My treatment is a combination of ice, deep heat and in the evening drinking plenty of beer and wine. Who'd have thought wine could help with knee injuries :)
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My treatment is a combination of ice, deep heat and in the evening drinking plenty of beer and wine. Who'd have thought wine could help with knee injuries :)
ha ha wine.
I find it has the effect of reducing pain from running induced injuries as well.
Mainly due to the requirement to stay in bed all day :D:D:D
Sunday 29th June 2008 - a swift (well actually not that swift) up and around the back hills from my house - maybe 5 miles and 500 ft of ascent
At long bleeding last I can run again :cool:. Not fast and not yet without some pain but it was running and my right knee just might be on the mend (says stolly as he nonchalantly touches wood, throws salt over his shoulder, kisses a rabbit's foot and crosses his fingers). The injury, which I picked up on the same night that Man United played Chelsea in the Champions league running in the hills with Settle Harriers, has been a massive frustration, a real nightmare especially in the beginning, with me missing Duddon, the Wharfedale off road marathon, Settle Hills and one or two other planned escapades to boot.
Although I wouldn't have ever believed it I've kind of enjoyed it though ....... :eek:
as it has inspired me to blow the dust off my mountain bike and do some fantastic on and off road cycling instead. Cue loads of humdingers of hill climbs, all sorts of terrain crossings and loads of opportunities to have fun in the hills in all sorts of weather. Kind of business as usual then. Mind you even though the cycling was keeping my quads taut, I was beginning to suspect the worse for my knee; I'd diagnosed (using the internet as you do) :rolleyes: that I'd probably torn my inside knee ligament but, with much the same symptons, it could easily have been a cartilage, which could have been a real long term problem.
With no signs of improvement, finally I booked a physio appointment 2 or 3 weeks ago with Kate Bolger in Settle and now, after two good knee mangling session with Kate, my knee is looking like its coming through. Kate far more expertly suspects that I've torn the medial knee ligament but hasn't fully ruled the cartilage yet, although she thought I'd have probably squealed more on one or two of her knee and foot twists had it been the cartilage. Apart from the neading and bending of my knee, Kate also has given me a couple of ultra sound knee massages and some (weirdly nice) electric current treatment, all with a view to improving blood flow to the ligament and speeding up healing. Great stuff so far Kate and hopefully a couple of three more sessions might sort me out proper!
Anyway Kate also recommended that I try a run this weekend and, feeling less than confident, I gave it a go. On the down side my knee felt tight and ached a little right from the off but, on the positive, it felt the same all the way round and doesn't feel any worse now either, a couple of hours later. I did chuff along at a pretty slow pace it has to be said but it was over proper fells with a steep climb to start and a steep finish at the end and my knee managed to hack it okay. I do have my work cut out mind, trying to get fit for Borrowdale in a month's time, hopefully my comeback race!
Having said all that I do appreciate that as far as my knee recovery goes this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning :)
Weh hey another 'adventures post' at last! :)
Good on you Stolly! ;)
Glad to see you've escaped the knackers yard! :D
Hope it's all uphill from here :cool:
Buggeration - a total reversal of fortunes yesterday and today with my knee stiff, swollen, painful and............. fcuked :(. I somehow think its a cartilage problem now and my summer of running is laying in tatters before me.
Oh dear! Did I speak too soon. Looks like we are in the same boat! :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Stolly
What are you upto on Saturday? Why don't you come up to Osmotherley for the show and we can laugh at Ambrosia Kid sweating it out in the heat of the summer sun! :D (And maybe be on hand to offer him a cold beverage ot two!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mountain Goatess
Sorry MG, only just noticed this. My trouble is that, if I can't run, it really frustrates me to watch others being able to..... the bastards :D
sorry to hear that stolly, I was looking forward to a catchup at borrowdale.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stolly
Knowing how frustrated you get, I wont go on about my recent races then eh.
Hope it clears up soon bud.
Well at long bloody last my knee feels like its getting better, with the last week in the Lakes with my daughter Kelly spent walking, running and swimming being the tipping point back to some kind of running fitness. Well fitness might be the wrong word but I can now chug along and it doesn’t cripple me any more. Whilst away we did three runs......... of sorts:
Lakes Run #1
Having walked up Helvellyn in fairly pissing with rain conditions on our first Saturday in the Lake District, the next day I decided to grab the bull by the horns and have a crack at running the Fairfield Horseshoe from Rydal, only my third attempt at a run in almost two months. We followed the walkers route rather than the race route, albeit the only difference being the route up Nab Scar as far as I could tell.
