No running this week, but a spectacularly enjoyable holiday in the Lakes, climbing a couple of big (to me) fells (Loughrigg at 335m and Lingmoor at 469m) and finding other beautiful places in the Langdale valley. Three years ago we had attempted and given up on Loughrigg, as it had been far too hot, so I was very pleased to make it to the summit this time.
I paid for a month to use OS maps online for the holiday, and found some great walks, including one up Scout Scar near Kendal, which we felt we had to do as our dog is Scout.. I had never heard of it and the free car park was almost empty, so I guess hardly anyone else has heard of it.. we saw only a few people in the distance for the duration of a really stunning circular walk.
My new leg/ankle is proving to be really good on hills, so I had also formulated an ambition to climb a mountain, as I don’t think I’ve ever done that. I’ve searched, but google doesn’t seem to give a definitive answer as to what counts as a mountain. We were staying near the Langdale Pikes, which do seem to count, and I found a circular walk on Instagram which included five Wainwrights.. something else I had only vaguely heard of. In the end we didn’t make it to the top of any of them, so that’s an ambition to shelve for another holiday!
Instagram made it look easy, but the path up to Stickle tarn was hard going in persistent rain. It included a difficult crossing of a racing beck/waterfall via wet boulders. We were behind a group doing Duke of Edinburgh and a few of them were struggling. I discovered there is an advantage to a prosthetic leg.. putting it on a rock under cold running water doesn’t give you an uncomfortable cold wet foot! My OH did get the cold wet foot though.. we couldn’t bridge the gap between boulders any other way. I felt sorry for the teenagers.. they were planning to camp nearby overnight, and I expect a few of them will have been very wet and uncomfortable. We did make it all the way up to Stickle Tarn (470m), but the wind was getting up, so we chose the sensible option and headed back down to the car. The big summits will be still there if we go back.
The weather was very changeable - one morning we were soaked through in five minutes, gave up and returned to our cottage, changed, had lunch and set off again. We then had a glorious long sunny walk in the afternoon!
The weather meant I was very pleased to have acquired the new orange shoes for drying out on alternate days. @limberlou will be pleased to hear that they attracted more than one positive comment from random passers by 😂.
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PeggySusi
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That sounds like a fabulous walk. The Lake District is so beautiful.
Back in 2017 I went with some of my work colleagues and we did the 3 Lake Challenge - a 35km paddle through Coniston, Windermere and another one (possibly Ullswater, I was so tired by then I've got a memory blank 😂). Maybe next time you go you could do that if the hills are too high
That sounds like it was great fun but no wonder you were tired.. I suspect one lake would be more than enough of a challenge for me.. 35kms seems like too far! When you say paddling.. do you mean paddling like a canoe or a kayak? I’ve never actually done that but I can imagine it’s tiring. One of my favourite things to do a few miles from home is rowing a boat on a short section of the Esk.. you pay for an hour and from memory I think it’s long enough to row 2km each way, so only 4kms.. which is just about right!
We were in kayaks, two of us in each one. All the other boats either had younger people or men in them. I was in the kayak with my pal Jenny who is around my age, so two nearly 60 year old women. The others had to wait for us to catch up which was great...except that meant they had lots of breaks and we had to constantly paddle.
It was utterly exhausting but we all had a fantastic time (apart from the snoring and worse noises overnight - we were all in a sort of dorm, all 16 of us 😱😨).
I find rowing a boat really tiring, I just can't coordinate 2 oars but a paddle is fine!
That was the first physical thing I'd ever done, and it sort of gave me the confidence to tackle C25K. If I could paddle 35k in a day surely I could run for half an hour!!
Just super.... well done you and good news on the successful ankle and leg!!! It sounds a challenging but super outing... and you look so happy and relaxed too!
That’s just the sort of holiday that ends up with you going home for a rest. 😂😂😂 Looks and sounded fab though. Glad the new leg is working out well for you.
I think we made the most of it, but yes, still tired today.. I just about got the unpacking and washing all done yesterday.. but the garden is looking really desperate for attention now.. and I need to get back to running soon..
As I’ve never done any big hills before the weather changes were a bit of a shock.. we sat down to picnic at the top of Loughrigg - it had been hot sunshine all the way up, but sudden cold wind made us give up that idea fast! And we had every possible weather on Lingmoor, mostly fine and sunny, but high wind made it hard to stand up at the summit, and then a quick but fierce hailstorm.. in June! On the way up to Stickle Tarn we spoke to an experienced climber coming down.. he said he had turned back because of the wind at the summit of Harrison Stickle so we decided not to go higher than the tarn.. it was obviously going to be too risky higher up.. it was an interesting learning experience!
We had same experience when we visited started lovely then the wind whipped up and seasoned walkers told us to get back down as a storm was coming !! Changes so fast , still beautiful though xx
Sounds like you had quite an adventure. It’s great to hear that your new leg is up to the hills and how much you enjoyed the walking even if the garden now needs attention .
It’s been odd weather for gardening -and walking .
The new leg has a more flexible and springy ankle which means walking is easier, but the main improvement is the extra cushioning and the vacuum system that gives security of fit on my stump. That means friction soreness doesn’t happen.. it makes for much more confidence in being able to keep going for longer.. at least until sweat makes it start to slip when I just have to remove, dry it off and start again.. possibly too much information there!. that did happen because of the heat just before the summit of Loughrigg, and I managed it somehow very quickly and without any audience..🤣🤣
Yes, too much rain and wind for gardening here too at the moment.. I don’t mind the rain so much for walking, but I hate the wind..
When I was about 30 I was lucky enough to visit Uluru/Ayers Rock. In those days you could climb it. It was very steep, slippery, windy and got hotter as the day wore on. I was whinging about how difficult it was until I saw that the man in front of me had a prosthetic leg and was leaping about like a gazelle.
Glad your new one is doing its job for you PeggySusi , seems like the sky is the limit for you now
I AM pleased to hear about the shoe comments!! I just find brighter colours seem to make me AND other people more cheery. Your holiday sounds like fun!!!
I haven’t run since Friday as I have had a couple days away In Newquay with my daughter, in a “spa hotel” ( which was actually a lovely luxury hotel, but sadly needing some maintenance - broken lift and we were on the second floor, up 4 x 12 steps ) - and the spa was a beautiful heated pool but nothing much else. We did swim every day though so that was good.
The highly recommended masseuse was booked solid , until 2 hours after we had to book out on our last day, so that was a bit disappointing. Our room was very luxurious though and the bathroom had a huge claw foot bath which was great after our long walks sightseeing, as well as a shower.
And we visited some lovely gardens -including a Japanese zen garden which was very tranquil. So I am now rested and rejuvenated ready to run tomorrow morning again.
Mine was a lovely memorable holiday, thank you.. but not relaxing.. I’ve had a series of migraines since getting back, and the only run I’ve done just wiped me out again! My own fault.. I ignored my body as well as my Garmin’s clear data saying I was too tired!
Your break sounds wonderful too, and much more relaxing.. happy bright shoe running..😊
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