Weekend running

Saturday 18 November 2023 - Our usual parkrun at Wythenshawe was called off due to a plague of mud, so a few of the regulars met up in nearby Stockport, at Woodbank Park. A few of those suspects - Jeanette, Sue, Laura and Andy are shown above. Looking as if they have just emerged from their respective washing machines (apart from Andy's shoes!).

We got going promptly at 9 o'clock, thankfully in just about fine weather. There were soon quite a few people ahead of me. (I finished in position 142 out of 211.) (34:10, on my 350th parkrun.)
 

It's a two lap course, with a steep hill that needs to be negotiated twice. I caught up with Cary there, but he soon raced off ahead of me again - he's just ahead of me as I start the second lap.

The reflections looked nice, so I had a little break to seek out, not entirely successfully, a suitable puddle.

Meanwhile, there were some unavoidable puddles on the course, which Sue flew over. I think the next picture was taken by Laura, who finished in third position today. Well done Laura, and it was very gracious of you to allow the man pushing a buggy with a child in it to finish ahead of you in first place.

Full results are here. 

The four pictured above were then joined at the finish by Rufus, Cary and Paul.

Eventually I finished and could be included on a photo.

We spent some time in the cafe. It was afternoon by the time I got home!

Sunday 19 November 2023 - Wythenshawe Community Run

Over 80 men, women and children turned up with numerous volunteers for this Sunday morning ritual on a drier course at Wythenshawe than the parkrun mudbath route. I walked around the track by way of a 'warm up', then returned to the car to collect my waterproof jacket. At the point (below) when Colm was doing his briefing the drizzle intensified.

Here I am at the turnaround point for the 2km runners. Very tempting.

However, I braved the rain, and the footballs - the lady behind me in the next picture was hit by a football from one of the nearby pitches where only a few weeks ago hordes of Asian lads were playing cricket in the sunshine.

32:10 for the 5km was two minutes quicker than yesterday's effort at Woodbank. There are no hills at Wythenshawe... but it was definitely a soggy outing.

Friday = Isabella Day (59)

Another great day with Isabella, pictorial with captions:

                           Trying to 'twirl' without falling over

"I love tram rides"

The Science and Industry Museum has an 'educational' area

"We built a great big tower"

"Oops!"

An old car - next time I'll record the caption as well

We kept coming back to this, noting how our feet were looking warmer each time we visited

Back at home, it was time to assemble and post some letters,

most importantly a birthday card for Auntie Kate. Will it arrive? We'll see...

"It's Teddy's bedtime - I changed his nappy earlier, he had done a big poo"

"And NO, I don't want to go home!"

But she did go home, and sadly she wasn't able to attend Saturday's short notice dinner date with Auntie Kate and her cousins. Never mind, there will be another time soon.

Smart arse Jacob will no doubt wish to be recorded as Rummikub champion of the day, having won all three rounds that we played after stuffing ourselves with a roast chicken dinner.

"Cheers"

Monday 13 November 2023 - Coed Felinrhyd

Fine weather having returned, we drove 7 miles to a lay-by near the Power Station at Maentwrog. Our objective was a short 4km walk, sheltered by the ancient woods of Coed Felinrhyd on a blustery day. Walk number 27 in Alex Kendall's Snowdonia North guide. 

First we admired the bulging river (above) as we crossed a bridge to join our path. Its level had dropped by some 18 inches by the time we returned a couple of hours later.

The Power Station looks more like a stately home!

A short way up our path, the Ivy Bridge seems obscured by a curtain of vines.

'Mushroom of the Day' remains unidentified. Sue will probably check it for tastiness later...

The good path rose relentlessly to a viewpoint above a waterfall. Not much of the waterfall is actually visible, or so it would seem.

Here, our route turned uphill, high above the river. After more ascent we joined a lovely grassy path that took us all the way to Cae'n-y-Coed.

We passed a ruin. Who lived here, and what was a typical scene at that time?

Cae'n-y-Coed is maybe a holiday home.

Alex's route goes right here, dark blue on the map shown below, returning downhill to the Power Station in one kilometre. 

My ankle seemed to have recovered from its boot rub, so we took a longer (4km) option on paths that were new to us. The route is shown below. It proved to be an excellent choice. We rose to a high point just below a rocky knoll.

Turning to the north west, we passed the eastern end of a reservoir, Llyn Tecwyn Uchaf, with views out to the sea beyond Portmeirion. 

A good track led to a steep slippery footpath on which to finish this excellent 7km outing.

Here's our route - 7km, 250 metres ascent, taking 2 hours.

That's it for now. We returned home via the Portmeirion café/shop in Porthmadog and we are now enjoying a lazy afternoon watching Egrets and other birds in the harbour, before packing up and heading home tomorrow via a visit to Great Grandma Dot.

Sunday 12 November 2023 - A Wet Walk Around Beddgelert

Despite a lie in, we couldn't beat the rain. Dave sent a message saying he didn't want to walk in rain, so he was heading home. I continued with my 'copy editing' for Reg, and Sue continued reading the draft of Reg's book before making lunch. Outside, an oyster catcher scrabbled for food in the tidal seaweed.

We then drove in pouring rain to a pull-in by a bridge over the Afon Glaslyn. We decided on the 9km version of walk number 22 in Alex Kendall's Snowdonia North guide. Here's the view from the bridge. 

Beddgelert sports a fine row of cottages that brighten any day. They were definitely needed today.

Despite a few puddles, feet stayed dry as we walked up to the Copper Mine. 

Reaching Llyn Dinas, photos of a murky view...

A sharp right turn then took us up a steep stone staircase with good views back down to Llyn Dinas. 

After reaching flatter ground we could look ahead to the gentler gradient of our path up to the day's high point.

From the high point we now looked down to our gentle descent into Cwm Bychan. 

By now my feet were wet, thanks to wearing trail shoes due to my boots giving an ankle rub. It was raining hard and my camera isn't waterproof, so the rest of the pictures are thanks to Sue, and may also be seen on her Facebook page. 

We passed the remains of some mining infrastructure as we slithered down Cwm Bychan. 

Lots of black bags full of rocks gave away the fact that this is a popular path requiring drastic improvements. 

Anyway, we sloshed our way down and eventually reached the Pass of Aberglaslyn, where we rejoined Alex's longer route.

The river was in spate.

On reaching the bridge, and our exit to the roadside pull-in, we found that the gateway from which we had started our walk had now assumed the proportions of a minor flood.

So, after that it was back to a nice warm house after a thoroughly wet walk. Here's the route - about 9km, with 300 metres ascent, in less than 3 hours.