The Causey Arch Run

Maybe they didn’t mean it when NH3 bid me farewell at the circle on Run 859, ‘cause I was back to Newcastle, to New Kent Hotel and to NH3 for the first run in June, Run No. 876. The English Summer was in - a heady mix of cool breeze, bright sunshine and intermittent drizzle, near perfect for some long countryside runs.

The Bullocks family were setting the trail in the Durham countryside starting at the Causey Arch Inn & Keko’s Restorante & Pizzeria on Marley Hill. Counterfit offered a lift and we had enough time for some Guinness. It was quite a cold summer evening and I missed my windcheater.
We were about 15 runners and were rewarded right at the beginning – spare balls to pick up! I filled up my pockets with some dimpled balls scattered on the field close to a golf course. The lush green fields and the weather had also inspired some love making along the trail earlier during the day! We piled some miles till we reached the site of the Tanfield Waggonway station.
So there was this railway line that passing under us at the station. Little did I know the history of this line.

Here’s some trivia for you guys - Tanfield & Causey Arch:
The wooden tracks were built in the 18th century to carry coal from the Tanfield colliery to the Tyne side. The wooden wagons were pulled uphill by horses and then gravity carried them to the riverside, the speed being controlled by horses harnessed behind the wagons. Horses then carried the empty wagons back on the bye-way.
930 waggons passed everyday, that’s 1 in 20secs, with some 50yards between them.
Because of friction, the wagons often caught fire and had to be pulled out.
The Causey Arch is the oldest surviving Railway Bridge and was unprecedented when it was built in 1725.

We ran through FRB checks, Molly Pollys, checks, criss-crossing the tracks several times. It took us through some flowery fields to the BS (aka Beer Stop), where we polished off the last drops of some bitter pints.
We joined the walkers in the last stretch to the On-Inn. We warmed ourselves over some Pizzas, I went for the only veggie option – the Ortalano and some more Guinness. The discussions were around the upcoming Balydon race. With the lasses taking the 2 extra numbers that Nick had to spare, would I miss that race narrowly? Did the mountain bikers that we passed on the home stretch, have a prophetic implication? Only time would tell, Stay tuned!
On On
Pics here and more Causey Arch on wiki here.

Lepakshi

I had visited this town on the way to Hampi last year and always wanted to take my parents there someday. It’s perfect for a one day trip from Bangalore, if all you want to do is drive a short distance and still be able to visit someplace significant.

There are 2 ways to get there – via Chikkabalapur on the NH7 and left at Bagepalli or on via Doddaballapur on SH9, through Gouribidanur and Hindupur. There’s nothing to choose between the two in terms of distance, I chose to drive on the NH7 hoping for better roads.

We left at around 9 in the morning after breakfast at home and headed out on NH7 towards Hyderabad. The roads were great in patches, the not-so-good sections were those where we had to move on the wrong side of the road to make way for road widening work. Managed to cover a lot of distance till we reached the Ananthpur check post, just as you enter AP. There are no restaurants on that stretch, if you are used to the likes of Mysore road, you will be in for a rude surprise. We had stocked up sufficiently at Chikkaballapur.

We reached Lepakshi at 11 or so, first visited the Veerabhadra temple, took the services of a guide who in broken Kannada / Telgu went through a lot of historical and mythological significance of the place. The main diety, the lingas, the mural paintings, the kalyana mantap and the suspended pillar depict some fine workmanship. Check the wiki link for more info.
We spent sometime also at the Nandi statue which is the largest in India, followed by Tanjore and Chamundi Hills (that makes 3/3 for me). We were told that the Nandi here was a calf really and from the expressions a timid one.
We drove straight back and were in time for late lunch and early coffee.

Warwick Castle Jog

Work took me to Warwick near Birmingham, UK during the end of April. Workshops were lined up all day at work and the hotel was way outside of town. I managed to squeeze out time to jog the 6-7miles to see the Warwick castle.
I like the uncertainty and mystery around such runs – you have no idea how long you are going to run, what you are going to see, who you are going to meet.
It was a pleasant evening, the sun was out and the rabbits scurrying into the bushes as I passed them. There were just enough people on walks to ask for directions, one of them even letting me know the best place for a view of the castle. Without this bit of info, I would have run to the (closed!) castle gates and would have missed this spectacular view from over the bridge ahead of the castle.

