Today I wandered to Wet Pooh with Doc Jnr 1. I wasn't great, started off okay by doing a V5/6 first try and loads of V5s. I didn't manage anything harder, and went downhill fairly quickly.
The evening was spent doing some Pumpkin etching. The Ghost Goat is here!! (bit of an in joke I'm afraid)
I had planned to head to Brimham today as Met Office said all was dryness. BeardyBeast was invited, but duly declined with the reasonable excuse that he is in Font. Git.
So I headed East this morning in the rain of Lancashire. Met Office still said dry o'er t'other side. At Colne it was still raining and the skies ahead didn't look promising. By Kelbrook it was still raining, and a quick check of Met Office now said rain all day at Brimham. Brilliant. So I turned round and came home.
After a trip out to Tesco (woohoo) I opted to go for a run. I haven't run since the Cross Bay, which was over 3 months ago. I didn't have a particular route, so I just set off at a gentle pace and listened to Van Halen. At 1 hour 15 my left knee stopped me, popliteus again i think, so I walked the last mile home. Looking it up I managed 12.4km, which isn't too bad I suppose.
Oh well, if this is grit season JB I ain't impressed.
As an aside, had some health news about a good friend of mine of 17 years- you know who you are, all the best for the op and the recovery. Thinking of you, mate.
I forgot to mention about last Sunday. I had planned to meet R-Man for some new routing/ guide checking, but Sunday morning was a bit wet. I ended up heading to Lower Montcliffe to have a look at R-Man's new problem, but everything except for Bach was wet. I played on Back, but basically got spanked. Again. I think this is nails!! After this I ended up heading to Wet Pooh with my sore skin and managed to flash a few V5s, but still failed to tick anything harder. Sack o' cack.
Fast forward to today. Lord Pasty and I had opted to head to Brimham, the Doc and her SiL agreed to come along. When we arrived, we wandered to the Pommel area and found an in situ Ginnster. The ladies went for a wander, so I got my kit and proceded to be, erm, brilliant. The mist was down which didn't help, but I did Pommel to the top out, which was wet. Then I did Back Dog Arete to the top out, which was wet. Ginnster insisted on jamming his way up these aretes. We had a brief look at the hanging flake SDS, which felt impossible today.
We moved to the Hole in the World which had kicked my arse last time. This time I was armed with the heel/ toe beta. I was getting close to matching the lip, but then opted for method B: LANK!!!! Anyway, i managed it after a few more goes. And if anyone wants to claim it ain't 7a that way, then it should be downgraded and all you shorties can accept yout beta is duff ;-)
We then went over to Pair in a Cubicle, which is becoming a Nemesis. Today I was really close to nailing it, sliding off the final belly flop. Next time, when it's cold, I'll nail this sucker. Pasty Lord had a look at Murky Rib, and once he remembered he had feet nailed it very smoothly.
We all left after this, although as a NTS member I seem to have been given a parkign ticket. The Doc, SiL and I stopped off at The Bull at Broughton for a late lunch. I've never been, despite having eyed it up numerous times when driving past. The food was excellent, a little pricey but at least to the standard you'd expect at this level. Well worth a visit.
I went back to the Wiltons today. I headed to Wilton 3 initially and had a look at the small roof, but it was in the shade and therefore cold and not the best place to warm up. I wandered across to Wilton 2, but there were some guys there shooting. I don't think they were part of the gun club as they parked outside the gate, evidently not having as key, and hadn't put a flag up. So because of the L255OEV boys, I sacked it off and went to Wilton One.
The Outside of the Prow was much drier than when I went with R-Man, so I had a look there. My own Pocket Wall Sitter went down quite easily, and felt more 6c in the dry. I then looked at Robin's Wall, and tried it using my original method. This time I was pulling on with the left hand nasty sidepull, then got a high RH to a shit sharp crimp. Then slap left to the obvious sloper crimp, sort feet and a crux slap to the finishing edge. Felt about 7a+ to me. After this I did the sitter to something R-man and I had looked at before but not really tried. This started off a big flatty, snatched up right to a sidepull and then another snatch to a higher sidepull. After this a tenuous high foot gained the finishing edge- 6b+ I felt.
After this I tried Midgesquito Crimpelopes, and was slapping up to the left hand crimp but never held it. I think this is one to go back to. Anyway, video:
Yesterday I was off until school pick up. The weather, typiclly, was foul. It was blowing an gale and absolutely chucking it down. I really didn't want to mooch about the house, so I ended up thinking of alternatives- and lighted upon my Wainwright books.
As a child I've done most of these hills with the now late parents, but never kept a record. I went through a phase of nipping up one or two hills on wet days a few years back, but got out of the habit. Fed up with getting nothing done, I jumped in the car and headed to Kentmere.
The roads in were bordering on flooded, with standing water everywhere- thank goodness for Quattro!- and the rivers were verging on bursting point. Walking up to the Garburn pass, the track was a river. From the summit of the pass I headed left and up to the summit of Sallows via a swim through ankle deep bog. No view at all here.
Looking cheerful on Sallows in the rain
After this a bog trot gently down and back up got me to Sour Howes, which consisted of mounds of bog that all appeared higher than the one you were stood upon, until you got there. After a stand off with some cows i had been up every mound to make sure I'd ticked the summit, then admired the view:
I retraced my steps towards Sallows, then skirted left where the path crosses the wall and headed back down to Garburn Pass. A gentle amble back down had me back at the car, a tad wet but pleased to have got out and done something. 2 hours round trip, including all the wandering over mounds at Sour Howes. Don't feel hill fit though. May see if MadMac wants to do some Munros this winter.
At the weekend I finally managed to finish clearing my Dad's house, so I'm hoping I'll have a bit more free time soon. My day off seems to have coincided with crap weather etc recently and it seems an age since I've done much.
I've just been to West View, and it certainly shows evidence of my lack of recent activity. I was only there for an hour and a half, my skin was really sore pretty quickly. I didn't manage anything harder than V4 but had a reasonable session. It certainly felt a lot harder than it should!!
Off tomorrow, but the weather looks crap again so I may just wander up some Wainwrights or run. Not done any running since the Cross Bay, and I've got the Manchester Marathon next April.
The forecast was rubbish for today, but looked better out East. I hasd planned to head to the Cliff or Brimham, but this morning was breezy but dry with bright blue sky so I decided to save time driving and go to Silverdale.
As I headed North up the M6 the skies darkened and there was occasional drizzle. When I got there conditions were poor, I had a handful of goes on Screaming Slave but realised I was onto a hiding to nothing so left.
For some reason a lack of any motivation at all infected me. Despite the skies clearing as I headed back home, and the sky being bright and blue, I simply couldn't be arsed going out. So here I am, being grumpy and sitting inside. Fuck it.
