Views of the Yorkshire Dales
Hey there,Its been a while I guess (can I blame the lack of camera that i left in Stu's pack when he and Fi visited in Jan? No photos, no inspiration? hmm maybe not)
There will be some photos loaded onto our blog page - essentially a cut and paste of the emails and adding of photos, for anyone interested. http://karynnneil.blogspot.com/?zx=ea485e2f75ccf80e
Neil has now been working for United Utilities for a few months now, this is the biggest water company in the region and although not particularly inspiring he is dealing with people rather than numbers so is enjoying that aspect of it. He has been taking over time when available so working pretty hard. Hopefully this will pay off with an extension of his 3 month contract though I suspect he would prefer a more outdoorsy type job. My job is ticking along well, defiantly entrenched in the day to day stuff and finally familiar with all the strange UK 'paperwork and policies' (I think).
Most of the last few months have been about biking and orienteering. The night winter series has finished. This was defiantly a challenge for me but hopefully my nav has improved somewhat. If the UK can sort there stuff out for snow and sleet why can't the kiwis do it? all you really need to organise is which pub you are all congregating at after! Neil organised one of the gallopens (Cumbria district) events on one of the hardest maps (in terms of crappy mapping and physicality of the terrain) with resounding success. He got a lot of positive comments despite the (again) strange policies and planning intricacies. Maybe someone from outside the UK does know what to do!? I wonder if we have managed to convince them yet?!
I spent 4 days earlier in the month exploring the Yorkshire Dales on the bike, following bridleways and quiet lanes for the most part. YD is more rolling terrain than the lakes which has less of this type of riding. Managed to do some fairly large circuits and see a fair bit of it but there is still a lot to explore. Even managed to visit the Wensleydale cheese factory (Wallace and Gromit land).
Neil's achilles is still slow to heal after Portugal so the walking is limited and the running non-existent. Luckily it it up for riding for a few hours so that's what we have been doing. Last weekend saw us down in Wales at Coed-y-Brennin with Fi and Stu and some of their Bristol crowd. A great bunch of people and by far the best riding we have done here yet. 'The Beast' was definitely worth the trip. Although slabby and rocky rather than the sand we are used to at home it was ridable in all weathers (which came in handy or sat) and a delight to ride. Not bad for 3 1/2 hrs riding and 1000m climbing! Have a look yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYSO5UOZ0Eo (there is heaps more on u tube with less random music.)
We are currently making plans for more riding in Scotland - possibly Fort William, Peebles and/or Skye over easter and eyeing up the MTB version of the coast to coast for later in the year.
June and July bring both sets of parents over for a visit and a trip to Poland for the wedding of one of Neils friends.
Hopefully is Neils work continues we will be able to do some more travel into Europe.
I trust all is well with you.
Till next timeKaryn and Neil
Coed-y-Brennin
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