Act of Random Kindness at Arkesh’s Mango Farm

Date: 02-03 May 09
Something struck me when I saw the closing dialogue of the movie Evan Almighty; I got out of the writer’s block and started to finish this post.
It’s easy to imagine that the ‘Ark’ in the Arkesh’s name stands for Act of Random Kindness. I have known him for a sometime now – as Praks father, soft spoken and charming, he always made you feel good about yourself after you had met him. So when I met him last Dec and spoke with such fervor about his farm off Mysore road, I made a note to myself to visit sometime.

Melukote

We wanted to take the weekend at our pace – Raghu, Raji and Dhannya confirmed and Tima and Ragi dropped off. The only reason I wanted to detour to Melukote was because it looked like a beautiful place in Jani’s album. (yes, I see other parts of those pictures now, after I’ve finally moved on. In fact, I am now on the verge of the imminent. Well, the Noah's Ark was not a singles' cruise; was it?)
We started from Bangalore at around 7, Mysore road was expectedly busy, although it was second day of a long weekend. We drove in my Elantra, stopped at Kamath for the buffet breakfast. The drive after we got off the highway was the best, we rolled the windows down and let the countryside air fill our lungs. It was about 11 when we reached the Kalyani at the bottom of the Melukote hill.
After the must-do photo shoot at the pushkarni, we started to climb up the hill to the Yoga-narasimha temple. It was blazing hot and the climbing the all the steps up to the teimple was not easy. We also visited the Cheluvanarayana temple. It was packed with sweaty devotees and ‘devotion’ was definitely not top of mind when I got a glimpse of the deity.

Where it is:
Approach from Bangalore towards Mysore – Within 0.5k from Ramanagaram bus stop, turn left on Kanakpura road. Reach Railway over bridge within 0.5k, pass the bridge and turn right after the bridge on Bannikuppe road. Reach Bannikuppe in 8km, turn right at T-junction and an immediate left turn to reach Aralaalasandra
Approach from Bangalore towards Kanakapura – Reach Saatanur via Doddalahalli. Proceed on Channapatana road about 20k to reach Volagerehalli and 3km from there to Aralaalasandra
Approach from Mysore towards Bangalore – After Channapatna bus stop turn right towards Honganooru at Saatnur circle. At a fork about 4-5k later, stay on the tank bund and continue for about 5k to Volagerehalli and continue straight to Aralaalasandra
I never thought we could make it with those directions, but they were spot on and more accurate than the GPS (sloppy benchmark to start with).
It was right at the end, that we overshot the farm, thanks to Raghu’s misleading gut-feel and our not-so-local-language-conversant co-pilot, Dhannya. The Elantra was subject to a lot of abuse from the road (or the lack of it), but I was proud of the way it handled the terrain meant for the 4x4s.

What is it:
We had absolutely no idea what to expect when we reached the farmhouse. But as soon as parked there, we started to breathe, see and eat... Mangoes. It’s a 50acre farm – a 1000 mango tress and some delicious varieties – Alphonso (Badami), Raspuri, Totapuri, Kari raspuri and a few local ones. In the middle of the harvesting season, each tree had nearly about 100 mangoes to be picked.
Kenchegowda was the caretaker of the farm, was out to graze cattle. But his wife and kids and Chandrappa made sure we were comfortably settled in the rooms in the first floor of the farmhouse after a guided tour of the farm.

