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10.42 miles, 3,151 feet, 3 hours 27 minutes: Loughrigg trails. Sunshine and clouds, the latter above the high tops. Less visible snow than yesterday. A cool breeze from the north west. No precipitation. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Lots of walkers about; one fellow runner.
Down to 2 layers on top today - that sunshine is lovely.
9.23 miles, 3,117 feet, 3 hours 10 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Roman Ruins - Borrans Park - Waterhead steps - Stagshaw Gardens - The Champion Trees Trail - Wansfell Pike from two sides, including along the ridge to the true top and back - Bluehill Wood - Ambleside. Sunshine and high clouds, a cool breeze from the north west, a few flakes of snow when on the ridge. Terrain dry/damp with good grip. Lots of walkers on the main paths and on the top of the Pike.
Only two layers needed on top today, and my sleeves were up most of the time.
13.04 miles, 3,485 feet, 4 hours 11 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Clappersgate zig-zags - Todd Crag - Lily Tarn - Loughrigg top - High Close - Swinescar Pike - Lang How - Silver How - High Close - Loughrigg top - old golf club track - Miller Bridge - Rothay Bridge. Sunshine and high clouds, a cool breeze from the south east. No precipitation. Very little snow is now visible from afar on the high tops, though I understand from the fell top assessor's photos that there is still quite a bit on Helvellyn. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Lots of walkers on the main paths; three fellow runners seen.
"Only" two layers on top, and sleeves pulled up again today.
9.48 miles, 3,038 feet, 3 hours 21 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Roman Ruins - Borrans Park - Stagshaw Gardens - Wansfell Pike from two sides, including once down and once up the race route to/from the kissing gate (12 minutes/21 minutes) - Bluehill Wood - Ambleside. Sunshine and high clouds, and a cold wind from the south east. No precipitation, terrain mainly dry with good grip. Very little snow now visible on the high tops. Lots of walkers on the Wansfell steps; three fellow runners seen, two of whom chased me up the steps.
As I seem to be over Covid I tried some drills and strides in Borrans Park again - 1.85 miles worth of 250 feet efforts. Perfect weather for such a session.
8.38 miles, 2,217 feet, 2 hours 35 minutes: Loughrigg trails, ascending via Fox Ghyll, descending via the track past the old golf club to Miller Bridge. Overcast and misty; the cloud base was initially above the tops but it lowered to about 1,500 feet as the light to moderate rain came in. Terrain initially damp, but it quickly became saturated and slippery. Quite a few walkers about despite the rain. Not cold as there was no wind to speak of.
12.29 miles, 3,539 feet, 3 hours 43 minutes: Rothay/Miller/Low Sweden Bridges - around the Rock Step - Low/High Pikes - Dove Crag - Scandale - Red Screes - Roundhill Farm - Ambleside. Overcast, with the occasional brief patch of blue sky. Cloud base at about 2,000 feet, with some cloud banks below that. A moderate wind from the south. No precipitation; terrain damp/wet/saturated and slippery in places, particularly the rocks. Not many walkers on the fells, though there were quite a few lower down; five fellow runners seen.
Only two layers needed on top today, despite it often looking like it could rain any minute.
10.88 miles, 3,332 feet, 4 hours 1 minute: Elterwater Common - KWL ascent to Silver How - Lang How - Swinescar Pike - Blea Rigg - Sergeant Man - Stickle Tarn - Blea Rigg - Swinescar Pike - Elterwater Common. Overcast, with the occasional brief patch of blue sky; the cloud base was at about 2,500 feet. A moderate breeze from the south west. No rain. Terrain mainly dry, but damp/wet/saturated and slippery in places. Quite a few walkers on the Blea Rigg ridge. Two fellow runners seen.
Only two lightweight layers on top today, one of them short sleeved.
10.53 miles, 4,383 feet, 4 hours 38 minutes: ODG - The Band - Crinkle Crags - around the Bad Step - Red Tarn - Pike o' Blisco - Three Shires descent/ascent to Lingmoor Fell top - Side Pike - ODG. Overcast, with the cloud base initially at about 2,500 feet, later above the high tops. A moderate breeze from the west. No rain. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Lots of walkers on Lingmoor Fell. Two fellow runners seen. Car parks heaving.
10 miles, 3,666 feet, 3 hours 45 minutes: Travellers Rest - Winterseeds - Grisedale Tarn - St Sunday Crag - Cofa Pike - Fairfield - Great Rigg - Heron Pike - Alcock Tarn - Greenhead Gill - Travellers Rest. Overcast, with the cloud base initially at about 1,000 feet, later probably twice that. Mizzly at times in the mist. A cold wind from the south - I needed 3 layers from St Sunday Crag onwards. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Quite a few walkers about; three runners seen ascending towards Fairfield.
I found a brilliant path from Heron Pike down to the northern end of Alcock Tarn - will certainly take it again.
The first time i did the LDMT, the map collection point was at Alcock Tarn (south end). With the first checkpoint being a couple of hundred metres down from the summit of Dove Crag on the east slope.
This did cause quite some interesting route choice (also the zero visibility may have contributed).
I went directly east from the tarn, across the ridge to the south of Heron Pike, down into Rydale, then a torrid climb up the SW flank of Dove Crag. Was quite an introduction to the LDMT!
Looking at Routegadget it seems the majority did a variation on the same theme.... although a sizeable number of people did opt to go clockwise round the Horseshoe until reaching Dove Crag from the north!