Mallorca

We were fortunate to go and visit some friends in Mallorca Last week. They live in the very picturesque village of Biniaraix which is just outside the town of Soller in the North west of the island. The area is very mountainous and we managed to get out for some short walks. I was carrying our daughter on my back in a back carrier but she is starting to get heavy. She still takes some convincing that walking is good for her - but it keeps me fit carrying on extra 3 stone up the hills!

The above 2 photos show the village Fornalutx which is only a short walk from Biniaraix.

I managed to sneak out for a short up the 'Baranc', which is a fantastic gorge. There is a cobbled path that snakes its way up into mountains, crossing the river occasionally. This is an old pilgrims route from the coast at Peurta Soller to the monastry at Lluc. It's an amazing path for running on as it never get too steep for too long. I didn't manage to get to the top of it in the time I had, but still had a great time. The weather was ideal for walking and running as it wasn't too hot and you could run in shorts and T-shirt. We're going back in the summer with some friends when the weather should be way too hot for running!

Another Windy Sunday!

Managed to get out for a run again yesterday-not doing too bad this year. The gloomy picture here shows the view from Dodd. Started at the car park in Dodd wood and ran up through the tracks to reach the top in a steady half an hour. It's nice going and runable all the way (even for a lard arse like myself). It was absolutely freezing on top and I just about managed to take this photo with numb fingers. It shows Bassenthwaite Lake and out towards the Solway coast. A great quick run back down on good tracks means you don't have to concentrate too much.

Best laid plans...

Don't you just hate it when you organise to do something or meet somewhere and the said place is closed or even worse there's no parking spaces as everyone else has had the same idea.

My parents came up to see us this weekend (well mainly my 2 year old daughter), and I thought we'd go to Whinnlatter Forest for a nice walk up towards Lord's Seat and back down to the cafe for some quality pannini and flap jack. Our plans were thwarted we saw a barrier blocking our progress in to the car park. Everything was shut up and taped off as it looked like they were felling every tree in view of the visitor centre. We parked further down the road and went for an easy walk on the other side of the valley.

Back at the car we thought we'd drive to another nice cafe on the other side of Bassenthwaite Lake - only for that to be closed as well. The picture above shows the view from the Osprey View point that is only a short walk above the car park. No Osprey but a good view of the lake.

The View from The Top

I mangaged to get out for a run on the fells yesterday and this photo shows the view from the top of Fellbarrow in the Western Lake District. As you can see it was a typical Lakes day with low cloud - at least the rain eased off whilst I was out! The weather has be real bad for about 2 weeks now with no sign of it changing - It was snowing tonight. Unfortunetly I can't see it lasting and the Western fells will be returned to soggy normality by the weekend.

I managed to get lost whilst out running, I committed the cardinal sin of not taking a compass out with me. I dropped off the top following the wrong fence line only to realise 5 minutes later! I had to retrace my steps back over the top to get back on route. Still its all good training.

New Year Pic's

Here's some pictures of our recent new fancy dress party. The theme was childrens TV and everyone enjoyed getting dressed up - with the help of a little beer and speciality cocktails.

Unfortunatly Hutch couldn't make and I didn't get any pic of Doola's Evil Edna and Vic Worzel Gummidge. Never mind.