Old County Tops

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daz h

not been to that one
so is it a roll up job and just pay .

---

Aye, no bookings from what I remember. Usually plenty of room though, unless it's the middle of summer. The other advantage is if you pay for camping, you can obviously leave your vehicle there and avoid the extortionate parking charges in the Langdale valley. Although, knowing you Daz, you're planning to park at Dunmail Raise and run over on Saturday morning:p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daz h

Think im gonna just kip in the van the night before with a good book

---

I'm planning to kip in my tent the night before with a good woman :D

The NT campsite is already fully booked for Friday night.
The cost per tent is £5, just 50p less than the extortionate rate at the car park.
At £5.50 per day, the parking charge is like blackmail rather than a reasonable parking fee. It takes something like foot & mouth to remind people that visitors to a place are not to be treated like victims.
Yiannis

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr1470

I'm planning to kip in my tent the night before with a good woman :D

---

Much more fun with a baaad woman!! ;) :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ydt

The NT campsite is already fully booked for Friday night.
Yiannis

---

Eh? Yiannis, are you meaning the Great Langdale BT campsite? I've always been told it doesn't take bookings and is first come-first served on the day? Help.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bob

Much more fun with a baaad woman!! ;) :D

---

Baaaa....careful Bob, I'm from Shropshire;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ydt

The NT campsite is already fully booked for Friday night.
The cost per tent is £5, just 50p less than the extortionate rate at the car park.
At £5.50 per day, the parking charge is like blackmail rather than a reasonable parking fee. It takes something like foot & mouth to remind people that visitors to a place are not to be treated like victims.
Yiannis

---

Parking free for NT members, or maybe that should say "included" in the NT membership subs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr1470

Eh? Yiannis, are you meaning the Great Langdale BT campsite? I've always been told it doesn't take bookings and is first come-first served on the day? Help.

---

I rang the NT campsite in Gt Langdale, opposite the ODG hotel, NY287058, Tel: 015394 37668 and was told it would be full Fri night.
Yiannis

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ydt

I rang the NT campsite in Gt Langdale, opposite the ODG hotel, NY287058, Tel: 015394 37668 and was told it would be full Fri night.
Yiannis

---

Ok, thanks Yiannis. That's the same campsite. Perhaps they've changed policy? It certainly still says first come first served on the website. And twas always thus. They have a "group" field which can be booked in advance.

I've left a message on that number, I'll let you know if they tell me anything different.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr1470

Ok will do. Assuming the weather's ok, we'll be the pair in the green Newport tops. I'm the thinner one:D and you can tell my running partner I said that:D

---

Will look out for you. Daz and I will be in the distinctive red/yellow/black of Pennine.

where am i gonna kip tonight
campsite full :eek:
any other campsites around there ???

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daz h

where am i gonna kip tonight
campsite full :eek:
any other campsites around there ???

---

What no lady friends who live in the area?;)

Have a good run Daz and good luck. Setting off for Scotland in a few minutes, Plenty of room on our camp site

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IanDarkpeak

What no lady friends who live in the area?;)

Have a good run Daz and good luck. Setting off for Scotland in a few minutes, Plenty of room on our camp site

---

good luck in scotland
watch out for the rangers fans
oh and good luck also on helping your lady friend;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daz h

where am i gonna kip tonight
campsite full :eek:
any other campsites around there ???

---

Daz H

You could try Rydal Hall 015394 32050 - between Ambleside and Grasmere and just a short drive from the start of the OCTs. The Fairfield Horseshoe race starts and finishes there so you'll probably find some other fell runners camping there.

In spite of being owned by the CofE, Rydal has a good teashop and a bar. :)

The advantage of that arrangement is that on Saturday night you can big up your OCT achievements by comparison with the puny 9 miles of the Fairfield race. ;)

Isn't there another campsite in Langdale, to the east of the one near the start? Not sure where it is but it is on the map - does anyone know if that is open?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Margarine

Isn't there another campsite in Langdale, to the east of the one near the start? Not sure where it is but it is on the map - does anyone know if that is open?

---

I believe there's a campsite at Chapel Stile as well. Pretty sure it's open. Heard reasonable reports about it.

That's the one I was thinking of. Thanks MR.

what a great race
thanks to all the helpers out there , great checkpoints
a great night at chapel stile

a nice steady start by andy b and myself and we finished in a tad over 9hrs so very pleased

Well Done you two, plainly on song & ready for BG'ing!

