While I have sympathy for the folk that have truly suffered with what the weather has thrown at them, I really don`t have any problem with mud and water logged paths fields etc, it just adds another dimension and challenge to being in the great outdoors.
With the right kit is even dare I say quite a lot more fun than slogging along in blazing sun and high temperatures for example

It's the wettest winter I've ever known while training for the London Marathon and ultras .the paths are relentless and saturated with water . This weekend coming last year I was going to down reccee the Canel Teign . Wouldn't be the case this year

Plenty of glorious MUD on the Punchbowl on Sunday, however after the flooded road section at Elstead my boots were clean as a whistle, both inside and out, lovely.

Problem with wellies is that if you walk a long distance in them, unless they are good quality (hunter wellies) you wear the sole out pretty quick and they start to leak. I am on my third pair this winter......This weather is relentless. It is like summer 2012 - monsoon after monsoon only it's winter and there's no foilage to soak it all up........ How's everyone getting on with it?

I'm getting quite used to walking fairly long distances in wellies now.

Do we need to develop a grading system for mud ? A bit like the Beaufort Scale for wind.

e.g. Something on the lines of :

0 = dry, rutted and like concrete
5 = walkers lose trainers
7 = requires a crawling board to pass safely
10 = swallows entire LDWA group

Are there any suggestions for further descriptions ?

It would be useful when summarising walk conditions

Mud is back with a vengeance. Me and the wife stopped in a loveley cottage at the stipperstones this weekend ( weather awfull Saturday ) so I thought I'd do half of the long mynd hike course in Sunday morning for my long run . Big mistake six inches of water and mud in every field unrunnable in many places I managed 17 miles abd called it a day .like running in wet cement

Come back summer all is forgiven. Yes Sunday was fab weather wise but yes, the mud is well and truly back clinging onto legs, shoes, making you slip.....can we please have a dry winter......but it could be a lot worse when you look elsewhere in the world at the moment...

What a wonderful day today. I can put up with the inevitable rain and wind this winter after a day of wall to wall sunshine, a dusting of snow, amazing views from Ingleborough and a touch of frost to help harden up the soggy bits.

And the first snow of the winter arrived on the Lake District fells at the weekend, so the microspikes go back in the rucksack.

It's back...

It can rain all summer now after that fantastic window of weather for the hundred

Just looked at the long range weather forecast dry week for Cornwall and Devon and cloudy partly sunny next Saturday and a chance of a few showers on the Sunday lets hope that its right .

Hopefully can't get much wetter than last year!yes did the ironbridge half.that was a cold one! I vow to never ever complain about the heat ever!

you did fantastic last year in that awfull weather . Can't be any worse can it ? we're going down late Thursday night and stopping in Wadebridge . did you do the iron bridge half marathon also

Yes - I am a bit nervous this year truth be told as I don't think I am anywhere near as fit as I was last year but never mind - too late now and I might surprise myself. Hope to see you there. We are driving to Teignmouth on Friday before the event and getting public transport to Wadebridge. See you there! I wonder if anyone else has pondered over the volcano theory??!!

You could have a good point there . Are you doing the 100 again this year

I know.....great. We had spring and summer a fortnight ago for a week and I think that's it. My theory is it was that volcano that grounded all the flights a couple of years ago. The weather has been terrible since :-)

The rain is back just in time for next weeks 100

The participants on the Dorset Giant Marshals Walk over the weekend encountered real mud - none of this nice clean snow, water and "easy under the foot" northern stuff - REALLY DEEP, SLITHERY MUD. They still finished ... well done all

The mud is back....but worse-it has 6 inches of snow floating on top....can you believe it!?

A 30 mile challenge walk in the beautiful Kent countryside.....................................mud?

or

Get tipsey?

A few words of encouragement. My last 100 was Wessex, 2009. I recce'd the last dozen miles 3 weeks before the event and found the paths to be troughs of standing water and soft chalky mud. On the event, all the water had gone, leaving knife-edged concrete-hardened ruts. Enjoy!

