Saturday 13th December - Keswick

This is the problem with trying to update a blog a month after the event! I know that we went to Keswick and that I took a few photos. Why did we go to Keswick though? Well, Christmas was coming, there are kit shops; take a guess!

St John's Church from the Borrowdale Road

Friday 12th December - Christmas "Crake" - geddit?

Water - a very necessary part of the game of kayaking, though a bit sparse in the Lakes right now. Unless in its solid form; ice or frost. That said, Paul and I head to Torver and a float down the Crake...

Leaving Coniston with the Tilberthwaite hills behind

Despite the river being rather dry, the cold kept us paddling at a fair lick. Choosing to pass the wrong side (ironically, the right side!) of an island meant that I also had some unexpected limbo dancing practice (the tree across the river is likely to be there for some time and far more threatening when the water level rises!)

Paul managed to find (and surf) a ripple at the get-out!

Sunday 7th December - Chilly around the "Nether" regions?

I'm fairly sure it was still dark when we got up. Either way, it was early, it was Sunday and it was quite surreal. Sundays are not meant for getting up before the sun does. The downsides of winter are - it's cold, it's still dark while you make coffee, going into the hills demands an early start and so it's still dark when you have to get up...

I tried, but wasn't allowed to roll over and get on with some essential snoring practise; the sandwiches had been made, the rucksacks packed and we had a plan. Of sorts...

Saturday had been a brilliant, typical anti-cyclonic day; cold, bright, blue skies and lots of snow on the tops. So we went to Carlisle to Christmas shop and have an early lunch with Donal before he headed of to his Saturday job at Woolies. Sue and I finished with a trot around the shops before taking the dogs for a whizz (see what I did there?) and heading home for a lazy evening, cauliflower cheese, stuffing gear into rucksacks and enjoying "Strictly Come Dancing". Well, one of us enjoyed that part. There had been hard snow over much of the Lakes - I later heard that there had been enough on Great End to glissade all the way down Cust's Gulley.

And so to Sunday. Sunday wasn't as cold as Saturday, but started a lot earlier (see above; while not strictly true - Saturday demanded an even earlier start than Sunday - I just feel the need to whinge about two early starts on a weekend). Rather than chance an hour on frosty roads in order to go to Buttermere and find snow on Grasmoor, we drove into Wasdale where we parked below Middle Fell, hoping for snow high up the Nether Beck valley.

Sue by Nether Beck, Middle Fell above and The Screes in the distance

We found snow alright, an hour and a half up the valley, doing its best to fill the basin below Haycock and Scoat Fell. Unfortunately it was that 'orrible sugary stuff, much of it sitting on ice or frozen bog and more than happy to creep into your boots just to say "Hi" to your socks.

Middle Fell in the middle (!) Seatallan to the right. And snow.

After a mug of soup and a bit of a think about the weather, which had been brightening, but was by now going in reverse with the cloud base dropping and the biting wind finding its way though any weak points in our shell layers, we decided that down was the way to go. More map reading practise (which, since I wrote this on our return, must be paying off!) confirmed that the way home was to follow the path downwards, saw us crunching back downhill.

I think the pub must be this way but will they let me in wearing this hat?

The dogs really seemed to have enjoyed their day out; apart from a brief rampage after the only sheep in the Lakes not off the hill (Dougal!), Bruce had been rolling about in the snow and both had been leaping and bounding through it.

It certainly made me appreciate having legs more than 9 inches long. It meant that I didn't have to drag my nuts through the white stuff ; )

Sunday 30th November - Birthday bump on the Leven

Having recovered from Friday nights shenanigins (Sue's Xmas bash - great fun, but I was not a pretty boy on Saturday morning. Or afternoon!) my birthday dawned bright and sunny. But cold. Really cold. As in bloomin' freezing! Overnight temperatures had apparently dropped to 9 below and, as we sat munching croissants and drinking coffee, I hoped that Andrew wasn't getting too cold riding his motorbike from Whitehaven to Ulverston!

Thankfully the block of ice on the seat fell out easily enough!

He was! However, after thawing him out we headed off to Newby Bridge where we had a second breakfast before getting onto a very low Leven - Paul in his new i4 - and paddling into the mist that was rising from the river. Despite the level being at the low end of low, the Leven always delivers and there was play potential all the way down, a decent boof below the Brickchute and the drop under the bridge was taken on a completely different line to the usual one!

Sue had a good afternoon too; after acting as our shuttle-bunny (not really, she just stole the car to get to Haverthwaite) she and the dawgs had a wander through the woods and was waiting for us as we got off. A good day, with a late lunch at The Swan and me and Andrew in convoy back to west Cumbria wrapped up a good weekend.

Now that's a boof!

Sunday 30th November - A celebratory note...

Despite the speed at which I have taken (or have been taken around) some of life's curves, I appear to have made it to yet another birthday. Just!

All-in-all, life is pretty damn fine. I'm lucky to to share various bits of it with some amazing people. Hopefully you know who you are and, if not, I'm sorry that I haven't made it plainer just what you all mean to me. I'll buy beer to make up for that.

Just some then - mates that I would (and do) trust with my life, sons that I think the world of, and one very special lady. In fact, Sue is so bleedin' special that she had a special birthday card made for me...

