I arrived at Moot Hall just before midnight where I promptly
sorted out what to take and what not to take with my pacers. And all important
last minute prep of which I probably should have taken more time over this. And
then we set off, waving goodbye to about 7 or more people. Looking back it was
quite a blur but I was pleased to see friends from Stone and well-wisher’s who
were assisting a round about to leave around the same time. The weather was
less than perfect but I read and hoped it would change later. As we set off
through the rain up towards Skiddaw the temperature started to drop more and
more. We weren’t even half way up and I was asking if we were nearly there yet.
My pacers were Dave and his mate Ronnie. Truly great guy’s, at this point we
were starting to panic. Or at least I was about the weather. We reached Great
Calva by which time the rain wasn’t quite as bad and I got just enough of a run
in to keep myself warm for a bit. The lower we were the better things were temperature-wise.
We reached Caldew river where we came across a small problem, the current was
very fast and the river was high. After some negotiation and allot of running
back and forth I decided to just go for it. I fumbled across and shouted Dave
and Ronnie over. They weren’t too sure still so they ran to the road and made
their way to me. Dave and Ronnie at first weren’t to sure whether to continue
or not and honestly I didn’t blame them. And I had enough pacer’s for leg two
but after some soup and fumbling around they decided to joined us for leg 2.
Now 4 pacers strong with Simon and Julian we headed up
Clough head, by this point the rain had subsided slightly from what I remember
and spirits were high. When we reached the top there was clag in every
direction. We did joke about the view frequently. All seemed well and we were
joking and chatting away. Thing’s seemed to be on the up. I had a slight wobble
around Seat Sandal, I had some problems eating earlier in the cold and
wet. I was basically getting a sugar low. I really, really didn’t want this to
happen and not on an ascent, I slowed down slightly and probably too much for and
ate a cheese sarny. I already knew I was a few mins down on time and this wasn’t
going to help.
I started to pick up slightly reaching leg 3, a small crowd
awaited me which was lovely. I stopped for some flapjack and set off up Steel
Fell. Now accompanied by Dale, Robin and his two lovely dogs who entertained me
by fighting each other for the first 30mins at least (the dogs not Dale and
Rob). We reached the top and cruised along for a while. Dale promised me some
chocolate for every peak I reached, sometimes the promise was retracted as and
when he saw fit but it was a bit of a laugh and great incentive to get my ass
in gear. And thing’s seemed to be going ok for a while. I seem to remember
seeing another group doing their round, one of which was wearing a skirt he
found along the way! Interesting.. After
a few peaks I started to really struggle with the descents. My nerves were going
and my muscles were starting to tighten. I was pretty much in denial of this at
the time but I really needed to have spent more time descending on the fell in
training. Going up was always ok but after a while the decsents started to get
to me. And of course even more so this started to affect my time again. Lord’s
Rake was wonderful and truly scared me with the amount of clag. I don’t mind a
bit of a climb, but I couldn’t see anything over the top edge. Which was
probably for the best! We dug our heal’s in and slid down to Wasdale on the
loose scree. Unfortunately I don’t think I enjoyed this as much as Dale at the
time as I started to cramp up but it was still great fun. My brake in Wasdale
was short lived. I was getting really behind on schedule. I had 2 mins to down
some pasta and get going!
Climbing Yewbarrow was just as tough as I remembered it from
my recce. It never seemed to get any easier. I kept asking how behind I was on
schedule and no one would give me a straight answer so I figured I needed to
put quite a bit more work in. I knew the last 2 legs wouldn’t be easy and I had
zero chance of any kind of rest. On this leg I was joined by Julie and Ian who
pretty much kicked me into shape and I’ll be honest I needed it. I don’t mind
being told what to do I just don’t like failing. And who does.. We reached the
top into yet more clag, at times this made for hard navigation but I have to
say throughout. All of my navigators were first class so if we did stop to
think it wasn’t for long and some even ran ahead to double check. I was still
managing some kind of running pace of the flats and I felt ok considering. I
could feel my right hamstring tightening and generally felt like I might slow
but I tried as best I could to keep drinking and eating. Consumption was
becoming a problem again but Ian and Julie were bit feeding me bits of
chocolate which worked great. Just little bits and often. I was starting to get
myself down a bit with the fact I couldn’t eat but kept it going. I really
wanted to enjoy the view of Great Gable but sadly the view was again obscured
by the clag. After Grey Knotts I really started to push, I had to make time in
order to finish.
I ran straight through Honister on to leg 5. By this point I
wasn’t saying much and just trying to get the job done. When I reached Dalehead,
again in the clag I thought it was a house. I guess I must have been quite depleted.
The steady rolling hills felt like a god send between Dalehead to Robinson. I
was making time and felt like I could run the road section. My support said I
could walk some of the small hills on the road to Moot Hall, I did for the most
part but managed to run some as well. I was in quite allot of pain but determined
to make the cut off. When I reached Moot Hall I touched the door and crumpled
in a heap. I got there with just 4mins to spare.
In no order THANKYOU!!!!!!!!!! You were all amazing. I’m
sorry for going quiet, not eating, slowing down, being a wus and or being
grumpy. Thankyou for feeding and looking after me: John, Alison, Dale, Den, Tracy,
Simon, Dave, Ronnie, Julie, Johnny, Julian, Ian, Robin and dogs (forgot their
names, sorry), Ben, Amy, Helen, the near 50 people at Dunmail supporting other
BGer’s and me, random drunk kids at near midnight cheering me in and anyone
else I might have missed.
Carb loading
Faffing with gear before the start
View of Grizedale Beck
Grizedale Tarn off Dollywaggon
Grizedale Tarn off Dollywaggon
Grizedale Tarn off Dollywaggon
With Dave Swift ascending Fairfield
Fairfield Summit
Fairfield Summit
Fairfield descent
Seat Sandal ascent
Seat Sandal descent
Heading for leg 3
Dunmail
Dunmail
Steel Fell ascent
Heading out for leg 4
Honister from Dale Head ascent
blurry run in towards Moot Hall
The end!
Thank's Simon and John for the photo's.
