Northumberlandia

I was kicking around early afternoon on Saturday after working all morning on some thankless task. It was cold and damp. I couldn't face 2 hours on the bike riding into the dusk. Neither did I fancy running a loop of somewhere familiar. A slender skelf of an idea had lodged itself into the grey matter some time ago ... I decided to get up and out to Northumberlands' Newest Tourist attraction (or so the media would have us believe) -  Northumberlandia. It's a huge earthworks in the shape of a female. Ideal when you fly over it in bright sunshine on the way to or from the airport. A little less obvious from ground level.  Regrettably, I had forgotten to renew my pilots licence and just couldn't recall where I had put the keys for the Cessna; so it was Shank's for me.
It was a good 7 mile plod which I covered at around 7.30 pace. Steve Hackett's 'Genesis revisited 2' helped me along the way and when I got there the low sun was beginning to fade as the skies cleared a little. There were a smattering of folk milling around the entrance. The car park gave way to a gate and woods which gave it an air of mystique.

Deciding to run around the base before tackling the 'humpy' bits, I was pretty miffed that someone had somehow forgotten to do a proper job on the perimeter path and I found my way splashing through sloppy mud and puddles. Another pair of trainers ruined. Another half a job done.  It was about half a mile around and the ups were short. Took a couple of snaps then back home.

My knee began to play up around 13 of the 16 miles it ended up as and I was happy to get back in the dark.

The arrival of the snow this year has not excited me. This is odd as I'm a proper snowmantic and enjoy ploughing through the mush, but this year not.  Probably too much on to enjoy it. Makes a change anyway,I guess.