Dave

Quote:

On a positive note it's good for the balance and leg muscles.

Hmmm

So is being tipsy...

;)

Hi, Sorry to spoil it folks, but the Mud is back, I've just completed the Sevenoaks Circular marshals walk and spent 30 miles slipping and sliding in glorious MUD. On a positive note it's good for the balance and leg muscles.

Yes indeed! today is a fabulous day might don my shorts for the first outing on my run tonight

I know - its been fabulous hasn't it......I just hope that last week wasn't 'summer' and that's it now :-).
Forecast warmer but damper towards the middle to end of this week, but countryfile confirmed that this winter has been colder than average as well.

No one sing too much.....and no rain dances......

I will never ever complain about the ground being too hard or dry ever again after this 18 month winter, or that I'm too hot.

It's also starting to get light at night now......anyone else got that 'spring feeling?'

At last yesterday's 19 mile training was mud free
No muddy trainers wet feet as summer arrived early again like last march

Oh yes - that's why I should have attended those grammar lessons at school........well we've had everything else thrown at us this year so I wouldn't bat an eyelid at a few chickens falling from the sky!
The blue sky continues............should be declared a national holiday.....

Wow Rebecca, we've not seen downpours of chickens over here in East Yorks; it'll be horses next!

What on earth is that orange glowing thing in the sky and that blue haze.........?? It couldn't possibly be blue sky and sunshine could it?
maybe the Gods have heard my official grievance regarding the constant onslaught of fowl weather!!!!

Yes Sunday was awfull I came back after been out for 19 odd miles like a mud monster . Now we've got snow again then it will melt so more floods to expect

And just when it was drying up and the mud was turning into a paste rather than a squelch, it rained again...(sunday) and didn't stop.

I was watching a programme on Fri night set in france and it pictured a glorious sunny evening in a vineyard with the sun setting softly......made me think just how badly the weather has affected me last year and turned me into a right moaning winging old woman staring accusingly at the forecast.

After spending the best part of a hour on the phone with a member of the Camel Teign Ivor's Dream 100 the other night, I don't think it will be the mud you'll have to worry about. More like the weight of the scuba equipment that you'll be carrying that will be the problem. ;-)

I wasn't even a twinkle in my fathers eye then but wasn't there more snow than mud that year? At least it was pretty I guess...can't find anything positive to say about mud apart from it has seemed to soften my hands and face - who needs oil of ulay.....

Is it down to the ageing process? SAD, I remember skipping through the awful winter of 1963!

Lets hope it improves for the 100 I still have nightmares from last years mudfest . More mud I'm afraid

Oh no - I was hoping for a repeat of last years dry March.... maybe its just payback for all those dry years we had and natures way of balancing things......

Think I've rotted through a pair of trainers too - I've also got through 3 pairs of wellies this year - holes keep appearing and its so sodden even the smallest of holes leaks water like crazy....

I've forgotten what dry ground feels like.

Yes I agree . Paths that used to be water and mud free are now mud and ground water . I think even if it started to dry up now it would take months for the countryside to recover . I have worn out two pairs of my running trainers since October by the tops going rotten and the fabric splitting due to the mud and being wet all the time . I've been running 22 years and never had this happen as its always the treads wear first , it's getting expensive !!!On the weather forecast not good news at all im affraid bbc website state march is going to be much of the same .

Got to work in a bad mood, cold damp dark.......and needed a rant. Anyone else sick of this endless winter? Listened to the radio the other day and they are calling last year the '18 month winter' - it started out very promising with a lovely warm march, my push bike and motorbike got dusted off and used....they were back in the garage in disgrace by April when the rains started.
Everything ends up plastered in mud everytime you go out, and we even got our landrover stuck in the field the other day which is pretty impressive since they're meant to go anywhere......anyone heard a long range forecast? Can we ever ditch the wellies???