Hi Mike
The continuous stretch of daily runs that you achieved was INCREDIBLE! Especially given the terrain, distance, weather, time on feet, etc…… You certainly didn’t make it easy for yourself.
All the best with your recovery!
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Hi Mike
The continuous stretch of daily runs that you achieved was INCREDIBLE! Especially given the terrain, distance, weather, time on feet, etc…… You certainly didn’t make it easy for yourself.
All the best with your recovery!
4.96 miles, 1,607 feet, 2 hours 14 minutes: Elterwater - Silver How - Lang How - Swinescar Pike - Silver How - Elterwater. A walk with my partner. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 1,300 feet. No rain nor wind. Terrain dry in many places, only slippery where damp/wet. Very few about - we only saw three other people.
7.36 miles, 1,765 feet, 2 hours 49 minutes: Loughrigg trails - a walk with my partner. Cloudy, the occasional patch of blue sky, no wind nor rain. Terrain mainly dry. Lots of people on the main paths and on Todd Crag and Loughrigg top - luckily the other paths are virtually deserted.
7.2 miles, 2,150 feet, 3 hours 10 minutes: Traveller's Rest - Steel Fell - Calf Crag - Gibson Knott - Bracken Hause - Traveller's Rest. A walk with my partner. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,500 feet; no rain, a cold wind from the north west. Terrain mainly dry, but damp/wet and slippery in places. Lots of walkers heading from Helm Crag towards Calf Crag. Town and parking areas very busy.
7.13 miles, 1,953 feet, 2 hours 54 minutes: Loughrigg trails - a walk with my partner. Lovely sunshine, some high clouds on the horizon, a cool breeze at times, terrain mainly dry but frozen/frosty/slippery in places where out of the sun. Quite a few walkers on the main paths. Somebody dropped a pair of gloves on one of the minor tops - they looked expensive and new - we left them there hoping their owner would retrace their steps once they realised what they had done.
I could not miss the opportunity of a clear sky on a Wolf moon so a friend and I went for a walk up Wolfscote Hill from Heathcote. Only 5 miles in total and no headtorch required.
There was no wind whatsoever and when we got to the TP we both took our gloves off as we were warm. We found this rather strange as we sat, taking in the 360 degree views. We then realised that the warmth was coming from the limestone pavement around the summit that had been basking in the sun all day. As soon as we dropped down and below the limestone it was gloves back on as it was chilly.
When we got back to the car the windscreen had a layer of frost on it and Heathcote Mere a thin layer of ice.
Looking forward to the Snow Moon on February 16th!
5.38 miles, 2,272 feet, 2 hours 45 minutes: Traveller's Rest - Winterseeds - Grisedale Tarn - Seat Sandal - South Ridge - Traveller's Rest. Another walk with my partner. An inversion, with dense fog in the valley until 1,000 feet, then clear until re-entering cloud at about 2,000 feet. A cold wind from the north on the top. Terrain icy in places, but mainly dry on the descent. We saw 5 other people throughout.
4.76 miles, 2,476 feet, 1 hour 57 minutes: Wansfell Pike, including twice up and once down the race route from/to the kissing gate. A walk - just me. Sunny with some patchy high clouds; a cold wind from the north west. Terrain damp and slippery in places. No frost/ice. I saw about 20 others on the fell, and 1 fellow runner.
I think I did a PB on the ascents - 21 minutes each time. It usually takes me a couple of minutes longer. The descent - 13 minutes.
Good to see the confidence is back that you are able to go out on the hill again Mike.
5.5 miles, 2,037 feet, 2 hours 28 minutes: Wansfell Pike, including along the ridge to the true top and back, and once down the race route to the kissing gate. A walk with my partner. Lovely sunshine, a few high clouds, a cold wind from the north west. Terrain widely frozen and icy. Microspikes carried but not used. Quite a few walkers about, and one runner.
10.3 miles, 2,607 feet, 3 hours 8 minutes: around the Roman Ruins, then Loughrigg trails - just me; mainly walking but some gentle slow running. Sunshine, and some clouds catching the highest tops. A cool breeze from the north west. Terrain mainly dry, but firm/icy in places. Quite a few walkers on the main routes.
11.87 miles, 3,511 feet, 4 hours 59 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Miller Bridge - Low Sweden Bridge - Rock Step - Low Pike - High Pike - High Bakestons - Scandale - Red Screes - South Ridge - Roundhill Farm - Ambleside. A walk with my partner. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,000 feet; the occasional patch of blue sky. A cold wind from the west. Terrain hard/icy in many places. Quite a few walkers, and about 10 runners, on the fells.
