Val Doonican

[Bierzo Baggie]

RRR (ran round river)
Nobody about.
So watched the water.
Somewhat enviously.
The reservoir above Ponferrada is full and the gates are open to ease the strain.
Watched slow, relentless water power its way along the wide sections and break into a myriad of merry jigs over rocks and weirs. So easy.
By contrast I huffed and puffed upstream and creaked and groaned on the return journey. My back’s OK when I’m running. The left knee complains occasionally. Is this really what middle-age running is all about?
38 minutes.
6 runs in January.
Perhaps 50km in all.
More on the way I hope.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Up and down Monte Pajariel for the first time this year.
Ideal conditions, soft but not slippy.
Hunter in the woods scared the shit out of me. With his camouflage jacket he melted into the oak trees.
Beady eyes, rifle cocked, I saw him at the last moment.
Did the English thing and apologized. Instinct I suppose.
He nodded.
51 minutes overall.

[marathondan]

I'm wondering what
Poetic form you're following.
Not Haiku.
Not a sonnet.
Would that I could think of some
Witty pun to put here.
Nice running by the way.

[Bierzo Baggie]

RRRR (Run Round River in Rain)
The river, a seething torrent of froth.
How we ever used to cross it over workman’s pallets I’ll never know.
Sections of path boggy or flooded.
Spotted one lonesome cormorant, a silent predator, motionless on the water like some ebony statuette.
Spotted Lisardo the lawyer, almost motionless in the mud. Ran with him for a while.
Journey back through the dripping market.
41 minutes. Slow.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

The reasons for our running
Are rarely made more plain
Than Bierzo Baggie's musings
On running in the rain.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Thanks MLCM.
Sunday.
The snow is near.
Took the car up the first slopes of the lonely Morredero pass and parked it offroad well before the intended destination. I’ve got the snow chains in the back just in case.
Ran 5km along the road to Espinoso. Tried to run on the snow as much as I could to ease the impact. Roads feel harder than they used to be.
Several times there were deer crossing in front of me. They always seem to stop and size you up for a few moments before scampering off through the trees. Heard that the Royal Princes William and Harry were hunting boar and deer in Cordoba. They could have spent their weekend in El Bierzo, there’s surplus up here. Or better not...
Stopped at the House of Scouse for a cup of tea but his Scouseness was not in residence. So ran 5km back to the car.
57 minutes in all.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Saturday: canal route; 31 minutes.
First flavours of Spring imminent. Storks pecking in the open fields.

Sunday: Toral route; 46 minutes.
Stopped to chat to Roland the resident Dutchman on the lower slopes of Monte Pajariel. I didn't know he ran. Everybody seems to be running these days.

Lower backache has spread to just behind left bum cheek and downwards. Sciatic nerve? Running not too affected funnily enough.
The weekend promises..

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

The sciatica doesn't sound good BB; better get it cheeked checked out.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Met Roland the bird-man on the bridge at 9. This is the second flying Durtchman I have run with. A previous running partner was Roel, a 20-something oenologist, all short bursts of speed and power but hopeless on the hills.

Running with Roland, 56 years young and as lean as a butcher’s dog, was a more humbling experience.

As I lurched forward at the top of Monte Pajariel and clutched my knees I told my Dutch friend (not a habitual runner) that he was a natural climber and that it was never too late to start. He was scarcely out of breath and seemed only vaguely interested in what I was saying. Too busy admiring the view and identifying the call of a song thrush in the woods below.

Up and down Monte Pajariel. Around 50 minutes in all.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Sunday's route started early with a docile donkey and finished midday with a stork's nest.
3 hours 50 minutes on the hills.
Some running, some walking, some photos; https://picasaweb.google.com/bierzobaggi...Ferradillo#

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

As I lurched forward at the top of Monte Pajariel and clutched my knees I told my Dutch friend (not a habitual runner) that he was a natural climber and that it was never too late to start. He was scarcely out of breath and seemed only vaguely interested in what I was saying. Too busy admiring the view and identifying the call of a song thrush in the woods below.

What a bastard. I hate 'naturals' like that.

[Bierzo Baggie]

More rainy days.
Sunday morning; Espinoso de Compludo.
Set off from the House of Scouse accompanied by Roland the birdman.
Covered the usual circuit.
Long descent into the Compludo valley.
Slightly technical section past the old smithy and above the river.
Hopped, skipped and jumped over the tumbling scree, remnant of a wartime wolframite mine.
Ran up the big climb at the end and when running yielded diminishing returns, we walked.
75 minutes and the song of a robin.

[Bierzo Baggie]

O snail
Climb Mount Fuji
But slowly slowly