Belting race! the best and most enjoyable i have ever done i think.

Team pie finished in 8 hours thirty one which exceeded our own expectations.

Excellent friendly organisation and a race i now intend to do every year, many thanks to organisors for a cracking day out (and to the two dark peak lads who supplied us with their in depth route finding knowledge on the way round, good luck with you Bobby G attempt b4 your fiftieth Ashley!! or you could do a fifty at fifty!).

:) :) :) :)

What a great day out and you don't even need to pack your own butties ! The tinkle of cowbells,food, tea and checkpoint marshalls were the best. A modest 9.32 for myself and running buddy Dave B but a day to remember....my respect to all who turned out.

talking of surprises
we passed yiannis heading up the pull towards brim fell and got quite a bit in front but to my surprise he was recieving his prize as we ran into the finish funnel
clearly a master at navigation
well done yiannis and partner , pure class;)
one day i hope to be as good as you and to be able to race on the fells with such knowledge.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daz h

talking of surprises
we passed yiannis heading up the pull towards brim fell and got quite a bit in front but to my surprise he was recieving his prize as we ran into the finish funnel
clearly a master at navigation
well done yiannis and partner , pure class;)
one day i hope to be as good as you and to be able to race on the fells with such knowledge.

---

Agreed, and I also want to be running at such pace when I'm half of a V120 pair - sub 9 hour finish, fantastic. Well done Yiannis and partner.

What a fantastic day out we had!! Agree with others, thanks to everyone for the organisation, the checkpoints, the support and the cowbell!!

Had a decent race, finishing in 9.37. Lost some time coming off Scafell Pike, where I was slow on that terrain and my partner, who had never been to the Lakes before(!), struggled on the rocks.

Picked it up after that though, good run down to Cockley Beck and then he was introduced to the smashing climb up below Grey Friar:D

Well done to everyone else. Nice to see you Marvin and Daz - you did have a steady start 'cause you only went past us on The Bog. Cracking stuff, I'm sure the BG'll go well.

See you all next year!

You must have been just behind us then MR. We had a great start but then disaster struck when we were hit by cramp big time at Angle Tarn and it was a hobble from then on. Still, a grand day out, picked up a bit more route knowledge;) and best of all, there were still some egg butties at Cockley Beck! Thanks to Arthur and all the organisers and marshalls.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grouse

You must have been just behind us then MR.

---

Damn, if I'd known that, we'd have speeded up a bit and gone past you;):D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grouse

We had a great start but then disaster struck when we were hit by cramp big time at Angle Tarn and it was a hobble from then on.

---

Do you usually suffer from cramp? I never have in a race before (including last year's OCT) but did a couple of times this year and then had the most excruciating cramp in my calf on Saturday night:mad: I'm still trying to figure out why - I seemed to drink enough, perhaps didn't take in enough salt.

:eek: :eek: Was my first time running in lakes for this too and fully intend on indulging myself as much as possible from now on!!

I suffer from cramp pretty consistently (3 peaks, edale, wuthering hike) and felt a bit of a knock just b4 climb up Grey Friar so whacked out the mc donalds salt sachets!! Oh yes!! bombed a couple of those bad boys and then sucked on a couple as i was running and didnt get cramp at all. Admittedly i was gagging but it worked a treat.

Grouse doesn't suffer from cramp - his partner does. (So he tells me):rolleyes: .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr1470

What a fantastic day out we had!! Agree with others, thanks to everyone for the organisation, the checkpoints, the support and the cowbell!!

Had a decent race, finishing in 9.37. Lost some time coming off Scafell Pike, where I was slow on that terrain and my partner, who had never been to the Lakes before(!), struggled on the rocks.

Picked it up after that though, good run down to Cockley Beck and then he was introduced to the smashing climb up below Grey Friar:D

Well done to everyone else. Nice to see you Marvin and Daz - you did have a steady start 'cause you only went past us on The Bog. Cracking stuff, I'm sure the BG'll go well.

See you all next year!

---

yes nice to see you mate
we had a nice steady start and i think it paid off, having done quite a few recces now and long races we are just about resisting the urge to go quick from the off. To be honest we hadnt had time to recce this race really and we where relying on remembering various parts. Id never done the Old man before and neither had Andy and we just got the wrong line back and lost a bit of time heading back to the road. But thats long distance fellrunning:) .
I couldnt of asked for a better day or a better partner.

