Jam Packed

Those that follow my Instagram will know (cheers Jamie)

Half term week proved mighty fine on the adventure front. It's always nice being away from work. Each day was filled with fun!

Moo, Doo, Spoon and SJ

The week started with a short run followed by a scramble with the wife and kids to get to the airport. We flew from Birmingham to Edinburgh for some Scottish adventure. The flight only took about an hour before we reached our destination.

Edinburgh was really pretty and it was lovely to show our kids this city. Despite the many steps and the Royal Mile being over distance, everything was easy to get to. I'd be happy to visit again.

Each morning in Scotland, we would start our day with a pool swim before we went in search of breakfast. The kids became acquainted to Irn Bru on our first breakfast and loved this orange nectar. This liquid provided ample energy to look around the beautiful Edinburgh Castle.

Later, same day, we went to visit a nearby museum. This was really impressive and was free to enter. The museum contained loads of weird and wonderful things and had like 7 floors to explore.

Each evening in Scotland, we would go out scouting for somewhere nice to eat. We found this lovely Vietnamese restaurant, which was so nice, we visited 2 nights in a row! Great sights, great food, great fun!

Whilst in Scotland, we also visited the Royal Yacht Britannia. This was dubbed as the UK's best attraction. I thought the free museum was much better to be honest and this visit to the 'Queens boat' cost us £50 just in entry fee's. 

It was interesting to see how small the Queens bed was and how compact all the soldiers and crew would have been - triple bunks in some cases. I think the Royal's must love their alcohol - there was a lot of bars on this vessel. Felt quite posh eating scones in the tea room.

Really enjoyed my mini break in Scotland with my family. Already looking forward to the next family adventure - whatever that may be. Despite the Scottish adventure coming to an end, my adventuring continued. On the same day we arrived back home, I decided to go for a solo wild camp in the Uppy-Downey woods.

Despite this being a solo camp, I had a lot of visitors. My visitors included several bats, deer, a phantom, a strange unidentified dog looking thing, and various birds. This was a relatively sleepless night in the Uppy-Downey woods. On my cycle home in the morning, I spotted what looked like a Tregaron mountain toad. 

Snowdrops (pic taken by Phil B)

Clive, Michiel, Rob, Carina, Doo, Meekon, Phantom, Jamie and K

The week was not over and more adventuring was to be had. Saturday saw me complete the Snowdrop Express Audax for the umpteenth time (am guessing something like my 17th?). This was the first audax event that I ever completed and the event that I have completed most times. This annual event is 'the' event that I feel compelled to complete each year. Loads of my buddies cycled this time around too and these included Clive, Michiel, Rob, Phantom, Meekon, Red, Jamie, K, Phil B, John Glover, Andy P and Carina. Mitchum was due to join us all but was unable to rise from his bed due to being intoxicated the night before. Had hoped Mr Odge could join too - he had more valid reasons for not rocking up!

Clive, Kim, Ma, Aunty Chris, Janine, Andy, Doo and Pa

Was nice to see my parents, Kim and other family members at the second control and introduce Clive. Am pleased Clive was able to complete this event and meet my wife and kids following. Clive's cycle was screeching like crazy as his bottom bracket had some major issues. About 5k from the finish, we celebrated with a little drinky-poo before completing proper! 

Ben, Spoon, SJ, Moo, Doo, Linda, Rod dog, Ma (and a bit of Kim and Aunty Chris)

Talking of celebrations... Well, it wasn't a celebration as such but we had a little get together  on Saturday night at my parents to say 'goodbye' to my nephew Ben. Ben's off to Estonia for 6 months with the army. Well wishes Ben!

After a jam packed week of adventuring, Sunday was a day of rest. My get up and go had got up and gone...

Can I kick's it?!

Didn’t challenge myself so much this week. The weather was cold and my motivation was poor. No running until the weekend, deciding instead to pig out on a curry from Golden Spice (not bad) and a chip shop dinner. Little cycling but managed a few spins on Zwift.

Saturday saw me try out my new kicks - another pair of Brooks Ghost 14 shoes. These were the same shoes as my last pair but in blue instead of orange. The Ghost series is up to model 16 now but I didn’t want to spend over £100 on a pair of shoes. 

Tested my new shoes on the Tamworth Castle Grounds ParkRun. This ParkRun was an all tarmac/concrete  run and located next to Tamworth Castle as the name suggests. This was my 80th ParkRun and my first at this location. I finished 66/276 with a time of 25:24, just 3 seconds off my fastest time last year.

Would have liked to have joined my buddy Phantom on his first solo wild camp. Guess it was a good job I didn’t. If I had joined it would not have been his first solo camp and he would not have got his ‘solo’ badge. Great job Phantom!

Next week will be exciting on the adventure front. Am going to head up North, all the way to Edinburgh. I'm going to challenge myself to finding and eating some haggis!

Today’s episode of challenge menace has been brought to you by the letter K and the numbers 12 and 82

Spoon, now aged 12

This week started with my daughter ‘Spoon’ turning 12 and then my oldest buddy ‘Roger’ turning 82. Celebrated with a Maccies and a pedal respectively. So much to celebrate!

My oldest buddy Roger, now 82!

Usual Zwift, walking and running throughout the week. Nothing major to shout about. However, the weekend turned out pretty awesome.

Saturday saw me complete my 79th ParkRun and my first at Sandwell Valley. I finished 46/161 with a time of 27:22. This was a nice course which was mostly track running around a big lake. Hilly in places with a run over the M5 bridge.

