Anybody fancy a recce of the walk from the car park to the start?
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Anybody fancy a recce of the walk from the car park to the start?
Is it possible and easy to take a childrens buggy along the walk between the parking and the start of the race?
From memory a few years ago its on rough landrover type tracks so fine with an all terrain type buggy (that's what we had at the time) but probably a pain with one with little solid wheels.
There will, however, be plenty of porters going to the start and on the way back it's the ideal excuse to leave the racer at the pub minding child while partner runs to Hodge Close to get the car!
before the race, are they really going to want/allow lots of cars going in/out of Little Langdale dropping people off before going to park at the quarry?
it's only a narrow road, and I would imagine a certain amount of chaos with cars turning round etc :confused:
Lookin' at the 4cast for the next week...
http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/...p?zipcode=la22
Will the organisers revert back to the original parkin' plans?
Had a walk round this on saturday, weather was perfect and the views from Wetherlam were fantastic. I came accross an ill lamb on the path to Wetherlam, it was hyperventilating and had blood and puss coming from its eyes. It put up no resistance as i dragged it a couple of feet into the shade of a bracken clump and i'm ashamed to say that's all i could do for it.
The route up Wetherlam wasn't easy, i found the path marked on the OS map but it just faded out and the scramble through the bracken was hard, what with the boulders and SPIDERS ladies lots of SPIDERS:eek:. On the day i may be tempted to head directly up the hill to where a disruption in deposition in the rock strata has created a sloping terrace and a slight break in the bracken, and follow this till i need to go higher.
The final stomp up Wetherlam was littered with loose boulders, some the size of Mini engines, pity the fool who gets caught by one of those at full tilt. By the time i was at Prison Band i was out of water and thirsty, bit of a dry run this, no water till the Pike now. Noticed the memorial to the crew of the Halifax on Swirl How along with some aircraft remains, rest in peace boys.
Having climbed up a scar unnecessarily thinking it was the pike summit, won't do that again, i reached the top and surveyed the descent which looked straight forward. However i went way too high on Blake Rigg and was confronted by a cliff at the other side, for anyone who finds themselves here on the day there is a kissing gate to get you the right side of the wall in the wood. After stopping to try and adjust my socks on Brown How and being swarmed by nasty bitey flying ants i made my way to the quarry track fairly easily, you just have to go left of Busk Pike. Noticed at least 2 levels in the 'quarry' both run in but conspicuous nevertheless, surely level driving makes the area a mine rather than a quarry, didn't see much open cast working but an industrially interesting place all the same. Some of those old buildings would make great Bothys.
Is there a race route map anywhere (online) or will I need to buy one on day?
ps
does anyone know where's good to camp around there?
Mudlugger. You can get a good idea of the route from the map on this blog: http://chrisupson.blogspot.com/2008/...fell-race.html, but I think the Pete Bland van will be there selling maps on the day.
Good point - maybe the blogger's Garmin lost signal a few times or maybe he just got all the lines right! Best to believe the calendar, although with 4,000 ft of height gain, the distance is probably not that important
My route last year was 18km, which is about 11.2 miles
http://chris-upson.com/2008/ThreeShi...esProfile2.jpg
Although I'm sure you could take a longer route if you wanted.
Great blog Chris - hope you didn't mind me sharing it. I bet I will do further than 11.2 miles.
Thanks DinoF. Why not wear a Garmin and we can compare notes.
I may well do - it's just my 205 is still quite new and I will probably fall over a few times.
I've got to 3 Shires Stone now on three separate recce's of this route (only completing the course on my latest attempt with Young Al Fowler) and so far have never made it in the alloted two hours (2:10 on the last attempt). I'm hoping for a dry day and a good route up Wetherlam. Daz you'll have to be my marker as I'm aiming to hit 3 Shires Stone in 1:59:50. :D:D
Here's a good way to keep tabs on the weather for Saturday
I've changed the wallpaper on my PC to this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../Wetherlam.JPG
now I can recce the first half of the route anytime!
Daz whats your plan of attack going up weatherlam.
Im tempted to carry on down the track until you are inline with the ruins across the river and head up the obvious path as far as it goes and then diagonally head for the summit.
Is 11am still the start time or has it/could it be delayed?
Al - if I were to recce it again, I would probably try something similar to what you suggest in a desperate attempt to avoid as much bracken-covered bouldery stuff as possible
but on the day I imagine it will just be a case of following everybody else :D
(or are you thinking of leading a "splinter group"? ;) )
Does anyone know how long it would take to run from Great Langdale campsite to the start of the race. I was thinking of sticking to the road to stay fresh! Doesn't look that far? 2-3 miles?
I've always followed the flags thinking that was what was expected of us - last year with no flags I took a couple of small corners off but it gained me very little. Anyone who can get round the entire route to the last CP without flags should just about manage the last bit OK without them!