Coast to Canvas, Summits and Stars

In the past seven days I've been to the coast and the forest, slept under canvas and under stars, eaten in pubs and on hilltops. Somehow, in amongst all that, I've managed to do a reasonable bit of training:
Saturday: "Rest day"
Sunday: 8 mile walk
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 5 mile run
Wednesday: 8 mile run
Thursday: microadventure
Friday: 3+3 mile run

Fun antics on Saturday

It all started with a day out in Brighton on Saturday. My good friends Tim and Becky had been planning this for a while and I had been kept completely in the dark about what was in store, save for the fact that I was being collected at 8am. You'll notice that I have labelled this as a rest day in inverted commas... although I wasn't doing any formal exercise it was a long day with lots of walking. We had a picnic breakfast on Devil's Dyke, watching the para gliders circle serenely. A stroll along the windswept hilltop and we were off to visit a castle, the little town of Steyning then had a pit stop for tea and biscuits at Becky's family home. Then it was into Brighton proper for a delicious lunch, a bit of wandering in the lanes, a visit to the pavilion and exploration of some lesser-known (to me) parts of the city. We finished, naturally, with chips on the beach and arcades on the pier.

Never too old for swings

Bed by 1am and up again at 7am to hot foot it to the New Forest to meet up with my cousin and pregnant wife plus friends/family/dogs for a spot of camping. Sunday's weather was kind to us, allowing for a glorious walk and a ploughman's lunch followed by ice cream. Over the evening's BBQ and fire pit we started planning some time away next year once the littl'un is born... hopefully a cottage rental in Yorkshire for some good walking. Clothes full of woodsmoke, we retired under canvas just as the rain started.

Monday was somewhat wet around the edges. We wanted to make the most of the time we had together so managed a lazy, HOT breakfast with lashings of tea then picked somewhere arbitrary to drive to for a wander and a pub lunch. We ended up deciding against the walk in nearly horizontal rain but had the most magnificent macaroni cheese and chips before saying our goodbyes.

Raindrops keep falling in my tea...

All my running has been very well timed this week. I've managed to find the dry windows in a week of rain. Although a twilight yoga session I'd been looking forward to on Wednesday got cancelled due to the weather I managed a dry 8 miles so no harm done. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for other yoga and SUP sessions I can make before it gets too autumnal.

Rain on the horizon... didn't come our way... 

5pm on Thursday was a special time because it meant that I got to leave the office and head out to Wendover for another micro adventure with McNuff and friends. In the group of ten I only knew Anna when we met up but by the time we said our farewells at 6:45am I considered them all friends. It's one of the things I love about doing micro adventures this way... I get to meet so many cool and interesting people. Architects, charity workers, web designers, astrophysicists who run, cycle, explore and generally make the most of life, it's really awesome. We headed up to Coombe Hill, eyeing the rain filled horizon with suspicion along the way, and ate and drank in sight of the monument as the sun set. As darkness closed in we did some star gazing until the cold wind made our sleeping bags seem very attractive. Despite a deflating thermarest I got some sleep, all be it interspersed with more periods of stargazing. It was just too pretty.

Coombe Hill Monument

This is how I look at 6:15am after sleeping on a windy hilltop

Sunrise

Today's early start and double run has probably put me in fairly good stead for Equinox24 which is now just three weeks away! Running on little sleep and tired legs will be the theme for that particular weekend, yet I'm oddly excited about it all. Of course it will be a wonderful experience but I will have extra motivation because this is the first event I will be running in aid of Hospiscare, the charity that helped my family so much earlier this year. I'm hoping to raise £1,000 but the end of April next year and I would be so grateful if you would sponsor me. You can read more about the charity, my events and how the money will be used on my Just Giving page, where you can also make a donation. Thank you in advance.

What's been the best part of your week this week? Are you in training for any Autumn events?

Really cool snail we found on our way back to the station.