OS Explore Route
So me and Kels hacked off and, although my knee was aching and feeling less than 100% stable, I managed the going up bit all the way to Fairfield summit okay……ish. Kelly took advantage of my lack of speed by setting a nutter pace going up Nab Scar, leaving me comfortably trying to play catch up (and failing) all the way to Heron Pike. After that though my superior superiorness kicked in and I was slightly ahead at the half way point of Fairfield. To be fair Kelly was feeling a little light headed at the top and was suffering some sort of energy crisis but, what the heck, a win is a win.
We both then suffered on the long descent with me not feeling at all comfortable running down hill on my knee, which was feeling increasingly ‘achey’ on every downward pound of my right leg. Kelly already had her lack of petrol problem (yep I didn’t bother carrying any sweets for refuelling) and it was compounded probably by the increasing lethargy of a relatively warm day and a long, long trog along what can seem a never ending ridge to nowhere. Kelly (the dot on the landscape) snoozing and losing:
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/9813/p7200015ki1.jpg
We made it in the end though and proceeded to each snarfle and slobber our way through a huge slab of lemon drizzle cake in a matter of seconds at the Rydal tea shop..... as you do. Overall then a success in that I managed to run it (sort of) and was not in too much pain afterwards. The run though took ages – maybe 2 ¾ hours.
Lakes Run #2
We cycled around Lake Coniston and climbed the Old Man on Monday leaving Tuesday as a potential run day; the trouble was that we were both completely and utterly knackered. We did however manage a short trot over the cliffs from St Bee’s Head to the lighthouse and back with a quick rock pooling, beach combing break in the middle at Flitwick Bay. OS Explore Route Again the knee ached but not enough to stop me running at a slow chuff-along pace. Barely a run then but a run all the same. Fantastic views from the cliff tops and a great dip in the sea to finish off.
Lakes Run #3
And this was a utterly classic run. We’d walked Bowfell from Langdale the day before and a loop from Buttermere to Scale Force in the afternoon before that (after our St Bee's run) so nothing too testing was required and this fitted the bill perfectly on what was a very warm and sunny morning. Incredibly no hills were involved, it wasn’t a long distance and the running was all on the roads (wash my mouth out) but, regardless of all that, it was an absolutely fabulous ‘run’ all the same. OS Explore Route
Its one that we’ve done before and the plan is to park up just off the road on the west bank of Coniston Water directly opposite Peel Island (just down from Sunny Bank) and then run the road south, go around the bottom of the lake and then back up to the jetty on the east bank at Rigg Wood. Maybe a 40 minute run all told. You then dive off the jetty and swim at a diagonal to make an intermediate landfall on Peel Island, followed by a quick Swallows and Amazons nostalgia trip before plunging in again and swimming across the lake on the last leg back to the car. Simple.
And it was simple. A lovely run out for me, testing the knee a bit on hard ground with me wearing my walshes too (as the best bet for giving a soaking and swimming in). When we beached on Peel Island an open water swimmer who's followed us was amazed at our tolerance to the cold of the lake without wearing whimpy old wet suits and even more amazed when he saw we were swimming in fell shoes. Cold! Pah! He needs to run the full tour of Pendle in November in proper wind and rain to know what proper cold is :D
Kelly making landfall on Peel Island:
http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/4159/p7240064ay2.jpg
Both of us having just crawled out of the lake at the end:
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/484/p7240069if4.jpg
All in all then a positive return to some running even though two of the three runs weren't exactly taxing. Next stop desperately trying to get fit for the Ben.
sounds like a great time away. Love the pics, always cheer me up when sat in t'office bored outta mi brain!
Bloody fantastic that Stolly:D
You give me hope for my two girls as they make their way to the teen years, how do you convince Kelly to keep at it?