What a difference a year makes! A belting race this year, pretty decent weather and plenty of people looked like they were enjoying themselves.

Fantastic effort from Arthur, the organising team and the helpers.

An adventure for the wife who had never been out longer in miles terms than a London marathon a few years ago and in hours terms Wasdale last champioship year, so was not sure what was waiting for her.

Ducked under 9 hours after a bit of effort from the last checkpoint. Impressed with the way the winers of the Mixed took 12 minutes out of us on the section from Cockley Beck to the finish; too many egg sandwiches and too much flapjack at CB! Or maybe they were younger and fitter than we were!

Big stroke of luck was catching Yiannis and partner just before the Pikes. Despite 3 previous attempts to recce the direct descent off the Pikes to Great Moss, the weather never allowed this to be done safely, and there was no prospect of dealing with it in last year's race. It's a great line if you know it (and now I do!)

Great to see so many positive comments.

Morgan

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daz h

talking of surprises
we passed yiannis heading up the pull towards brim fell and got quite a bit in front but to my surprise he was recieving his prize as we ran into the finish funnel
clearly a master at navigation
well done yiannis and partner , pure class;)
one day i hope to be as good as you and to be able to race on the fells with such knowledge.

---

Daz,
many thanks for such generous comments. Route knowledge might have been a good point but on the negative side, I had to fight some pretty unpleasant bouts of cramp now and then.
...And to make you feel better, quite a few years ago, with Steve cliff, we were leading the race from Cockley Beck. On the way back from the Old Man with a good lead over the opposition and while circumnavigating Great Carrs in thick fog, we dropped too low and came up to Hell Gill below Mart Crag. That forced us down to the road and we had to run all the way up to the 3 Shires Stone. We finished third.
...And now that I started, I better add some more tails. It appears that this closing stage of the race gives people problems. A few years ago, in bad weather, my companion bailed out at Angle Tarn and I asked the marshals to let me carry on. I was lying second and slowly catching up with the leading pair. At the Old man they were only a few minutes ahead of me. I pressed on to finish first (out of contention) with a decent margin ahead of them. Aparently, apart from struggling a bit they took a less than optimum route around the area of the 3 Shires stone and I never saw them while overtaking them.
Yiannis

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ydt

Daz,
many thanks for such generous comments. Route knowledge might have been a good point but on the negative side, I had to fight some pretty unpleasant bouts of cramp now and then.
...And to make you feel better, quite a few years ago, with Steve cliff, we were leading the race from Cockley Beck. On the way back from the Old Man with a good lead over the opposition and while circumnavigating Great Carrs in thick fog, we dropped too low and came up to Hell Gill below Mart Crag. That forced us down to the road and we had to run all the way up to the 3 Shires Stone. We finished third.
...And now that I started, I better add some more tails. It appears that this closing stage of the race gives people problems. A few years ago, in bad weather, my companion bailed out at Angle Tarn and I asked the marshals to let me carry on. I was lying second and slowly catching up with the leading pair. At the Old man they were only a few minutes ahead of me. I pressed on to finish first (out of contention) with a decent margin ahead of them. Aparently, apart from struggling a bit they took a less than optimum route around the area of the 3 Shires stone and I never saw them while overtaking them.
Yiannis

---

thanks yiannis
just goes to show recceing is priceless
im still at a loss to see which way back is the best from swirl band on the map.
i think we dropped to far to the left and lost the path , finally picking it up again somewhere near nettle slack.
but then as we dropped down to the road i saw runners coming down much further to my right, at least 300mtrs
what i did was and i will admit my mind was in another place was to think red tarn inbetween cold pike and pike o blisco was blea tarn:rolleyes: .
Iwas convinced we had to head up there.
we had both had a conversation further back and decided the checkpoint was right below us . Then Andy said no the checkpoint is another mile down the road. Then it all clicked into place. haha.
so yiannis please can you describe the best way back Do you just follow the path to three shire stone.
If so im at a loss to see where we went wrong???
having never seen that part of the lakes it totally threw me.
otherwise we had a perfect race.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daz h

thanks yiannis
just goes to show recceing is priceless
im still at a loss to see which way back is the best from swirl band on the map.
i think we dropped to far to the left and lost the path , finally picking it up again somewhere near nettle slack.
but then as we dropped down to the road i saw runners coming down much further to my right, at least 300mtrs
what i did was and i will admit my mind was in another place was to think red tarn inbetween cold pike and pike o blisco was blea tarn:rolleyes: .
Iwas convinced we had to head up there.
we had both had a conversation further back and decided the checkpoint was right below us . Then Andy said no the checkpoint is another mile down the road. Then it all clicked into place. haha.
so yiannis please can you describe the best way back Do you just follow the path to three shire stone.
If so im at a loss to see where we went wrong???
having never seen that part of the lakes it totally threw me.
otherwise we had a perfect race.