Microadventuring along the Ridgeway

After my sort-of-failed attempt at a solstice microadventure, I was keen to have another go before the summer was out. I had a couple of camping trips in the diary, plus a hiking weekend but nothing in a bivvy bag and certainly nothing that made the most of the "5-9". So it was with with huge enthusiasm that I accepted the invitation to join Anna McNuff on not one but two midweek microadventures as part of her mission to complete one in each of 7 counties in 7 weeks.

First up, Hertfordshire. Five of us met at Tring station, although none of us actually travelled by train. I arrived first, followed by Anna with two more intrepid explorers, Rachel and David, and finally Mark. The weather report had predicted fine weather so the initial meet-in-a-pub plan was swiftly altered to the picnic-on-the-hill plan. We set off each with a rucksack and a carrier bag of food, enough to feed us twice over, following the Ridgeway to the Ivanhoe Beacon. A picnic spot was found, beers were cracked and pimms decanted into a variety of mugs. We ooh'ed and aah'ed at the dense orange sunset.

Lit by Anna's Torch Of A Thousand Suns (TM) we headed back down the trail, dodging cows with teddy bear-like fur, to a patch of trees under which we found a clearing in which to bed down for the night. Nettles trampled and sleeping bags unfurled we settled down for the night. How much sleep we actually got is open to debate. I was intensely aware of the noise my sleeping bag made as I tossed and turned. The wildlife was vocal.

On solstice night I'd been put off sleeping out by the fear I'd be too cold. No such fear now. The night was remarkably warm and my sleeping bag so cosy I was comfortable in t-shirt and pants. And socks. I never said it was sexy. Fleece and baselayer were relegated to the rucksack in easy reach.

I admitted defeat and woke at around 5:30am to the sound of birdsong and the discovery that the sun was already up and shining brightly through the leaves of the tree we sheltered under. Anna and Rachel were already awake, Anna with an excited gleam in her eye. I watched insects dance in the light and deer bound through a field some way away. It was utterly glorious and I felt refreshed despite the hour and a night of broken sleep.

Ridgeway take 2

The next week it was back to the Ridgeway, this time Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire, somewhere I’d never heard of before. An initial group of about a dozen became just seven; Anna, repeat offender Mark, Charlotte, Katie, James and Paddy.

Picnic spot and adventure hat

Once again we met at the station but this time train ridiculousness meant I was the only one who drove. Showers threatened and I will confess to never having checked a weather report so often during a single day. We got some drizzle early on but it soon cleared to reveal some gorgeous views as we climbed approximately a thousand* steps up the Ridgeway. A clearing complete with log bench overlooking the town proved the perfect picnic spot and the sight of a charred patch of grass was all Paddy needed to dive off to find firewood. Twenty minutes later and with the aid of a jet boil we had a proper campfire fire going.

It was a much cooler evening that the week before but the fire warmed us all evening while we chatted and sang songs. We tried toasting Percy pigs and flapjacks, drank beers and coffee, and followed the crushing defeat of Brazil in the World Cup.

A better hashtag you'll never see #microadventure

At about 11pm and after far too many chocolate mini rolls, Anna led us to the camping spot she’d recced earlier, in the woods under the canopy of the trees. Despite the hour it was still possible to see the lightness of the sky through the leaves. The coffee coursing through my veins and the pitter-patter of rain drops being shaken from the leaves by the breeze gave the illusion that I didn’t sleep much but at 5:30 I was woken by Anna’s alarm. It took a bit longer for me to emerge from the cocoon of my sleeping bag to a misty morning. A stumble down the Ridgeway and along the back of the semi’s led us back into civilisation. The gentle roar of the A roads grew louder and all too soon I was once again in the office, showered, changed and with a Waitrose for coffee in front of me, too excited to concentrate on anything I was meant to be doing.

Packing up our camping spot the morning after the night before.

Beats staying in with a pizza and a DVD any night of the week.

*I may be exaggerating somewhat

Solstice Microadventure 2014

There's masses of countryside partially on my doorstep that I've never explored. Some of it's not even that wild or remote. Take the Devil's Punchbowl for example. I've driven past it many times but never stopped in (not in my adult life anyway) despite being a National Trust member. So I decided to use the summer solstice and encouragement from Al Humphreys and his new book Microadventure as an excuse to do some exploring. The plan was that a friend and I would meet up there, explore at least two of the trails around the area, find somewhere to sleep out overnight then do a bit more walking the next day, either before or after a hearty breakfast at the cafe. 

