Ramsay Countdown 8,7,6 - Sca Fell Pike, Bare Feet and Nut Bombs for Breakfast!

Louis following with a full pack.

Where does the time go?

Just got back from Borrowdale, not running but supporting, and it has been a couple of days without WiFi or reception good enough for data. Lovely.

Sally has completed her challenge to walk/run the three highest mountains in the UK by summitting Sca Fell Pike. We set off together as a family and walked up to Styhead Tarn. Great fun, and after telling Sally that we were on the path, I was reading the map after all, we got to some crags to scramble across. No mean feat with a three year old and a six year old. As we rose past the waterfall it was clear that the main path was in fact on the other side of the river! Not sure I'll live that one down after showing Sally how to read a map lol.

Sally on Sca Fell Pike Summit.

Sally went on to summit on her own while we waited at the stretcher box for the runners to come through. It got windier and colder so we watched the first few, gave out some haribos and water, then headed back down via the main path. One person commented that we had see the first 3 ladies through and tried to engage Louis in a conversation on this. Louis was a bit non-plussed and so was I until I realised he must have thought that, what with Louis and Rupert having long hair, they must be girls. It's interesting the assumptions we make.

On the way up Rupert had got his shoes wet, as of course we all did, and he asked if he could take them off. He then proceeded to walk most of the 2.5 miles up to the tarn barefoot. I can't deny I was envious of the freedom and the extra experiences he was getting from the surrounding hills. "I'm going to walk on that one because it will be warm", "When you walk on these ones it tickles". These are just a couple of examples of things he was saying walking up - it chimes with the book I am reading - Footnotes - about why we run and how it makes us human. I think after my round I might well join him for a few lake district barefoot walks. It says in the Bob Graham handbook that Bob Graham himself reccied the tops barefoot, saving his pumps for the big day itself. 

Rupert climbing barefoot while I look on enviously!

Nutbombs - bought in the morning before the Borrowdale race, made by a lovely couple and made of peanut butter, coconut, cherry, dark chocolate and various combinations of these and other ingredients. Great for getting up mountains, and down mountains. Just the right blend of sweetness and savoury so you can go on eating them. And when you wake up in the morning and the first question from the littlest is "Have you got any of those round things" you know they've gone down well!

Nut Bomb

Time - 24 hours is a long time to run. The last 3 days have flown by. When I left we were surely going to lose the 5 day Test Match against Pakistan, it was clear after the best part of 2 days we were well behind. A match I have just listened to the finish of with England winning - brilliant! Could not have timed that better. Sally was faster up and down Sca Fell Pike than I imagined she would be and the Borrowdale Fell Race winners took less time than I can comprehend to finish the race.

 Douglas Admas wrote that "Time is an illusion, lunch time doubly so" in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The character who says it is Ford Prefect and he is from another planet so has a different perspective on pretty much anything and everything he comes across on planet Earth. His companion through the book is Arthur Dent who wanders around aimlessly, in his dressing gown, looking for cups of tea and trying to make sense of it all. 

There was a point here somewhere but I'm not sure if it's that I feel a bit like Arthur Dent at the moment wandering around while trying to make sense of things or that I'm wondering if time on Saturday will be an illusion and bend and stretch to suit my purposes and give me 5 days worth of a Test Match but compressed into a lunch time. 

Only time will tell.