I've had enough......

The strap, which Garmin prefer to call a band, has broken for the third time on my Forerunner watch and, of course, outside the warranty.  As many will know, it's not possible to just replace the strap on these watches.  They've been so designed that the whole caboodle has to be replaced, refurbished watch with new strap - at great expense and with up to 14 days delivery time.  The current cost of this is £49.20 + however much it costs to return the old watch to Garmin by registered post.  Garmin are on to a good thing here, squeezing upwards of another £150 out of customers just because their perishing straps keep breaking.  Well I reckon it's time to say goodbye to Garmin, bin their watch and change to a different brand.  It's a shame, I've never been able to fault the actual watches, they've always performed perfectly, but I'm blowed if I'm going to keep handing over £50+ every time a strap breaks.  

TomTom here I come.

I'm considering one of these    (Click to enlarge pictures)

Things got worse.  Until I find a replacement for my GPS I strapped on an old Run-Tec watch to time my runs last weekend.  As I stripped off my running top there was a slight thud on the floor.  You've guessed it.  The strap had broken.  So there's another one to join the Forerunner in the bin.

Enough is enough....

Running didn't go too well on one day either.  I mentioned in an earlier post the hock deep holes beef cattle and their calves have made in Castle Hill fields.  They've now excelled themselves by joining up all the holes to create a quagmire of slushy mud that's impossible to run through.   My shoes and legs were in rather a mess when I got home last Thursday so breakfast got somewhat delayed.  Reluctantly, I'm going to abandon that route until the beasties have gone elsewhere and the ground given chance to dry out again.

We have lift-off

I'd another couple of enjoyable runs in the cemetery, the last one on Friday when I ran and hung around for slightly longer.  It was cold, maybe a slight ground frost, but there was a beautiful clear sky that heralded a glorious sunrise I didn't want to miss.  It didn't disappoint.

The sun appeared to rise out of the ground at the very base of Emley Moor mast before rising into the sky to light and enhance all the beautiful autumn tints around the graveyard.

A nice place to run

  I don't know whether it's an age thing but the Personal Trainer and his client carried on chatting with nary a glance at the pageant unfolding around them.

A braw morning at Grimwith

We were up at 6.30 on Sunday morning for an early run round Grimwith reservoir but as we stepped out into the lane we were stung by cold, driving rain.  Looks were enough. We retreated and went back to bed until breakfast time!  We finally got out into brilliant sunshine to find the car park at Grimwith filled with cars and a noisy flapping of sails as yachts went scudding across the choppy water.

Autumn glory, back o' Grimwith

Greylags elected to stay ashore with low honkings and buglings, talking about whatever it is geese talk about.  Mallard formed a loose bobbing raft out on the water with never a sound as we ran by.

Greylags resting and chuntering.

A pair of young runners past us at great speed, fortunately going in the opposite direction or we'd have been most embarrassed.

Glad those two runners were going the opposite way....

Most walkers, I'd say 90% of them, had dogs in tow.  Or were being towed by dogs.  It was strange because the number of walkers by no means equated to the number of cars in the car park. 

Running days don't get much better than this

 I reckon most were enjoying the warmth inside their cars while gazing across the water to the autumn tints and sunlit hills beyond.  Perhaps that's what I ought to be doing. 

If I was allowed!