Unfortunately, on the day, my friend announced that he'd busted his knee on a recent holiday and it wasn't anywhere near capable of walking a few miles. So I decided to go it alone. I stuffed a bivvy bag, sleeping mat and sleeping bag liner in my rucksack along with water, toothbrush, jumper, buff, hip flask, snack and book and set off. Now I'm not a cyclist and I couldn't be faffed with a train so I drove there. Sorry. I know that's not really in the spirit of these things but that's the way it was. It was a gloriously warm evening, perfect for sauntering through forests. 

I learnt about the legend behind the name, the unknown Sailor who was murdered there, and the way in which the area used to be used. I dipped off of the beaten track to explore an area used for working with the wood. I paused to clamber on a fallen tree that stretched out into a field of cows (who seemed singularly unimpressed with my antics). Purple pokers of foxgloves were everywhere in swathes and bramble flowers promised of autumn blackberries to come. Huge, ancient trees looked as though they were straight out of a fairy tale. I was alternately enclosed in woodland and exposed to beautiful views. After I completed the two trails I'd planned to do I wandered back to a trig point I'd found where there was a view back over some of the nearby towns. A hot air balloon drifted lazily overhead as I spent some time contemplating life.

At around 9pm, despite having earmarked somewhere to sleep, I chickened out and drove home. I was tired but happy. I'd done something I wouldn't have ordinarily done with my evening and I felt as though I'd had an adventure of sorts at any rate. It was a pity that I wasn't able to try out a MiniMap to explore further but maybe another time. Once home I sat in the garden in my PJs and a huge jumper (it did occur to me to sleep there but I was worried about what the neighbours might think, it bang a front garden) with some of my mum's blackberry whisky watching the stars come out. I slept with the windows and blind open that night.

Fairy tale trees

Out on a limb! Haha! Sorry...

The next morning I made tea in a flask, packaged up some breakfast and took a stroll round to the lake. Established on my favourite bench I listened to the ducks dabbling in the water, watched the swan family glide around and tried to ignore the aeroplanes overhead. It was a lovely way to start the day and although I'd only spent about an hour there, by the time I got home I felt as though I'd been up half the day; refreshed, revived and at peace. 

Life is what you make of it. You don't need to be terribly adventurous or stray far from home to have a micro adventure. Something as simple as having your breakfast in the park has the power to change how you feel about your whole day. I encourage you to try it.

Life's What You Make It

I seem to have (re)discovered a real zest for life at the moment. A lot of good things are happening and there are plenty of opportunities to be made the most of. This isn't meant to be a brag, just a reflection of my excitable nature.

First off I'm absolutely psyched to announce that I passed my Level 3 Programming & Coaching assessment! That means I am qualified (on paper) to be a personal trainer. Now while I am thrilled, to have been told I passed, my bounciness was tempered by some of the very constructive feedback I got. The basics are there but there are still areas that I can improve on... as with all things. So as my friend Brendon was my "client", heard all the feedback and still wants to continue to work with me I get to practice all of these things and become a better PT. I still have 5 modules of my diploma to complete, the next of which is Nutrition for Sport & Exercise and starts today.

The night before my assessment, in order to take my mind off of things, I went to see Sean Conway giving a talk in Farnham. Sean is an "endurance adventurer" and you may know him for his LEJOG swim last year. I'm a bit of a fan and although I've followed his adventures, it was wonderful to hear him talk about them and to get to ask a few questions. He's running JOGLE in August/September and will be inviting people to join him so with any luck my trip to Cornwall in September will coincide with that. He's also planning to round off his "global triathlon" by running the length of Africa next year and there's talk of setting up an Adventure Academy in the future, which frankly sounds amazing.