Nice to see you back at it Stolly... :D recover well
Kelly has evolved into a runner and loves it now - 2 years ago though she wouldn't have run with me for love nor money. Its been a balancing act of kind of enthusing her without getting at all pushy. My younger daughter Lauren is the real natural runner in the family but, as yet, she can't be arsed to actually do much running :rolleyes:. She has however been selected for the Yorkshire under 14 girls rugby league squad to play (and pummle obviously) Lancashire in a couple of back to back matches in September.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Master
You haven't seen truly violent sport played properly until you've seen rugby league played by a bunch of 13 year old girls :D
2nd August 2008 - Ingleborough loop from Clapham - 9 miles and about 1850 ft of ascent
OS Explore Route
Well having run 3 times this week since getting back from the Lakes relatively successfully but increasingly slowly, yesterday I suddenly found myself feeling fitter and faster. This run from Clapham has a nice gradient to the top of Ingleborough, with maybe 50% of the run's distance being a gradual climb and 50% a fastish and at times hair raising descent, and I knew as soon as I started running that I was feeling less sluggish.
The run starts by taking the track off to the right before the church at the top of Clapham and running through a drippy cave like tunnel (aka 'the tunnel of doooom') reappearing after 100 yards from the darkness and heading almost towards Austwick before taking the left track (Long Lane) going now more directly towards Ingleborough, itself invisible yesterday in low cloud. Eventually this track stops at a gate with the option to follow the firmer trail to the right towards Sulber Nick or branch left following less used paths all sort of heading towards Simon's Fell on the horizon. I followed these lesser trails to the left which, after a while, left me at another gate into open fell with Simon Fell a mile before me on the horizon to the right and Ingleborough and the ridge to Little Ingleborough front and left. There was now no obvious path to follow but I ran running roughly paralell to the wall to my right heading towards Simon Fell - after maybe a third of a mile off piste a well used quad bike trail could then be followed which climbs all the way to the Horton to Ingleborough main drag, walkers track. The view from here looking back towards Clapham, which is beyond and below the woods in the far distance:
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/4210/p8020083wu1.jpg
And Little Ingleborough and, under cloud, Ingleborough to the right:
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/9497/p8020084ep7.jpg
Now on firmer footing, I could speed up and soon reached the plateau on top of clagged down Ingleborough after 61 minutes of running and the trig point at the far end a couple of minutes later. I then turned back on myself and found the trail that falls down onto the Little Ingleborough ridge. Quite rocky and steppy in one or two places but this track is now downhill all the way and I now could pick up speed, albeit with super strained 'I'm not going to twist my frigging knee again' concentration.
Then it was all about hacking towards Gaping Gill, down on a rocky path through a mini ravine, passing Ingleborough cave and, now on the level, zooming through the woods following the nature trail back into Clapham. A lovely run and at the finish I felt fighting fit too with a time of 1 hour and 51 minutes.
ah so you could have done B'dale and saved me from utter bonkage eh :mad:
Glad its getting better and only cursed your knee a couple of times up dalehead!:p
Cheers for the entry again!:D
3rd August 2008 - Pen y Ghent, Plover Hill and Foxup Moor from Horton - maybe 8.5 miles and circa 1800 ft of ascent
OS Explore Route
Back to back runs then :cool:. This one I also did last Sunday just after getting back from my camping trip and it took me 1:48 then with my knee feeling a little rough around the edges. This week my knee was in better nick but the ground was far more boggy and greasy and I guess I was feeling Ingleborough a bit from the day before. Its a glorious little route going up PyG via Brackenbottom, skooting along the boggy ridge to Plover Hill, dropping down into the valley beyond at Foxup Moor, tracking back along the foot of Pen y Ghent, past Hull Pot and back down the Pennine Way track to Horton.
I felt strong again and managed to finish in 1:44. I think I'll use this route as my fitness yardstick - one thing's for sure, I can still knock plenty more time off it.
9th August 2008 - Pen y Ghent, Plover Hill and Foxup Moor from Horton - maybe 8.5 miles and circa 1800 ft of ascent
OS Explore Route
Yep I did the same run again to gauge just how well stolly's recovery is going. So I ran this in 1:48 two weeks ago, 1:44 last week and this morning I ran...........................