10.03 miles, 2,589 feet, 3 hours 27 minutes: Roman Ruins - Wansfell Pike - Roman Ruins. The first 6 miles were walking with my partner, the last 4 running by myself. Overcast, no sunshine at all, no rain, no significant wind. Terrain mainly dry. Not many on the fell.
8.41 miles, 3,273 feet, 2 hours 47 minutes: Wansfell Pike, including twice up and twice down the race route from/to the kissing gate, and taking in the Roman Ruins, Stagshaw Gardens - newly open after the storm - and the Champion Tree Trail. Overcast, with the cloud base just above the valley floor. No wind/sunshine/rain. Terrain damp, slippery at times. Not many about.
10.97 miles, 2,708 feet, 3 hours 12 minutes: Loughrigg trails, taking in the Roman Ruins, Fishgarths Wood, Todd and Ivy Crags, and down to the road at High Close. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 400 feet in places, higher elsewhere. No sun nor wind nor rain. Terrain mainly dry, but wet and slippery in a few places. Not many about.
8.9 miles, 2,891 feet, 2 hours 58 minutes: Wansfell Pike and Wansfell true top. Overcast, with some lovely shafts of sunshine. Cloud base at about 2,000 feet. A cold wind from the west. Terrain mainly dry. Fairly quiet on the fell.
9.4 miles, 3,089 feet, 2 hours 51 minutes: Loughrigg trails. Sunshine and clouds, the cloud base being above the high tops. A strong cold wind from the north. No rain. Terrain mainly damp; wet and slippery in places. A few walkers about on the main routes.
13.23 miles, 3,716 feet, 4 hours 5 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Miller Bridge - Rydal - Fairfield Horseshoe clockwise - Miller Bridge - Rothay Bridge. Ascending, I went to the left of Heron Pike's two tops and to the left of Great Rigg; then over Hart Crag to stay out of the wind to an extent, to the right of Dove Crag, and descended with the wall on my left. Overcast, with the cloud base initially at about 2,000 feet, later 600 feet or so. Intermittent drizzle/light rain, a strong cold wind from the south west, terrain anything from damp to saturated; very slippery in many places. About twenty walkers on the fell, and two other runners.
5.28 miles, 550 feet, 65 minutes: laps around the Roman Ruins. Sunshine and clouds, intermittent drizzle, and a very strong blustery wind from the north west. Terrain mainly damp grass, with occasional muddy patches. Lots of dog walkers about, and one fellow runner.
Given the forecast of 50 mph gusts even in Ambleside, I thought I had better stay low. I see they had a gust of 134 mph in the Cairngorms.
Very sensible. It was pretty blowy this morning for my run too. We avoided the ridges once the wind had picked up.
8.33 miles, 3,295 feet, 3 hours 3 minutes: Wansfell Pike, including twice up and twice down the race route from/to the kissing gate. Initially sunshine and clouds, with the high tops just hidden. Later a widespread layer of cloud developed at about 1,500 feet. No significant wind whilst I was out; some light drizzle towards the end. Terrain surprisingly dry, presumably from yesterday's wind. Lots of walkers on the Wansfell steps, and three fellow runners.
The curious case of footpath L96a, or We really don't want the plebs gawping at our Elizabethan mansion.
Langley Priory is a mansion, partly built in 1570, the remainder dating from 1690. A little googling will reveal that it is sometimes hired out as a wedding venue, but is principally a private residence.
Many years ago I noticed on the OS map that there is a Public Footpath passing quite close to the front of the house; the Right of Way then ends, with no connection to any other path. On one previous occasion I tried to walk along the path, but gave up where it went into a cultivated field, with no sign of any trod.
Today I cycled out via Belton, and left my bike close to Woodhouse Farm, less than half a mile from Langley Priory. I started out along the Public Footpath, which soon entered the cultivated field. No sign of any trod through the beans, either on the path I wanted or on the other Public Footpath across the field. However, there was a reasonably wide unploughed field margin, and I decided that I could surely defend my presence on that to any irate farmer, as a better alternative to marching through the crops.
Following the field margin to where I was fairly close to the back of the house, I saw a gap in the hedge, stepped across a dry ditch and walked a few yards to where I got a good view of the fishponds and part of the house; I didn't go further, since if I could see the house, then I could be seen from the house. The fishponds would explain the grey heron I had seen flying across the field.