Earlier in the week I'd been so enthused by my first metafit class that I decided I needed to make this a regular thing in my life. The only class I could fit in this week was a 6:30am one. Now I'm hopeless, absolutely hopeless, at running in the morning; however any other form of exercise seems to be entirely agreeable so with BoxBellFit being only 10 minutes away I decided this was a reasonable thing to attempt. This was helped by being childishly excited about a brand new pair of training shoes.

Anna greeted me by name (how does she do it?!) as soon as I walked in the door and handed my my brand new membership keyfob to scan in with. Soon 10 bleary-eyed and lycra-clad people stood around the edge of the training area and banging out squat jumps and burpees to some thumping dubstep. Never thought I'd class that as a great way to start the day but life's full of surprises. I'm still impressed with Anna's coaching. She just seems to instinctively know how much more you have to give and what to say to get it out of you. I almost like it when she corrects me because I know she's actually paying attention to what everyone's doing. By 7:45am I was sat at my desk, showered, in possession of a frothy coffee and breakfast with a huge smile and a buzzy feeling.

This felt like the breakfast of kings after class

That wasn't the only early morning adventure I had this week. Last year, much to my mother's dismay, I celebrated the summer solstice by doing a microadventure. This year I had planned to do another, this time with a friend. It didn't go quite to plan, as I'll explain in another post, but it did mean I got to have breakfast at my local lake on Sunday morning, which was really quite glorious.

To round the weekend off I took myself to watch my local team play cricket. By the end of the game I still wasn't sure of the rules, the score or, indeed, who was on my team, but it was a gloriously lazy way to enjoy a sunny Sunday afternoon. Cornetto and fancy lemonade optional.

Wow what a year!

This really has been the most amazing year. It’s not been a straightforward one. There have been sad, difficult and painful times but a lot of joy, fun, surprises and flat out incredible moments. I’m not exactly where I thought I’d be, I reckon I overshot the mark there and I certainly achieved more than I thought possible, in so many ways.

I find it useful to take stock at the end of each year, to think about the events, what I’m thankful for and to get a feel for the coming 12 months and this year I’d like to say a few things publicly.

Thanks

Firstly, a few thank you's. Thank you to all of you for reading my blog, for interacting here, on facebook or twitter and stopping me from just typing into the void. You guys make this a whole lot more fun.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored me early in the year and helped me to support the Scleroderma Society. Together we made a huge difference to a small charity.

Me and my Aunt, who inspired my charity choice

Thank you to all of my friends who have stuck by me. You’ve helped me through house moves, crazy training and race schedules, put up with me talking incessantly about said crazy training and race schedules and even encouraged me and pushed me to achieve some of the amazing things I’ve done this year. Without Anita-the-Crazy I certainly wouldn’t have done Tough Mudder, for instance.

Most of all thank you to my family, in particular my mum, dad, aunt and godparents. You mean the world to me and have done SO much for me this year.

Dad-hug post-marathon

Gratitude

I’m grateful for the opportunities this blog and the health and fitness community have afforded me. I wouldn’t have met @amerbob for some of the most fun runs I’ve done this year, I wouldn’t have gone to the Run MummyRun social and made new friends there, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to write for The Protein Works or go to the Write This Run conference and I wouldn’t have been able to write blogs or articles for other sites either.

@amerbob, Anna and me - who knew marathon running could be so fun

I’m grateful for the life change in February that meant I threw myself into my training as a coping mechanism. Silver linings…

I’m grateful for my health, especially now I’m not 100%, and for the fact I managed to get through the year injury-free.

Achievements

This year I’ve taken part in 21 races: 2 marathons, 3 half marathons, 7 x 10k’s, 2 x 5ks, 3 triathlons, an open water swim and 5 others that don’t fall into a category. I’ve gotten through 2 pairs of trainers, logged 634 running miles on the Garmin, swum 10,200 meters and cycled around 143 miles. I’ve set 8 new PBs in the process. I also had my first microadventure, started my Advanced Diploma in Personal Training and became a qualified Gym Instructor.

