylight.