2LANCS-FSG

http://www.justgiving.com/2LANCS-FSG-MUNRO-CHALLENGE

He who cant be named is taking part (read organising) an epic race up and down two Munros next weekend. Please click on link above and if you feel inclined make a small donation. Its for charity mate!

No oil painting

 Apologies to those of a weak disposition but here is proof that Movember is over. No longer do I look like a fat cop extra on a 70s TV show, I have returned to normal (ahem) thanks to some deft razor action I am now devoid hairy hanger on. Offers of money for me to keep it a day longer fell on deaf ears and the second I got home, after saying hello to my beautiful and oh so patient wife, little t and the critters I took off to the bathroom and removed the most annoying facial hair ever. I raised about £97 for charity. So it was worth it in the end.

The 30 30 finished too. Out with a bang a new personal best lvl 18 cycle cross 18.6 km System of a Down Mesmerise

Monthly total 405 km

Nearly done

Thank God its nearly finished. Not the 30 30 or Christmas Dinner (above), but Movember. 1 more day of having this miserable hairy maggot perched on my top lip. I have never been more irritated (except when Nick Clegg sold out) and would rather stub my little toe non stop for a month than go through the torture of having a hairy top lip. Totally unappealing and got to be unhygienic and why did everyone decide to serve me soup for a laugh. No. Tomorrow its over. Money raised. Job done. Can't wait to cut myself shaving it off.

Day 29 30 30 lvl 16 hill 13.4 km Rainbow Rainbow Rising.

Bad Moon Rising

 As the clever bods who thought blowing up the moon as a display of military might didn't get their way tonight's moon was full which as we all know is the cue for all lycanthropes to congregate and create mayhem until they wake up naked in the local zoo, temporarily hid their embarrassment behind some poor kids balloons before hightailing it home in an ill fitting red ladies coat. So I was extra cautious on my way round to the Technohermit to deliver his stoup for dinner (stoup is not stew or soup but a cunning mix of the two, totally delicious) not to make too much noise just in case any werewolves were about.

 My posse of Berners on the other paw made enough noise to attract (or scare away) all creatures of the night and one by the ghost house (don't look back) scared the life out of me by making hideous crunching noises in the darkness ahead.

Once I activated  my new toy, a super duper Moon Meteor light, smaller than a box of matches, 200 lumen power, 3 hour battery life and recharges from your PC, ideal for all cyclists scared of wolfmen, the chilling bone crunching sound turned out to be nothing more sinister than the Berners eager to get their 5 a day  tucking into fallen apples.

Hanging around

When I finally got to where I was supposed to be today after fighting my way through flood, other drivers who thought their car would explode if they went faster than 26.2 mph, market traders, big issue sellers, queued with what looked like the cast of Shameless to be told that I needed to be across the road, through the double doors, up both sets of stairs, along the corridor, double back, take a left and follow the white rabbit running with a stop watch, right at the Holy Grail and provided the moon had aligned with Uranus the door would open and the meeting was in there.
Probably.
The fact that the building served as a market place, council offices and theatre meant I managed to get well and truly lost and having pressed a big button marked "Don't Panic" a very nice young lady appeared, as if by magic, dressed in a blue pinafore dress, and asked if she could help.
"Where the hell am I and wheres this meeting I am supposed to be at?" I gabbled after kicking the white rabbit down the stairs, his constant "I'm late I'm late" was wearing thin.
She smiled and said that as far as she knew the meeting was over. I knew I was late, but only minutes late. The rabbit appeared back at the top of the stairs, I wiped the smirk off his face with a well aimed shot of a stale bun marked eat me. "Over? How so?"
 "It started two hours ago" she said toying with the lid of a bottle marked drink me "I'm so sorry didn't they tell you?" she added with all the sincerity of Nick Clegg.
"Clearly not."
"Sorry, its so annoying when that happens, would you like some tea?"
But I was already trying to find a way out of the strange world I had just landed in.
From the looks of the ceiling I wasn't the only on hanging around.


Day 27 30 30 lvl 14 night ride 13.6 km Cheap Trick Live at the Budokhan disc 2

Another day trudging through knee deep mud taking supplies to critters trying to shelter from the worst of the elements. Not feeling 100%, wet through, knowing that the same wet gear will have to be put on later in the day to repeat the process was such a cheery thought. And then I remembered what was for breakfast and suddenly the world was a better place. Yesterdays epic pork haul was rewarded by the gift of strawberry jam made by the pig clubbers from their very own strawberries from their very own allotment. It should have been labelled sunshine in a jar as it was fantastic and a real mood lifter. It didn't dry out my clothes or change the weather but it made me happy.

