Bog Glorious Bog!! - Third training walk from Horton to Kettlewell....

My shoes started life in grey.....!

Just me and James today and we decided to walk from Horton to Kettlewell, a 20+ mile stretch but we only managed 18.  Once again, fantastic weather, cold but bright and sunny.  Beautiful views and there was also quite a bit of snow and some ice!

A slow climb at the start, which gradually evened out onto a flat route...  However, we underestimated the time it would take us to get back to Kettlewell and also did not expect so much of the route to be so boggy!!  This held us back and meant we were not going to be in Kettlewell at the time James' parents had so kindly offered to pick us up... in fact we were delayed potentially by two hours!!  We had no reception on our mobile phones from about lunchtime so we were at a loss as to how we could contact them.  When we got to Buckden we even considered running what we could to make time up but out of nowhere a bus appeared and stopped in front of us (the driver assumed we were waiting for a bus!!!) and luckily it was going to Kettlewell so we hopped on it for the last 4 miles, keeping our eyes peeled for the Swiffen's car ready to wave frantically in case they had began making their way to Buckden to catch us en route!!!

It was my turn to take the 'fall's today (finally, to James' amusement!).  I lost most of my leg in the snow at one point and in trying to step out I lost the other one in it too, it wasn't obvious how deep some of it was!  I think I also finally lost the waterproofing on my shoes today, my feet were soaked from about 11 miles in!

Another enjoyable walk with funny moments!

View of Whernside and Ingleborough with snowy tops!

To turn or not to turn?

Snowy path

Deepdale

Statistics for today below, recorded on my garmin - once again ignore the last few miles, I forgot to stop my watch again until we got into the car!

Valentine's Fundraising!!

Our first official 'mini' attempt at fundraising came in the theme of Valentine's and thanks to the baking efforts of the team and other friends and colleagues at work we had a fantastic spread of goodies to offer, including two novelty cakes for bidding (heart shaped chocolate cake box of chocolates and a cupcake bouquet - my very own first attempts!) and a range of cakes, fudge, muffins and kanenbullar (Swedish cinnamon buns!).

Cupid, draw back your bow...!

Thanks to the generosity of our friends and colleagues in the IT department we raised up to £120!

Statistics from our second training walk

Recorded on my garmin.  Kettlewell to Skipton :-)  The last two miles don't count because we were in the car on the way back to pick up my car at Kettlewell (I forgot to turn my watch off!).

Saturday 2nd February - Our second training walk from Kettlewell to Skipton

I've been so busy I haven't found the time to blog much, but better late than never!

For our second walk we decided to go a little further but still stay local to Skipton so we decided to start at Kettlewell and walk back to Skipton, just over 17 miles.

Picking James up again first thing we met Julie at our work's car park before I drove us all to Kettlewell.  We were just three today and the weather was just perfect yet again.  Cool but sunny and clear!  The route was a little undulating, not as hard as our first walk but quite icy and boggy in places making it quite difficult to stay upright at times!  We stopped for a spot of lunch in the picturesque village of Hetton and even acquired a stray dog along the way somehow!!

Another enjoyable walk and it was Julie's turn to take the "falls", she was one mucky pup by the end of the day!!

Not long after we set off - how did the traffic cone get up there??

View from the top of Coniston Moor

Another lovely view!

We came across a farm before the last stretch back to Skipton and after cooing at the highland cows and a dog we believed belonged to the farmers it started following us and after numerous attempts to direct it back to the farm it kept running back to us and walking alongside us.  We decided we'd have to call the RSPCA or take it to a local vet when we got back to Skipton but it eventually starting following another walker who had their own dog to look after... A day for meeting strange animals....!

New member of the team!!

Sheep doing intervals between trees!!

We saw a flock of sheep behaving really strangely, they'd run from one tree to another and back again, again and again.  This is where I stood still totally mesmerised by it all and Julie and James laughed, picturing night time and I'd still be stood there staring at the sheep having not moved an inch!

The very familiar view of Sharphaw and Rough Haw

Highland cows posing again!