Joe & Anna's wedding

Congratulations to Joe Chillingworth & Anna Llewelyn who were married on Saturday in Somerset. After a ceremony at the Webbington Hotel, they adjourned to a splendid reception at Shipham Village Hall. Pimms and Butcombe Bitter helped the proceedings go with a swing, and that was before the ceilidh got underway.

Back in the 90's, several of the Chillingworth/Duff clan used to run the Galtres Half Marathon at Easingwold in North Yorkshire. Joe and his father David were part of the team who are pictured below. Readers will note that these finely tuned athletes have by a strange coincidence all got drinks in their hands.

from the left - Colin, David, Joe, Anna, Rory, YC, Euan

Jackson Cousins

It's been a while since YC saw his Jackson cousins, but he made up for it this weekend. First off was Ingrid in Bristol. We stopped off en-route to Joe Chillingworth's wedding (of which more later) and saw her for an impromptu enjoyable picnic in the grounds of an M5 service station. She now has Max (aged 8 months) who we met for the first time. Here he is tucking into his lunchtime biscuits.

Back in Tynemouth, Paul Jackson & family were visiting on their way up to Aberdeen. They called into Percy Gardens for champagne and chat. Paul's youngest Josh (aged 6) had a great time rooting through the flags in the company of Rev T (aged 6 at heart). It turns out that Ria & family can claim some Welsh ancestry - hence the photo above. All together now: "My hain gwlad vern hadai un an oil ee me..."

40th birthday celebrations

James & Katie Duff celebrated their 40th birthdays with a fine party at Hazeldene on Saturday. The weather held fair and the assembled guests were able to enjoy a pleasant summer evening in the garden. James had thoughtfully ordered 80 pints of Hogs Back Bitter. YC doesn't usually drink beer. But on this occasion he deemed it churlish to refuse and sampled the odd half. The beer was described as "a light amber coloured 3.7% beer ideal for a session". YC can confirm that it lived up to its billing.


left - the Duff family at the party
right - putting to good use years of training behind the bar at The Tynemouth Lodge Hotel
below - the marquee in the garden

more photos

Wasdale Fell Race

The Wasdale Fell Race - 21 miles with 9,000 ft of climbing over some of The Lake District's roughest fells including Pillar, Great Gable, and Scafell Pike. Add in mist, rain, and high winds, and it all adds up to "a bit of a challenge". YC made it round the race yesterday in just over 6 hours. He wasn't feeling entirely fresh after the Chevy Chase last week, and is most definitely not feeling fresh now. It was an achievement just to finish, and YC is now hanging up his racing shoes for a couple of weeks for some rest and rehydration. Phase 1 of the latter was a pint of Robinson's 4:4:2 in The Scress Inn, Nether Wasdale with Will Horsley. Watch this space for details of later phases.

more detailed account on the NFR website

Chevy Chase fell race

Old Cheviot was spotted on the Chevy Chase (20 mile fell race) yesterday. He left the youth of today to sprint off up the road at the start, as he began per force at a more leisurely pace. Conditions were on the warm side with a stiff headwind as OC made his way to Cheviot. His recce from last week paid off as he made good time to Hedgehope (overtaking a few other runners) to arrive there in 2 hours. On the return leg, OC picked up the pace with the wind on his back, eventually finishing 14th overall in 3 hours 23 minutes: not bad for an aged fellrunner.

OC was a counter in the winning NFR team. The team prize was a fine tankard and an equally fine bottle of Farne Island ale. John Telfer was keen to inspect the prize. OC showed him the tankard with pride. But it turned out that JT, as a dedicated ale taster, was rather keener to inspect the liquid refreshment. Good man!