1:33 :D :D
Mind you I'm still descending steep bits like a pussy footed mincer :rolleyes:
That mountain biking must have done you more good Stolly than you perhaps thought! I had 11weeks off after PPP and now after a month or so running again reckon I'm about back to my normal level of plodability!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stolly
DT I think the mountain biking, especially all the hill climbs, helped enormously. I went for a quick cycle ride up High Hill Lane on Friday evening and I only had to hit the first steep bit to get virtually instantaneous 'quad burn' - something that usually takes one or a series of humungous hills when running.Quote:
Originally Posted by Derby Tup
10th August 2008 - Embsay Crag, Embsay Moor and Rylstone Cross Circuit - 8 miles and maybe 1200 ft of ascent
OS Explore Route
And what a fantastically, awsomely wet and muddy run this turned out to be. I'd been meaning to run this route ever since the Wharfedale Fell Runners headbanger headtorch race up here in March but, rather than just run to Rylstone Cross and back as then, I went up via Embsay Crag, starting from the resevoir, and adding in a large loop over Embsay Moor before getting to the Cross and following the ridgeline back. I had a feeling conditions would be wet, given the amount of rain around these parts recently, and just as I pulled up in the car park a huge cloud bank was moving in........... which duly turned into a deluge 5 minutes into the run. Running up an increasingly wet track towards Embsay Crag in driving rain:
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/466/p8100097ga8.jpg
This track up the crag from the resevoir didn't seem that well used to me with my path becoming very junglely and overgrown with ferns in places. Nearing the top the path was almost a mudslide, with water teaming down the hillside. Anyway I made it to the top okay, although I was to be fair taking it pretty easy with my jippy knee aching a fair bit from yesterdays run. After going over the top of the crag, I followed this ridge for maybe half a mile (with Embsay and Eastby villages to my right in the valley below) before hacking on a track to my left. This track came along later than I was expecting so I suspect I may have missed a turning somewhere, especially as another track did merge from the left further along my route.
This part of the run was seriously waterlogged, with loads of standing water, the track becoming a stream in places aqnd me wading knee deep at times. After giving my walshes a superb wash my path finally hit the main track that took me towards the Rylstone ridge. A monument is clearly visable (in the right weather) here on the skyline but this isn't the cross I was aiming for - it isn't cross shaped for a start! You only really get to see the cross when you have hit the wall on the ridge line and run maybe 400 yards further up the ridge. Luckily by now the sun had come out:
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/7152/p8100100ds8.jpg
Having reached the cross all that was left was to follow the ridge line all the way back down to the resevoir. Well talk about boggy - it was incredible with pretty much all of what must be three miles absolutely mud-tastic. Added to that there were a couple of raging becks to cross and one stretch, beside a connifer wood with ferns up to my shoulders, was like running through a foetid, steaming jungle. In fact with the sun now occasionally breaking through there was a mist like steam rising from the connifer plantation. Looking back having finally climbed up and out of the 'jungle':
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/3350/p8100102kz9.jpg
With the end in sight I loped down the final descent with Embsay Crag and the resevoir now before me and, amazingly, the sun was out:
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/6458/p8100103wj5.jpg
To be honest I felt really knackered at the end and was plastered head to foot in mud; a few walkers were just going up the path as I came down and I must have looked like a survivor of an amazonian plane crash finally emerging from my jungle hell at the end there. A slow time of 1:35 but cracking fun.
Looks great Stolly, keep up the good work and the adventure, makes great reading and a fat lad jelous;)
13th August 2008 - Austwick, Sulber Nick, Ingleborough and Gaping Gill Circuit - 11.5 miles and about 2400 ft of ascent
OS Explore Route
Inspired by Ady in Accy's social outing set for 23rd August (when I'm away) I thought I'd give what I'd guess to be Ady's route a bash this morning. I'm off work this week and had been hoping to do a few runs but on Monday and yesterday my 'knee of doom' didn't feel up to it, following two hard runs at the weekend. This morning though it didn't feel too bad and I whizzed over to Austwick for the run.
It sounds like Ady plans on starting up the lane (nearer to Ingleborough) but I parked up outside the Gamecock and set off from there and up Townhead Lane. Eventually this lane becomes a track that meanders up to Crammock Farm with then a sharpish little hill climb up onto the plateau that you follow all the way to Sulber Nick. Once on this plateau there's a terrific view of Pen y Ghent and Plover Hill to the right and Ingleborough and Simon Fell to the left. Once I hit the track up from Horton at Sulber, it the same old track (where I've left countless clumps of flesh and bone from stumbles and trips) all the way up Ingleborough.
