Coniston

I have to admit, if I look at it subjectively, it's a really cool kind of loop of the lakes.

As a result of there being so many other races in the Lake District, it does... um borrow i'm not going to say the word steal it does borrow substantially from events like um lakeland hundreds there are vast tracks of it that are identical albeit run in reverse it comes it runs anti-clockwise whereas Lakeland beginning in Coniston in the south of the lakes runs clockwise 13 Valley starts in Keswick which is a very logical start place for a big circuitous route like this it's the biggest town in the Lake District I don't really this is controversial I don't really count Kendal as the Lake District I always think of it as south of I guess it's the very edge of it.

But Keswick is the big town in the north and certainly has the most sort of accessible range of hotels, accommodation, eateries, all that stuff.

The Thirteen Valleys route does sort of double back on itself.

So I probably went on to do maybe a 750 meter swim in a triathlon.

And then the next one was the Coniston swim.

So that's, I don't know what it is in kilometers, but it's called it's five and a half miles.

Yeah.

And you were like, you gave us a little bit of a quizzical look, but then it was like, all right, we've got a month.

And we did it.

You know, we joined in and we managed to do Coniston.

And Lake District, so it was colder, terrible weather.

Yeah.

Got this postcard from Frank, and he is in Coniston? Here.

I don't know.

Gone over Coniston.

Yeah, Coniston.

Yes.

I've

to

The best thing about the Lake District is that when you're done for the day and you walk down off the last fell, the trail always leads straight into a charming little pub about 100 feet from the foot of the hill.

One day I walked down and into a pub where the man behind the bar introduced me to a beer called Bluebird Bitter, made in the nearby town of Coniston.

Anna was on a consulting assignment in London at the same time, and she came up for a weekend and climbed a few fells with me, giving me the opportunity to introduce her to Bluebird Bitter, too.

Soon after we were back in New York, while we were visiting DBA once, we noticed a tap handle that said Bluebird Bitter on it.

Then I would rest at the inn for a space, and go my way.

Lake Coniston is ten miles from Grasmere, and even alone the walk is not long.

If, however, you are delightfully attended by king's daughters, on whom you sit and commune now and then on the bankside, the distance will seem to be much less.

Then there is a pleasant little break in the journey at Hawkshead.

Here one may see the quaint old schoolhouse where Wordsworth as a boy dangled his feet from a bench and proved his humanity by carving his initials on the seat.

The inn at the head of Coniston Water appeared very inviting and restful when I saw it that afternoon.

Built in sections from generation to generation, half covered with ivy and embowered with climbing roses, it is an institution entirely different from the Grand Palace Hotel at Oshkosh.

In America we have gongs that are fiercely beaten at stated times by gentlemen of color, just as they are supposed to do in their native Congo jungles.

It's

based in Coniston in the Lake District.

Wow.

It was a bit like.

Some say it could be an area code, New Mexico if you're wondering, or possibly a Sheffield bus route.

Actually, you'll find the 5.05 bus route runs between Coniston and Kendall in Cumbria.

So not Sheffield.

Anyway, interesting fact on this track.

So just give you some food for thought.

So this isn't necessarily supposed to be a comparison for the 50 or the 100, because what they have over in Coniston with that, I said a festival, and Lisa was like, "It's not a festival.

Mind your neck in, Gary." But they have this kind of buzz in Con-

Hush, what you mean? [laughs]

[laughs] Yeah.

What they create in Coniston is a lot different to some races that I'm very fond of, but that is quite unique what they have created over there in the Lake District.

Yeah, any-

I mean, you can't go wrong obviously with the Centurion races.

About the same time, Lincoln Steffens exposed the sordid character of politics in several municipalities in a series of articles bearing the painful heading, The Shame of the Cities.

The critical spirit appeared in almost every form, in weekly and monthly magazines, in essays and pamphlets, in editorials and news stories, in novels like Churchill's Coniston and Sinclair's The Jungle.

It became so savage and so wanton that the opening years of the 20th century were well named, quote, the age of the muckrakers, end quote.

The subjects of the criticism In this outburst of invective, nothing was spared.