---

Daz,
Return along the contouring path but when it drops towards the col between Great Carrs and Grey Friar leave it and head roughly N to join a small path W of Great Carrs, which runs NE and joins the main ridge path to the Three Shires stone. It is a faint path and when in a hurry you can cross it without seeing it (as I did in the past). There are some small short cuts around Little Carrs but in bad visibility I would stick to the main path. You must have dropped too far W where the terrain is quite rough.
Yiannis

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ydt

Daz,
Return along the contouring path but when it drops towards the col between Great Carrs and Grey Friar leave it and head roughly N to join a small path W of Great Carrs, which runs NE and joins the main ridge path to the Three Shires stone. It is a faint path and when in a hurry you can cross it without seeing it (as I did in the past). There are some small short cuts around Little Carrs but in bad visibility I would stick to the main path. You must have dropped too far W where the terrain is quite rough.
Yiannis

---

And when Yiannis says 'Quite rough', that means 'impossible' for us mere mortals!!

I know the bit you mean, though, Yiannis. If you drop onto it just right there's a nice grassy 'ledge' with really fast running.

Daz

Yiannis has given you the bare bones of the route under Great Carrs. Knowing when to strike off from the path that otherwise brings you to the col under Grey Friar is key. A pair struck off on a higher line than we did, perhaps 50 meters or so higher. We left it until we were a bit nearer the col. We arrived at the main path just before wet Side Edge at much the same time. My logic with tired legs is to keep on the path under Swirl/Great Carrs for as long as possible and try and make the contour over to the faint path as short as possible!

This year the path was very faint, more so than usual and I only just picked it out as we crossed it. There also seemed an absence of stud marks to help convince a tired brain that we were in the right place (perhaps because a number of pairs where elsewhere).

Just before you join the main path coming down off the Carrs at a flat area, there is a small but noticeable broken slab/crag feature on the right of the faint path which helps as a mental marker.

It's not a complex spot but definitely worth a recce next time you are passing on a nice day!

Morgan

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GeoffB

And when Yiannis says 'Quite rough', that means 'impossible' for us mere mortals!!

I know the bit you mean, though, Yiannis. If you drop onto it just right there's a nice grassy 'ledge' with really fast running.

---

im blaming you briggsy for not tipping me off taht part of the route haha:D

Anyway where were you on Saturday Geoff? I think you might have told me before but I've forgotten.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daz h

im blaming you briggsy for not tipping me off taht part of the route haha:D

---

Sorry, Daz, I'll show you it on the 3 Shires Race!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grouse

Anyway where were you on Saturday Geoff? I think you might have told me before but I've forgotten.

---

Hayfield all weekend - 3 glorious days in May. Saw Margarine on Friday evening - where were you, though?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GeoffB

Sorry, Daz, I'll show you it on the 3 Shires Race!


Hayfield all weekend - 3 glorious days in May. Saw Margarine on Friday evening - where were you, though?

---

ive never seem them together??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daz h

im blaming you briggsy for not tipping me off taht part of the route haha:D

---

That's a bit unkind, Daz. Geoff was the brains behind our route. I just transferred his thoughts to the map, and almost all of it was spot on - thanks Geoff.

Having said that, we didn't reccy any of the route other than Scafell Pike to Wythburn (and we did that in the opposite direction, and not very well), so we were very fortunate that visibility was good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marvin

That's a bit unkind, Daz. Geoff was the brains behind our route. I just transferred his thoughts to the map, and almost all of it was spot on - thanks Geoff.

Having said that, we didn't reccy any of the route other than Scafell Pike to Wythburn (and we did that in the opposite direction, and not very well), so we were very fortunate that visibility was good.

---

he knows im kidding;)
im merely pointing out he failed to mention that funny shaped stone where we should have turned right,haha.
the man briggs is truly in the premiership of navigators.
oh have either of you got a copy of the helvellyn race map:o