Mango Harvesting: Thanks to movies and beverages, we woke up late and plans of trekking to Devarabetta or Kabaaladurga had to put to shelved for another day. Arkesh uncle came there in the morning and everyone got on their feet (everyone, except Raaji). After a quick breakfast, the mango harvesting began. While Raghu and I joined the team and were soon finishing off an entire tree ourselves. The words - first time right, low hanging fruits and sap actually meant what they were and not some business jargon. Arkesh uncle taught us how to harvest, to keep the sap from burning our fingers or the fruit. It was a relaxing exercise – starting off with an empty carton and a full tree and finishing off with a full carton and an empty tree.
The repetitive act of picking the mango to go for next, carefully plucking it at the right spot, placing it gently in the carton and back till the entire tree is cleaned up, and just doing this over and over again, is what brings to it an element of relaxation.
Raghu and I got back to lunch after a while, but Arkesh and team kept to the task till we had some 60 odd cartons, all treated with Ethylene (?), loaded and ready to make it to Metro.
The girls were having a ball too, sharing the machaan (hammock) and some gossip, am guessing!!
All’s well, but it really didn’t end well. What with the traffic on Mysore road at the end of a long weekend!
The next trip to the farm is going to be on a different set of wheels and also looking to do those treks and maybe a run or two…
Want to leave you guys with this quote from the movie Evan Almighty:
“God: How do we change the world? Evan Baxter: One single act of random kindness at a time.
God: [spoken while writing A-R-K on ground with a stick] One Act, of, Random, Kindness.”
Photos from Raghu and me

Labor Day Labor

While on my trip to UK, of the things that I had picked up were a pair of tail-lamps, a crank brothers hand pump, spiral cable coil lock and a high-viz vest. And all of this had joined my Firefox that had barely been tested.
Bangaloreans are lucky to have Nandi Hills at just the right biking distance in our backyard. The Bangalore Bikers Club rides out almost every weekend to Nandi and I planned to join a group of mountain bikers to ride to Nandi Hills and back – a distance of about 100km from Hebbal. I pulled out of that and decided instead to join Sriram (profiled here) to ride 2 loops from the Nandi turn-off point off the highway. With Sriram, it would mean a much faster pace. But since we were to start off the highway, it would mean I would do a shorter ride.
A 4:30am weekend
This is becoming a norm now, wake up at 4:30am on a weekend. What is unfortunately becoming increasing regular is how I have to wait for people to show up. I was about 10mins early and Sriram was about 30mins late.
We started at about 6:40 from the Nandi turn-off point (23k to Nandi) and rode together one loop of about 10k and back. Sriram took off then, the next thing I saw was as I was approaching the point where we had turned off, he was racing some motorcyclists and was overtaking a few of them. The guy’s a freak.
I continued on and was struggling up the slope, yet to reach the foot of the hill, but already low on cadence and in granny gears. It was then Ignatius Chen Chin Fa, aka Iggy, the Kannada-speaking-Chinese-guy passed me on this bike. I met the die-hard RFLers – Rishi, Amrita and team, they had finished one loop and were getting ready for one more.
I started the ride up the hill – 7k of hill riding, the last 3k pretty steep. I lost Iggy and his friend within the first km or so.
I kept pushing the pedals for about 4k. The pedal clips help a lot in the uphills. You can pull up with one leg and you push down with the other. I had to resort to a lot of walking, jogging in the last 2k and just made it ahead of the runners to the top. I would have to work hard and try and get to scale the hill in one go sometime soon.
Rode down and back to the car in good time. I joined the Rishi and others at the dhaba for breakfast. Lotsa labor on labor day, I should say!

The 'National Geographic' Charlaw Run

The Charlaw Inn NH3 Run No. 859

The Newcastle H3 puts in an additional run out in the countryside on the first Sunday of every month and that gave me a chance to squeeze one more.
Billy was driving from Jesmond and offered me a ride. The run was to start from Charlaw Inn in Edmondsley on the way to Durham. Billy’s navigator, Marian was out in London and I, barely knowing how to read the signs and the map, was to step up and do the job. Little wonder then that we got lost on our way and on my advice (very indianish but effective) stopped at a post office to ask for directions.
The run was hared by knickerless, Bellox me & Talking B – the family hared run. There were the regulars of the NH3, but lots more walkers. It felt great at the start of the run - the cool breeze, the endless fields, the windmill on the horizon, the hash jokes lifted the spirits.
The run quickly took us off the road into the fields and woods. There were some steady uphill sections and the path in the woods ran along a creek for a while, we jumped up and over fences, cattle gates, fallen trees and floating timber. There was a Beer stop about mid way at a local inn, the Wardles Inn and we set off again after the hydration.
The Animal Farm
It wasn’t difficult to find the right trail – do not go in the direction if you hear the hounds barking or if the sign says “beware of the bull”. We passed some deer, rabbits, highland cattle and some wild hashers running all over the place. In many places the earth was soft and it was near impossible to keep the mud off the shoes. I had managed to save my shoes almost till the end, but was duped just once by some grass over a slushy patch and went in ankle deep into cold mud.
The Farewell
I was honored again at the circle, with a down down, a complimentary NH3 tee-shirt and cap. Thanks NH3 for those wonderful runs and for being such a shit-hot host. On On…
Rest of the photos here http://picasaweb.google.com/manoj.bhat/NH3CharlawRunNo859

