Category: Photos

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Wet around the edges

Bearing in mind I was not in bed until well after 1am last night, the fact that I woke up before 7.30am seems crazy.  But despite the torrential rain last night, followed by bright, clear skies, it was neither wet nor cold and it was the uncommonly bright morning that had woken me.

I supped on a banana & some espresso and read for a while and finally emerged from the house, wearing shorts (again), just after nine.  Alas, after a bout of serious deck cleaning with a broom yesterday, I was not on top form and I decided early on that this would be a shortish run.

I headed out across the Common, where the duck pond was overflowing its banks and the slightest dip in the ground was full of water.  I stopped to take photo’s at regular intervals along the magical path so that you can see what I keep going on about (watch this space tomorrow for the results) – although I’m sure they still won’t do it justice.

The path through Blackbrook Woods was also wet and it was at this point that I switched to wet style running… that is, running straight down the path and through the middle of anything in the way.  Once your feet are wet, there seems little point in wasting time around the slippery margins.

As I headed south towards the Downs, my legs were already heavy and the thought of an extended run did not appeal.  So I turned right / west at Hayleigh Farm and headed across towards Ditchling on a soulless farm road with the wind picking up into my face.

I snuck through Ditchling, up onto Lodge Hill and around by Oldlands Mill.  Once again the path was waterlogged and the only other people I saw were struggling in wellington boots while I splished past them. 

Once onto the Keymer Road, I turned off to the water tower and across to the railway line.  The path that runs from here to the station always reminds me of Daren for some reason, probably for the visage of him disappearing kamikaze style ahead of me down a steep and extremely slippery hill… how he stayed vertical I really have no idea.

I reached the house in one hour 27 minutes after 8.8 miles… just over 6mph… and although I felt heavy legged whilst running, I feel quite sprightly now.  Stopping to take photos obviously had an impact on the split time (out at 5.66mph, return at 6.5mph) so I hope that you appreciate the photos!

As I sit writing, the Japanese Maple outside my study window is such a vivid red right now – I’ve taken a stack of photos of it and none of them capture the intensity of the colour.  This one is the closest.

Oh, and after a fine morning, the torrential rain has just started again… I’m really glad I got up when I did!

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Man Down!

It was another flat-grey, wet and slightly misty morning and I had forgotten about running until I prepped the espresso maker.  The shorts duly made another appearance and I jogged off into the surprising stillness of the world outside.

As I stretched out towards the Royal Oak, I had a sudden change of mind about where I was going and crossing the road, I headed up towards the Magical Path in the opposite direction to normal.  It really is amazing what you see and think when you look at something from a different perspective.  And, I thought as I tripped and flew through the air into the mud, what you don’t notice!  In this case, a low root.

As the seasons change, so does the environment and what was not a hazard before becomes more dangerous and visa-verse.  For example, there are always low branches to duck under, but on a flat-grey day, when they have lost their leaves, they are almost invisible against the patchwork quilt of colour behind.

The different viewpoint meant that a path that I seldom even register made itself clear to me and as a result I ran across to Hundred Acre Lane and up towards Wivelsfield for a way.  Missing the path I was aiming for I turned left onto another which took me back into the woods where I then ran right again until I reached Wivelsfield.

I realise that I am still running ‘dry style’, that is trying to keep my feet dry wherever possible.  Once the ground gets truly waterlogged I will be able to revert to ‘wet-style’, which is where I just run through the middle of the puddles with no regard for dryness.  This realisation has prompted me to think of a post for my other site which I shall write shortly.

Then it was a quick run past the Royal Oak, with it’s great memories of our Gathering last year (more so from this direction for some reason) and back to the house.  Despite the greyness of the day, the colours of autumn are glorious, so I thought it was time I showed you.

One hour and one minute was less time than I expected, but I didn’t feel as if I was running particularly fast, especially after my fall.  Distance to be confirmed later.

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Slack week, chortle chortle

I didn’t get to run last week, but I did manage to walk to work four days out of five, which is at least 8 miles in total.  Cliff was impressed, but wouldn’t let it count towards my running total… don’t know why, as I walk as quickly as he and Pete were running the other weekend!

I started the weekend with a list of tasks to do around the house, mainly because we’d not planned to do anything else.  As I cracked into them on Saturday morning, I realised that they were not chores, but rather chortles.  Discreet tasks that had been hanging around looking at me for ages, were largely straightforward and were hugely rewarding on completion.

So while Kim immersed herself in her sculpting, I was left happily mending, painting, cleaning, hanging, tidying etc.  And despite a full day on Saturday, I still managed to get out for a run.

