Busy banding

Got national finals coming up, so had a weekend at home rehearsing, doing chores and squeezing a bike ride in whilst wifey was visiting family up in Norfolk. I've found a better finish which avoids nettle alley, but does involve a BIG push uphill and then has an annoying finish. So i'm just hopeful that someone will deal with the nettles instead!


it looked a bit like this*


Much rehearsals and mini-concert this week before off to the finals in Cheltenham with the Amersham Brass Band on Saturday. Would hope for a nice Sunday for a bit of chiltern based fun, or cake, or even both!

*it looked very similar to this, but both camera and phone are currently suffering from drinking too much water.. yikes!

Stag!

Or should I say beaver... It was one of my best mates stag do's at the weekend and spot of canoeing was had on the river wye. About 13 miles on the Saturday and 12 miles on the Sunday.

I helped friday to collect canoes from one the attendees (who works at an outdoor centre) then arrived to much beer driknking and merriment. Had a wonderful bivy out on the friday night. It's been agees since i've had a bivy, but it was really good - if not quite the dewy/foggy morning that we woke to.

Much faffage with cars, canoes and people transport ensued. We were eventually on the water by 1pm starting at Whitney toll bridge. After a slow start the guys realised some paddling was required, but with some faffage for stories and water based fun we got back to our campsite eventually (bycross farm again). BBQ and fire breathing, plus more beer before passing out under a clear sky. It was my first try at fire breathing and i'm sure it didn't look impressive, but it was good fun to give it a try nonetheless.

Sunday dawned to blue, blue skies, and midly foggy heads. We were a bit more organised today so were on the water by 10:30 and had a lovely day getting wet again going down to Hereford rowing club. They were having some sort of event on, so it was a bit of a hectic arrival. However, it did mean some of lads grabbed tea and cake. I was involved with car shuffling and helped tidy up back at the campsite, before getting back on the road and delivering a canoe back to the outdoor centre before heading home for food, shower and sleep.

All in all a cracking weekend! Cannie wait for the blessing really.*


*he's getting married in Canada first - hence the beaver reference!

Aug Bank hol

Oops, didn’t get round to writing that one up! Had a good, if wet, weekend in the lakes with wifey, Chris and Claire. We had a nav-tastic day on Rosthwaite fell with very low cloud and minimal visibility making route choice somewhat hard. However, it was good fun and even better to walk into the café at the end and have a completely random meet with Don & Carol (on his last guiding weekend)! Queue much hugs and chatting before a very quick plan was made to join him and his group for dinner.. Which considering the weather we witnessed outside was pretty good and the drying room that we made full use of!

Sunday dawned a bit better, with an improving weather forecast. So a bigger day was had going up Green Gable and Great Gable then back down to Styhead Tarn. Unfortunately we missed the clear summits promised for the afternoon being a bit too early. But had a lounge round the tarn and then mooched back to the campsite via a quick tea stop at seathwaite. Dinner with dessert followed (treacle syrup cake and custard) then beers in Keswick. Monday was a complete wet washout so a bit of a gear faff in town, new boots for me and approach shoes for Wifey – both much needed! All in all an good weekend, but the 13hrs travel involved there/back seemed excessive…

Yoga and a quick run in the week (avg 7:10mile so 22:15 5k which is a current PB!) and suddenly a new weekend arrives. This had Wifey joining a Hen party in Oxford, I was keeping Mark and baby Henry company round town as proximity was required for the occasional feed! Otherwise coffee, tea, ice cream and cake for us… after a long luckily sunny day I headed back home for a very quick MTB ride. A slight oversight on timings meant I hit dark, dark woods without a light. Hmmm luckily I vaguely knew the route, but still almost impaled myself (and tyre/spokes) on a few fallen logs, nearly got sucked into a bog and would like to forget nettle alley. However, much wildlife was seen, badgers, rabbits, bats and a owl. Sunday was some chores and cooking lemon drizzle cake and Sunday roast for Wifey on her return (muchos tired) from hen-ing.

Phew, more of the same please?