Just above Sulber I was flagged down for directions by three (weird) walkers. One guy asked for directions to "the road". When I enquired what road, he pointed in the Horton direction and asked whether "the road" was down there, going onto explain that they had walked thus far out of Ingleton and were looking for a circular walk back. I explained that the road at Horton went to Settle but to go that way would be one mother of a walk or he could go up the same road the other way to Ribblehead and cut back on the Ingleton road from there, equally a shed load of miles. Failing that I said (pointing in the exact opposite direction) they could walk over Ingleborough and into Ingleton from there. In the same vein as an American tourist who once asked me for directions to the London Eye in London when we were virtually stood right under it, the weirdo walker then asked "where's Ingleborough" :D.
Moving swiftly on I then scooted up Ingleborough, reaching the trig after 1 hour and 13 minutes. Then it was down, over Little Ingleborough and on towards Gaping Gill where there must be a pot holers convention going on or something, as the gulley that leads into Gaping Gill was full of tents and campers. After Gaping Gill I then went over the top, rather than down through the mini rocky gorge where the running's more tricky, and at the track that leads to Ingleborough Cave crossed a style and went up to Long Lane. It was then nothing more that a "short hop" down Loooong Lane and an equally "short scoot" up Thwaites Lane before cutting the corner and dropping down into Austwick for the finish; 2 hours 12 start to finish, with weirdos, taken at a steady trot.
Sounds like you kept to the lane from Austwick but if you go over the stile on your right at Townhead farm you can keep to the fields until the ford between Wharfe and Crummack lane and then bear left and pick it up just for the last few hundred yards before hitting grass tracks again at Crummack.
Think all the tents at Gaping Gill will be the run up to the winch meet on bank holiday, there is usually a social trip/get together several days before, think it's craven pothole club.
Once saw someone throwing rocks into Gaping Gill and when I said not to as there could be someone down there they did not believe that anyone would be - I had been in the chamber the week before on a trip through from Bar pot! Last time I did this run I went past a couple between Ingleborough & Little Ingleborough and the girl was in a crop top, skirt and court shoes and it was misty, raining and bloody cold on the top - probably looking for the cafe :eek:
Hoping to get up there tommorow afternoon onto Thwaite Scars to get some pics of the erratics and scenary if visible.
To see how clear it is from your armchair try:
http://www.ingleboroughwebcam.co.uk/
I'm kind of getting into a Groundhog Day like rut with this run, waking up each run day and thinking "what run shall I do today then?" and immediately thinking "oh, I know, I'll do my Pen y Ghent~Plover Hill run":rolleyes:. The thing is though, it's a nire on perfect run that has all the ingredients that I enjoy with more than anything plenty of bog and mud to contend with. Laterly, with racing pretty much off the agenda and me not having a lot of free time either, as Horton is just a 10 minute drive away it's a simple default really.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stolly
Last Monday (the bank holiday), having returned from a week in Greece, I felt fighting fit and ran this confidentally expecting to bust my recent, post injured knee, pb of 1 hour 33 and 52 seconds. Up until coming off Plover Hill I was ahead of schedule too but then found myself running pretty much all the way back into quite a strong head wind and only managed 1:34:07. To be fair conditions had worsened considerably (for the better :)) with the bogs on the ridge between Pen y Ghent and Plover Hill excelling themselves.
So on Saturday, waking up with a magners and wine induced hangover, I decided to do this run again........... for a change. Again conditions were wetter and muddier than before but, more than anything, my hangover added a good 2.5 to the difficulty rating. On the positive side I found a brand new water proof Dales south and west explorer map on top of Plover but, on the negative, I ran a drastic 1:40!!!
Pen y Ghent looming in the mist on the way up:
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/356/mudxq3.jpg
Mud....... and loads of it:
http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/2488/pygtu6.jpg
And then, waking up yesterday and stuck for a run to do, I decided to................ run it again! This time I had no drink related monkey on my shoulder and had slept well too. All the same I suffered a bit on the climb up Pen y Ghent, probably carrying left overs from Saturday's run, and got to the top maybe 2 minutes behind the kind of time needed to beat my previous best. All the same things were looking up at the stile at the top of Plover with me having caught up a minute and, by Hull Pot, I was level pegging. I then put a suitable burst on running down the farm track to Horton and finished with a new Olympic and World Record time of 1:33:23.
