Training Extended

Horsley to Ovingham

Extending the HHR somewhat; by almost three miles by running across to the next village Ovingham and back along the Tyne to the bottom of the Extended-HHR The weather today was really bright, cold and frosty, -2DegC, and the fog over the Tyne was very picturesque, even if the sheer cold made breathing difficult and the ice on the hill back up the Hell Run quite treacherous. The boggy bits were still really boggy and wasn't quite frozen enough to stop me getting muddy. According to my GPS it's 4.3 miles and I did it in around 45 minutes. Overall the run was hard, more than doubling the usual training effort in one go was probably a bit ambitious but an average of 5.5 mph was quite satisfying. The eROC is only two of these, in distance anyway, probably more than double the height gain.

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Looking over the Tyne Valley

Bowfell GreatGable East to Skiddaw

Bowfell GreatGable East to Skiddaw, by rantoutloud.

This is a composite image produced from three taken on the 22nd Nov 2008. The shot was taken from Pike O'Stickle looking west to east. The image spans a huge area of the central Lakes, from Bowfell around to Skiddaw and Blencathra in the North East. I have picked out and annotated the most prominant tops including Scafell Pike which can just be seen behind Esk Pike.

Bowfell, High Raise and The Langdale Pikes

Bowfell and the Langdale Pikes

22112008, uploaded by rantoutloud.

Saturday 22nd November 2008, 7:30 in the morning, twilight and the weather shaping up for a cold and clear day. The weather was extremely cold and windy, 35~45mph (about -20DegC wind chill) but it was promised to be clear and cloud free.
So a decision was made to at least to take a look at the unfamiliar territory east of Angle Tarn towards High Raise. This section forms part of the Lakes 3000's that we're planning to do next year. Coming after the slog up and down Scafell and Scafell Pike it is likely that will have to be done mid afternoon before we get to Helvellyn. It is a somewhat bleak and rounded group of fell and while we're expecting to do it all in reasonable weather it's obviously advantageous that we're as familiar as possible to make the journey as easy as can be.

In order to make it a bit more of a walk I decided to start from Langdale and ascent up to Esk Hause via the Band, Bowfell and Esk Pike. Esk Hause is the turning point on the route for this section. The track from Esk Hause down to Angle Tarn is very familiar ground and I've covered this at least twice in the last few months. At the point where the path crosses the outflow from the Tarn the path diverges, continuing south west to Rossett Gill and roughly north east to Stake Pass where it crosses the Cumbrian Way.
I followed the Cumbrian Way path for a short while before dropping down into Stake Beck and headed straight up the hill towards the summit of High Raise. The effort to cross the mile or so from the pass to The summit ridge seemed all out of proportion to the 300 or so metres the map suggested it was. The boggy ground, the number of small false summits and what I can only described as heather and moss moguls made the going very tough indeed.

Having got to the top of High Raise, managed to get some food and coffee inside of me the remainder of the walk across Thuncarr Knott, and the Langdale Pikes, (Pavey Ark, Harrison Stickle, Pike O'Stickle and Loft Crag) was done in rapid order. The wind and the cold made it almost impossible to stop without freezing almost immediately. The path down over Raven Crags to the New Dungeon Gill pub is just long and hard on the knees.

In total the day was about 14 Miles, the GPS missed a bit, and about 4900' of ascent in about 7 hours.
The evening was spent winding down at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival, Catherine Destivelle's film was very inspiring. Followed by a excellent meal at Deja-Vu a small French Bistro in Kendal with friends.

Amadeus

Amadeus, originally uploaded by rantoutloud.

Jean-Noel from Amadeus at the Eye4Travel Mobile conference.

MET

MET, by rantoutloud.

Much weirdness at the NY MET

View East

View East, by rantoutloud.

Spent yesterday doing odd jobs around the house and running errands, then driving up to Don's Uncle's house nr Amenia (about half way up NY State on the eastern edge) to pick the remaining apples from the orchard and finish tidying the garden. The weather was again fantastic, the fall colours all one would expect and the rolling countryside looked beautiful.
The house was amazing, another traditional clap-board colonial style building with huge columns on the front.
In the garage were two cars one of which dates from around 1901 and has a Ford body, all timber and a Mercedes engine. It's in immaculate condition and belonged to Don's Uncle, he also had a Packard Super Eight from the 1930's which he was driving until very recently at the age of 90!

Gearing up for winter

Gearing up for winter, by rantoutloud.

Getting a proper snow plough fitted to Don's 'little' truck, Dodge V8, ready for the winter now!
John and I look at the plough with suspicion, it's too big for the truck we think? Fantastic piece of kit though, all hydraulics elevated headlights and will clear the drive in no time probably. Don't think they'll catch on in the UK though, not enough snow. Can you imagine Halfords or AutoBestBuy stocking these?

Rockefeller State Park

Rockefeller State Park, by rantoutloud.

In the park again, running this time. On the flat makes things easy compared to HHR. The beautiful view over the lake and the Autumn/Fall colours in the sunshine made running almost a pleasure.

City of Contrasts

Sunlight, by rantoutloud.

A day spent in New York city is not enough, you'll need at least a week to cover the basics and a lifetime, I guess, to get to grips with it.
I spent the day just walking around looking and trying to get a flavor of the the place doing the obvious, Empire State Building the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA's as it's affectionately known and the obligatory walk through Central Park.
The view from the observation deck, 86th floor, of the Empire State Building is quite spectacular and challenging to get a photograph that conveys the heights and size of the place. I was quite lucky with the weather and the photo I got with the shadow of the tower cast across the buildings below seems to do it justice.
The Best photo for me of the city is the one where just one of the buildings is highlighted by the evening sunshine. The contrast echoing the city.