kendal again for my fifth mountain fest

KendalMF 2022 I love the Kendal Mountain festival (KMF) I go as OFTEN as I can this was my fifth spread over seven years, I had been looking forward to it for months carefully planning booking things I didn’t want to miss, I would keep watching for ticket sales as soon as they became available to buy, I would jump at seats down the front where I can hear well, my medical report states that my hearing is seriously impaired for a man of my age! My hearing aids got melted in a hotel fire; well one of them the other went through the washing machine,

Thursday 17th of November 2022 Here it was finally the wait was over it was time to go, my train from Polmont was at 09:40 arriving in Kendal at 12:30, the rain was lashing down in polmont, I had full waterproofs on the mile walk to the station, there was enough time in Glasgow to get a warm Greggs vegan breakfast for the comfortable train ride, arriving in Kendal it was also absolutely lashing down with rain there also! It was too early to check in to the hotel, no problem; I had a plan. swift walk to the brewery arts center and get a program for me to then fill out the planner at the back, this was an exciting pleasure a beer in one hand pen in the other hand planning out the fun- I was in my element

After check In I still had my daily run to do, I decided by the time I had unpacked I had enough time for a forty Minuit run, which I done up and down the scenic river paths of Kendal over countless bridges large and small, I had taken note to remember my room number and was shocked to find it was my age, I’m getting so old I had to double check that in my head am I really over 55?! swift shower then off, with only enough time for a swift bag of chips to eat, before going onto the studio to see Damian hall being interviewed about his book – we cant run away from this, I had already bought a signed copy as a preorder months ago, which I had nearly completed reading during my flight free – running out of time climate baton chasing recent journey across Europe to Athens and back, I’ve got countless photos of this book on trains and buses across Europe

The interview about the book was really good; at the end I got a chance to get a brief question in, first I told my joke about the plastic recycling lorry but it was a load of rubbish. Then instead of asking one of the many questions I had thought about, I ended up just giving praise and thanks for the work he had done. I think he had thrown me off guard by recognizing me and calling me by my name, I did get a quick chat with him at the end where I apologized for not staying longer, I was in a hurry to go see George Monbiot, which I guessed he would have understood George Monbiot is another living legend two of my hero`s to listen to on the same night, he didn’t let me down, his chat was mind blowing the man is an outspoken honest genius which is a quality rarely found in these times, there was the usual Q&A at the end and I managed to squeeze one in, hand in the air, hello; how is it possible that the people of England vote into leadership the likes of Liz truss and Boris? Could you possibly move to Scotland take up politics and lead us to a brighter future? He laughed and a few in the audience also laughed; he gave a great reply that he already was in politics and that much of the truly hard work in politics that make the policies is done from behind the scenes, I was happy with that

At the end as I turned putting my jacket on, I smiled at the man sitting behind me and knowingly said hi, I then had to explain to him that he didn’t know me. It was Shane ohley race director of the cape wrath ultra the dragons back the skyline the Lakeland and also this year the Kendal Mountain festival trail race! I explained I had seen him talk in fort William perhaps five to six years ago now, when the CWU was reasonably new - that night was the start of a long journey for me to taking part in next years race, he smiled and said see you there and then added BTW I thought your question was good lol

George Monbiot’s books are amazing this was the launch of his latest Regenisis, which I was desperate to get a signed copy of, I joined the que up stairs it was a long one and I was struggling for time, as I approached the front and lifted a book to buy the person taking the payment held up the card reader I jokingly said loudly, is there a discount for people using ethical bank cards the girl looked seriously and said no; I laughed and said there should be and people with HSBC cards should pay extra! George was laughing when I handed him my book to sign I’m not sure if he heard the banter, but I told him he was amazing and I felt he was in my top three of living good guys- him Yvonne Chouinard and Greta the great, he laughed and was modest in his reply of course, I don’t like to take up time from important people like him, there was the next person to get signed and a few more I asked for a photo of us and left, it was all pleasant a feeling of hope among like-minded humans in those first two events, I later gave a lot of thought to the bank card statement and I truly believe we should do this, I am on to something here, there is little reward for individuals like me in the minority who bank ethically but there is rewards for those that help fund wars pollution deforestation and fossil fuels, somebody somewhere needs to start a banking revolution, the book stakeholder capitalism lines out how that can be done and to me it looks like Yvonne Chouinard may well have set that financial revolution off, this would please me no end as has so many other great inspirational worlds firsts he has done, Chouinard for world president I say! Greta the great for European president and George for prime minister we would be saved

Next it was the Rapha cycling session, all the events are named after the main sponsor in this case the cycling company Rapha (more on this later) this was two and a half hours of speakers and films on cycling, there was a young cyclist on, she is the commonwealth champion and one to watch for the future of you like time trial cycling, or road racing which I personally want nothing to do withy any longer its proper sports washing, I’ve forgotten her name but I loved her Strava art (I really must do this one day) she was one of five speakers, there was a cyclist with tunnel vision who had made an attempt on the round Britain cycle record, an ex-prisoner who started a community cycling group up with a few fun adventures along the way, also the hand cyclist Andrew paddisons heart of Scotland cycling film, there was a teacher from a Glasgow school, who had started a cycling bus in her primary school in Glasgow Shawlands I really liked that it would be great to get this idea up and running in schools all over the country, it finished at 21:45 which left enough time for a Witherspoon’s supper and a couple of beers, Witherspoon’s serve food late do lots of vegan options is cheap and serves fresh good local ales, regardless of all its bad press I like it, a great end to a great day