Lakes Mountain 42

[BritNick]

The forecast for tomorrow is looking pretty amazing - good for taking a few photos.....

[Travs]

Nick it is lovely up here today. Stopped in Glenridding this afternoon and had a quick jaunt up Glenridding Dodd, just as the sun broke out. Apart from being fairly steep, it's an amazingly quick effort to get another Wainwright ticked off, barely 20 mins from the car park, and I wasn't exactly hammering the pace.

From the summit I could trace the route over High Street, then back over The Knott down to Patterdale. If the weather is the same tomorrow then it will be glorious...

[Travs]

That was incredibly tough yesterday, and going to take a while to recover.

Was probably the most beautiful day I've ever seen in the Lakes and was a pleasure to be in the mountains. But boy did it get hot.

Up until Patterdale I was going well, in the same time as last year, but with considerably more left in the tank. Made good progress up to Grisedale Tarn, but then it completely unraveled over the next few hours.

Made a complete mess of getting down to Thirlmere from Grisedale Tarn, think I ended up far too low down next to the tarn looking for the best path, then had to climb back up to 'cut the corner' at the bottom of the fell. Then through lack of concentration I overshot the path down to the car park by well over a mile, and had to drop down to the road and trudge all the way back.

Then I decided to make up some time by going up the Old County Tops descent to Helvellyn which damn near finished me off in the heat. People who left the checkpoint behind me and followed the tourist path all made up time here.

Still moving better than last year, but made another error coming off Place Fell, stayed high for too long and after descending spent a worrying 5 minutes with absolutely no idea where I was, que another backtrack up the road.

Eventually finished 51 minutes slower than last year, which given the course was 2 miles longer and with more climb, the stifling heat, and of course my own mishaps, I'm fairly happy with. The scale of my errors confirmed when I found out I was 36th the first time through Patterdale, but after the Helvellyn loop I'd dropped to 51st. Rallied to finish 49th, but reaching the finish and seeing people that I'd blown away on the climb up Place Fell confirmed how much I'd gone wrong again.

Hello to Britnick, I do apologise for dashing off mid-conversation when we were unexpectedly told to start. And also hello to Karen who demonstrated how to fly through a checkpoint with no fuss, and was out of sight before I'd even started to refill my bottles, never to be seen again until the finish.

Fantastically tough race and I have no doubt I'll be back next year.

Pete

[karen nash]

Nice to meet you. I messed up,the line down to Thirlmere by being too high but had a good stomp up to Helvellyn. Feet got a bit trashed down to Glenridding and I ran out of water on the top. Stuck to main path up Place Fell and managed a pb by more than an hour somehow. What a wonderful day out

[BritNick]

Travs, nice to chat briefly before the silent 'go'. How come you know so much about your placings through the checkpoints? I haven't seen any final results, let alone splits.

My race went as well as I could have hoped. The wheels never really fell off. I just plodded on and concentrated on holding it together, eating and drinking (electrolytes when required) as I went. I must have got the balance just right because I didn't need to 'go' all day, as usual, and I felt not the slightest bit trashed afterwards or in the days following. Our late session in the Queen's Head with some Pennine suspects, Aleks and a few others was a right laugh. Legs have felt pretty normal in the days following.

I was surprised to get overtaken by Andy Davies on the way to Angle Tarn because by that point I was mostly alone, most others having disappeared ahead. He'd had some early navigational issues. On the descent towards Patterdale I looked across to Place Fell and thought "shall I or shan't I" (climb the front on the return leg)? After nibbles at Patterdale I climbed to Grisedale tarn with renewed vigour. I took the route I know down Raise Beck. It wasn't as bad as I'd imagined. The left cut down the track through the woods to the road revealed a footpath to the Wythburn Church car park that bypasses the road. Lucky it was there as it wasn't on my map and I discovered there was no roadside verge to use. I was surprised to see Aleks sitting down at the checkpoint attending to his feet. "Running sucks", proclaimed his T shirt.

I elected with misgivings to take the roundabout route up Helvellyn via the footpath. I'd wanted to take a more direct Old County Tops route but wasn't sure exactly where to go. However, having read Travs description, perhaps I'm glad I didn't try. That climb under the cloudless blue sky in the blazing sunshine reminded me of the UTMB. I imagined being abroad. Magic!

On the descent from Helvellyn I was pleasantly surprised to meet Garry Scott, who was on his way up on a BG recce. (Good luck in June, Garry.)

Many of these parts I'd never been to before but I'd meticulously plotted the route on Tracklogs and had the 1:25,000 printouts in my hand. In the crystal clear conditions I could see exactly where I needed to go - keep right all the way to Whiteside and beyond down to Glenridding Common.

Back in Patterdale, more nibbles to supplement my own food and lots more drink to combat the advancing thirst. I asked if there would be water at Martindale Church because I knew my water bottles would not last the final 11 miles in this heat. I suspected the answer would be 'No'. I was right. Improvisation would be required. I downed another mug of weak squash before leaving.

