Waters, Lakes and Wine ...

I could get used to this lark.. Had a great week so far running wise.. On Sunday I caught up with Lucy and Richie and Kipper the dog and hung on with them on their way up the Water of Leith to Balerno... I knew when I started that despite them saying it was going to be an easy run, that I would be doing well to keep up which is what I did. I had my strategic exit about 3.5 miles into the run when I left them at Slateford and went up Craiglockhart Hill whilst they continued on to Balerno.. This is what I like about our sport that a plodder like me can enjoy some time with somebody way faster / better than you and still enjoy it .. Sure, if they were running hard, then I would not have lasted more than a 1/2 mile, but that was beside the point..

The above was written a week ago - sort of lost track of time.. Mon last week wss 5 miles, Wed was a 11 miler, Thurs 4 miles at lunch and then it was down to Windermere with Gary and Merv and their boys for an overnight stay and then a walk in the lake district.. Gaz and Merv have supported me on all my WHW runs (bar 2008) and are really good mates... A lot has been happening in my world the last couple of weeks, so it was great to get away for a night and a day... We stayed in the Windermere Manor - a hotel run by Action for the Blind - well recommended, great accomodation, friendly people.. It is quite weird being shown the way to the town at 8:30 PM by a guy with a dog wearing dark glasses...

I had been wanting to open a bottle of Penfolds Grange for quite some time and made sure with Gaz that the one I had chosen was ready.. Grange is Australia's finest wine - quite a statement I know but it is fact.. In Oz you can't get it for love or money, but in the UK you can pick it up in Tesco's - which is where I got it.. Gary said he would bring along a couple of other wines to support the evening.. We ended up in the Cedar Manor in Windermere - a great place with friendly people, great food and a very welcoming attitude. After a cleansing ale after our drive from Edinburgh we started our meal.. First cab off the rank was a 2002 Leuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay - a spectacular wine from Margaret River - just south of where I come from.. It was absolutely blindingly great.. Then we went on to the big boy. I had never had one of these fellas before - it is sort of a right of passage and I was so glad to be able to share it with such great friends.. And it did not dissapoint ! It was like having your first ride in an airplane or the first time you ever rode in a fast car, or even the first time you had sex - but unlike that event, this one lasted longer than 30 mins :- ) !! I will always remember the first sip I had, like no other wine I had ever had before..



Meanwhile the meal was coming and going, we were having a great chat and a top night was developing. We had to have a spacer after the Grange with a desert wine, then we moved onto the final for the night - a '98 Penfolds Bin 389... What a closer.. A Glengoyne to finish then it was back to the hotel, and bed (well after some chasers of beer, gin, Baileys and JD, with Gaz's eldest son Matthew, a 3rd Year Med Student who can only give you hope for the future..)

Next day saw us at Great Langdale for a delayed start. Rocked into the carpark only to be confronted by people in running vests, limbering up and looking like they were up for a day on the hills.. Turned out it was the English Chanps for Hill Running or some such thing... Spoke to a few blokes about it and they were very friendly (Not sure if my WHW buff made any difference !) And then we were off on the hills. Goal was to get up Great Gable and back (about 18k) but after a short time we knew that might not happen.. I was champing at the bit to get cracking, but this was not a run it was a walk.. a change of pace, and all the better for it.. We had some cracking views to start with, but when we got to the top of Rosset Pike it started to close in.. Me and Matt decided to go up Scafell Pike, the others went down towards Green Gable.. We got up to the highest bit in England, but may as well have stood on the top of a chair in a steam room.. Visibility was down to about 10m, but it was a great climb up !!



the trip back up was uneventful, now back to work and also running, 5 on Mon, 10 or so tonight with Norman and back to running tomorrow lunchtime.. Hope you are having a good one !