Always take a compass

Quarry path up to Fremington Edge It helps doesn't it when it's sunny? For me and when exercise is concerned a sunny, clear morning leaves me with no possible chance of finding an excuse not to get out and run, ride, swim or walk and the bank holiday Monday morning of the week we were staying in the Yorkshire Dales was just that - perfect... I'd taken up my trail running kit; Saloman Speedcross 3 GTX, Skins A400 3/4's and a few base layers, just in case I got the chance to get out onto the fells but with the weather forecast to be rain for most of the week I hand't got my hopes up. View from the cottage... perfect So, when woken at 6am for the morning feed by our 8 week old daughter, I was pleasantly  surprised to see no clouds and hear no rain and decided to make the most of it and head out for a short run up to Fremington Edge, the nearest high point (430m), which was just behind the cottage. Looking across to Fremington Edge I'd looked at

"Zippy" eh?! As odd as this sounds I'm not entirely sure how long I've hankered after deep section wheels but it's been a while and until now Zipp's have been the make that I've always wished for but could never really justify getting. That is until Zipp decided to bring out a "budget friendly" set - ok so they're really not that budget friendly, you can get cheaper pairs of both Carbon/Ali and full Carbon wheels from other manufactures but there's a reason that you pay a premium for Zipp's.... Now there are a few things to consider with deep section wheels and carbon deep sections at that.  The two main ones being the need (with full carbons) to use carbon specific brake pads (which aren't that great in the wet) and secondly the preference for tubular tyres as the stress from a clincher rim is much better suited to an aluminium rim due to the strength. This has led to the rise in popularity of carbon/aluminium wheels whi

For our first walking trip with Izzy we decided that the mountains were probably a step too far so looking for something slightly closer to home we settled on a section of the Meon Valley trail, from West Wood through to Soberton. Unsure as exactly how Izzy would cope with being out for 3-4 hours or how Donna would get on with walking 9-10km the Meon Valley trail was an ideal choice as we could turn around at any point in time and head back to the car park at West Wood - just outside of Wickham. The Meon Valley Trail is a total of 11 miles and follows the path of the old Alton to Fareham railway so is flat and well surfaced for the length of the path.  The main, 9 mile, section runs from Wickham through to West Meon and while there are a number of car parks available Wickham is always busy and the easiest place to park is in one of the car parks in West Wood (note - you do have to pay in these car parks and the charge is around £2 for the day). Bluebells still covering