Fell Pony Adventures Mosedale Trek Day 1&2

Jess Guth1 Comment
Picture of bell tent in a field with tree line in the distance and blue sky

Not a running adventure, but an outdoor moving sort of adventure. From Wednesday to Friday last week Kath and I did the Mosedale Trek with Fell Pony Adventures. On Wednesday (Day 1) we drove up to Naddle Farm at RSPB Haweswater to meet Tom and his ponies and the other 2 trek participants. The tents were already up so there wasn’t anything for us to do other than enjoy the sunshine, meet the ponies and learn a little more about Wild Haweswater from the RSPB Visitor Experience Manager Annabelle. It was really nice to see ponies Fay and Pansy again and meet Prince, Teddy and the affectionately named youngster Trouble – who wasn’t actually any trouble at all.

After a really yummy tea of quorn chilli we moved into the badger hide that is on site and settled in to wait. After about an hour a first badger appeared and a little while later a second one joined and eventually there were three of them. I’d never seen a badger in the wild in the UK and it was very cool to just see them doing their thing, foraging for food. We were all tucked up in our tents at not long after 10pm and I slept quite well. I woke up a few times and noticed that it was raining – which was a little disappointing as we were really hoping for a dry trek (wasn’t to be!) and then there was a noisy dawn chorus about 4.10am. I eventually woke up fully at a little before 7am.

After breakfast of bacon and eggs on a warmed croissant we started packing all the gear and getting it into the pack pony bags with Tom carefully weighing them to make sure we got even pairs for each pony. Then we got the ponies. Tom and Mountain Leader Sue had suggested who takes which pony and it worked really well. So Kath took Pansy and I took Prince. Tom showed us how to put the saddles on the ponies and then how to lift the packs on and then, after a quick ‘this is how you lead a pack pony induction’, we were off.

Pansy

I really liked walking along with Prince. He was lovely and mostly well behaved but with a clear idea about exactly where he wanted to walk which seemed to mostly involve zig zagging across the path behind me. The first stretch was a gentle path back through the field where the ponies had been turned out and through a little wood and then across to Swindale on a narrow up and then down track. We stopped for a little break and then made our way along Swindale Lane and onto a path which then took us to our lunch spot at Mosedale Beck. It turned wet and windy while we had a lovely lunch of soup and bread with nibbles of olives, hummus and local cheeses. The rain then eased off again and we set off on the afternoon section of our walk in grey but dry weather. We had come about 3 miles at this point and it had all been absolutely fine.

After lunch we headed up. This was a little more challenging and my lungs weren’t playing ball. It felt like I couldn’t really get any air in but Prince was patient with me and we stuck together and made it bit by bit with little stops where I focused on breathing and he focused on eating. I was slightly conscious of people waiting for me but everyone was really patient and the ponies happy to graze. There were one or two bits where Prince had ideas about where he would go that didn’t really match the path and I ran out of rope so left him too it and there was a steepish section where he was too fast for me.

Prince (Day 3, bottom of Old Corpse Road)

Mostly I managed the up with Prince and once or twice he saved me from a slip. When we reached the top and Mosedale Common, the wind was nippy and it was raining fairly consistently so we just all plodded along lost in our own thoughts avoiding the boggiest bits. In some ways this was my favourite bit of Day 1. Just me with Prince trudging along in the rain and wind with 4 other ponies and 5 other people doing the same. There was no point trying to talk to anyone, with hoods up and wind you couldn’t hear anyway so we were all in our own worlds and it felt perfect. A sort of being alone together which I really quite like.

Eventually Mosedale Cottage and with it our home for the night came into view. We unloaded the ponies and tethered them behind the cottage for a little shelter from the wind. We settled ourselves in and had a cup of tea and a biscuit and chatted a bit. It was nice to be out of the wind. Then Tom made another delicious meal (Flat bread with chick peas and peppers, tomatoes and herbs and spices). Not long after we’d eaten 3 lads appeared absolutely soaking wet through and rather clueless. I think they were happy to have a bit of advice and help and be able to come in out of the dry and warm as we had brought some firewood and lit a fire. They had some camping gear but the wrong sort of gas canister for their stove so Tom gave them one of his – that didn’t stop an attempt to warm tinned curry on the fire though. They were probably also a little embarrassed but they gave us a good giggle and deserve some credit for being out there and giving it a go. I don’t want to be preachy but please take the the Lake District fells seriously, things can and do go wrong quickly, get a proper map and learn how to use it, don’t rely on your phone and think about clothes, waterproofs and suitable footwear. Go with someone who knows what they are doing if you don’t.

I went to bed tired and happy. Yes, I had to go slow coming up onto Mosedale Common but I had made it without any drama, the terrain under foot hadn’t actually been an issue – I think leading Prince and chatting to him and focusing on that meant I hadn’t really thought about the ground partly being uneven, partly being slippery and partly being wet. I was just getting on with it – so yay to not overthinking. As I slowly dozed off snuggled into the sleeping bag I thought about how calming overall just being around horses is, how being out and moving puts everything into perspective, makes stresses melt away and how doing it with a fell pony out on the fells acts as a reminder of the importance of just being. Thursday had been 6 miles of moving at fell pony pace and a day of just being. I fell asleep happy.

