Todays permitted exercise!

12.08 miles, 3,108 feet, 3 hours 49 minutes: Loughrigg trails, going through Borrans Park and past the Roman Ruins to start with, and then once at the top going down the race route to the road at High Close, down through Deerbolts Woods to Grasmere shore, then back up to the top via Loughrigg Terrace and the steps overlooking Grasmere. A fairly even mixture of sunshine/blue sky and clouds - the cloud base was initially at about 2,500 feet, later it was above the high tops. A few minutes of drizzle. A very cold moderately strong wind from the south east. Terrain widely frozen though there was less frost and ice than yesterday. Where not frozen it was damp/wet rather than saturated/streaming. Slippery in places. Above about 1,500 feet there was a sprinkling of white stuff on some of the fells. Very few walkers about; no runners seen.

11.28 miles, 3,424 feet, 3 hours 52 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Rydal - Nab Scar - Heron Pike - Alcock Tarn - White Moss - Loughrigg Terrace - up the steps overlooking Grasmere to Loughrigg top - Miller Bridge - Rothay Bridge. Mainly sunshine and blue sky; a few fluffy clouds above the high tops. No precipitation. A very strong cold wind from the north east. The ground was frozen hard with stretches of ice above 800 feet; below that it was mainly dry. Grip was good as long as the ice was avoided. Not many walkers about; 1 runner seen.

I had planned to do the horseshoe, but that wind was really quite unpleasant, so I undertook what had been my backup plan from the start.

New word for the day - from the fell top assessors - pipkrake - needle ice - lost of it about today.

10.34 miles, 3,071 feet, 3 hours 40 minutes: Ambleside - Low Sweden Bridge - rock step - High Sweden Bridge - Scandale - Red Screes - south ridge - Golden Rule - Ambleside. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 1,500 feet. Intermittent drizzle/light sleet; intermittent weak sunshine. A moderately strong very cold wind from the north. The ground was frozen hard above 600 feet, with extensive ice sheets on drainage areas - above 1,700 feet there was up to a couple of centimetres of fresh snow. Grip good as long as the ice was avoided - microspikes carried but not needed. I saw 7 people on the fells, none of them runners.

The rock step was covered in ice, so I went around it to get above it before descending, again around it, to High Sweden Bridge.

10.22 miles, 3,252 feet, 3 hours 27 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including up/down the race route from/to the kissing gate, down to the the upper part of Nanny Lane, up to the true top and back along the ridge to the Pike. Sunshine and blue sky; some clouds at about 2,500 feet and above. A cold breeze from the north. No precipitation. Terrain above 800 feet increasingly firm with height, with some icy patches; below 800 feet it was dry/damp; grip good except on the ice. Not many walkers on the fell; 1 runner seen.

12.61 miles, 3,064 feet, 3 hours 49 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including down the race route to the road at High Close, down through Deerbolts Woods, then back up to the top via Loughrigg Terrace and the steps overlooking Grasmere. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 1,500 feet. No precipitation; no significant wind. The ground was firm/hard above 900 feet, with ice on puddles/tarns; below that level it was mainly dry. Grip was good - the ice was easily avoided. Not many walkers on the fell; 2 runners seen.

11.63 miles, 3,453 feet, 3 hours 44 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Miller bridge - Low Sweden bridge - rock step - Low/High Pikes - Dove Crag - Scandale - Red Screes - south ridge - Golden Rule - Ambleside. Initially very overcast, with the cloud base at about 1,500 feet. The sun came out when I was well down the south ridge of Red Screes. A few minutes of drizzle. A moderate breeze from the south west. Terrain firm/hard with icy patches above 1,200 feet - damp/wet below that; a scattering of snow above 2,200 feet. Grip was OK as long as ice and wet rocks were avoided. Not many walkers on the fells; 6 runners seen.

I was hoping to get above the cloud and witness an inversion but no such luck.

13.05 miles, 3,403 feet, 4 hours 19 minutes: Fairfield Horseshoe clockwise from/to Rothay Bridge. Initially overcast, with banks of cloud/mist at multiple levels - these faded away as the day progressed. Intermittent drizzle/ light snow on the ascent. A cold moderately strong wind from the north. Terrain frozen and icy in places down to the valley floor, consistently so above 1,000 feet. There was a snow line at about 1,500 feet, with 2-3 centimetres on the tops. Grip OK as long as ice/smooth rocks were avoided. Microspikes carried but not used. As I was descending there were quite a few walkers heading up. 2 runners seen.

I took the 1st, 2nd and 4th trods to the left of the tops on the ascent to try to stay out of the wind - without much success. I descended on the non race side/west of the wall, and went down the rock step as luckily it was not icy.

Lovely run round the Harewood Estate this morning with a friend, sunny and frosty underfoot. A few other runners and a lot of walkers. A bit of Deja vu as I did a Trail half marathon there on Saturday.
I love being retired!

10.08 miles, 3,360 feet, 3 hours 23 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including up/down the race route from/to the kissing gate, down to the upper sections of Hundreds Road and Nanny Lane, up to the true top, and back along the ridge to the Pike. Lots of sunshine/blue sky; some small high fluffy clouds. No precipitation. A very cold moderately strong wind from the north west. The ground was frozen hard from the valley floor up. Some ice on drainage areas, elsewhere dry despite being frozen. Grip good as long as the ice was avoided. Quite a few walkers on the fell; 1 runner seen.

10.1 miles, 2,698 feet, 3 hours 42 minutes: Wansfell Pike, including up the race route from the kissing gate, and back to Ambleside via Hundreds Road and High Skelghyll. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 700 feet. Constant light to moderate snow. No significant wind. There was a good 20 to 30 centimetres of snow on the Pike, and even in the valley there is 10 centimetres or so. It was of course slippery in places - I did have my microspikes but I decided the snow was too deep for them to be useful. I saw half a dozen walkers on the fell, and 1 runner.