Had a go at this last Thursday/Friday. Tried it solo with some road support, but in the end had to give up because I ran out of gas and didn't fancy Pillar Rock in the dark on my own in a pretty spaced out state. Made it 85 miles of the way round going clockwise from Buttermere. Its about 1.8 bob grahams so is pretty mammoth, especially solo with a sack. Cracking weather though.
Pics up at: http://johnfleetwood.smugmug.com/gallery/2807122
nice one
Good attempt John.
BGR pacing on the Saturday and then this
Bill
Fantastic day and a bit out. How long did it take and how did it feel compared to your other big days out such as the Winter Ramsey? Presumably you'd have been moving faster on this trip. Do you think moving more quickly took it's toll or are they difficult to compare?
Don't want to steal John's thunder, but he made it round this weekend
More than 48hrs, but who cares - superhuman effort, especially over the last few miles - 2 miles have never seemed such a long way
Fantastic effort, John - well done. Can't wait to hear your report & see the photos.
Don't think there'll be many Photos from the Saturday as it was very thick cloud most of the wayOriginally Posted by GeoffB
Learnt a few things!
1.No way I'll catch up with John carrying a pacing sack and a thirty meter rope (anyone find a rope in the next week on the Ennerdale fells its mine)
2.When your contender says "I'll just carry on I'm only going slow" on a featureless hillside with visibility down to a few meters you tell them to have a drink or something to eat, anything but let them run off into the clag
Ended up having to drop into Ennerdale really fast but then scan the hillside trying to find him, got a third of the way up High stile then retraced steps back down (I had the only torch) when it got dark went over in to Buttermere and luckily for me John was in the car having his sleep
At 02:00 in the morning John set off for the Grasmoor fells, very inspiring to watch him going back up into the clag.
Well done John, I think you had very difficult conditions to contend with how you could keep going for 48 hours is amazing
Bill
very sorry about losing you from haycock bill. I was pretty concerned about me not having a torch and the impending dark, and I assumed you would catch me within 10 mins,and when you didn't I decided to carry on given the torch situation - one between two really isn't good - so the more light I could make use of, the better. I went for it up high stile. got to the top at about 11 pm just as it got dark and then felt my way down the boulders and heather in the dark. could have done with the poles then. getting to the path was where the fun really started. that set stone path was a nightmare in the dark without a torch and with my leg injury. when I entered the forest, I could see absolutely nothing so I guessed where the stones were and took the plunge. when I got it wrong I certainly knew about it in the shooting pain up my leg. Silly me - will make sure I'm not torchless in the future. anyway, many thanks for sorting the rope out on pillar rock - it was def worth it in the slimy conditions.
I can't express enough thanks to all who helped me out. I wouldn't have made it round this one without your help. Thanks for staying with me at the end britta as I inched along the road. a stroke of genius, Ben, to lend me your trainers. Without that I might literally be crawling to the end even now.
Both shins now completely shot. A prolonged rest is in order methinks.
no pics whatsoever. the first 30 hours was pretty much rocks, grass and mist and the camera never seemed to resurface after that.
a great quality round with loads of technical running in the first half. The memory of the agony of the final descent will diminish with time, the rest won't (especially the sight of ben warming up for the last leg by sprinting up and down the car park at kirkstone - has he seen my zimmerframe type action with the poles I wondered?)
I was hoping that you'd carried on, my nightmare scenario was getting to Buttermere and finding I'd left you in Ennerdale in the darkvery sorry about losing you from haycock bill. I was pretty concerned about me not having a torch
Bill
and my nightmare was getting to buttermere and you not turning up. I was very glad to see your torch coming down.
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