I’ve been looking at the Open Adventure web pages on Facebook and elsewhere for more than a year now, thinking “If only I was fit enough”, or “can I persuade A.N.Other to do that with me”. In the end I took fate at its face value and signed up a week ago for the latest event the “North Pennines”; ordered a Mountain Bike and prayed for some good weather.

The Sky Today

With all the fear and panic in the press over the British Weather, including Heathrow cancelling 50% of all flights during Saturday (4th Feb 2012) for the following day. With the falling snow and icy conditions on the East of the Pennines, there was more than a little concern over my ability to get to the event. 6 am on Sunday and there’s still lying snow on the main roads at home. In the end the trip to Warcop was uneventful. The snow all but disappeared by the time I’d got to Hexham on the A69 but the fog closed in and renewed my anxiety until we reached the M6 at Carlisle whereupon the sky lit up a gorgeous shade of pink. This could be a good day…

By the time we get to Penrith and turn off on the A66 there’s obvious fellow competitors in the traffic, mountain bikes strapped to the back / roof of the car a dead giveaway.

Gear Prep in Transition

Once passed the gatehouse, (the complexities of security and car park passes was no where near as was made out to be) parked up and then on to check-in. Signed in, SportIdent tag attached to right wrist, maps acquired, now the planning starts.

Entries are now open for the Alnwick Harrier’s Northumberland Coastal Run. I missed it last year, missed getting an entry and then booked a holiday at the same time. Missed it too because of the goal / milestone it represents and thus my training lacked some objectives. So this year I’ve ‘booked early’. Get your entry in soon, last year they sold out very quickly. Book your entry for the Northumberland Coastal Run.

Another alternative for The Sky Today shot for yesterday. The nigh-time version, disallowed because I’d already posted the pic for the day. This is a hand-held shot using the long 100-300mm lens on the Panasonic Lumix G3. Image stabilisation is a wonderful thing.

This is an alternative shot from yesterday, The Sky Today, but taken with a proper camera rather than the iPhone. It goes to show the big difference between the two. The iPhone is good but this is a far more representative view of what I saw that morning.

Leaden grey skies all day. Running in the drizzle with the dog through the Mersey Forest (no trees) muddy and wet underfoot.

Sunrise early Saturday morning.

Apologies this is very similar to that taken a day or so ago but I don’t have any control.