Spring Lambs

Every year I have to see if I can still manage to complete the Church Mountain route. Because I am not getting any younger. I won't claim that I ran all the way, but I did make it there and back, barefoot of course. Nothing new about the route but still delightful there, up and down, apart from the drudgery of the return along minor roads some with loose chippings (ouch!): 14.7 miles, average speed moving 3.8mph, elevation gain 561m, total time taken 3:50, and made it back in just enough time for a quick shower before dinner. Oh, and I stopped at the summit for no more than a minute or so, long enough only to exchange pleasantries with a young couple there.

My track

Here are some photos including one of spring lambs!

Loose chippings

Whoever said that they could run on any surface barefoot probably hasn't tried the roads around here. The local council have, bless their best intentions, have been very active this year in "improving" our roads. It seems like they have a job-lot of Vulgan coarse sharp loose chippings and want to use them wherever.  First the road to the lake was chipped - this takes a reasonable flow of traffic and after a couple of months the surface is just about negotiable barefoot though the residual chips can still be painful.  This same road in the other direction has a few limited patches of chippings in much the same state.

The road beyond Tulfarris, however, has recently been done and even my son-in-law, who runs these roads with trainers on, complains of the chips!  And now to totally ring-fence me they are working on what we call Eagle's Lane (though the eagles have long gone). They have scraped away the lovely soft grass from the middle and clearly plan to do the chip thing. These last two roads carry very little traffic so I imagine it will be a long while before they are easily navigable again barefoot.

The process - hot tar is spread and then the chipping are poured on generously. Some of them stick, the rest remain loose. I find it almost impossible to even pick my way slowly across this surface (barefoot) and, if I do, I end up with tar on my feet which then transfers to the shower tray.

But I will not give up.