Todays permitted exercise!

10.67 miles, 2,737 feet, 3 hours 24 minutes: Ambleside - Rydal Park - Low Sweden bridge - rock step - Low Pike - High Pike - Dove Crag - back the same way. Overcast with high fluffy clouds, a few minutes of sunshine, no significant wind, no rain. Terrain dry/damp with good grip. Not many walkers on the fells; five other runners seen.

I stayed on the race/east side of the wall both ways. The often boggy sections were drier than I was expecting - it may of course be different by Thursday. The mainly grassy path below the rock step is still viable if you take the turn off to the left when it flattens out, rather than continuing along the path closer to the wall.

12.9 miles, 3,367 feet, 4 hours 16 minutes: Fairfield Horseshoe clockwise from Ambleside. Overcast, with high fluffy clouds and higher streaky clouds. Sunshine at times. A few minutes of drizzle. A strong cold wind from the south west. Terrain dry/damp with mainly good grip. Not many walkers on the fells. No other runners seen.

On the way up I took the 1st, 2nd, and 4th trods to the left/west of the tops, and I took the grassy trod that cuts the corner where Dove Crag top is. It would seem that all of these short cuts are acceptable in the Rydal Round race - with respect to the last one it is necessary to cross to the east of the wall within "a few hundred metres" of Dow Crag top.

From the AAC webpage: "Runners must stay to the east (left) of the wall after the final wall gap a few hundred metres beyond Dove Crag. Climbing walls after this point is not allowed."

10.93 miles, 3,193 feet, 3 hours 49 minutes: Rydal Round race route, except that I started in Ambleside, and I ran along the road to Rydal, rather than going through Rydal Park. Overcast with the cloud base initially at about 1,000 feet, a bit higher later. A few minutes of drizzle, some brief sunny spells. A moderate wind from the west. Terrain wet/saturated and slippery. Very few walkers on the fells; four other runners seen.

I was in cloud with very poor visibility from Nab Scar to just above the rock step - those doing the Rydal Round may need their navigation skills!

Despite it being wet wet I went down the rock step - I was so glad I could take my time.

I was allowed to enter the sports field free of charge to pick up some socks from Pete Bland. The standard charge is £10 - ouch.

9.52 miles, 2,662 feet, 3 hours 5 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including up the steps from the kissing gate, along the ridge to the true top, and down to the top of Nanny Lane and back up again. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,000 feet. Occasional glimpses of blue sky. A few minutes of drizzle. A moderate wind from the south west. Terrain damp/wet and slippery. Not many walkers about; 4 other runners seen.

12.57 miles, 3,510 feet, 3 hours 53 minutes: Rydal Round race route, but starting/finishing in Ambleside, and going along Under Loughrigg to Rydal, rather than going through the park. Overcast, with almost confluent high fluffy clouds; intermittent sunshine, a few minutes of drizzle, a very strong wind from the south west on the tops. Terrain dry/damp with mainly good grip. I saw a couple of dozen walkers on the fells, and one other runner.

I took the 1st, 2nd and 4th trods to the left on the way up, and the trod to the south west of Dove Crag; I stayed on the race side of the wall from just below Dove Crag, and went down the rock step.

The trod "short cuts" took me 3, 5, 6 and 6 minutes; I need to time the non trod routes to see if the trods save time.

12.6 miles, 3,691 feet, 4 hours 11 minutes: the same route as yesterday, except I went over the three tops on the way up, and over Dove Crag on the way down. Overcast, with confluent fluffy clouds just catching some of the high tops. Intermittent drizzle. That strong wind from the south west was still there. Terrain wet/saturated and slippery. I saw perhaps 50 walkers on the fells, and 7 other runners.

Going over each top took longer: 1 minute, 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 2 minutes respectively. Even if they took the same amount of time I would still take the trods - grass is always nicer than rocks.

10.58 miles, 2,004 feet, 2 hours 53 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including around Loughrigg Tarn, down and up through Deerbolts Woods, from Grasmere shore to White Moss and back, and up the steps to the top. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 800 feet. A moderate breeze from the west. Virtually constant drizzle. Terrain saturated and slippery. Given the weather I was surprised how many walkers were up and about. One other runner seen - I saw him twice, at about 2 miles, and again at about 6 miles.

9.4 miles, 2,619 feet, 2 hours 59 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including up the steps from the kissing gate, along the ridge to the true top, down to Nanny Lane and back up again. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 1,500 feet. Intermittent drizzle. No significant wind. Terrain wet/saturated and slippery. Not many walkers on the fell. I came across the AAC Tuesday/Friday runners - about a dozen of them.

10.1 miles, 2,034 feet, 2 hours 58 minutes: Loughrigg trails, ascending and descending via Fishgarths Wood, and taking in Todd Crag, Lily Tarn, and Loughrigg top. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,000 feet, and patches of mist below that. Virtually constant drizzle. A moderate breeze from the north. Terrain saturated and slippery. Very few people on the fell - I saw perhaps 6 walkers and 3 runners.

9.66 miles, 2,845 feet, 3 hours 7 minutes: Wansfell pike from 2 sides, including the loop along the ridge to the true top, down to Nanny lane and back up to the Pike; and up/down the race route from/to the kissing gate. Sunshine and high fluffy clouds. No rain. A moderate breeze from the west. Terrain damp/wet and slippery in places. Lots of walkers on the Wansfell steps; 2 other runners seen - in the valley.

This was the first significant blue sky we have seen for weeks.

The race route descent is still more than viable despite the height of the bracken.