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Solstice Saunter 2024

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Good Morning from the muppet who didn’t really stretch after completing the 5 mile Solstice Saunter yesterday. I’m not too stiff or achey but I didn’t sleep all that well because my body seemed to be working its way along each niggle to try and work out what to do with it – so it felt like I was mostly awake with something or other hurting a bit.

I like the Solstice Saunter. It’s held at Bolton Abbey annually on the day of the Summer Solstice. It’s a 5 mile undulating course which is very familiar because most of it is on our usual Bolton Abbey loop. As an added bonus the medals are always stunning. I was looking for to it. At the back of my mind was that little bit of doubt given that I didn’t exactly find parkrun a breeze and 5 miles on a hilly course is a different thing altogether from 3 miles on mostly flat. But I always wanted to go and do this.

So we set off, probably a bit too early really and got there about an hour before race start. We picked up our numbers, went to the loos, sat by the river for a bit and eventually wandered down to the start. At the start Kath and I split and Kath went further forward (I don’t think she quite went to the ‘nearly quick’ section, the name of which made me laugh). I stayed at the back with the slow jog/fast walk crowd.

We set off in waves and as we did I smiled and noted how the first jog felt nice and easy, good slow place, nothing silly or exciting as so often can happen at the start of a race. I immediately dropped into 30 second run/ 30 second walk intervals. I was around a couple of people running with dogs and neither had particularly good control of the dogs so it was slightly annoying. I thought about dropping back and keeping them in front of me but after a couple of run intervals I had left them firmly behind me and forgot about them. Then for about half a mile I kept going past and then being overtaken by a woman who was running constantly. I would go past on my run and then she would come past on my walk. Eventually though she moved ahead and I was quite happy to let her go. I was a mile in and it wasn’t easy.

Mile 2 has a lot of up in it and I didn’t even try running that. I was already feeling it and I wanted to enjoy it and stay positive so for mile 2 I walked up the hills and ran/walked down. It was a slow mile but quite a nice one. After that mile I was in a sort of bubble. I could just about see the person in front of me and I could just about see a couple of people behind me but basically I was on my own. It was perfect. I ran/walked fairly randomly for the rest of the loop really. I topped briefly at the water station for a conversation about the universe expanding – yep more random.

As I got close to the aqueduct there was a photographer and as I approached I said ‘You’re going to make me run aren’t you’? He insisted he wouldn’t but I did anyway and kept going for a bit once I had passed him. Then there’s another uphill so I marched up that. That was a fairly consistent pattern, power march up, jog down. The route here is up and down and not in a straight line so mostly I couldn’t see anyone. Bliss!

I got to the bottom of nemesis hill and could suddenly see a few people who were closer than I had thought they would be from when I had seen them earlier. I tiny little competitive streak appeared from somewhere deep down. I marched up nemesis hill as I have done so many times and when I got to the top I had gained on the people in front quite significantly even though they were on the downhill. Game on! I jogged down and was now pretty close. I also still had just over half a mile to go though, so let’s not peak too soon. I stayed behind them as they jogged and I ran/walked. With every run I was getting closer and I wasn’t dropping back in my walks. With about a quarter of a mile to go I passed them. At about the same time my left calf starting getting a little crampy on the run segments so I slowed off a little but kept the interval. Then I popped up over the last hill, saw Kath and broke into a job that somehow I kept going to the finish. The field finish was tricky terrain on tired legs and it felt like I just sort of threw myself over the finish line. Yay done.

It was hard. I walked lots and lots. It was slow. But it was a great event and a lovely evening. And just look at the medal!

parkrun for Pride

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After I wrote out my plan I had a pretty good week and while I did not stick to the plan, I did something equivalent and event enjoyed some of it! Then I had an off week, then we went to Coniston to head out on the Lakeland Trails 10k. We didn’t start as neither of us felt right and we ended up sleeping lots and not really doing very much at all. We have both been really tired and not particularly up for doing hard things. So apart from a bit of stretching and yoga I didn’t really ever get going.

This morning though we went to parkrun. Kath ran there and I drove across to Saltaire. I can’t really say I enjoyed the running because it just felt stupidly impossible and I was really conscious of people around me. I had a bit of a wobble around 2 miles but, as it always does, putting one foot in front of the other got me to the finish.

It was the Roberts Park Pride parkrun so I popped my Pride T-shirt on over my running top – not the best idea I’ve ever had as it was too warm really but marking Pride month seemed important and given that I find Pride events generally too people-y this worked for me. Thanks to Roberts Parkrun volunteers for the photos!

