Pyro's Yard v2.0

Continuing tonight's 'Pillars' theme (this could go on for a while, y'know...) A second route, a Monday night run to bag another urban trig pillar. 9.1km, 59mins. Would have been quicker but for the horrendous blisters my shoes are inflicting on me, despite tape and two pairs of socks. New shoes to come in the not-too-distant future, methinks... Still, an enjoyable hour on a beautiful spring evening. Long may it last!

I've been trying to take some inspiration, and some motivation, from others recently. Sometimes it's nice to take a others ideas and see how you can twist them to fit yourself and your own goals and aims. Sometimes they're profitable, sometimes not, but like most things, they're usually worth a go. The latest one is thus: The German posted an article to his blog a while back about a mission to collect trig pillars in his local area - for those who aren't familiar with these (shame on you) they're concrete pillars used by the Ordnance Survey to base their theodolites on when surveying the UK. In the days of aerial cartography they might be more-or-less redundant, but they're still around, marking what is often the end of a laborious climb, a stopping point for hillwalkers everywhere, and a convenient amusement to stand on top of and pretend to be the Statue of Liberty. Anyway, the key to Graham's little mission, and to this one of mine, is that these ...

"Don't argue amongst yourselves Because of the loss of me I'm sitting amongst yourselves Don't think you can see me" I'd written out a nice cheerful blog, about how I've lost weight, caught up with old friends and sorted some bits of my life out over the Easter weekend. I'm not going to post it because, frankly, right at the moment it seems like the wrong thing to do. Why? Because on Tuesday I got a call to tell me that one of the girls from the Leeds Uni Canoe club, with whom I and many others had paddled, drunk and partied, had been involved in an incident on the River Coe in Scotland, and had sadly passed away. I'm not going to go into details, there's no need. It's a tragedy whenever someone young dies, and made more so when it's someone you know, someone who was popular, ever-cheerful, and full of potential. She was a very promising paddler and loved pushing herself and others to fulfil their aims and ideals. Amongst the ...