The Path Less Travelled.....

Christmas Carol

Winter Wonderland

Jez Bragg has just finished a midwinter run along the West Highland Way, on the shortest daylight weekend of the year, in 21hrs 14mins.

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hydration in sport

I should have just filled the car up and driven off. Ignored the calling.
But didn't.
The empty retail space next to the local garage has been filled by
www.german-bier-warehouse.co.uk

I should have just got a few porters, rose bocks and weiss biers and that would have been the end of it.
But it wasn't.

Lurking down the far end of the pristine shop (it opened for the very first time a matter of hours earlier), were "Marathon" and "Anti-aging" bier.

Apologies for the photo quality:

i interpreted this roughly to be a beer imbued with something like liquid oil of ulay, so that whilst getting leathered all the visible signs of that uphill paper round in West Beirut (in winter) disappear and by the end of the 6 bottle session you look not a day older than Aled Jones  

and now to the piece de resistance

This is exactly what it says on the bottle - bier plus energy
Again, my perfect grasp of German had this down as a 4.8% refreshing ale with a potent combination of lucozade sport, high5, PSP,  Nuun, and viagra in it.
6 bottles of this and you can take your pick of event and medal colour at the 2012 Olympiad.
The drink of winners.

Half way through writing this post the screen went really fuzzy and strange at about the same point as i noticed that the aforementioned rose bock was actually 8% ABV.
As a result of being on my third bottle i cannot legally be held accountable for my interpretation of the ingredients in, or after effects of, the biers listed above.

 

Song for Heroes

Dear H4H Supporter,Can I ask for your help please? We need to give this latest fund raising scheme a real push and I hope you will make that possible.Singer John Tams, (fans of the Sharpe Series will know him as Rifleman Hagman), and The Band and Bugles of The Rifles have produced a wonderful song, Love Farewell, to raise funds for Help for Heroes. It is a haunting, soldierly song that touches the heart of anyone who hears it. H4H have commissioned the song, all the performers have given their time for free and we hope that it will raise a great deal of money to provide practical, direct support for our wounded. All the proceeds will go to H4H.Love Farewell is available now as a download on our website www.helpforheroes.org.uk . Please listen to it, think of all our men and women who are apart from their loved ones this Christmas and then buy it to help those who have been wounded.It would be marvellous if, by telling your friends and spreading the word by email, we could turn this into a best seller and do something really rather wonderful this Christmas time.“This is a superb song, haunting, sad, determined and unforgettable, a true soldier’s song. Soldiers say farewell as they go to serve their country, leaving their loved ones to wait for their return. Some may fall, some may be wounded, all will be changed and all are heroes. I ask you to buy this song and help us to help our heroes.”Wishing you all a very happy Christmas.
Bryn Parry - Founder, Help for Heroes

I thought I heard the Colonel crying
March brave boys there's no denying
Canon's roaring drum's a beating,
March brave boys there's no retreating
Love farewell

If I should fall in far off battle
Bugles call and rifles rattle
Thoughts fly homeward words unspoken
Valiant hearts are of times broken
Love farewell

Will you go or will you tarry
Will you wait or will you marry
Would this moment last forever
Kiss me now and leave me never
Love farewell

I thought I heard the Colonel crying
March brave boys there's no denying
Canons roaring drums a beating,
March brave boys there's no retreating
Love farewell

9 out of 10

climbers make the same mistakes
is the title of the first book written by the bloody good climber Dave Macleod
it is about how to become a very good climber
and he should know

 

pre-order it here

(sorry if you thought this one was about cat owners) 
  

Worrying Cyclology / "Because it's there"

Given that i have never cycled further than a few laps of France (on a Saracen specially converted to carry the maximum amount of red wine, baguettes and bier stubbies), i am probably not best placed to cast judgement on this .

Lots of stuff written about the worrying trend of being the first, fastest, bestest, biggest, uber sponsored, cyclist (or runner or climber or whatever), to go backwards on one leg carrying an out of date watermelon up the Ganges on a water going pogo stick.

Whatever happened to the "because it's there" theory. Adventure for the sake of adventure, the sake of self, the sake of science and exploration, possibly for the sake of a few quid for a charity.

Should adventure be this competitive ? Can adventure be this competitive ?
Should any adventurer be this down right nasty ?

Mug
with the words "because it's there"
available from the inimitable Petes Eats in Llanberis
although i doubt even a good cuppa is going to quell this one

£7.50 pint mugs from eat@petes-eats.co.uk 

Mountain Top Job

http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/job-39

Feet up in the Clouds

Am I alone in not knowing that Feet in the Clouds, the fell-running book by Richard Askwith, is being made in to a film with a Mr Christopher Ecclestone as the lead.

There are rumours that Messrs Naylor and Bland not only know about the film but are actually in it.



Is this a red carpeted path to the professionalising of the sport ? To the Paul Smith fell running collection ? To the Scafell Race on the Wii. To diamante Walshes ? Imagine...



Or will we remain wet, muddy and amateur. An art house flick only to be seen by those in Ron Hills munching jelly babies from bum bags.



All of the gossip, and the splitting of fact from fiction about the film, is on the FRA website.

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open for business

the Lake District is open for business
it has had its once in a thousand years deluge
and now it needs its tourists back to help it get back on its feet

you don't need a RIB or a wetsuit to get there
you might need a warm layer and a waterproof
but without all the rain it would just be called The District and that sounds crap

there is a fair dusting of the magic white on the summits today
so nip over there and buy some presents, drink some pints, chill in some cafes
and throw an early season snow ball

and if you walk to Friars Crag for that view, be careful you don't hurt your jaw when it drops

 
the view from Friars Crag today (30 Nov 09) taken by Dave of Inchree

Synthetic Toast

Other than Nanok Arctic, Patagonia DAS and the Arcteryx stable of jackets, has anyone used a synthetic parka in very cold conditions (eg high mountain or polar) ? Please drop me a line if you have a suggestion.

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