I want a 1:30 though.............
6th September 2008 - Cat Stones from Mewith Lane (somewhere in Bowland) - about 8.5 miles and maybe 1000 ft of ascent
This run was an utter disaster. I'd been planning on devising a run or two in Bowland and this was my first, nightmarish attempt. I knew that Settle Harriers have a training run that they call Cat Stones out of Clapham Station (although I've never done it or have any idea of their route) so I had a look at the map and figured out a solid horse shoe run by going up Cat Stones (well the hill I call Cat Stones anyway) from the lane to the north, following the ridge south, then east before coming back on the opposite side of the valley. This was my carfeully planned route: OS Explore carefully planned route which would have been a good 12 miles or so.
Things however did not go even closely to plan and, instead, I ended up giving myself the full Bear Grylls survival route intead which I can only hazard a guess at being something like this OS Explore badly run survival route - only 8.5 miles but full of life or death decisions, bad navigation, long short cuts and jungle hell!
On my Forest of Bowland explorer map there is a small dotted line indicating a path up to the trig point on the top of Burn Moor (which has a couple of features nearby called east and west Cat Stones) and I set off up a nice farm track fully intending to get on that path. I wasn't carrying my map or a compass of course but had chosen to "memorise" my planned route.... doh! At the farm I must have immediately gone wrong as the path (the only path I could see to be fair) soon started to head westerly, contouring the hill, rather than going up it. Mind you after half a mile or so I came across a track going up so decided to use that instead. This track wasn't at all muddy at this point and looked hardly, if ever used, which might have started ringing one or two warning bells in my mind but I was glad to be going up and how difficult could it be, regardless of which path I used?
Except that my path soon disappeared and I was running through tussocky grass that then turned into tussocky heather and bogs....... as far as the eye could see. My <cough> path going up:
http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/8905/p9060326ch7.jpg
Once deeper into the heather bogs I did find the occasional quad bike trails or heather fire breaks to run on but nothing seemed to go quite in the direction I wanted so, for much of the time, I was running off piste, pointing myself at the highest point I could see ahead. I eventually got to what I imagined was the highest point but couldn't actually see the trig until I looked over my shoulder to the right - the trig was 100 yards or so away with no noticeable path to or from it that I could see.
I was now faced with a choice of directions. A fire break went straight on ahead whilst another went to my left. It was pissing with rain and my visibilty was maybe 200 metres. I didn't have my compass. The straight ahead one seemed to start going down hill whilst that to the left didn't so I went left. Wrongo!
This firebreak was criss crossed with others going either left or right and, after 10 minutes or so, I realised that I was probably going east when I should still be following the ridge (rounded plateau rather than ridge I should say) south. So I then took the first firebreak to my right. I won't bore you with this too much but pretty soon the firebreaks, paths or whatever they were petered out or just went off in hap hazard directions such that I eventually came to the conclusion that I ought to just head east and get back down nearer civilisation rather than continue my futile search for a runnable route along the top. This in itself was not easy though. The ground was supremely wet and boggy, there weren't any paths and the ground was criss-crossed by narrow, treacherous looking sunken streams that I had to be careful not to fall into. Some of the bogs looked humungously deep too. The view from er... somewhere of a valley um... somewhere else:
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/3838/p9060328sn4.jpg
After much fun and games I finally found a track going north and followed it. To my right was a wall with farm fields on the other side so I now felt closer to safety and started to enjoy the run more. My track of course then decided to get worse and worse, and pretty soon it itself was only a narrow boggy sheep trod. I came across a hunting lodge along here but, thankfully, there wasn't a local red neck in residence, chopping wood with a frigging great axe and cursing under his breath about axing to death fell runners that get lost.
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/3770/p9060330qz5.jpg
After a while I was getting a tad jarred off with this track, continuing to follow the edge of the open access moorland, and took the opportunity once the path started to head east to carry on north, now crossing cow fields and stone walls. Had I know where I was or had a map with me, I would have been able to follow a footpath that disected my route here and headed swiftly back to my car. I didn't see a path though and chose not to head in that direction as in the next field there was just one large cow (or bull I wondered?) sat down 300 yards away just before a gate I'd need to use. Instead I chose to hop over a wall and into a deep, junglely wood. This will be easy I thought because the road can't be far from the other side of this little wood.
