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10.8 miles, 3,095 feet, 3 hours 48 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including down the race route to the road at High Close, and back up the steps overlooking Grasmere. Almost wall to wall sunshine, just a few very high clouds. No significant wind, no rain. Terrain very variable - dry in places, wet/saturated/slippery elsewhere. Quite a few walkers on the fell; no runners seen.
10.23 miles, 3,445 feet, 3 hours 29 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including the true top, and up/down the race route from/to the kissing gate. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,500 feet; some brief patches of blue sky. A few minutes of drizzle, a moderately strong wind from the north west, terrain wet/saturated/slippery. Not many walkers on the fell; 1 other runner seen.
I did not go along the ridge - it was unpleasant in that wind - between the Pike and the true top I went via the upper section of Nanny Lane both ways.
10.36 miles, 3,286 feet, 3 hours 30 minutes: Ambleside - Rydal Park - Low Sweden Bridge - rock step - Low/High Pikes - High Bakestones - Scandale - Red Screes - south ridge - Golden Rule - Ambleside. Initially sunny, then it became overcast, with some snow flurries, and, lower down, drizzle. The main cloud base was about 2,500 feet, but in places it was down to the valley floor. A moderately strong wind from the west. Terrain initially dry/damp, later wet/saturated/slippery. I saw about 30 walkers on the fells, and no runners.
10.13 miles, 3,492 feet, 3 hours 34 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 3 sides, including along the ridge to the true top, and up/down the race route from/to the kissing gate. Mainly sunshine/blue sky, though there were some high fluffy clouds, and higher thin streaky clouds. No rain. A moderate breeze from the north. Terrain mainly dry/damp with good grip, though drainage areas are still saturated. Lots of walkers on the fell; 1 runner seen.
There was ice on some of the puddles on the ridge, and the ground was quite firm in places.
13.47 miles, 3,463 feet, 4 hours 11 minutes: Fairfield Horseshoe clockwise, plus Borrans Park and the Roman Ruins. Sunshine through very thin high streaky clouds. No rain. A moderate breeze from the south east. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Lots of walkers on the Under Loughrigg Road and doing the horseshoe. No runners seen.
For a change I went over all the tops on the way up; I stayed on the west of the wall on the descent until just above the rock step, which I went down.
10.45 miles, 3,502 feet, 3 hours 19 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including up/down the race route from/to the kissing gate, and back along the ridge from the true top to the Pike. Sunshine and initially thin high clouds, later large cloud banks developed catching some of the high tops. A strong wind from the east. No rain. Terrain mainly dry/damp with good grip. Lots of walkers on the fell; no runners seen.
10.73 miles, 3,354 feet, 3 hours 36 minutes: Loughrigg/Silver How race route with variations, including starting/finishing at Rothay Bridge, going out via Clappersgate and Lily Tarn, and going up to Loughrigg top the second time via the steps overlooking Grasmere. Overcast, with widespread thin very high clouds, and some rather lower fluffy clouds mainly above the high tops. Intermittent attenuated sunshine. No rain, a strong wind from the south east. Terrain dry with good grip. Lots of walkers on Loughrigg; very few on Silver How. No runners seen.
10.9 miles, 2,567 feet, 3 hours 18 minutes: Wansfell Pike via Skelghyll Lane, Troutbeck, and Nanny Lane. Overcast, with the main cloud base at about 800 feet; cloud banks below that, some as low as the valley floor. Constant drizzle/light rain. A moderately strong wind from the east. Terrain saturated/streaming/slippery. Very few walkers about; 2 runners seen.
Despite the precipitation my waterproof top did not stay on for long as it was not at all cold.
I noticed that this morning. Wearing a baselayer was incredibly warm and i'd have been better off in a t-shirt.
Which means it'll probably be a warm session tonight.
11.25 miles, 2.880 feet, 3 hours 20 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including Fishgarths Wood, Todd Crag, Lily Tarn, along the track past Loughrigg Tarn, down/up through Deerbolts Woods to/from Grasmere shore, and up the steps overlooking Grasmere. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,000 feet. Intermittent drizzle. A very strong blustery wind from the east. Terrain damp/wet with good grip apart from the wet rocks. Not many walkers about; 4 runners seen.
The wind was the strongest I have experienced on Loughrigg - several times the only safe way to make progress was by crouching down and using my hands, and even then it felt precarious. An adventure, even at this low level.