Birmingham run

Jess Guth2 Comments

I’m in Birmingham for work and currently sitting in the Clayton Hotel restaurant hoping that writing this on my phone will make me look unsociable enough to stop any of the others joining me for breakfast. There should be a very clear rule against joining others for breakfast unless explicitly agreed beforehand.

Anyway, I am feeling quite pleased with myself because I actually got out for a run. I was awake early but couldn’t really be bothered to get up. I felt dehydrated and quite creaky. I dozed for a bit, had some water and decided to at least go for a little walk in what seemed to be glorious morning sunshine. I got my running gear on and set off. I walked up the slope towards the cathedral and after about 5 minutes dropped into run/walk. I carried on to symphony hall and then looped back to say hi to the Floozie in the Jacuzzi before coming back past the still closed shops, Moor Street station and the seemingly ever expanding HS2 building site.

The run was almost exactly 2 miles and felt like a positive loop to start the day with. My right hamstring and calf are tight and might need some tlc but other than that it just felt nice to be out.

I ran….

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…it was pretty horrible. But I ran. So that’s good. It means that I have managed 2 back to back days of actually doing something. I have an extra day off today. The University gives us a number of what they call grace and favour days that follow a bank holiday. Today is one of them. That means that there were really no excuses about time or when a run might fit in or anything else my brain might come up with. I had a couple of things to do this morning, as did Kath and then she had a couple of things to post so we walked to the parcel drop off and then the post office and then did an out and back run/walk along the canal.

Walking down my feet hurt. I was wearing my new(ish) Brooks Cascadias – I am not sure about them really. They feel hard and unforgiving compared to any of my other Brooks. So maybe I am not going to move over to all Brooks. I like the road shoes but maybe they’re not right for me for trail shoes. We’ll see. So after some adjustment of the laces at the post office we set off along the canal. 30 second run/walk intervals. I started reading a run Disney book last night so I was trying to think about the advice in there. One was to slow down. Most beginner runners go too fast. Well I might not be a beginner runner and it feels like if I slow down any more I’ll be going backwards but the author is right, going at a slower pace means it’s marginally less vile. The other bit I read was about thinking like a runner…. Hm. What they mean here is focusing on the positive self talk, the mental tricks we can play, the distractions and the way we use what our body is telling us to adjust or react. So instead of ‘oh I am out of breath, this is so hard, I can’t do it’ you think ‘My breathing is a bit laboured, can I slow down a little to be more comfortable, can I relax anywhere to reduce some tension, oh look I’ve already done one mile’. So a little while into the run I remembered what I had read and tried the self-talk – here’s how that went for me:

‘Hey you, look at you, you’re out running. Well done’

‘Really? We’re doing this are we? We’re trying the self talk. Weirdo’

‘No seriously, well done. You’ve got this. It’s just 45 minutes’

‘Ok, we’re doing this. By the way, your calf hurts’

‘No it’s ok, just a bit tight it’ll ease’

‘Hahaha, you’re funny. Out of breath much?’

‘It’s ok, everything is fine, can I slow down a bit maybe’

‘Yep, we can do slow’

‘Where can I relax? Where am I tense?’

‘EVERYWHERE’

‘Oh come on, that’s not true’

At that point Kath said something and made me jump because I’d sort of forgotten she was there. I never really went back to my inner dialogue (monologue?) but I sort of imagine it as a conversation between Joy from the Pixar Film Inside Out and another emotion (character) – I am not quite sure what she is but I imagine her dressed all in black with stunning black eyeliner and a sort of perpetually bored ‘Whatever’ kind of demeanour. She’s not unkind, sometimes a little too sarcastic and calls it as she sees it. Optimism and enthusiasm aren’t really her thing. If you know Lily from DuoLingo – maybe a bit like her. Anyway, the conversation had got me to a mile or so.

With about 10 minutes to go I started finding it really hard and I was annoyed at that because running for 45 minutes, never mind run/walk for 45 minutes didn’t used to be hard. I tried to remind myself that I’ve just got to take me as I am now and also that 10 minutes in to the run I didn’t think I was going to be able to keep going much longer and yet here I was 25 minutes later still going. I counted down the run segments and it began to feel possible. Kath helped encouraging me along and I thought that actually running in the rain was quite nice. Before I knew it there were only 2 run segments left and it suddenly felt doable. Ah yes, the impossible – this is fun part of impossible. I am trying to take the win. I got out, I ticked off 45 minutes and while it wasn’t exactly fun (it was horrible), there wasn’t really any drama either. I am trying not to think about pace. It feels like I am working really really hard just to be at least 2 minutes a mile slower than my comfortable long run pace used to be and I have to adjust to that new normal. I know that with consistency, a stronger pace will probably come. So it’s about patience – and we all know I have an abundance of patience (ahem).

Anyway, the ‘exercise lifts your mood and gives you energy’ tribe will be pleased. I feel much more positive and I have sprung into action making bread and granola and sorting out some writing stuff. So it seems the way to being Little Dr Positive Pants is to put on running pants and then use them for their intended purpose rather than curl up under a blanket on the sofa.