Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Lake District

The most recent course I've assisted was held at Rydal Hall Conference Centre, close to Ambleside, Cumbira in 'the lake district.'  The week-long course itself was tiring as usual, but not nearly as sometimes. I felt a much greater sense of 'peace' throughout the week.  Partly from the location and partly to the group we were training.  It was a little rainy during the week, but had enough moments of sunlight and an amazing rainbow where you were able to see the inverted double rainbow as well (which happen with all rainbows, but are usually too faint to see).

Below I've posted my favorite pictures from what I was able to take.  I didn't really have that much time to take any pictures so they are really just from an afternoon and evening.  I did get the chance to run a couple of times during the week (before we started working), which was a nice blessing.  The region where the course was held really reminded me a lot of Vermont.  It made me feel like I was seeing Vermont as it was at the turn of the 20th century.  The hills were of similar size, though probably higher in VT, with lakes here and there, twisty windy roads, small towns/villages.  Vermont, at the turn of the century was almost 90% clearcut and mostly sheep/dairy farms.  That was basically this area, 80-90% clearcut and sheep/dairy farms.  Like looking into the past a bit...

Anyways - my favorite shots.















This next weekend I am going to Plymouth down along the southwest coast to run a half-marathon.  Plymouth, England is the namesake of my hometown Plymouth, Vermont...so I figured I should visit it sometime and I wanted to run a half-marathon, so this is two birds w/one stone.  Just a short trip down Saturday by train and back Sunday after the run.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Springtime in London

The following are some pictures of the London Mennonite Centre garden in late mid-late April.  Springtime seemed to have hit a bit earlier this year than in years past.  It has also been quite a bit drier than usual, so there haven't been any of the normal April showers.  I expect at some point during the summer months it will be a considerable bit wetter, but for the time being I am enjoying the dryness.  












 The last three photos are from when I duct taped a camcorder to the front of my bike.  I now have a tape running about 55 minutes of me cycling from the London Mennonite Centre down around Oxford Circus, around Trafalgar Square, and back up.  About a 12-13 mile ride in all.  It's currently on a VHS tape, but someday I might try to get it on a computer so I could upload a short clip.  There's a couple of moves which you can't see properly so they seem worse than they actually were.

Overall it was a fun experience.  Not sure it is worth the effort to do many times as I've got a limited amount of tape to record on and I have to tape it back to the bike (and then take it back off again) to do anything with it.  It's a lot of extra weight to add on if it isn't be used.




In other cycling news I am planning on cycling from Glasgow Scotland to London sometime in August with a cousin on my Dad's side of the family.  It should be a lot of fun (and a lot of work).  I think we will plan on doing about 60 miles per day.  I'll need to start training for it soon so I will be able to enjoy the trip.  I'm looking forward to it.

This week I am up in the "lake district," while on a week-long training course.   So far the location reminds me a bit of Vermont given that it is very rural, roads are windy, it is hilly and green (though not as many trees on top) and there are a lot of skinny  lakes, hence the name.  If I get the chance to go out I will post some pictures.