Ps: The title of the post is inspired by someone who has made a few appearance on visorview in the past and made it to the finals of the NatGeo Misson Navy... hats off!!!

Run Kennedys

Obelix, Watsarong, Lubri, Counterfit, Billy, Marian, Lubricunt, Speedbump, Inncontenance, LHJ, HJ, Knickerless, Yohoo Banger, Totempole, Phatphatia – that was the entry that went under Run No. 858 at Kennedy’s at 8:25 on Wednesday the 25th Feb '09 (that is 1day short of 3yrs since I started running with the BH3. It's in the archive here).

For me, it was one more run made easy by the Hashers. My directions were simple – walk 700mts to the Jesmond Metro station. Be there at 6:10, look for a pretty lady in running gear (read, Speedbump) and she will guide you to the run site.

The run did start off well – with cops stopping by to check if the flour was WMD and I saw off a pint of Guinness before the start. The run was in South Shields and close to the sea, but the hares – Obelix, Watsarong and Lubri made sure we saw none of it. We ran through many red houses shouting our on ons. Many “Molly Checks” (a U-turn sign, upon reaching it everyone turns back and goes right back to the hare, circles the hare and gets back on the trail) and Triple FRB checks (same as FRB check only done with 3 FRBs) kept the pack together. And then there were “three on ons” - 3 flour dots in a row to indicate the right trail where the FRBs shout on-on-on.
The closet we got to wildlife was a toad that was living dangerously. Thankfully none of the hariettes were looking for the Prince Charming!

Customary down down were given to the hares at the circle. I got a down down for being the flasher on the run. It was Spitfire in the circle and I got back into the on-inn and tried the NewCastle Brown Ale and the Johnsmith.

Many thanks to Speedbump and to Billy and Marian for driving me back to the hotel. Marian even got out of the car into the cold night hug me a goodbye. On On…
Photos here

The Bangalore Midnight Half Marathon 09

It took me less than 2hours to run it, but 1248hours to write about it. It’s like when they ask you in interviews "what are your weaknesses?” (Well, it’s probably not like that, but wtf) As you can see the Bangalore midnight marathon did happen. Crossover didn't manage it screw it up totally, only they decided to have it one week before the Mumbai marathon (oh yeah, that’s pending too).

It was the Mumbai marathon that I had been training for and I didn't want anything to really come in the way of the best part of the training - the tapering. But with a marathon happening in Bangalore, was I going to miss it? No.
But unlike some brave hearts like Rishi and Amrita who decided to run two full marathons in 2 weeks, I decided to do the half.

Athreya picked me up (and Reena, omg!! oh!!) and we reached the school from where we were supposed to start. We had to walk a long way to the start line though.
We didn't have the fuss at the start like in the last edition of the midnight marathon and we may have started at 12 midnight too.

It was fun to run the first few kms with Leona who was 'jumpy' after she had won the 5k event and downed a few beers! I was running alone for most part of the run. It was very pleasant running in the night and the whole body cycle working aganist you didn't bother me. I was trying not to run too fast just saving up for Mumbai, I guess. We had to do 2 loops of A to B and B to A of nearly flat course.
I held the pace for the first loop and then caught up with Prateek who was also doing great on the prep for Mumbai. Infact, both of us were holding the pace down, so it would not affect our tapering :)

With about 2-3kms to go, we could hold it no more and sprinted for the finish. I finished in 1:57mins. This is my first recorded marathon under 2hours - PB!!

