I have just finished a chunk of travelling about the country for a variety of purposes. I started off by driving up to Blackpool for the 2009 Heroes ASL Tournament. My play record at the tournament was dire - win:loss ration of 1:3. It was enjoyable, but I do find it somewhat intense. Some of the scenarios were good.
After Blackpool I had decided to spend some time in the Lake District, as an alternative to driving all the way back to Milton Keynes and then from Milton Keynes to Scotland. I drove up to Borrowdale and stayed in a hotel there for four nights. I got a shock driving from Keswick to Borrowdale on two levels - I realised that it must be 15 years plus since I was last in the Lake District. In my 30's I used to go to the Lake District on a very regular basis to stay in my friend Simon's parents' cottage in Seatoller in Borrowdale for walking weekends. The shock was compounded by the road being familiar. My skills do not usually extend to recognition of geography.
Over this period I went for a number of walks, all of which I have done before. The first I did was Catbells, on the afternoon of the day I got there. It is a lot more worn than when I was last there - it is now like a motorway up the hill. It was here I got my second shock of the few days I spent in the Lakes. I am older, fatter, and unfitter than when last I was here. The second walk I did was about four hours; up Catbells, Maiden Moor, High Spy, to Dale End Tarn, and then returning by the same route. The last walk I did was to drive up Honister Pass nearly to the top, and then strike directly up to Dale End. Then Hindscarth and onto Robinson, in order to drop down nearly to the bottom of the pass and then walked back up the pass. I underestimated how long it would take to walk back up the pass - about one and a half hours. As a result the total walk took me about six and a half hours, which left me tired and not up to walking on the last day I spent in the Lakes. As a result the last day I spent in Keswick doing emails and other low key activities.
Then I went on upto Samye Ling Tibetan monastry for a week. Description of this will be in another blog entry. After the week there, I started to drive back to Milton Keynes, which took a lot longer than I had thought it would. I realised at about 16:00 that if I were to continue I would get back to the boat in the dark, after the time that running generators is allowed, and that the boat would be cold (no stove lit, and the boat having been deserted for over a fortnight) with no food and the bed unmade and ... As an alternative I decided to stop the night at a motel in Sheffield.
More to follow.