Oh well, special, but, for even suggesting I could ever "Turn on the style", not quite perfect. I hope that I'm lucky enough to have you all in my life for years to come!

Saturday 22nd November - If at first you don't succeed...

... swim, swim, swim again.

Well, swim twice. Or flop out of your boat while it slides off the riverbank with your Pelicase and a grands worth of cameras in it. And then miss your roll at Serpent's and swim properly....

Oh well, it could have been worse. Sue caught my approach to Serpent's on film, then shot 20 seconds of a riverside bush rather than my abysmal failure to stay in my boat (honestly; I'll show you the original film anytime you want to see it - oops, just deleted it!) Still, the rest of the guys did fine and we continued on down through JJs and Town Falls with no further dramas...

John powering up and away from the Serpent's Tail

Ce surfaces...

... and looks chuffed (having just dragged my boat into an eddy!)

Say "cheese!"

Say now't

Say "No - I only swam once!?!"

Say "Phwoar! (it's the PJ's), but don't pull my finger!"

And for videographic evidence that the entire weekend was not spent in tea rooms, gear shops, pubs and bars, then clicketyclick the link... http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/heybaz/?action=view&current=2008_11_21Dee.flv

And finally - what happened next? You wouldn't Adam 'n Eve it!
(That is a paddler with his boat on his shoulder in the middle of the Dee)

Cheers to Nige and Bex, John and Lucy, Paul, Jo, Ce and Sue - a cracking weekend and eminently suitable early-doors warm-up for the AW mission next May.

Friday 21st November - If it sounds too good to be true...

...it definitely was!

Damn!! Eventually I met the man with the i4; the boat was immaculate and my cash was in his pocket before he could say "I'll have the cash".

Unfortunately, as I strapped my new cruiser onto the car roof, my disbelieving eyes fell on a large "M" moulded into the plastic.

"M". As in Medium. As in not Large.

As in "I will sink if you cram yourself into me and imagine I'll float on anything less dense than mercury".

As in "Oh s**t - I have to get my money back.....!

Which I did, no problemo. It then took me all of 30 seconds to get over the fact that I had "found a penny but lost a pound" as my dear old dad used to say. Still, no worries, Sue and I were of to Betws Y Coed to meet John and Lucy for a brew and the start of a team AW weekend. After a brew (though why anyone would choose to drink cinnamon and Orangutan poo tea is beyond me - I stuck to coffee, call me unadventurous!) they headed back to Corwen where John had a question to put to Lucy, while we were off shopping and then to the Swallow Falls hotel.

Sue tried on just about every drytop in Rock Bottom before dissolving in a fit of giggles (well, pool of sweat didn't sound so lady like) and giving that plan up as a bad job, so we settled on dinner at Ty Gwyn and a bottle of red to watch News at Ten by...

The really good news is that Lucy said "Yes". Huge congratulations to both of you and hope that you are as happy into the future as you so obviously are now.

Thursday 20th November - Oops! How did that happen?

Whoop whoop - new boat alert! If this deals comes off it really is too good to be true! We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see it, but, from the description, it could just be the dog's danglies - and I knocked £55 quid of the asking price.

Strange, but I feel all light headed. Maybe that's because I'm going to be spending some time locked down with a tin of Evo-Stick and a load of closed-cell foam in the near future : )

Sunday 16th November - An ickle wander through the Lickle valley

A late start and a random glance at the map; drop one car at The Blacksmiths pub, pootle along the scenic route through Broughton Mills into the Duddon valley, then walk back to the car over the tops. One of those ideas that took two minutes to form, less than that to agree too and gave one of the prettiest short walks that we have yet found in the Lakes!

The dogs had a run on the banks of the Duddon while I played with the video camera (another project that's taking shape in one of the dark recesses of my head) before we headed up the hill to the south west and over into the Lickle Valley. The walk up out of the Duddon was through bracken with broken crags dotted about, but, once over the ridge, we dropped into a beautiful valley that has been transformed by ancient drystone walls and tracks countouring grassy fields, all warmly lit by the late afternoon sun. Stunning...

Bruce being his impatient self

View toward Broughton Mills - you had to be there!

Firewood ready for collecting

Saturday 15th November - New faces on the Leven

Iain (Rockrat), Ned, Steve ed, Jack and Kris, all contacted through the DBP website met at various points around the river before congregating at Newby Bridge Halt and jumping on the Leven for my first run of the season. The river was at a pleasant level, playful enough but higher than I wanted in order to run the big weir (at least in the corner). Most of the boys ran a line down the right wall, but I wasn't up for it, not paddling the i4 anyway and certainly not after my upside down moments under Backbarrow bridge - maybe a foot too far to the right and I slid off the second boil but recovered on a hybrid brace / roll affair that got me out upright (in fairness, not just me, but also some bigger boats as well)!

Iain subbing out his Rocker below Backbarrow weir

Once at Haverthwaite, with Ned having collected a new section of bike track and nursed it down-river (don't ask!) and the rest of the guys having other plans, Iain and I decided to go take a peak at the Kent. This was a good move as we found more water than expected and enjoyed a flash from Scroggs weir down to Force Falls. Getting out just above the road bridge meant scrambling up past the bridge abutments; liberally plastered with chalk, I never realised just how good a climbing wall there was down there!