I was too shattered to do the write-up last night.
It sure was an interesting day!
When I set off, the skies were clear, the winds were relatively light, even the sun peaking through from time to time.
- A big change from a couple of hours earlier when I wasn't sure if I was walking the dog or flying a kite, in a car wash
The run up Bellister Bank was incident-free, there was some standing water but mostly avoidable. The run down Hartside was an absolute
JOY! No traffic to get in the way, totally stunning vistas over the Eden valley to the Lakes, with a hint of dark, foreboding storminess lurking over the peaks, I loved every damned second of it! Even in a clapped-out Micra, that is a road to challenge & delight, a road which separates 'drivers' from mere 'motorists' with every swoop & bend.
Langwathby. 5 miles from destination, 15 mins ahead of schedule. In a
great head-space. What could go wrong?
The Eden bursting its' banks all the way back to Appleby, that's what! The single-track box-girder bridge was impassable - apparently a 'snorkel' Land Rover had attempted it earlier, made it over the bridge but then got carried away by the current on the flood plain (the clue's in the name, guys) on the other side.
So, on the advice of a group of 'Red Socks' I made my way north towards Lazonby, along back roads not
totally unfamiliar to me. Here's where the Lazonby road ended:-
Last chance. Armathwaite. 2/3 of the way back to Carlisle. HOORAH,
the bridge is open! The water is within a foot of the arch tops but it's do-able.
I made it to the venue in time to register, build & judge-check Magaera, only missing the first round of sighters.
Sighters! I may as well have spent Friday night knitting for all the good that sight-setting session did
High right from the start, took four ends before I got it even close, eight before I was happy. The stressed last hour of travel & rushed set-up had ruined my previous
buzz of course, groupings were pretty awful really. The first session ended with a paltry
234, although the last 2 ends were somewhat encouraging.
A break barely long enough for a quick half-smoke outside helped calm me again. The second session
felt much better, even a couple of 29's, but a couple of loose ends - including an embarrassing 16 on the very last end - left me on an improved but still
barely acceptable
248 for a total of
482. Hey, at least I wasn't last.
So that's my first county championship in the bag. My own is next month.
The journey home, I decided to take the longer-but-safer A6/M6/A69 option but even that proved to be only just do-able. Although the bridge at Warwick Bridge was OK, the plain on the east side was inundated, there was about 100 yards of slow-flowing water to crawl through, axle-height mostly but deeper on the inside.
Take-away: I know that I can shoot the groups/scores/ends that I
think I should be shooting - All I need to do now is to learn how to shoot 20 of them consecutively, then I'll reach 570+ land.