5h Coniston to Ambleside Run : Lads weekend

Last weekend was our second annual winter weekend away in the Lakes. Returning to Coniston, mainly due to the YHA and the decent selection of pubs more than anything else ! It was great to meet up and have a good ole chin wag, but it's always a balancing act between too much beer on Saturday night and the quality of the run on Sunday too !

Thankfully, neither were compromised this year and after too many beers on Sat night, I headed up into the gloomy murk hanging over the lakes last Sunday. Picking small trods up Wetherlam, the going was good training. Sadly, the descent off NNE was very slippery on rocks so I was reduced to less than a walk. Over Blea Tarn, up to Stickly Ghyll, up to near Seargent Man, then down Blea Rigg to what I thought would have been Elterwater kind of area. Sadly, I'd headed too far left, so was surprised to see the far end of Grasmere lake which meant another mile or so. Legs felt great so that wasn't really a problem. Met up with the others in the best tea shop in Ambleside by a mile - Rattle Gill.  I had the best salad (yes, salad) I've ever had along with the most chocolatey Rocky Road ever too. What a top spot. Run was just under 20 miles and 5,000ft, but due to the slippy nature felt a lot more. Shoes were fine ... ON THE RUN. Read onto next blogpost to find the sting in the tail of my new inov8's...