The cold season.

[Bierzo Baggie]

I guess the cold season 2008-2009 affected most of Europe. England woke up to its biggest snowfalls for 18 years. I watched from afar remembering one unreal weekday morning in 1991 when Brum came to a standstill. Memories of abandoned cars on the Bristol Road, hot toddies in the pub, trains parked up for the day and some scumbag who nicked my mountain bike and left the severed chain-lock in the snow as a poignant reminder.

Those were my memories of the last big snowfall in the UK and oh my god, was it really 18 years ago!

Missed out on the UK cold season 2008-9 but here in Ponferrada there were fierce flurries of snow making fleeting appearances from November through to February. The temperatures rose and fell erratically and only the highest mountains have retained enough raw material to make a decent snowman.

Huge quantities of water were greedily retained by the local reservoir and as happens most years when an optimum level is reached, the sluice gates were opened and the excess water sent gushing down the River Sil.

This affected me in one way. The makeshift bridge which provides my short-cut to Monte Pajariel, 7 and a half minutes from home, was washed downstream in the direction of northern Portugal.

So, in this very long-winded way I’m saying;
Thawing snow,
Water (trillions of litres of it),
Quick route to Monte Pajariel washed away.

The end result is that January and February have been restricted to twice a week, 30-40 minute jaunts alongside the river or my local canal/irrigation ditch. Not the best preparation for the first race of the season which by coincidence takes place a few dozen kilometres upstream.

Carrera del Alto Sil; March 15. It’s very hilly.

The cold season has come to a close and the crisp sunny mornings invite new running challenges.