Thursday 14 November 2013

Onward and …………?

 

For the past few weeks I have been a trifle unwell, a condition usually associated with children's birthday parties.

Now, lesser men might have allowed this set-back to turn them bitter, seeing the hard won progress of the last couple of years apparently dissipated in a matter of days. But not me. No, sirree Bob.

 

Bastard

Sorry. Where was I ? Ah right. I’ve been getting about on the level, but anything remotely “uphill”has been more problematic. However, it being a stoatin’ good day, I resolved to head for the hills. That is, in the “mole” sense of the word.

 

 

 

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It started off innocuously enough

 

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then up

 

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 More up

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and again

 

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 Round about this point vertigo set in

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 Even more bloody up

 

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 I haven’t been this high since , dunno….. Isle of Wight 1969 ?

 

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False summit

 

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The final approach

 

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“Aw naw. It’s that feckin reservoir again, He’s always going up there”

Yes ? And so.. ?

I see this blog as a haven of cosy familiarity, acting as an antidote to the locational exoticism of, say, the Phreerunner blog. Anyway, I use these local walks to calibrate my fitness. One hour and ten minutes is the par time from my back door to sitting-on-the-dam-wall-eating-a-banana. Today – hour thirty.Room for improvement.

I completed the usual squelchy circumnavigation and trotted off home.

The GPS app (? !) on my portable telephone said 5.31 miles in just under 3 hours at an average speed of 1.78 mph and total ascent of 3609 feet. Quite satisfactory in the circums……….woah there. Haud the bus. 3609 ft ??? In my dreams.

Having consulted one of Her Majesty’s Ordnance Survey maps (non-electronic) I can confirm that the distance is about right, but the height gained was nearer 600 ft. How do these things measure altitude anyway?

 

You’ve been a lovely audience, and I’d like to finish,if I may, with a little ditty that has been going through my head as I write this.

 

4 comments:

  1. It's been a glorious day in Timperley today.....so I went somewhere else for a walk. It was good. Well done for getting out, gaining height....and just doing something. May your return to fitness be a rapid one!
    JJ

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    1. Thanks John. It's certainly better to be back on a ladder (even the bottom rung) than to be slithering down another snake !

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  2. Well done, Sir! Thought you had been a bit quiet...

    I've had a little bit of a rest, myself, but this past week or so have managed to get out again. My max height gain per walk has been 300 feet. Mind you, thankfully it's not very hilly down here in the Thames Valley.

    Keep it up. Looks like you've got a lot more Autumn than we have down here.

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    1. Good man. Autumn colours are good this year, but we have had a lot of rain in the last few weeks.The bogs and hags should be nicely topped up for you by May.

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