After the bright sun of Saturday, Sunday started mild with heavy threatening clouds around the edges.  I almost didn’t run, happily reading (Nassim Taleb’s The Black Swan, a VERY thought provoking book, by the way), but then I realised I’d not have anything to write about.

Not wanting to be out for long, especially after last weekend’s 16 miler, I ran over to the Common and did a loop with several sets of knee raisers and leg flips thrown in.  Then I ran across to Wivelsfield and up Slugwash Lane, hoping to take an updated picture of the Barbie (use my Search box above to find an old picture)… alas, it’s either no longer there, or has been subsumed by the hedge, which was a good few inches taller than before.

At the top of the hill I turned left and ran past Debb’s Da’Packa’s… it was odd to hear one almost chirping (I think it was a long and worried winney) and I realised they’ve always been silent before. 

As I dropped down to Ote Hall, the heavens opened with a precursor to a long and rainy day (or so it seemed at the time) but the shower passed.

I reached the house again at 57 minutes, but I’ve not checked the map to see how far it was… 6 miles, possibly a bit more.

The weather cleared and I resumed my chortling, with Kim getting stuck into some of the tasks I really don’t like.  Overall, very productive weekend, apart from on the running front!  I thought you’d like to see how tidy the garden was though, but it was dark.

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Around the page… and some

There was a beautiful mist this morning when we got up and like yesterday morning, it was clear that the sun was working away to burn it off.

The task this morning was to run a short section of path running south from Ditchling that I’d not noticed on the map before.  In order to get there I ran down to Oldlands Mill, past my favouritist house and down to Ditchling Church.  Here I noticed a path running in the right kind of direction which took me down to New Road, just outside the village limits.  It seems an odd place to dump you out, with no onward paths and I struggle to imagine who would really use this little cut-through.

I ran down the to the junction with the Beacon road and onto the path that bisects the corner.  Narrow little path it was, twisting and turning behind the various houses (and an amazing tree-house too) until it finally reached the farmland behind.  When I got to Underhill Lane and Burnhouse Bostall, the sun was just lifting the lid on the morning and the view of the scarp slope was glorious.

I maintained a gentle jog as the bostall rose, keeping going despite the gradient.  As the slope began to flatten off, there was a curious gust of hot air, like I had just walked past a boiler flue and seconds later there was another.  The world above the mist-line was HOT and the hot air was tumbling down the slope to meet the cooler air below.  On reaching the top I just had to stop (and hold the gatepost up for a moment or three!) to admire the view.

I then decided to run to Jack & Jill & return north as directly as possible.  There are very few people who would have been able to turn me from my direct return, but Mark Johnson is one of them and he was stood at the next gate in parly with a cyclist friend of his.  He had only just started (ie, he was going in the opposite direction to me) so I turned around and ran with him.  Mark keeps a great pace and the couple of times we’ve run together, the miles just fall away with a flow of light conversation.  The same was true here and I suddenly found myself at Blackcap and the one hour thirty mark.

We parted and I retraced my steps towards the Beacon, dropping down to Plumpton Agricultural College and heading north, missing the path Northeast and thus having to turn East at Plumpton Racecourse.

I reached Streat Church just after two hours and was soon heading north on the Westmeston path… and fast running out of energy.  I made it to the ford / railway before I had to walk, but from there it was a real struggle.  I tricked myself into running by counting to 30 walking and then 60 running and repeated this all the way through Blackbrook Woods and back across the Common.

When I reached the house after 2 hours and 53 minutes I was too exhausted to even stretch, which I may come to regret and even sitting here now, some three hours later, I’m still feeling pretty weak.  The speed  for the 9 miles going out was just over 6mph, but I only managed 5.5mph on the 7.6 miles return leg.  The overall of 5.75mph is actually not bad all things considered.

The way I measure my runs, when I’m not running with someone sporting a GPS, is marking the route against the edge of an A4 sheet and I can happily report that 16.6 miles makes it all the way around and another couple of inches!  This is officially my longest run since I started my blog!

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Hats off to the Council

Occasionally, just occasionally, one has to ask the question: WHY?  On a beautiful, leafy junction of three paths near to Ditchling Common, the Council has gone to the effort of installing a steel signpost clarifying that each of the paths is a Public Bridleway.  No other information is proffered and I am bewildered as to whom this sign has been erected for. 

Clearly not the locals who enjoy the route to get away from signs of the nearby urban area.  Nor anyone with a map.  Of other possible folk who need to know that these paths are bridleways, anyone reliant on signage would get into trouble a couple of minutes later where the path splits again without the benefit of a sign.  If there is a rational reason for this particular sign, I would really like to hear it:  if it’s a good one, I will happily eat humble pie.