Water torture

 After a wild night weather wise it was a bit of a shock to find blue skies and white icing over Rock HQ. At four in the morning the rain was hammering the cottage roof hard enough to wake yours truly so the sudden drop in temperature was most unexpected, as was this, a baby river, running through the yard

 I was on a  mission today, to drop off a pig jigsaw to a pig club fan and fetch essential DIY materials back to HQ. From the start the signs were that this was going to be an interesting journey.

 Two villages downhill saw the conditions more suited to boats rather  than Miranda who's off road capability does not extend to floats. A slight detour was needed.

 Which took us here, to some very unhappy motorists who had not heeded the advice given by the AA, stay at home and don't take your car swimming.

 Further on things did not improve.

And then the rain started. Again. Cheering us all up as its been so dry this year. Had this been on the outward bound journey I might have aborted the mission and headed to high ground but in a spectacular act of dullness I put my phone on the spare wheel of Miranda, thinking to self that's a dull place to put a phone, and then began the epic cross country trek.
At first flood thought ah, must take a picture, oops.
Check rear view mirror, spare wheel deficit phone.
No way of alerting those expecting a meaty puzzle that I was marooned, and more importantly no way of recording epic trek for posterity, I pressed on. At pig club rendezvous I parked up and in a moment of sheer inspiration (or wild optimism) I checked wheel carrier on the just in case principle. There hanging on for dear life was my little Nokia and drivers were treated to the sight of yours truly gurning by the roadside as he tried to force his hand through a hole more suited to a shrew to retrieve precious communication device. Once circulation had returned to end of limb I managed to deliver pork based product and then made my way via a local DIY store to HQ. Mission success. And I didnt even get my feet wet!

Day 25 30 30 lvl 8 flatliner 12km An eclectic mix of random tunes ranging from the massed bands of the guards to motorhead.

Friends reunited

 Apollo came back from training school today

 he arrived with his own packed lunch

and Will.I.Am was very pleased to see him, provided he didn't have to share his dinner.
Man test of the day was to move another bale of straw, this one was 3x the size of the usual round bale, some 12 foot by five by four. All had to be broken down into bite sized chunks and stored or distributed to soggy critters. Naturally for this to be any sort of test I had to wait until it was dark and pouring with rain before I began. It would have been no fun otherwise.

Day 24 30 30 lvl 14 cycle cross 14.4 km The Cult Love

Pork Tsunami

I was talking to another smallholder at lunchtime who, like me, had spent part of yesterday evening slip sliding away in knee deep mud and horizontal rain carrying rations to critters and all the time wondering why. What were we doing with our lives and where was our nice clean central heated town house? I was glad to find it wasn't only me that harboured such dark thoughts and then found that in the morning sunshine they disappeared. Unlike the trillion gallons of water that feel from the sky. That's currently cascading down the Bonsai Mountain and while the problems it causes here pale into insignificance compared to the news reports of lost lives, land slides and daring rescues, our pigs are pretty upset that a drain they blocked diverted a raging torrent into their stalls. By the time I arrived with breakfast parts of the pig pen was already 1 foot underwater and the tidal wave of pork and water that I created by opening the door was a sight to behold. Nothing could be done to remedy the situation until end of play today when yours truly spent another couple of hours unblocking drain, digging new ditch and straining pork from fast flowing stream.

Day 23 30 30 lvl 16 hill training 14.4 km Ramstein Mutter

Lost in music

 Its not often we escape from Rock HQ but last night was one such night and as where we went didn't allow any form of mechanical or electrical picture taking music copying device there are no pictures of where we were. Except that I took this one of the band from the TV advertising the gig, so its my photo, I think, anyway we went to see Show of Hands, a folk duo (although there are three of them for the current tour) and despite the fact that I am a die hard heavy metal fan and have the tinnitus to prove it following a Saxon gig where I got stuck in the bands right hand bass speakers (an incident totally unrelated to alcohol honest) I have now seen this folk band more times than I have seen Metallica. First on stage were a strange duo, this time two of them, called Matt Gordon and Leonard Podolak who entertained the masses with an eclectic mix of fiddle, harmonica, banjo, footstomping and hamboning. With a repertoire of songs that included Thats My Rabbit, My Dog Killed It and Push That Pigs Foot A Little Further In The Fire their Appalachian  music was so good that I bought the CD. Or rather I didn't, it was bought for me, more of that later.
Then the main act came on, Steve Knightly (centre) Phil Beer (not the red head) and Miranda (shes the red head) were excellent. Time flew by as they played most of the new album, Wake The Union (not Wake the Onion as one reviewer wrote, also its track Cruel River not Cruel Rivet) and a selection of the old "hits"
Once we were musiked out and forced to leave the theatre we decided to make the most of our freedom by having a late night curry. This is where it got really interesting.

