Itinerary:  I finally got around to making that one outstanding booking in Richmond: £45 for B&B at http://www.bridgedownhouse.co.uk/index.html. Chosen mainly because it’s just on the far side of the town centre; my hope is that the final mile or so along the riverbanks will slip by un-noticed after getting some fish and chips in town. Having re-read various blogs, I’m probably also now slightly more comfortable with the distances I’ve set myself from Keld onwards.

Domestics:  Despite the failed heating at the YHA, we had a cracking weekend in Keswick. Over the two days & nights we managed to squeeze in a Christmas play (the Railway Children at the Theatre by the Lake – excellent), a family swim, lots of  leisurely shopping, and even one Wainwright. The latter was Latrigg, which was probably our easiest to date, but it was a showery December day. I can easily see a Keswick Christmas weekend becoming a firm fixture.

Another month, another pair of kid’s boots grown out of …

Kit List:  Recent kit upgrades include a head torch, a Merino base layer (from the EDZ outlet in Keswick) and a Paramo Alta 2 coat. It took me a long while to commit to spending the amount of money needed for the latter, but I only tend to own one waterproof jacket at a time, and the current one was already a couple of years old when I took it on my 1996 attempt! (Saying that, I have a horrible feeling that the Cagoule used in 1988 still lives in the emergency kit in the back of my car) . The 1996 attempt was when I learned that it’s possible to get so absolutely soaked (in prolonged horizontal rain*) that even the notes in your wallet get soggy – fortunately they were still accepted by the shop in Shap – in fact they’re probably used to it! My other half didn’t bat an eyelid at the Paramo, probably because I threatened to count how many coats she’s currently got hanging in the porch – even the girls seem to have about five each.

*I also remember having a complete shouting rant (full voice, out loud) at this rain whilst crossing Kidsty Pike. Something along the lines of “you’re not going to beat me you bleeder”. Quite a liberating moment, well at least until I noticed there was somebody not far behind me.

Navigation:  Two factors have begun to sway me slightly away from the (2012) Stedman guide: the high number of pre-amble pages, which won’t add much value (but would add weight) on the walk itself, and the fact that it doesn’t have the ‘miles done’ annotations on its detailed maps like those in Wainwright’s guide. I do want to monitor (and indeed mentally tick off) the miles achieved, and this knowledge should also help me slow down and better enjoy the surroundings when time isn’t pressing. I thus started to manually transfer the mileage data onto the Stedman maps. I got to about Reeth before I realised that I simply prefer the Wainwright maps – they contain more information (e.g. contours) and simply have less of a cartoon feel to them. The Wainwright book (I bought the updated Jesty version) is also nearly 100g lighter, so, all things considered, I now expect to take that and leave Stedman at home.

‘Cheating’: I keep changing my mind on what my conscience might accept in terms of divergences from the accepted route. I’m fast accepting that I’m likely to take the low route into Reeth, and given the time of year I expect to be diverted away from Nine Standards. Moreover, I do intend to tackle at least one of the higher alternatives, probably St Sunday Crag. So it doesn’t therefore make much sense to me to be overly pedantic about slight diversions where my accommodation is slightly off route, especially when they’re adding distance! (For example the Parkside Hotel and Intake Farm both recommend modified approaches). I also don’t intend to back-track if I get lost miss a turning and then find an obvious forward recovery route. But for now I’ll rule out any form of motorised transport. Other than that, I expect I’ll want to stay fairly true to the stated route. Most of all though, I hope I can avoid being too judgemental on any of this!

Fitness:  I got to halfway through Week 7 of my 8 week running program (“run 10K in under 55 mins”), which, up until that point, comprised a hard but pleasingly honest campaign of 4 runs per week. Then I went down with the sniffles man-flu, so further running will now stay on hold until after Christmas.

However, there were no ‘mechanical’ injuries this time, only the odd trivial blister. And along the way I did manage to set separate PBs for the 7K and 11K distances (I keep records for all distances run – it all helps with the motivation). We’re off up to Northumberland for the New Year, and I love running on the long (and flat!) sandy beaches up there, so I’ll probably squeeze in at least a few informal miles.  After that I shall repeat the last three weeks or so of the 10K program – I do still want that new PB!

One dilemma I’m facing is how to get some decent walking miles in. I’d love to be getting out there more, but it’s not realistic to think that long walks have any sensible place within the tiring grind that is the running program. The latter emphasises that rest days should be exactly that, and so for now I’m reluctantly accepting that sticking with just the running is probably better for me.

General:  I made a comment in a previous post about taking the kids to watch Blackburn Rovers. Whilst I knew he originally came from these parts, I’ve only learned more recently that Wainwright himself was quite a Rovers fan. We also appear to have both a divorce and red hair in common (mine is also fast turning grey!). I have thus updated this blog’s tag line accordingly.

Finally:  A trivial aside is that my Almanac tells me the tide will be fully out at both my intended start and finish times. Some you win … some you don’t.