This morning was grey, but the sun snuck a peek under the clouds for a while and filtered gently through the trees.  Nick is currently under the weather (I wonder if he’s been snogging a recuperating Cliff) so I decided to make a run for it on my own.

I went out past the post above, keeping to the bridleway until I turned off onto a path marked with a more subtle device.  This was clearly not a bridle-path as I had to clamber over a stile… I’m sure that my keen observational skills are a benefit of having been a Boy Scout in my youth.

This mere footpath was not so much to my liking as the stinging nettles were waist high and I was wearing my shorts.  Still, I thought as a plunged on through them, at least it’ll keep my hay-fever at bay!

I passed the beautiful old church behind the Royal Oak,  crossed into Hundred Acre Wood, went up through the new wood that the Best Brothers are growing (they use simple, home-made footpath signs here for their twisty, fast-narrowing paths) and came out onto Hundred Acre Lane.

Further on I passed Lew’s place… if you read this Lew, MAN I love the contemporary structure in your garden.  The whole idea of placing a shed without a roof in the middle of a garage without a roof really appeals to my sense of artistic space! Tracey Eminen would be proud of you.

From there I ran along the magical path, passing the evolution of the once peaceful St Georges Hall into what I can only imagine will be a metropolis for the silver-haired.

As I finally beat a path home, so I had a hair-raising moment… my hat was quite literally lifted, rather gently actually, from my head.  It took a few moments to register before I turned and reached for the camera. 

Strangely, having taken the photo, I almost ran off without it!

The distance is still to be calculated (no fancy wizardry on my wrist) but the time was one hour and two minutes and despite not having run for a week, I feel pretty good, thank you very much for asking!

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Next project please!

Summer gave us a really warm goodbye last weekend and I was determined to make the most of the fine weather by finishing the teahouse.  On went the sliding door that Kim had specified and up went the edging boards.  There are still a couple of internal tasks to do, but that’ll give me something to do while I ponder the next project.

There was just about enough time on Sunday to transfer my gardening junk from the garage to the teahouse and then tidy the garage ready to take my car back in time for autumn.  Kim’s car even got henry’d and washed, but the strength in my arms gave out before I had a chance to do mine!

I would like to thank all the folk who gave help and advice, but especially Andrew from Transformations who helped me make sense of my own design and understand what woodworking joints to use, Cliff who suggested less expensive solutions for my various crazy ideas, Nathan & his team from Upstairs Downstairs who kindly treated me as if I knew what I was doing and Kim for her invaluable design inputs.  And endless cups of tea!

taa-daa! Cup of tea anyone? 
Taa-daa!  Cup of tea, anyone?
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Almost teatime

You may struggle to see what I did today, since this photo was taken after I’d spent yesterday working on it, but the tea-house is slowly progressing.  And no, Cliff, I didn’t shun my run in favour of sitting around doing nought, despite the glorious weather!

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Demolition in progress

The last time I ran with Dai it was chucking it down with rain, so it was rather appropriate that Daren, Dai and I should choose this morning to run since it was once again precipitating in-extremis.  In every other way though, it was a lovely day to go out running.  And a good day to take the orange shoes for a spin.

We headed out past Ote Hall, getting a cheery wave from the lady of the manor as she drove past, out past the pyjama-llamas (I know Debbs, they’re Packham’s Alpacas really) and down into Wivelsfield village.  Then up Hundred Acre Lane and down through the woods.  It was all so beautiful, despite the rain.

Once past the industrial estate (hey Lou, your garage is about the size of my house!) we ran down the magical path and then back across the common to home.

The orange shoes performed well by all accounts and the soles were strangely cleaner at the end, but much wetter!  There’s still little to beat running with friends (other than maybe eating breakfast with friends, or having a beer with friends).  And I found this lovely photo of Daren & Dai hanging over a five-bar gate when they were much smaller.

Seven miles took us one hour fifteen, which must be under 6mph, but only because we were gassing so much!

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The evolution of a Tea-House

Construction in the garden continued unabated this weekend, hampered only by the available hours before darkness.  It has started to take on a slight post-modernist Japanese Tea-House look, although across the whole weekend, the most enjoyable drink of the day was my morning coffee.  Although that might have been because the myriad cups of Twinings Earl Grey I consumed  were largely snatched whilst juggling tools & materials.  

By the way, Earl Grey is the post-modernist Japanese Tea-House builders tea in this house-hold!