I looked up at Place Fell. 'That looks do-able', I thought. As I reached the seat at the bottom of Rooking Gill and saw two others near the top, my mind was made up for me. I turned left and up. I followed minor trods through the dead bracken stalks which, judging by the big excavations along them, must have been badger tracks. They were leading me off course away from the gill so I tracked across right back to it. Steps were very short and rests were frequent, such was the steepness. I had to concentrate on not falling backwards. The bracken stalks, which had scratched my legs to shreds (I still bear the wounds) eventually gave way to grass as I gained height. At the scree slope that falls from the cliff edge top, a grassy gully to the left eventually levelled out to deliver me perfectly to the trig point, where I joined the path along the top. I met Phil Barnes here. He had been ahead of me at the bottom. The direct route might have saved a bit of time but it's probably not worth it.

My only nav error was back at the bottom in Boredale, where Phil and I overshot the right turn to the road. Phil's digestion began to rebel here, with loud groaning yawning burps that would later develop into something more serious and the ejection of 'substances'.

By Martindale my water bottle was almost empty and electrolyte was half gone. I asked anyone who was out and knocked on doors for a refill, but no luck. A stream in Howtown gave what I needed. It tasted as clean as any wild source I've ever sampled.

This was the first time I'd returned to Askham in full hot sunshine, all previous times being in near darkness on the Tour de Helvellyn. The Cockpit was clear to see this time. On Askham Fell where the path curves left uphill towards the trees, two runners carried on ahead. I shouted out "Wrong way". They heard but ignored me. Either they were going to go horribly off route or they knew an alternative that's not on my map. Sarah (with whom I'd been swapping back and forth all day and I'd just caught up again) and I followed the path left up the hill before cutting right before the trees. I kept my eyes on the other two way across to the right. They turned left to re-join our path further down. They had cut a corner and done less climbing. That's one to remember for next time.

I ran down the hill into Askham in the early evening sunshine to finish in 12:14, with Sarah coming in a few minutes later. The famous NAV4 homemade soup went down a treat to begin the refuelling.

Photos will follow later.

[Travs]

Hi Nick...

I just asked at the checkpoints about what position I was in. I did also get an email from SI Entries a day or two ago with final results and times, so keep an eye out for that one.

Well done going direct up Place Fell, that is a killer. As for the OCT route up Helvellyn, I lost time going that way compared to others who followed the path, and I'd class myself as fairly decent at climbing (I caught/passed most of the people in view who went that way). Not just lost time, but also momentum, as I then couldn't even jog the half mile incline up to the summit of Helvellyn when I emerged onto the ridge line.

To find it going up, when the path route came closest to the beck coming steeply down, the path starts to swing out right, but you cross the beck and follow a steep vague ridge up the open fell. It slackens off after a while but then gets steep again for the final pull onto the summit ridge. I also noticed a stack of people who went this way then veered massively to the right towards the top of Nethermost Pike, they must have lost a stack of time. To me it would be worth it if it bought you directly out at the summit, but all evidence points to the path being faster. To be honest I'm even a bit hesitant to use it in descent st the 10 Peaks in June, not sure it's wise to commit to such a descent so early in such a long race.

Interesting you don't feel trashed after the race. My legs are just sbout recovered, I've done easy training this week in the gym, and will be back running hopefully tomorrow. But mentally I'm shot. I've been sleeping 9 hours a night and I'm still knackered. Although I suspect that is more due to the sun and the dehydration. I suffer massively with my fair skin, am severely burnt and can't even put a proper shirt on for work at the moment, my face is peeling dramatically, and I was bordering on sunstroke after the race.

Despite the navigational cockups and bring slower than last year, I was very pleased, and generally ran quite strongly (by my own standards) til the end, certainly better than last year, and didn't have any genuine moments where I couldn't see myself finishing, unlike last year which was an ordeal at times.

I expect I'll be back next year, got a score to settle with this race!!

P.s. With regards to water at Martindale/Boredale/Howtown... If you divert 100 yards from the road in Hotown down the driveway of the hotel, round the back, there is a toilet block for the back bar, and there is a tap on the outside wall. Unfortunately it was not working as I was to find out to my dismay. I suppose they'd fill up your bottle from the bar though.

[karen nash]

Results are in email Nick and I have copied em to Runfurther Facebook page.
Chuffed with my run but it did take a fair bit out of me, been for a fast run this morning tho

[BritNick]

Saw the results email last night. 59th out of 95 starters came as a pleasant surprise. Bottom 38% of starters is better than recent performances, most notably Edale Skyline when what I thought was a decent effort got me a bottom 18% placing.

I hope everyone's recovered now (those that needed to, that is ).

[BritNick]

Here are the photos I took. Looking back at them I can hardly believe how good that weekend was.

[Travs]

Great photos Nick and a lot of good memories from the day, and particularly reminding me how hot that climb up Helvellyn was...!

A couple of me in there studiously poring over the map at the start....