Unfortunately though there was a fast flowing beck, pretty much in flood, the other side of this wood. The wood itself was also very over grown, very muddy, full of flying insects, nettles and whatnot. Here though I remembered my Bear Grylls training and decided to follow the river to my right.
http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/6089/p9060332ge6.jpg
This direction choice was a crap one too but, after much hacking through fetid jungle and finally electing to wade through the river, I found myself near a farm. I gingerly walked through the farm yard, wary of dogs, before at long last being able to get back on the lane that led to my car.
1 hour 42 of timed running, bog trotting and jungle hacking together with at least 20 minutes of stopping and wonderining where the hell to go next. A crap run then but a great mini adventure.
Stolly
Sounds like you had an epic & definitely my kind of run - things could be worse - you could be here with me in downtown Victoria, Canada jogging on the pancake flat coast trails :o
Yet again I did my Pen y Ghent and Plover Hill (henceforth to be known as pygaph) run today with unbelievable amounts mud and water on the tops. My time was a slow 1:38 but I think that was just down to the stupidly slippery and boggy conditions. I don't think my Walshes have any grip to offer any more either :D
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/5536/p9070333iq4.jpg
They've lasted incredibly well though with me wearing them on every off road run so far this year. I want to try and get them to last to Christmas if I can but somehow that seems unlikely :rolleyes:.
I would recommend that anyone thinking of doing this route should do it while the goings good (or should I say not good) just to appreciate the brilliant conditions prevailing.
1) At least the laces in your Walshes look in reasonably good condition.
2) Nice tussocks on your Cat Stones route. I speak as one who appreciates these things...
Flippin' 'eck Stolly! No wonder you're getting injured if that's what you're wearing!
Stolly lad, for the trig on Burn Moor, park by the Great Stone of Fourstones and run up the road to turn L into Peter's Bottom Lane and up to the shooting lodge. Then there are some lovely 'mown trods' through the heather all the way to the trig. We usually return by following the fence N to 'Queen of the Fairies Chair' then follow the fence back to the road across Loftshaw Moss - the wettest, deepest bog in Bowland! In an exceptionally dry summer, you will get away with sinking only up to your knees, but can still hear running water that sounds to be 10 or 12 feet below you.:eek:
Another alternative from the trig is to follow the fence S to climb onto Great Harlow, through some of the finest knee / waist deep heather wading that Bowland has to offer. Then it's quad tracks along the fence by the Cold Stone to Bowland Knotts trig, Rock Cat Knot, N edge of Gisburn Forest, Resting Stones, Big Hill, Sandford Farm, Wham then field footpaths via Rome Farm, Field Gate Farm, Close House? Farm and Giggleswick School Chapel - almost to your front door.:D
Thanks WD. It was the "track" to Great Harlow that I missed but, as is usual for me, I better understand the lie of the land now having given myself a full meandering tour. I know exactly which way to go next time (well for Great Harlow anyway) but its reassuring that there continue to be paths of sorts further along. What I found that made things more tricky is that its just so round on the top of Burn Moor, not quite a plateau but just a very big curving horizon. I could have been 20 yards from a fire break or quad bike trail and not known it was there :D. Give me three or four jaunts up there and, by trial and error, I'll finally know the what and where of it all though.Quote:
Originally Posted by wheezing donkey
Stolly you've inspired me to take my camera running with me from now onwards (as ive seen ur pici's).
I'll just have to hope that my bumbag really is waterproof though otherwise i'll be suing Inov :D haha
I recently bought one of these. Its waterproof and shock proof and, thus far, bog proof.Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Fowler
Very hi-tech bumbag that Stolly! ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by Stolly
14th September 2008 - Ingleborough and Whernside from Ingleton - 15.25 miles and 3500 ft of Climb
OS Explore Route
I last ran this route in May when it took me 2 hours 57 to go round so I felt slightly under pressure yesterday to run a similar time. This was also my first longish run since recovering from my twisted knee and I was not completely sure whether my 'new' knee would be up to it. The weather was ideal for running though, very still and slightly humid although there was low cloud down over the tops.