 As when we arrived the restaurant was totally empty, never a good sign, but we settled to popadoms and chatted over diet cokes when who should arrive but the band. Sat on the next table. Totally star struck and not wanting to gate crash their late dinner I sneaked this pic of one of the best singer song writers still breathing as he ordered 100 pints of lager and 4 popadoms (well Radio 2 were paying)

Eventually I persuaded Beth to take the CD's she had bought me over to Mr Knightly, or Steve as I call him and get his autograph (Matt and Leonard had already signed theirs for me). This he did but I think Beth made him feel a tad old when he asked if she had enjoyed the gig, she had she replied and then she told him she had seen him 15 years ago and enjoyed that one too.

Day 21 30 30 lvl 16 cycle cross training 18.3 km Greatest Workout CD3

Day 22 30 30 training, cardio endurance, 12.3 km Queen Jazz

Lucky escape

 It was late Sunday evening that my beautiful and oh so patient wife told me I should look for a lost lamb. She had been out on Will.I.Am and both had ventured to the land of the Technohermit and from her high vantage point had spotted a wooly back that looked stuck. I on the other hand floundering around in the dark with a torch that threw as useful a beam of light as a badgers arse totally failed to find any life form in the wire and dutifully reported back that all was well.

Clearly all was not well and poor Wooly (Tigs brother) remained stuck fast until today when yours truly decided to finish a report at home and in so doing was able to wander up the Bonsai Mountain ostensibly to get his thoughts in order but mostly it was having a bit of a skive while there was some day light and as I was borrowing the remaining apples from an unattended tree heard the plaintive bleat of a distressed Ryeland. Eventually the source was traced to this poor chap and after much huffing an puffing (and I was grateful at one stage as I straddled him gripping him with my knees and pulling his ears that there was no one around with a camera to take a picture that would have reinforced all stereotypical thoughts about what happens to sheep on the Welsh hills) little Wooly was able to toddle off to find more impossibly small gaps to try and squeeze through.

Day 20 30 30 lvl 14 hill training 10.5 km Porcupine Tree The Incident

Riding high

 For some obscure reason I have been taken seriously as a cyclist. This might be because I took to two wheels like a duck to chainsawing before young Mr Wiggins raced into the headlines. So much so in fact that I have been asked to form an ad hoc cycling club, which is a nice idea, but how it would cater for all wanna be racers and MAMIL pub dawdlers remains to be seen. Meanwhile my attempts to get uber fit for next years epic challenge goes on and yesterday morning in the freezing cold sunshine saw yours truly on his first "club" ride (if two people can be a club) It also showed me how far I have to go in my quest for cycling greatness as my cycle buddy has recently been and done a few miles around Europe. If over 2000 can be called a few that is. So we cantered around the sun filled dry tarmac until we were bounced by a bandit tandem that came screaming out of the sun.

 The lead rider shouted across as they went past in a blur of blue and red elasticated fabric clad limbs (lets face it its not a cool dressed sport pastime is it?) "Shorts in this weather that's hard core!" by the time I had recovered my senses and was climbing back into my skin that I had jumped out of the rear gunner on the tandem got me with a burst of "You know it wrong don't you!" Breaking all the rules I left my wingman and raced after the bandits to seek vengence for their fashionista slurs. Momentarily they were in my sights but I peeled off when they revealed that they were on their way to Milton Keynes (140 miles away) today, they don't call it long distance cycling for nothing was the parting shot. I circled while my oppo caught up and we took off in another direction. They were out for a jolly, 160 miles of jolly. Good luck. But that's as far as I need to get in a day and climb a mountain. 3 days in a row.

 Back at the ranch other riders sallied forth into the sunfest. My beautiful and oh so patient wife felt well enough to put Chester through his paces. Then little t had a go, start em young. Theres plenty of growing room.

William also got a trip out, I was supposed to take him but sanity prevailed and I got on with the mucking out while MBAOSPW did the mucking about. I know my place.