But the night was nowhere near over - we all waited in the cold night waiting for the RGI girls to finish their relay marathon. I ran the last few hundred meters with most of them, they finished on the podium. Meghana did the 10k, the first 10k for her young one she is still carrying.
So there! Not the greatest race to run, but it was good fun with all friends around.

Statutory warning: Be ready for some dated posts to come up here...

Hash Bash at New Lanark

It was Run No. 1187 of the Hamilton Hash, Run No. 1465 of the Edinburgh Hash, 14th trail weekend for the Bras and Pants H3 on Sunday, 22nd Feb in the cotton mill village, New Lanark in southern Scotland.
No, the brasandpantsh3 is not a “consortium of pub-going loose forward women” but is the “Brewery Runs Around Scotland & Pants because you are panting for a beer” Hash House Harriers… Read on…


I missed the train to Edinburgh on a Saturday morning by 30secs and as I cursed the fat-b!%&#-behind-the-counter for issuing my tickets late, made my way out of the Metro trying to look for a cheaper than full-fare (44£) option. Not the best way to start the weekend you would say.
But Edinburgh changed it all – the train ride itself offered some wonderful views, on either side on the window ;) From the moment I stepped out of the Waverley station into Princess street, I was surrounded by historic spires, parks, castles and museums. Even a non-event like walking to the hotel turned to a memorable experience.

I took a tour bus in the evening and visited the castle and the Scottish Parliament. The locals were friendly and were more than willing to help a ‘slumdog millionaire’ find his way around. One couple even offered that I should try a Falafel and recommended an Israeli place for me to try one. All this while, though, I was still working under the assumption that I would somehow find my way to this little village of New Lanark the following morning for the run.

In hindsight, I would have never made it, if I hadn’t seen a mail from Sheryl Valentine (!!) from the Edinburgh Hash offering to drive me to Lanark. Without leaving anything to chance, she offered to pick me right from my hotel lobby all the way to Lanark. We stopped briefly at the Gillespie home to pick up Alan. While Sheena (aka Sheryl) treated me to some coffee, Alan showed me around his vintage car collection – a 1936 Talbot, 1960s MG, and a Jaguar – all tenderly housed in his garage. It turned out that they had visited India in 2004 and run with BH3 as a part of the prelude to the Goa Interhash. She fondly remembered how the cops had stopped the traffic for some 200 hashers who had turned up then.


We drove for nearly three quarters to reach New Lanark. The hashers were from all around the place – the EHHH, TNT Hash, Hamilton Hash and the Aberdeen Hash. The brewery run had left most of them in various state of sobriety and drunkenness and one with a black eye even.
The pics tell you the story of the run – fantastic trail along the Clyde walkway taking us through the World Heritage site - cotton mills, a hydroelectric power station, the spectacular falls of Corra Linn and the Corra Castle.
It was looking very touristy till we saw flour going right down a steep, slippery path, right into the river!! A few of us did try to work our way around it, but the Hamilton hares had made sure there were no shortcuts. With my shoes worn over my neck, I stepped into the freezing cold waters of the river Clyde. My feet frozen and shoes dry, I made it to the other side. We ran some more till we came to the Bonnington dam (?) passing a few more falls before heading back. It must have been about 7-8miles in all. It was teeth chattering cold in the circle. The GM Megasaurarse and the RA cuckoo ensured that we stayed there long enough for the cold to reach our bones. I was given a down down for being foolish enough to come to a hash run from half way around the globe. I did have my share of true ales – the Burton Bitter & the Biere Speciale while the RA with his bunny cap went on with his stories.
Sheryl Valentine led the circle to sing all the songs (incl. the nipples on the tits one for the harriettes). Many of them were new to me. We went on then to the On Inn in the village, a warm place called Clydesdale Wetherspoons Inn for some Guinness and lunch.
There were so many things that should have fallen in place for me to make it to the run, many thanks to Sue, the Speedbump for all the directions and to the Gillespie couple – Sheena and Alan for escorting me to and back. I had to really stretch out Alan hospitality to take a lift right back to Waverley.

Pics of the run are at http://picasaweb.google.com/manoj.bhat/EHHH

Videos of the circle are here, here, here and here...

On On...