I managed to park in the centre of Ingleton (at the most lively bit.... just opposite the old folks home) and, as I was 'greasing up' and whatnot before the off dressed in my helly, running shorts and fell shoes, a friendly old lady asked me if I was going..... pot holing! I mean what can you say. Its like that sometimes in Ingleton (and Settle come to that) where the town attracts both ends of the spectrum from the elderly cream tea-ers to pot holers, hang gliderers and fell runners. I did explain to the lady where I intended running but I could have been saying up the Grand Canyon and over Mount Kilamanjaro and she would have still nodded and laughed just the same :D.
Anyway I ran up Ingleborough okay, although in the cloud as I neared the summit I found myself thinking that each ridge was the last one only to find there was still another frigging one to go. As I dropped off onto the shoulder on the other side of the summit, the cloud suddenly parted and I had a great view of the valley towards Hill Inn and the totally obscured Whernside somewhere beyond:
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/5118/p9130336jd7.jpg
I took the steep descent down the treacherously paved wall here really carefully - last time I effectively threw myself off the side on the direct line descent over tussocks and rocks but I no longer have any studs showing on my fell shoes and felt obliged to bottle it yesterday - but once on the flagstones I could nicely pick up speed again.
Then it was up Whernside, again pretty much runnable all the way to the trig point (barring one extremely steep stretch where I had to stagger instead). On the way up I bumped into Merrylegs coming down running the 3P which gave me a welcome quick breather and a stop to say hello before resuming the climb. Once up on the top ridge it was really misty, almost dark in fact and this would have been at something like 1 in the afternoon. Then it was an about turn to follow the top ridgeline all the way back to Ingleton.
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1376/p9130342bm3.jpg
The first time I ran this I found this ridgeline just never ending in a sole destroying sort of way but yesterday I loved it. It was beautiful isolation all the way with lovely views of Kingsdale to my right and a partially cloud obscured Ingleborough to my left whenever I dared look up from the extremely boggy and wet trail I was following. I only pranged once sliding on my back down a slippery bank (and landing badly on two fingers of my right hand - not broken, touch wood, but not good either) but other than a couple of deep bog experiences I safely got to the end of the ridge and dropped down onto the Ingleton Waterfall Walk route, taking the left river and Beezley Fall route into Ingleton.
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/8711/p9130346vc2.jpg
My legs felt weary now although my knee was absolutely fine. All the same I'm clearly even more unfit than I was in May and finished with a time of 3 hours and 1 minute. A fabulous run though.
You looked impressive coming up Whernside, i alas blew up going up Inglebugger. Wore trail shoes that were crap in the wet, fell over twice coming down PYG. Never worn them for anything over 10 miles, effing blisters killing me about two miles from Horton. Got round in 5h 18m but really wanted to crack 5h:( Oh well i'm still alive. The Guinness tasted good in the Golden Lion:) Saw Rob Jebb on his cross bike at Ribblehead, so bumped into two famous blokes today:p
All the best Stolly;)
Are there any "Stolly Routes" that go from Ribblehead Viaduct, over Whernside, down through Chapel-le-Dale and then parts of Ingleborough and back to Ribblehead?
I was thinking of heading left just past 'Humphrey Bottom' and then heading across to the trig point on Park Fell. There seems to be a path back from 'Colt Park' but not sure whether there is anything between the main Ingleborough path across?
Something like,
Sounds an ideal warm up for a 'duathalon in the dark' that, Dom!Quote:
Originally Posted by dominion
Errr... more a warm down the day after a K & C Wednesday night run.... ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Derby Tup
Just go up to the shoulder of Ingleborough then head left for Simon Fell and Park Fell - I haven't been that way but I think you can come down from Park Fell on a fairly direct line towards Ribblehead. Failing that take the path down from Park Fell to the Horton Ribblehead road. Not a short run mind :D.Quote:
Originally Posted by dominion
I went up Ingleborough via Park Fell from Ribblehead the way you have suggested on you're map Dom. It's a very steep climb initially up Park fell, but then it flattens off before joining up onto the main Ingleborough path. The descent off Park Fell would be brilliant i am sure, just one thing to be careful of is if you're in mist, the path isn't an easy one to follow.
Cheers Will