Hike #7, part two Today is travel day back to Belfast--and it's a lovely sunny day. I needed to be on the road by 10:30 a.m. At breakfast I asked a trip leader how long he thought it might take to get to the top of Black Crag and back
Hike #7, part one Today should have been hike #7, however another sketchy forecast (high winds, periods of heavy rain) made me reconsider my options. I leave tomorrow for Belfast, returning to a backlog of work and a busy schedule. I thought about the two pre-departure posts titled 'Overdrive' and thought better
Black Crag and Tarn Hows Heavy rain during 7:30 a.m. breakfast and a poor forecast (afternoon heavy rain and thunder) was not a promising start to the day. However hikers are hopeless optimists and off we trotted. The skies had cleared by our 9:15 a.m. start for option 2. I declined
Free day #2 My only job today was to get from Derwent Bank house to Monk Coniston house on Coniston Water, about a 50 minute drive. I started with a 15 minute walk from Derwent Bank house through the woods to the next estate, Lingholm Estate, where Beatrix Potter spent her holidays as
Place Fell As I said, option 2 today, eight miles, 2200 feet of ascent. We had a bright sunny day all day, so I couldn't resist a morning shot from the back terrace. We took a coach ride through the farms and glens leading to Ullswater. The views on the
Bleaberry Fell and High Seat Today I did another option 3, despite weather that was at times grim. We started with a climb above Derwent Water, with Keswick seen on the right. We had our elevenses in the shelter of a sheep fold due to it being a bit windy. The ascent was not nice
Derwent Fells Today's hike was advertised as 9 miles, 3300 feet of ascent. Except it was 11.5 miles and more than 3300. It was the number 3 hike, the hardest, and was harder than many of us expected. It started innocently enough. The description: "We venture out to
Free day HF gives you a day off from hiking, that being today. Me being me, I covered a lot of ground, starting with a Neolithic stone circle. At 5,000 years old, it's about 1,000 years older than its Bronze Age cousins. Read more here. I gave a
Glenderaterra Valley Whenever I look at Derwent Water, I think of Yeats' poem about low sounds lapping by the shore. Anyway, today I did the medium walk, 10.5 miles. "Walk from the village of Threlkeld into the lonely valley of Glenderaterra Beck (sic). We follow a terraced path high
Catbells Terrace Before I did the Catbells Terrace hike, I went down to the lake to enjoy the morning version of this idyll. A family of swans was also enjoying the morning. I took hike 1, the shortest, to see how my Achilles got on, with its padded inserts. Trip description: "
Old boots I am writing from aboard a Stena ferry. We are just pulling out of Belfast port. The downside of being in perpetual motion is I never catch up. On anything. Perfect example is my hiking boots. I bought them two years ago in Wales when my old boots failed the
Overdrive, part two Another week of foot-to-the-floor activity. During the day Mon-Thur, I struggled through a 32 page paper on the private debt market, arguing with the author over what should and should not be in the executive summary. Fun times. I played social golf after work Monday and in a foursomes competition
Overdrive This week has been a bit nuts. I attribute it to summertime – there's a lot on and I can't resist the buffet of options. Work has been busy so having something after work every day has left me a bit tapped out. Monday was book club
Borris, part three On the morning before we left, I took a few photos of lovely Inistioge. We visited a few neighbouring towns on the way home last night – each one charming. I like the man and his dog on the window of the local pub. A lovely rose garden along the side
Borris, part two The reason for the road trip was the Borris Festival of Books and Ideas. I've always wanted to go and jumped at the chance when Ann invited me. This meant I missed Lady Captain's Day at Shandon, most important day on the golf calendar. But you
Borris, part one On Friday I headed to Inistioge in County Kilkenny with Ann O'Dwyer and her friend Susan (roughly three hours south of Belfast). First stop was Altamont Garden not too far from our BnB. Lots and lots of lovely roses. There was a lake covered with lily pads, a
Nina Wednesday was the Pro Bono Choir at Stormont, made up of members of the Northern Ireland bar and legal society. Thursday was golf at Belvoir Park, where I did the women into golf programme in 2017-2019. I had never played the full 18 holes until today b/c I was
1 for 3 Friday was my first round of the McKee Cup – a five-round competition that I won last year. My opponent had a much higher handicap so I had to give her 18 shots, meaning I had to be in the hole in two shots less than her to win a hole.
Golf X Four Instead of just the Tuesday weekly competition at my golf club, this week it was Tuesday and Thursday. My goal last year was to have a round of under 100. My lowest was 102. This year I've been hitting more like 110-115. However Tuesday I played a blinder
Sheina is a swing dancer The title is my lame play on a song title: "Sheena is a punk rocker." My friend Sheina turned 60 recently and Saturday night was her birthday party. I know her from swing dance, from which I've been absent for about four years, but they were
The Challenging Cup Saturday was the match against Rockmount--the Challenge Cup. I didn't play well on Friday so went to a driving range Saturday morning. Then the match at 4 pm. We had three matches at Shandon and two at Rockmount. I was off first this year b/c I had
Lists This weekend was the second four-day weekend in a row, due to Monday government holidays and my usual Fridays off. It was a lost opportunity to get away somewhere (Donegal? Budapest?) but I stayed rooted because I had a lot to do. Here's my weekend list (there'
The Class of 62 Me trying to be funny--I was born in 1962 and my birthday is 27 April. So I worked Thursday (my birthday), fourth editing round of Robeco's net-zero case study. Thursday evening collected co-editor Rachael, who traveled from Edinburgh by train/bus/ferry. We had dinner at Common Market
The Class of ‘81 Friday went to see a play called Billy Boy about a bonfire builder. I so dislike bonfires that I thought I might benefit from understanding this subculture. My takeaway was it is an outlet for testosterone- and alcohol-laden lads more than anything political or sectarian. But of course the drug
Agreement, Part Two Monday night was book club, where we discussed the excellent Andrea Levy book The Long Song about slavery in Jamaica. I spent Tuesday at Queen's, which hosted three days of events related to the 25th Anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. Monday's events featured the Clintons, Tony