This probably wont interest the majority – I think the prospect even bored a few friends – but I found it a good tough day out, not a fell challenge (thought about putting this in the general section for that reason) but definitely a good mixed terrain challenge.
Anyway for those of you not bored already here goes.
I found the source on Green Bell (cheers for putting me right on this Ian aka Wheezing Donkey) easily in good early morning sun. Then tracked the stream as it turned into the River Lune as close as possible without going out of my way to far, so I more tracked the line of it getting close to it were it made sense. I set off from Green Bell at 08:03 hrs yesterday and tracked it all the way to Plover Scar light house just beyond Glasson Dock, the tide was out so I even got to touch the lighthouse to finish the run; the time was 17:43 hours. 9 hours 40 minutes.
When I originally conceived the idea I thought of it as more of a gentle challenge with a bit of running and walking – sort of 50/50. But the reality of it was I had no head torch and limited light. Some of the run that I hadn’t done before (everything above Devils Bridge, the first 28 miles) was tough. Add in a toilet break were I left my map in the Tebay tea rooms toilet and had to back track ½ a mile for it, the amount of gates to open and close and styles to cross, plus checking of the map, and this made slow progress. So I ended up taking a total of 25 minutes breaks and running about 45 of the 51 miles. It was far tougher than I had envisaged but I had a perfect day for it and loved it for its purity.
I’m sure there are better rivers to follow and ones that can be more closely tracked keeping off roads. But it is my local river and for this reason alone it made a lot of sense. I have wondered from being a kid where this river flows from, to pass near my house in Lancaster, now I know.
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