Todays permitted exercise!

[Mike T]

11.81 miles, 3,364 feet, 3 hours 57 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Miller Bridge - Low Sweden Bridge - rock step - Low/High Pikes - High Bakestones - Scandale - Red Screes - Roundhill Farm - Ambleside. Initially quite overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,000 feet, sunnier later, with the cloud base rising so that it only caught a few of the highest tops. No rain, virtually no wind. Terrain anything from dry to saturated and slippery in places. I saw perhaps 20 walkers on the fells, and 2 fellow runners.

For the Rydal Round there were 2 marshals on Low Pike to make sure the runners were on the east side of the wall. All were on the correct side apparently. They could see that some of the runners took a different line from the others and often gained 4-5 places by doing so. I was trying to find this line today - there are several grassy trods that look advantageous, but finding them from the top could be tricky.

[Mike T]

10.11 miles, 1,905 feet, 2 hours 39 minutes: Loughrigg Trails, taking in the Roman Ruins, Borrans Park, Fishgarths Wood, Todd Crag, Lilly Tarn, Loughrigg Tarn, and the track down to Miller Bridge past the old golf club. Overcast with the occasional patch of blue sky; the cloud base just caught a few of the highest tops. No rain. A moderate breeze from the south. Terrain mainly dry with good grip, but wet/saturated/slippery in places. Quite a few walkers on the fell; 1 other runner seen.

Usually I do quite well on the club's Strava table - last week one runner did 266 km!

[Mike T]

8.37 miles, 2,371 feet, 2 hours 38 minutes: Wansfell Pike, including along the ridge to the true top. Overcast, with a very low cloud base at 600-800 feet. Intermittent drizzle/light rain. A moderate wind from the south. I started in top and bottom waterproofs, but it was not at all cold, and the top came off and stayed off after a couple of miles. Terrain wet/saturated - puddles and rivulets everywhere - very slippery in places. Only one other person - a runner - seen on the fell.

[Mike T]

10.14 miles, 1,896 feet, 2 hours 40 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including the Roman Ruins, Borrans Park, Fishgarths Wood, Todd Crag, Lilly Tarn, Loughrigg Tarn, Loughrigg top, and descending past the old golf club to Miller Bridge. Sunshine and clouds, mainly the latter, with the cloud base at about 2,500 feet. A few minutes of drizzle. A moderate wind from the west. Terrain anything from dry to damp/wet/saturated/streaming, and slippery in places. Lots of walkers on the main paths, but then many of the minor paths are blocked by bracken. 3 runners seen.

[Mike T]

11.76 miles, 3,374 feet, 3 hours 40 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Miller Bridge - Low Sweden Bridge - rock step - Low/High Pikes with the wall on my left - High Bakestones - Scandale - Red Screes - Roundhill Farm - Ambleside. Sunshine and high clouds, a refreshing breeze from the west, no rain. Terrain very variable - dry in many places - damp/wet/saturated and slippery elsewhere. Very few walkers on the fells; 3 other runners seen.

[Mike T]

9.53 miles, 2,556 feet, 2 hours 57 minutes: Wansfell Pike from Rothay Bridge, including the Roman Ruins, Borrans Park, Stagshaw Gardens, the Champion Tree Trail, Blue Hill Woods, and along the ridge to the true top. Sunshine and high clouds, a few minutes of drizzle, a moderate breeze from the west. Terrain anything from dry to damp/wet/saturated; predictably slippery in places. Quite a few walkers on the fell; a couple of other runners seen.

[Mike T]

12.25 miles, 3,641 feet, 4 hours 11 minutes: Travellers Rest - Butharlyp How - Helm Crag - Gibson Knott - Calf Crag - Greenup - High Raise - Sergeant Man - Mere Beck - Calf Crag - Steel Fell - Travellers Rest. Sunshine and high clouds, a moderate breeze from the south west, no rain. Terrain mainly dry with good grip, but damp/wet/saturated and slippery in places. Apart from a large group on High Raise there were very few walkers about; 7 other runners seen.

This was the first time I was reasonably happy that I had found the top of Gibson Knott - it did seem to be the highest point on the ridge, and it does have a large cairn.

[Travs]

I saw your pics... i've never done that way off (or indeed on to) Steel Fell.... only ever directly to/from north towards Thirlmere or straight to Dunmail.

Looks a nice ridge...

[Mike T]

I saw your pics... i've never done that way off (or indeed on to) Steel Fell.... only ever directly to/from north towards Thirlmere or straight to Dunmail.

Looks a nice ridge...

There are 2 short rocky sections, 1 at the top, and 1 about half way down, but almost all the rest is lovely runnable grass - nice up or down. Park at the long lay-by just south of the Travellers Rest.

[Mike T]

13.2 miles, 3,418 feet, 4 hours 7 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Miller Bridge - Rydal - Fairfield Horseshoe c/w, going over the 3 tops on the way up, keeping to the left on the Fairfield plateau, going over Hart and Dove Crags and descending with the wall on my right, down the rock step - Scandale Beck - Miller Bridge - Rothay Bridge. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,500 feet. A few minutes of drizzle. A moderate breeze from the south west. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Quite a few walkers on the fells; 7 other runners seen, though only 1 was on the fell.