Day 18 30 30 Lvl 14 hill training 11.3km Porcupine Tree  In Absentia.

Day 19 30 30 Lvl 14 night ride 14.3 km Electric Six Electric Six

Something new

 Hmmmm Whats this, whats it for, why is it here?

Doesn't seem to do much does it?

Sausages

 Say Cheese

Erm....the computers broke....


Sausages seem to be the order of the day for a few families, some pig club fans  have had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner and sent me text messages and pic messages of their pan fried pork products along with comments like oh my god what a taste sensation. Did I join in this celebration of the banger?
 Not me chef, I got behind chasing, or was I behind, chasing, anyway whatever, I got so behind chasing two live pigs up and down the smallholding that I missed breakfast, got so wrapped up in work that lunch was a handful of dolly mixtures and a piece of lemon pancotta (not sure if that's right but it was a nice lemon cake donated along with a life saving cuppa) until end of play saw me head back up the track, close the gate to the world and tuck into my supper which was a ham sandwich. Tomorrow I get stuck in to my share of the sausages. Thanks Rosie.

Day 16 30 30 lvl 12 hill training 10.3 km Isles of Wonder music from the Olympics.

Whole lotta Rosie!

 The world was put back in order today. For about a week I was wondering how the butcher who was reducing pig club pigs into bite sized portions had had such a personality transplant. And here he was in all his baldy testosterone driven goodness yelling at me that "We're shut til two!!" and as I looked at my watch he continued bouncing on the spot pointing with a knife "Yeah that's right mate two!" Whatsyernameanyway!!" I told him four times, each time he didn't hear me as he was yelling "Eh?" Finally above the rabid cacophony he shouted "You don't want me you want Steve anyway" and slammed the door. The man collecting a lamb carcass looked at me and sighed, climbed slowly back into his car and prepared to wait until two. I went round the back in search of Steve.
Strange folk lurk round the back of slaughter houses, and as most are armed its best not to annoy them.
"Im looking for Ste.... "a troll pointed the way with a blood stained blade, I followed, through a door "I'm loo..."
"You want Steve?" barked another troll, confused by the sunlight and the complex task of creating smokeable roll up without too much blood on it, he jerked half a thumb over his shoulder, I squeezed past him to another door, I paused and steadied myself raising my fist to knock. It swung wide and a giant of a man looked down at me rubbing his bristly chin "Hmmmmmmmm. I didn't think I knew you" he said in a not too unfriendly manner (compared to the we shut at two opening gambit) Before I could ask how did he know who I was anyway (best not ask he had a collection of sharp things on his belt and the red stuff from several leaking animals all over him)
"You want your pigs eh?" (again how does he know these things?) and off he went returning carrying four pig jigsaws, two in each hand (have I mentioned he was a giant?)
Miranda suitably weighed down I counted out gold sovereigns into his massive palm and he told me his tale. Steve works at the slaughterhouse, but as a hobby cuts up dead things, so somehow my order for pig club was given to him. That was why when he was off last week no one else cut up my pigs. I was happy, a nice gentle giant who agreed to cut up all the rest of our pigs, he was happy as he had more gold to put at the top of the bean stalk.
Miranda and I drove back, how had this happened, well the answer is simple, shouty man is also called Steve. The paperwork I gave in to the abattoir had Dear Steve at the top, one of the trolls got confused and gave it to nice Steve. Hence nice phone call. And expertly cut up joints bagged ready for action, not like shouty Steve who shoves the pig puzzle all in one big bag.

So this is Rosie, we like Rosie.

The top pic is what each pig club member is getting.

Day 15 30 30 lvl 14 night ride 13.4 km The Darkness Hot cakes

Handle with care

The Ryelands have taken to extreme measures in pursuit of the calorie. Given the poor quality of  the mountain grass and lack of other greenery they are very keen to supplement their diet by any means fair or foul. Most mornings the gauntlet of ravenous woolly backs has to be run, experience has taught that they should be fed first, at a location far enough away from the food store to keep them out of harms way (that's my harm not theirs) but not so far that you get trampled in the excited woolly melee as they try and sample the contents of the bucket. The contents of the bucket also need to be enough to keep the slavering beasts chomping while yours truly gets around the rest of the critters unhindered. Several of the little flockers have spotted and exploited an opportunity, rushing the feed store while the breakfast is laid out for the more well mannered members of the flock. A lonely pathetic triever tried to hold them off but she was overwhelmed by numbers and soon the assortment of feedstuffs was rapidly reducing. In wades yours truly grabbing belligerent sheep and evicting them, except taking hold of one was a tad on the painful side prompting much Celtic language, and even though this skirmish took place at 06.45, at 22.09 my right hand still smarts.
The Ryelands are using terror weapons. Each of the three insurgents had, and I would say deliberately, rolled, walked in, slept on, whatever, but the upshot was, each naughty sheep had a liberal coating of stinging nettles in their fleece. This delayed the eviction by .5 of a second but a line has now been crossed in the breakfast wars. I will have my revenge, in this life or the next!