Continuing along the field margin, I came to a little bridge across the same dry ditch. There was a notice attached to it, explaining that this was Footpath L96a in Isley Walton parish, and that this was a No Through Route: refer to plan below. There was a large-scale map below, showing the Rights of Way in the area. Everything on this notice was correct, but I couldn't help feeling that it was intended to discourage ramblers from continuing along the path. Well, I did continue along the path, to where I got a splendid view of the beautiful mansion, and stood there gawping for a minute or two. Then I returned, across the little bridge to the field margin, and carried on to where I met the other path across the field, to continue my walk on a roughly triangular route back to where I had left my bike. The ride back home was via Long Whatton.
9.35 miles, 2,820 feet, 3 hours 1 minute: Loughrigg trails. Sunshine and high clouds, a cold wind from the north west. No rain; a thin scattering of white stuff is visible on the very highest tops. Terrain mainly damp, though wet and slippery in places. Quite a few walkers about.
Some more trees are down, and the sound of multiple chainsaws is back with us.
Coming down Otley Chevin on my way to waitrose this evening i noticed a few small logs by the Danefield gate and called in to grab them on the way back. It's funny how things look smaller from the car, they were huge. Each of the 3 was a good 35kg and required good lifting technique to get in the boot, also oozing with resin being pine, and i had to wash my hands in olive oil when i got home to loosen it. My clothes, however, are ruined; plastered in sticky ooze and i'm not sure it it actually washes out.
3 logs, 105kg, clothes ruined.
On last Thursdays RATRun we came across a van parked adjacent to the footpath that went into Light Wood. There was a small pile of freshly cut logs behind it. As we ran into the woods we saw the beams of two headtorches coming towards us belonging to what looked like, a very sheepish, father and son whose arms were laden with more logs.
I think its called foraging!
7.85 miles, 3,586 feet, 2 hours 51 minutes: around the Roman Ruins, then Wansfell Pike, including once down and once up the race route to/from the kissing gate. Sunshine, and clouds at multiple levels; a very strong cold blustery wind from the north west - crossing the small flat area at the top of the Pike was interesting. Terrain mainly dry. Not many about.
For the first time in ages I did some fartlek. I expect to be a bit sore tomorrow.
10.27 miles, 2,317 feet, 3 hours 16 minutes: around the Roman Ruins, then Loughrigg trails. Overcast, with the cloud base between 1,500 and 2,000 feet. Intermittent light drizzle. A gentle breeze at times. Terrain damp, not particularly slippery. Not many about.
I was not sore after yesterday's fairly gentle fartlek, so today I added in some drills: high knees, skipping, bum kicks, hopscotch, side to side, strides. It is almost 2 years since I last did these.
10.11 miles, 2,037 feet, 3 hours 4 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Roman Ruins - Waterhead steps - High Skelghyll - Hundreds Road - Wansfell Pike - Skelghyll Woods - Roman Ruins - Rothay Bridge. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 1,500 feet. A cold not particularly strong wind from the west. Intermittent light drizzle. Terrain wet/saturated and slippery. Very few about.
Drills and strides again - the flat grassy area around the ruins is ideal for this.
8.19 miles, 2,879 feet, 2 hours 54 minutes: Loughrigg trails. Sunshine and clouds; intermittent showers of rain/graupel. The cloud base was at about 2,500 feet, with a patchy snow line a bit below that. A very cold wind from the west. Terrain wet/saturated and slippery - no ice at this level. Not many about.
No drills/strides/fartlek today.
6.65 miles, 1,464 feet, 1 hour 37 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Clappersgate - Brathay trails - Fishgarths Wood - Todd Crag - Old Golf Club - Miller Bridge - Rothay Bridge. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 1,800 feet; no snow visible below this level; constant light to moderate rain, a strong cold blustery wind from the west. Terrain saturated and slippery. I was surprised to see so many walkers out and about - and there was one fellow runner.
8.67 miles, 3,002 feet, 3 hours 10 minutes: Wansfell Pike and around the Roman Ruins. Overcast, with the cloud base just catching the highest tops. A very strong wind from the west at all levels, particularly at the top of the Pike. Intermittent rain/graupel showers. The only white stuff I could see was at the very top of Fairfield. Terrain saturated and slippery. Not many about, but some were starting to ascend the Wansfell steps - I suspect they regretted it once higher up.
Strides and drills done after my warm up.
I've never seen these roman ruins, are they any good? Can we tick any boxes...ramparts/ditches, mosaic, hypercaust box-tile?
8.55 miles, 2,476 feet, 2 hours 47 minutes: Loughrigg trails, taking in Fishgarths Wood, Todd and Ivy Crags, Loughrigg top, and the descent/ascent to/from the road at High Close. Overcast and misty - none of the tops visible. Virtually constant light rain/drizzle. Terrain saturated, icy in places above 500 feet - very slippery. A moderate wind from the west. I saw about 2 dozen walkers whilst I was out.