I in the meantime have splashed out on my new bike which will hopefully get me both up and down the hills.  The picture is a photo of the new bike with the Captains Road rising up into the hills behind it.  This is the first of the hills on the route of the Triathlon. I am making the most of the fine weather out on it.  Before long I will go off road!!

We are doing this as a team relay, the Cappercleuch Crazy Gang.  Thought not that crazy that we are doing the whole thing!

The team:  Barbara is doing the 750m open water swim, I am doing the bike ride, 15km, and Rob, our neighbour,  has agreed to do the 5km run.

We will continue to post updates on the ups and downs of our training, as well as the event.  We are now waiting for Michael & Laura to confirm their entry!

Although very cold the path up by the waterfall was not covered with ice which made it a very pleasant walk.  Because of the warm winter so far the Loch was not frozen either which was a bit unexpected

Saturday arrived with torrential rain showers.  We were late arriving as we were slowed so much by the heavy rain on the M74 (that and the fact that we set of late!)

We set off in the rain but we decided that if the weather did not improve we could do a shorter walk.  The weather did clear so we kept on going to the top

Going Up

The route was a bit hairy in places with scrambles over rocks not good for Misty but she did very well. The scree slope to the top was not very nice either. The amazing thing was the number of people. 100′s making their way up and down the different paths! Most seem to have done the quick route up from Wasdale.  All shapes & sizes & equipment.

On the top

Coming down we had to negotiate the scree again followed by a boulder field.  Again not very good for Misty (or us!) .  The further down the hill we got the path improved along with the cloud lifting slightly giving us lovely views over Derwent Water and Skidaw.

Good views on the way down

Arrived back to the cars at around7.00.  Getting a bit dark so we timed it perfectly to get the best weather of the day.  Finished  with a pint of guinness & fish & chips in Keswick before the drive home.

scafell 24 sept 2011

After the continuous inclement weather we chose a beautiful day to go up Dollar Law from Cramalt by the Megget Reservoir. Most of the way is on a track which to our surprise has been extended so the steep section is no longer boggy deep grass, making life very easy.

We could have stayed all day having lunch in the sun with not a breath of wind. Misty enjoyed herself running around taking in the view.

On to the top where we had fabulous views over the Firth of Forth, the Cheviot and the Eldon Hills

Down the same way – a great walk

Why Scrabster, our sister in law, Donella’s father lives there and he said he would look after the bike until we were able to get back for it.  A very pleasant hour or so of Caithness hospitality (now we know where you get in from Donella!!!!) before we got on the X99 Scrabster to Inverness Bus. From inverness we had 3 1/2 hours on the bus to Edinburgh where we were picked up by Susan who cooked us a beautiful lasagne before driving home.

On the way home we were taking bets on the Gazebo after the wind that we had at the beginning of the week. Of course it had blown down but a big thanks to Richard and Peter of the fishing club for tidying it up for us.

All that was left to do this evening was to have a couple of wee drams to reflect on the 1021 miles which we have cycled during this adventure.  We did good!!!!!