Day 14 30 30 lvl 16 cycle cross 17.3 km Metallica S+M disc 2

Coming Home!

A very nice man phoned today to tell me that pig club porkers are ready for collection. As is Rosie far right, theres a whole lot of Rosie to collect, around 180lb of sausage.

Movember is getting me down, the constant irritation of the hairy caterpillar on my upper lip is driving me nuts, and everywhere I go for lunch seems to be soup based which is just unhygienic. Still its for a good cause, anyone wishing to donate any amount of money please use the donate button on the right and put on the donation Movember, it all goes to cancer charities.

Day 13 30 30 lvl 16 hill training cadence workout 100rpm min, 13.4km Metallica S+M

Its late

 It was cartoon dogs turn to cause bother again today. While newbie Ripley takes over the household Missy decided to go on manoeuvres and on a day where I absolutely without fail had to be at my desk on time, Missy put paid to that plan by sneaking off with Preston and raiding The Oracles dog food store where gallant Jess, and elderly border collie (say elderly, she is a mere whipper snapper compared to the 21 year old beagle) tried to alert the world that her bowl was being emptied by the raiders. Me in my bestest togs then faced with a dilemma, ignore dogs and drive to work risk dogs following Vic and getting squished, while this had its merit as a plan it might lead to trouble back at HQ if it became known that I had been so cavalier about the fate of my beautiful and oh so patient wife's number one birthday present. So with the aid of Vic I marshaled the mutley's back along the track where we were met by MBAOSPW who foolishly answered the phone and agreed to collect the beasts thus ensuring I was only late rather than very late.

Day 11 30 30 lvl 12 pacemaker 12.4km Made In America

                                    Day12 30 30 lvl 16 cycle cross 17.4 km U2 18

Numbers up

The day started well enough, the mists of mellow fruitfulness an all that malarkey was in full swing,

little t got over the shock of finding the pups all gone, except one called Ripley. See the dog blog to see the closing ceremony of Team GB and their departures.

So it was an ideal sunny morning to go for a trot around the Bonsai Mountain with Spotty. We had hoped that info sent via carrier pigeon sent by Technohermit would prove false but as we got to Sleepy Hollow we could see Roxy in her final resting place. Roxy, for those who don't know, is the most accident prone Ryeland ewe ever created and has had to be dragged from the grip of the Grim Reaper a number of times. She has been found upside down on the point of death and harassed by crows in our field, upside down in the yard, on the Bonsai Mountain, on the ridge, has had dead lambs extracted by the vet, been pulled from fences, ate so much she nearly exploded and almost got run over when she fell in front of Rene. Each time she returned from the brink of extinction and carried on eating. We used to joke that she had 9 lives. Seems they were all used up.

Thankfully there were no dramas to her eventual demise, it seems she just lay down for the final sleep last night, I saw her at 7.30pm upright in the lane, but today at noon she was a bit farther along and very prone. So 002 of our flock, for she was our second sheep,( Crispen is still here in Goatanamo, 001), has now joined Rita and Rosie who went to the eternal pastures a while ago. Roxy would have been around 9 years old so had a good innings for a sheep so she cant complain.
Neither can we, after an incredibly trying week, and one where my beautiful and oh so patient wife frightened us to death by becoming very ill, some friends turned up bearing a gift they had made. It was supposed to be given in a few weeks when Red Kite moved to its new location, instead they thought we needed a boost now and so presented us with this lovely hand made Red Kite Tree. Its good to have your faith in people reaffirmed. 

Day 10 30 30 lvl 12 pace maker 11.8 km The Darkness One Way Ticket To Hell And Back

Bucket not included

Vic is on the market for a new home, one careful owner, then me, low mileage compared to Voyager II, bargain but the buckets not included.
Its been a mad week, my beautiful and oh so patient wife is getting better so thanks to everyone who has sent messages, flowers and chocs. Little t really enjoyed the chocs. Tomorrow the other two members of team GB go to their forever homes and then peace will descend on Rock HQ once more. Tranquillity will reign and we will get some time to concentrate on the jobs list. Progress will be made. Logs will be stored. Fences repaired. Drains dug. Gates hung. Water tanks re sited. Raised beds raised. Life will be plain sailing once more. Pigs will also fly, Nick Clegg will regain his popularity and Father Christmas will be found with Glenn Miller in a recording studio.

