Still doing things

I am not going to complain about the heat. I am not. The humber of times I’ve ranted about the state of this country’s weather – and now it’s perfect – I am not going to complain. Although, it is fair to say it is pretty blooming hot. But we have tried hard not to let that shape our days. 

We’re now at Clapham. No, not the train junction, although there is a station, but a small dales village just off Ingleton, a bit of a limestone lump which I had my eye on the moment we arrived. 

We had hoped to take Monday off to recover from back-to-back runs and cycles, but we got to the lovely CL early and C said, ‘why don’t we take the bikes out with a picnic?’ So we did. It was five miles uphill to Bowland Knotts, the highest point of Bowland Forest and just short of the reservoir which we had cycled to previously from the other side. It’s all moors and little forest, but it is lovely and, at the top, we managed to find a bench and sat and had lunch … just as a bunch of Gurkhas arrived on their bikes and took selfies before leaving us to our peace.

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Tuesday we cycled to Settle and then up to Stainforth Force, a Dordogne-eqsue waterfall which was packed with youngsters jumping and diving in from not an unreasonable height. I didn’t have my gear and was worried about being the ‘old bloke’ who joined in, but couldn’t resist. I didn’t dive, but jumped in my shorts, quickly got out and C and I disappeared a distance to eat our lunch. We then completed our ride over the moors (another 23 miles) in pretty spectacular weather, and settled down to our usual routine of a bit of TV, a film and bed. 

I was/we were putting off Ingleton (720 metres high) for the weather to pass and we woke Wednesday with it overcast, but warm … and with an outlook of much the same. So we went for it. There are plenty of access points to the mountain, but we chose to leave our bikes at the entrance to Ingleton cave (which was a mile from the cave – and cost £1 each). Well the next 5 hours were both special and hot. First, Mrs Sun wasn’t shy and soon burnt away any cloud. And the wind remained very light. The walk we chose took us through a Petra-like gully, up past Gaping Gill, a pot hole big enough to lose an apartment block (where we were able to wet our heads in the stream) and then onto the mountain. 

Thankfully there were few people as mad as us, although we did come across a couple of youngsters doing ‘the three peaks’ – 24 miles, three mountains over 2,000 feet and all within walking distance of each other. The final ascent was up a ladder (a series of stone steps) much longer than Jacob’s Ladder on Pen-y-fan. And by the time we made it to the trig point we needed our lunch. We came down a different way which took us across a fab limestone plateau, and, 10 miles later, we made it back to our bikes. Phew.

Actually, both of us were in good form. We had kept ourselves hydrated and wet our hats (which we wore continuously) as and when. And today we’re both OK. I’ve actually been for a run back up to where we left the bikes as I dropped a padlock there. But, for the rest of the day, we’re doing nothing. 

We’re looking to cycle tomorrow and then head off on Saturday. Exactly where? We’re not sure yet. That is a job for today.

Anyhow. Stay safe. We’re both trying very hard to keep away from the disease.