Plans

I have lots of exciting plans for next year. I aim to be a qualified Personal Trainer by the end of June and will hopefully finish the entire qualification by the end of the year. I would love to start working as a PT and to continue writing for and working with the brands I’ve connected with this year. My studies are going to take quite a bit of time so I won’t be racing as much but I do want to work on my speed and hope to set new PBs of sub-25 for 5k, sub 55 for 10k and sub 2 hour half marathon. I am registered for the following races already:

10 miles Carnival Du Nice

Dorney Lake 10k

Surrey Half Marathon

Electric Run

Bacchus Half Marathon

And I intend to do my first ultra and/or 24 hour event (as part of a team). I’m considering these other events:

Glow in the Park

Royal Berkshire 10k

Samaritans 10k

Equinox24

Gatliff 50k

It would be great to know if you’re taking part in any of them too. Perhaps we can say hi to each other. I’d love to hear about your plans for next year and how you feel about 2013. Did you have goals? Did you meet them? Did you surprise yourself? Feel free to write a few words or pop a link to your blog post in the comments below.

In any case, I hope this point in the year finds you happy and healthy and that 2014 is full of adventures for you.

Microadventuring

Microadventures. What are they then? Well they're something that Al Humphreys, king of the adventure, has been championing for a while. The basic idea is that you pack up your sleeping bag, put on your walking boots and head out to somewhere you've never been before and sleep out under the stars. Whether you get there by foot, bike, train or river, sleep on a hill or in the woods or by a lake, is all entirely up to you. Go after work during the week, go on a weekend, whatever works for you but get out of your comfort zone a little and have some fun!

At least two summer solstices have gone by where I've wanted to get out and camp or stay up all night and watch the sun rise but this year, spurred on by the solstice microadventure challenge I shunned the Blues on the Farm festival and got out there.

Despite much concern from my family I packed up my sleeping bag, mat, newly acquired bivy bag, map, water, food, torch and toothbrush and caught the train to Tilehurst. My plan was to walk from Tilehurst to Pangbourne along the Thames Path, go up through Whitchurch-on-Thames to a clearing in a wooded area on a hill. Unfortunately I set off a bit late and it took me longer than expected to walk to Pangbourne so rather than wandering through the woods in the dark I settled for an alternative site in Pangbourne Meadow.

As I came out of the station I was walking into the sun and the midges dancing in the light looked magical. I wandered through a patch of housing, giving a cheery greeting to the local scout group, past a field of cows with calves literally gambolling, to Maple Durham Lock. It was a really pretty walk, shared with a couple of runners and dog walkers.

 My first choice camping spot in Pangbourne Meadow was in the vicinity of a playground occupied by teenagers, so I thought better of it. I knew rain was forecast so I wanted a bit of shelter. In the end I opted for a patch of long grass between two big trees. The grass meant I couldn't be seen and the trees gave me comfort if not shelter. After a hasty dinner of rice salad and a swig from the hip flask I settled down for the night.

 I'm not sure how well I slept but I was amazed at how snug I was in the bivy; even when the rain came I stayed pretty dry. I didn't wake up until about 8:20am! The serenity of waking up by the river was wonderful and I felt really brave for having done my first microadventure. I was discovered packing up by two lady dog walkers who were a little concerned about me but I told them, with a big smile, that I was having an adventure and they seemed happy enough with that.

Morning campers!

My view this morning

A short walk to the station, munching an energy bar on the way, and I was heading home feeling a little achy and in need of a good shower. I learnt a lot on this adventure, and would make a few changes if I were to do one again; I'd have liked more time to appreciate the scenery and I'm a bit sorry I didn't see the sunrise. I didn't take any music, or a book and didn't feel the lack of them but checking in with my mum and on twitter meant everyone knew where I was as a safety precaution, and also meant I was able to share my experiences with others also out on their own adventures. Now I'm home, clean, unpacked and with a cup of coffee, Mark Knopfler's album, Privateering, seems like the perfect soundtrack.

Where I slept last night

The only sign I'd been there

I know one or two people have already said that they quite fancy trying this out for themselves which is just fantastic, I'm always very humbled when people are inspired by my actions. Sleeping out is a very liberating experience and you don't need to prep a lot to do it. Just take a look at Al's posts on microadventuring and stay safe. You might get a view a bit like this, or better!

My view this morning