K is for Kayak Kamikaze

Following my ParkRun, I went Kayaking with the Phantom. This was the first time I had ever used a kayak, although have used a canoe before. We paddled about 4.3k on the stretch of canal outside of the Hopwood pub. This was my gift to the Phantom for his 60th birthday. 

The Phantom (aged 60)

On this adventure we saved a swan trapped in debris that had been attacked by a brutal, ferocious, savage, violent, dangerous, ruthless and vicious swan. The poor swan was really trapped but we managed to set it free. The unkind, unpleasant, unfriendly and nasty swan not only attacked the trapped swan but also hissed at the Phantom. I’m sure it wasn’t hissing pleasantries. 

The only downside to this kayaking malarkey was my wet rump, despite my wearing of waterproof trousers. Following the kayak adventure, it only felt right to have a drinky-poo at the pub. I think that Mr ‘Odge and I should hire a double kayak and have a practice before our Rat Race adventure in September.

Ooh, I wonder what adventure awaits...

Invasion of the Bothy Snatchers

Couple of Zwift spins throughout the week. But on Friday, I was in love. On Friday, Phantom and I headed to Grwyne Fawr bothy in the Brecon Beacons as part of an opportunistic recce. My buddy Mr Odge got me a book entitled 'Bothy' for Xmas and this sparked the interest to spend a night here. We decided to 'check it out' before a potential group visit. Pleased to report the planets aligned and Phantom and I successfully navigated our way to said bothy.

The bothy is considered remote and is tucked away in an (allegedly) deep and dark corner of the Black Mountains. The bothy took us just over an hour to reach from the car park at the base, even with our heavy back packs. So many trees were snapped and fallen at the start due to recent inclement weather.

The bothy was not difficult to find at all. Once a dam was in site, we knew we just had to follow the reservoir. Before we could shout 'Grwyne Fawr', the bothy came into sight. How awesome it looked and how excited we were! There was no 'real' path to the bothy and it was wet, rocky, steep and challenging underfoot.

Have no idea what this says

Left a post card of my mother (storm trooper) as proof of visit

We so hoped the bothy would be empty when we reached it and had decided to set off early for this reason. Bothy anxiety was quickly erased once we knocked the door and peeped inside - it was empty. Yay, we had 'bagged the bothy' and soon set about setting up our sleeping bags in the mezzanine bedroom area (reached by climbing a ladder).

This bothy was tiny, about the size of a small closet. Even so, it had 4 chairs around a tiny table on the ground floor with a wood burner to boot. Previous visitors had left baked beans, loo roll and similar goodies but we had enough goodies of our own. A couple of shovels and 3 brooms were also at our disposal. 

Around lunch time we had our first visitors. It was a couple who were hiking round and about. They did not wish to stay in the bothy overnight, rather just have a sit in the bothy to eat their lunch. They gifted us with a Victory sweet before heading off.

After lunch, decided to go for a swim in the freezing reservoir. Oh man, this water was cold! So pleased I braved the waters though, I did not wish to leave with regret. Sadly, This was the last time I would ever swim in these shorts - I melted them later in the evening, trying to dry them out on the wood burner.

Later in the day, after our feast of Huel and pork pie, we had more visitors. 2 brothers came by and had wanted to sleep in the bothy overnight. The one brother took a look inside and agreed there was not room enough. The other brother never said a word. The brothers camped in a tent just across the stream and I could feel their disappointment. The chatty brother visited us after he set up camp and gifted us some wood burning fuel. Sweet!

Later still in the evening, a solo hippy girl passed the bothy and the brothers. She had no interest in the bothy but could be seen camping in the hills. She had an awesome spot high above the reservoir. 

Phantom and I were chilling out, eating (fry up) and drinking (whisky and brandy) when we had 2 more visitors in the evening. A head peeped around the door and asked 'room for 2 small ones', there really wasn't. These visitors soon scrambled away in the deep dark night.

The night was amazing. The wood burner kept our bothy super warm. Taking a look outside blew us away with the incredible starry sky we could see. Amazing and awesome in equal measure!

He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power. Psa 147: 4-5

The night was super cosy. In fact, maybe a little too warm. I was wearing merino PJ's and was tucked inside a sleeping bag liner, inside a down sleeping bag (the one SJ made) inside my Alpkit down sleeping bag. Was tempted to remove my woolly socks but didn't. Phantom complained about my snoring and I complained about his!

In the morning, we celebrated our bothy stay by drinking the Milky Way drink I was gifted for Xmas (thanks Manisha, it was proper tasty). We then packed up and left without leaving a trace. We passed the dam and headed for the car park. On route we noticed a land slide that was blocking the ride on the other side of the river - this must have happened overnight, it wasn't there yesterday. After about an hour of trekking we reached the car park. Pete (taxi driver) was waiting for us and took us back to Abergavenny for further adventure.

Would love to visit the bothy again and to check out others too. I'm led to believe there are 8 bothy's in Wales. This was the smallest and the most difficult to bag, due to the high numbers visiting. I'd love to visit again with Phantom, plus Mr Odge and Jamie. If we were visiting this particular bothy, I'd be happy to take my tent and camp nearby. There's no way 4 of us would fit. We took bivvy's on this trip just in case, but the planets aligned and we bagged our bothy and completed the mission!

Despite the awesome adventure already had, Phantom and I decided we would fit in another hike before we headed home. This climb took us to the summit of 'The Sugar Loaf' (Myndd Pen-y-fal). This is a lovely hill situated NW of Abergavenny in Monmouthsire, Wales and sits within the Brecon Beacons National Park. The hill rises to 1,955 feet and once at the top we were in the clouds. 

Suffragette Lady Rhondda gifted The Sugar Loaf to the National Trust. Who knew?!