Stile Cup 2023 - The Results Update!

So it's done! The #StileCup2023 is finished, with @Northlakesuk's double stone stiler just winning out by just 0.9% over @jenscotney's Peak District sloper. @PeterGWeather (Peter Gibb's - the former Met Office/TV weatherman, came in a creditable 4th overall, but had the distinction of trouncing my entry in round 1). I'm still not bitter....much 😂

Congrats to the winner., commiserations to everyone else who took part.

Key takeaway from this year is that whilst "swank" (fabulous landscapes, cute dogs etc) might get you through round 1, it's the actually stile that counts with 3 out of the 4 finalists (but arguably all of them) focusing on the still rather than the surroundings.

Roll on the 2024 competition!

If you want to be in it, make sure you follow @LakesStiles on Twitter.

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

Instagram: simon_hiscocks

Stile Cup 2023. Crashed and burned

Sad reading - 3rd of 3 - by a stretch

Well, my #StileCup2023 competition lasted less than 24 hours as I was well beaten into 3rd place in a 3 horse race in round 1 as you can see from the photo at the top of this post.

I'm gutted to have succumbed in round 1 for the second year running as I though I had a decent chance of at least progressing with this year's entry, and even the organiser had the grace to say (after voting closed) that they thought it was worthy of progressing.

But that's the way the cookie crumbles. Interestingly there were only just over 200 votes cast in this group, so the fact that the group winner has over 10k followers compared to my just over 400 clearly has no bearing.

Looking at the group winners, it's hard to see any discernible pattern for those that progress further in the competition. As I said previously, a decent dog or distant landscape clearly helps, rather than a good stile, with some pretty ordinary ones (in my view) making the cut. However, I'm not bitter (much), and I've now got plenty of time to start searching for next year's entry on my travels whilst voting for what I think is the best stile in the remainder of this year's comp.

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

Instagram: simon_hiscocks