Anybody fancy a long day out on the Ennerdale race route - possibly some time in May.
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Anybody fancy a long day out on the Ennerdale race route - possibly some time in May.
yes, me
I'm looking around last weekend in April or first weekend in May
except not an actual weekend day - I'll wait for a good weather forecast and have a day off work...
Cheers u2 - I may try & book 1 day's leave Daz - may be tricky tho' as we're knee deep in year end work (the joys of working in Finance - Not) - if you let me know I'll see about "wagging it " :wink:
We could perhaps car share as we 3 are Gtr Manchester based.
Late April or early May would suit me and none weekend days are better for me too.
Just checking work rota and looks like any of 1,2,3 or 9,10,11 of May would be good for me.
I might fancy a plod round - tried to do the race for the first time last year and was ill prepared and DNFd. Would love to have another go and be better prepared.
I've got the PPP so would prefer not to go around 1st week of May and I assume you are looking at a nice steady 7 - 8 hour jaunt aimed at 5 - 6 hour race pace runners.
I'll keep an eye out for you fixing a date - I can normally manage mid week and would be happy to get up there early.
OK, possible dates for me are:
Apr 27 [not Apr 30, as it's City vs ManU that evening]
May 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 [don't want to leave it any later than 9th]
would rather not arrange 8th/9th up front, then find weather cr@p - would rather arrange earlier date, then use 8th/9th as backup if earlier date cr@p weatherwise
May be interested
I'd prefer 8/9 or later as the earlier dates are a week after PPP and experience tells me I'll need a week off with perhaps just a few short plods - I'd never get around Ennerdale so soon after.
However, I'm a less than 50% chance of joining, so don't fix around me - fix away and if I can join then great.
Aaaargh - I'd be struggling in the immerdiate aftermath of PPP & the week after we have the box tickers, erm I mean Auditors in at work so doubt very much I'll be able to take any time of - hey ho - if anyone can make any day w/c 14th May..........
Hi Manhar, your inbox is full. Was just going to say that I might be interested too. I'm helping out with a couple of BG's within the next 3 weeks but I'll come along if I'm free. Don't mind driving either. I'm free through the week if you can wangle a day off.
Manhar - Apologies for hijacking your thread :o
if everybody else is happy to go later in May, I don't mind going earlier on my own (that's what I was intending anyway, miserable antisocial git that I am)
i might be up for this also if the date suits, ive entered it but dont know it!
No worries about thread hi-jacking Daz - we could have spent the duration discussing your 1st (in a long, long time)or our 20th title :D
Right then kids & I'm with you Will - how about the 17th (my 1st choice - then we can spend the Friday recovering) or 18th May - should give us enough time to taper before the race.
I can make it Manhar! It's in my diary.....looking forward to it already.
17th May it is then - will firm up start time & car sharing - don't mind picking anyone up en-route - nearer that date. Bring lots of cake so we can have a picnic either half way round or at the finish.
17th is OK for me at the moment so I'll book it in and catch up the week before to put the plan together.
this coming Wednesday (9th May) is looking most likely for me now
happy to do it solo, but not averse to company either... :)
What time are you leaving Daz? Are you leaving from the car park or village?
hoping to be at car park for 8:30am
better go to bed now! :w00t:
Ah!! I'll probably miss you then. I'm going down with our lass, who starts work over there at about 9! I'll probs set off 9.30-10.00. I'll need to be back by 17.00 too, so i can pick her back up. Might see you over there somewhere, but doubt it! Have a good day. :)
Interested to hear how you got on Daz and I M Povey..
Interested how it was especially from Red Pike to the Inominate Tarn (think I've got the name right). Did you go over any tops or is there a trod to avoid them?
Was it easy enough to find the path up to Herdus Scar (name might be wrong again! Doing it from memory).
Would you recommend buying an altimeter if you don't have GPS?!
Cheers.
I'm interested too - for instance just how rough is the descent of Kirk fell ? Hope you've had a god day Daz, TF Guy.
Of course - Thursday 17th - what time does everybody want to aim to be at the village by ?
Don't mind picking people up en route - Ashton under Lyne - M60, M61, M6 to junction 40
By all means send me a Pm with contact details etc.