Day 9 30 30 lvl 12 cycle cross 14.5km Mike Oldfield Elements

Birthday treats

It was grandma's birthday today so we got cake. We like cake!

Bad news for pig club, the butcher phoned today and the pigs are still in one piece on account of him being too ill to wield a knife! Sausage fest cancelled until next week.

Day 8 30 30 lvl 12 11.1km Alternative 80's Album

Busted!

 With his mum still very poorly little t decided to help her out by eating some chocs lying around. Very helpfully he sampled quite a few, biting them in half and putting a half carefully back in the box.

So many chocolates, so little time!

Day 7 30 30 lvl 15 night ride (you can't see whats coming) 12.2km Radiohead Best of Radiohead

Riding High

 Having learnt the lessons the hard way of pig transporting, and because the whole day was timed to the minute there being so many appointments to keep, not to mention the fact that pig club supporters are making a bee line for Rock HQ this weekend, it being the national sausage week and all, nothing was left to chance today. First light saw heavy metal being moved into place, steel hurdles were placed either side of the stable door. Trailer was moved into place and secured, the only way out of the stable was into trailer. All that was left was to tag the pigs, the right four were tagged, the two lucky longer life pigs were untagged. Food was given as an incentive and soon I had two untagged pigs in the trailer and four victims tagged pigs clinging on to the sides of the stable. Another bucket of feed and the situation became rather more confused thanks to yours truly raising porcine pulses with the aid of another hurdle being used to guide the pigs towards their final exit. The result was five pigs in the trailer, one untagged, the other untagged one then tried to get amongst while I was in the trailer rescuing the lucky one. Finally the right four were shut in, one was running up and down the lane, the survivor in the stable consoled herself with more food and the haulier stopped laughing and took them away. Sausage pork and bacon festival starts Saturday. .

Its not often that the three blogs merge into one, but thanks to this doofus Berner they will today. Bad news meant that I felt a need to hurt myself on the exercise front. I found a cure a long time ago for feeling low, apart from the love of my beautiful and oh so patient wife, pet therapy, fluffy bunnies, OK, so one of the cures for feeling low I use is intense physical exercise. When I was a gym rat and had more time on my hands I did this a lot, now several stone heavier but obviously much happier I don't have to kill myself with PT, but today it was a necessity.
So there I was strapped on to the life cycle, heart rate, rev per min, time, distance, calories all flashing by, System of a Down blaring away, things were getting heavy, I was feeling good. Then above the heavy metal crescendo there was a very loud confused Yelp, a funny sort of Phwoost sound and a cloud of Olive Drab mixed with a mind altering chemical smell. The cause of this was Spotty who, having got bored and liking to chew, bit into a can of Tamiya model spray paint which much to his surprise went off. He dashed out into the fresh air to clear his head while yours truly being part of the Matrix and determined to get further along the road to nowhere than last time raced the pink elephants and giant blue pandas riding chequered racing spiders. 16.6km later I won.

Day 6 30 30 Lvl 15 cycle cross training 16.6km System of a Down Mesmerise

Google it!

Not renowned for doing as they are told the pig club pigs took me completely by surprise by following me up the lane from the big pig pen and into the stable where they rooted through the fresh straw for the last apple chips and settled down for the night. It was all over so quickly that I didn't even have time to take a photo. If all goes as smoothly tomorrow the lucky pigs will board the express trailer to the celestial sty and come the weekend HQ will be knee deep in sausage.
I spotted this Land Rover in the cauldron at dusk. Its gone as far as it can, just in front is a series of huge boulders, to the left an uphill marsh and the right a fence and then a sharp fall. Once upon a time there was a drovers trail along there, and in almost living memory coal lorries used to wend their way along the track to the next cottage around the hill, but only in good weather, after a long dry spell, and usually in the daylight. Maps still show a track of sorts but it runs out in the swamp before starting again further on. The owner of this Landy was last seen trying reverse and heard shouting something about cheap sat navs.

Day 5 30 30 lvl 15 hill climb 12km Cheap Trick Live at the Budokan disc 1