Kendal Winter League at Sedbergh School #CountryKids

This Sunday I set off to what is traditionally a mudbath of a fell race My son had headed off to Blackpool with Gramps for an indoor athletics competition so this time it was just me. I had had to scrape ice off the car to leave and some of the route was a bit icy but oh boy was the view lovely. In fact I had to find a legal place to stop and capture it:

I arrived in plenty of time to use the car park at Sedbergh School and then walked down to the cross country course. My original plan had been to film at the Water Jump but when I walked the course it had been fenced off due to the frozen water:

So I carried on up to the highest point of the course which the runners would all pass some multiple times:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Running, Tulips, DIY and Winning #R2BC

At least I have remembered what day of the week it is this week so that I am ready for hosting! I am enjoying reading and sharing your posts this month and look forward to it again this week. Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Up and running
After a visit to the podiatrist I have been told to not give up running! I have new insoles to correct my flat feet and pigeon toes which should hopefully sort out my painful heel. So I was delighted to head over to Lancaster parkrun for a Run Mummy Run meet and our annual tourist trip to Williamson Park:

2) Winning things

I have won 2 Facebook competitions this week. First of all I have won a Haynes manual for the NASA Skylab:

Secondly I have won a burlesque photoshoot - ooh er missus - a chance to get primped, preened and try out a corset! Not sure if the results of that will be appearing on here...

3) Overdue DIY

Kendal Winter League Longsleddale #CountryKids

After the almost vertical racing last week at Barbondale this week the league was a more traditional fell race in Longsleddale Valley from Docker Nook farm.

Conditions were muddy and slippery but at least it stayed dry this week. The start enabled a mad dash at the start as captured by another spectator:

I had wandered up the track trying to find good positions to film:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Half Term, YouTube, Tots 100 and more #R2BC

I have lost track of the days as its the school holidays so only just realised its Thursday and time for Reasons to be Cheerful! Hopefully folks will still join in and share the love. Despite having a cold for a few days I have had plenty of reasons to be cheerful during a week off school:
1) Marshalling and Filming at Fell Foot parkrun
I had my monthly volunteering slot at my local parkrun by marshalling at one of the turns. I managed to combine it with videoing the runners too. Amazing how many smiles I managed to raise in the rain:

2) Barbondale Fell Race
This has to be one of the most entertaining fell races to watch. It is so steep most runners come down at least some of the route on their bottoms or in one case fronts! There were a few spectacular face plants as well. My son helped me film this time and our videos have had nearly 1000 views in less than week!! Here is the summary video:

3) Fixed Internet

Just as my YouTube videos were becoming popular my Internet connection had lost lots of it upload speed so it was taking a day to upload one video! BT finally sent out an engineer and the upload speed has gone back up to taking only a couple of hours for one of the videos:

KWL 2018 Barbondale Fell Race #CountryKIds

Another freezing cold Sunday meant another few hours on a fell side videoing fell running! It was the toughest event in Kendal Winter League as its mostly vertical from the bottom of this slope:

My son wasn't running it as he doesn't like the vertical races so he was happy to help the sponsors set up before the event:

Then he clambered up the hillside with me so that we could find the best spots for filming. I stayed below the infamous scree patch and he initially went to the under 13 turning point which was just above the scree. This was my view whilst I was waiting for the runners:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Snow, Blue Skies and Winter Walks #R2BC

Trying to be organised for this week and actually have this post ready to go before Thursday! It has been a wonderful week with a variety of work and plenty of reasons to be cheerful. Hopefully folks can join in and share theirs too.

1) Blue Skies

It was such a stunning day on Sunday which really set off the Hoad Monument when we stopped at the supermarket for a snack on our way home:

2) YouTube Filming

I am now getting known as the lady who films the fell races! I made a sign so that runners knew what I was doing pointing a camera at them:

To see my latest one have a look on YouTube (and if you can leave a like or a comment I would appreciate it!).

3) Snow

Yesterday we had just enough snow to look gorgeous without causing too much hassle. I walked past this magical looking tree on the way to the supermarket:

Review: Ravensburger British Flags Sneaker 3D Puzzle

Sponsored Post

After the success of the A puzzle we were keen to tackle a different challenge with the 3D British Flags Sneaker puzzle (Affiliate link):

The box contains 2 bags of pieces, 3 parts for the base of the sneaker and a slide in pot for the pencils:

It was simple enough to assemble the sneaker base:

KWL 2018 Birkrigg Juniors

Another Sunday meant another fell side filming fell running! This time it was Birkrigg Common with views in one direction to the fells and The Hoad Monument at Ulverston:

and the other across Morecambe Bay and the Kent Estuary:

In my son's race there were 74 children aged 8-12 who tackled the steep ascent and descent, can you spot my son amongst the runners?:

Simple Science with kitchen ingredients

One of the great things about being a primary school teacher is the fun you can have with science! My son loves the fact that I try out things at home with him too. For this week's lesson we were looking at seeing if we could prove things were alive.

Celery Drinking

For this one you need:

• a fresh stalk of celery
• food colouring
• water
• glasses/cups

Put a few drops of food colouring into the water and put in the celery, I did try chrysanthemums but they didn't work!

After a few hours you peel the edge off the celery to see how far the food dye has gone:

I replicated the experiment with a class of 4-6 year olds and they could see the colouring had moved up:

Yeast Breathing

For this experiment you need:

• yeast
• sugar
• warm water
• a bottle
• a balloon

Put a spoonful of yeast with a spoon of sugar in a bottle. Add some warm water (not too hot or it will kill the yeast!) and shake it up. Then out a balloon over the top to seal it:

When you leave it warm water the balloon will gradually inflate as the yeast lets off carbon dioxide as it breathes: 

The children were amazed by this simple experiment!

Reasons to be Cheerful: Philosophy, Fell Running and Teaching #R2BC

How can it be February already and my turn to host Reasons to be Cheerful? Thank you Michelle for hosting us in January. Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Tilly the teapot
To make my class of young children think about what is living and not living I took in my pet teapot Tilly. It raised a few laughs but we also had a good discussion about what makes a pet and can we love things that are not alive:

2) Proud Mum

Another mum took a photograph of my son finishing strongly in last weekend's fell race. He is getting over his fear of running down steep hills which helped him to his faster time. I wonder how he will do on Sunday:

3) Another Canine Cutie