Had a decent day yesterday! Didn't catch Daz at the start but bumped into each other before Moses' Trod. I ascended Herdus/Gt Bourne wrong as I turned left instead of right at Beckfoot Farm, ended up on the road and couldnt work path out visually. I climbed up onto the gap between Bowmans' Knot and Bourne instead. Then it was pretty much ok to Red Pike, descended through the scree. I went over High Pike instead of contouring round. When I got to Scarth Gap dropped down right/south and picked up the fence line, if you follow it along then bck up steeply it brings you onto a path, which I then followed to the tarn. Again I confused myself slightly by leaving the tourist path to early. I left it at Inominate instead of Blackbeck Tarn. It was then I spotted a person(Daz) recceing so I followed him to contour round, and over towards Moses and below Brandreth. Again this was an error for us. The ground out of Blackbeck, where CP3 is is much better. After that it was ok. We missed Green Gable as we both had time issues. The decent of Kirk Fell was very, very loose down Red Gill(?) but its fairly short and I'd say quicker than the tourist route I'd say, and probably no harder in descent. Though I've not been down that way. After here its a long drag back when you're getting tired. Over Red Pike then take the obvious trod around Scoat Fell (to the left/south), then pich up another slightly higher trod as you contour round. Basically follow the wall all the way back!! Its pretty much a good run back over grass from there! The last bit through the woods is just a matter of keeping going up. Follow the muddy path, at a t-junction go left and tack a trod to the right across some tussocky grass. Over a style and up over grassy line to the top. Finally the long drop back down!! It was a good, tiring day. really good to meet Daz. Bit knackered this morning! :)
That's all interesting. Thanks for sharing. Going up myself soon so will write up anything I think might be helpful as well.
Cheers.
I think Red Pike - Blackbeck Tarn is a key area for reccing based on my experience. I followed a runner when I DNFd in 2010 and he attempted to take good lines but not sure he got it right. We did skirt High Stile to the South but it was pretty horrible running in parts, very rocky, and I think perhaps we dropped too low so I'm sure there's a good line to be had there.
I seem to remember the first scree was off High Crag and then we went over Seat - as we come off the other side towards Scarth Gap, I saw runners coming around the north side of Seat to my left who had clearly saved some time.
I can imagine how 10 minutes can be saved for a runner like me, which isn't significant in time terms, but it certainly is in effort terms - the race is one of the toughest so there's no point making it any harder by adding climb, descent and distance
I hope to make the recce next week. I'm currently free on Thursday so hopefully it will stay that way. I'm up for an early start and from Blackburn can meet up with anyone from top of M61 at Junction with M65.
I know a few places where cars can be left that are close by.
Probably confirm Tuesday - if all lifts are taken I'll meet you up there.
Just be aware that its a long way back from Red Pike, possibly half hour more than you might think! It seems an easy run back, over grass and along the path!
what WP said!
all fairly straightforward except for Red Pike to Blackbeck Tarn
I also went too low south of High Stile
I couldn't find a decent line to the north of Seat (lots of scree/boulders) - as I got towards Scarth Gap I looked back and the best line looked to be right up high under the crags (i.e. a "climbers' traverse") but I could be VERY wrong about that!
from Scarth Gap looking at Haystacks I spotted the diagonal line to the right, but it got very rough after it hit the fence, and where the fence turns steeply uphill (which is the way Ian said to go) I hopped over it and climbed more gradually - but it was rough/slow going and then boggy up on the top, so I dont' recommend it
I didn't bother going to the north end of Blackbeck Tarn (where I think the CP is?) cos I was running short of water and didn't fancy the tarn outflow(!) - I dropped into the top of Loft Beck which was very nice cool/clear water - this would be quite a way off the racing line though
good to meet Ian at that point (hope you didn't get into too much trouble for being late back!)
the scree-surfing descent of red gulley off Kirk Fell was surprisingly OK once you committed yourself to it(!) - I just wouldn't fancy having a group of people coming down behind me, with the potential for big rocks being dislodged :w00t:
BG trods to avoid the tops of Black Crag and Scoat Fell
follow wall to woods before Crag Fell
FANTASTIC final runnable descent :thumbup:
Oooops! Just checked and I descended the scree off High Stile I think, then I followed 'tourist' path off High Crag as I did last year. The Pete Bland map indicates that you can traverse High Crag on a grassy traverse on the Ennerdale side.
@Daz. Enjoyed the company and there wasnt too much sulking, unhappy look as she crossed the road but ok thereafter!! :)
Sounds like you 2 had a good day out - what are reccies for if not for fine tuning nav & trying to establish the best lines.
Next Thursday if we aim to be at the village for 9:00am - so Will - can meet you at Ashton u Lyne railway station at 6:05 - if you know the area you can park on the streets "behind" the railway station - car will be Ok - all us commuters do this. WP - if you let us know where to pick you up we can be there at say 6:45 (or therabouts - not sure how long it will take for me to get to that point - probably less).
Just wondering what type of cake to bake :)