forward facing eyes

Today's blip is Smardale Viaduct - a wonderfully accessible and photogenic spot, somewhere the IttH's visit often. It's also a butterfly conservation area managed by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust and yet whilst today we saw jumping deer and soaring buzzards, not a single solitary flutterby was to be found.

Pooch and I strolled out along the disused railway line to the Limekilns today after a visit to the Dr's surgery. For the first forty years of my life I averaged exactly one visit every decade, now I worry they'll name a bench after me. I can appreciate than most of my visits have been through injury and whilst painful and annoying they are easier to come to terms with as by and large they are the result of choices I've made. BIH has however been a sobering experience, and whilst the medication has held it at bay it's ghost lingers still, lurking, the remembrance of it painful enough to cast a dark shadow. I'm fortunate to have a very supportive GP who has now given me enough pain medication to see me through a shortened Alps season and a plan of action for when I'm back. I can add it to the long list of reckonings my body will have to take.

And that sounds melancholic which is odd as I'm really not. I guess I could do something different, I know some would hunker down for cover - but I credit a lifetime of climbing and measuring risk for the way I am with things like this - I can't alter it now, I can bear it now and any remedy lies ahead - so that's where my focus needs to be.