Todays permitted exercise!

[mr brightside]

Gastronomic activities on my current tour of Europe briefly gave way to Yesterday's Permitted Exercise (permitted by my wife), which cost me 10.70 euros: up the stairs to the second level of the Eiffel Tower (which is as far as the staircases go). 115 metres of climbing in 6m15s, which is a rather pathetic rate of ascent for a staircase climb: 0.307m/s (I'm not far short of 0.3m/s on some of my hill reps in the Outwoods). In my defence, I would say that I spent around half a minute on the first level, looking for the staircase from there to the second level; and I had the same problem that Welsh 1000m Peaks runners have on the PyG track, of having to push past slow walkers.

PyG as in Pen y Ghent in Yorkshire?

[Travs]

PyG as in Pen y Ghent in Yorkshire?

PyG Track as in one of the two main paths from Pen-Y-Pass up to Snowdon.

Which incidentally i'll be trying to ascend at speed on saturday in the above-mentioned Welsh 1000 Metres, and can confirm it can be as mentally tough with so many people, as it is physical.

While Anthony is on his European tour, if he wants a congested, slow ascent, then he should pop down to Bologna and the "Torri Asinelli"..... over 400 narrow, steep, wooden steps to the top of the tower, with no room for overtaking....

In fact i had the misfortune to be stuck behind a rather large woman trying to descend the staircase in high heels last time (although given my ability at descending on the fell, it probably didn't actually slow me down that much)

[Mike T]

9.54 miles, 3,156 feet, 3 hours 48 minutes: Travellers Rest - Butharlyp How - Easedale Tarn - Tarn Crag - Mere Beck - Calf Crag - Green Burn Bottom - Travellers Rest. Sunshine and clouds, with, for the first couple of hours, continuous drizzle/light rain. The cloud base was initially at about 2,500 feet; higher later. A strong blustery wind from the south west. Terrain wet/saturated and slippery. Very few walkers about; no other runners seen.

From Green Burn Bottom, instead of crossing the stepping stones near the sheep fold, I stayed on the south side of the stream to avoid some rocky sections on the usual track. It soon became a very narrow path traversing a very steep slope and, whilst I am glad I tried it, I won't go that way again.

[Mike T]

12.05 miles, 2,252 feet, 3 hours 31 minutes: drills and strides - 2 miles worth - in Borrans Park, then Loughrigg Trails, taking in Todd and Ivy Crags, Lily Tarn, and Loughrigg top. Sunshine and clouds, mainly the latter; the cloud base was above the high tops. Several times it looked like it was about to rain, but it never did. A moderate wind from the north west. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Lots of walkers about; no other runners seen.

There was an OMM kite with a dibber attached to the trig point on Loughrigg, and there is a large marquee in the events field in Grasmere.

[anthonykay]

PyG as in Pen y Ghent in Yorkshire?

PyG Track as in one of the two main paths from Pen-Y-Pass up to Snowdon.

I have always been under the impression that the "Pyg" track on Snowdon is a reference to Pen y Gwryd.

It has also struck me as rather odd that one of Yorkshire's most prominent hills should have a name that looks half Welsh and half Flemish.

[Travs]

I have always been under the impression that the "Pyg" track on Snowdon is a reference to Pen y Gwryd.

It has also struck me as rather odd that one of Yorkshire's most prominent hills should have a name that looks half Welsh and half Flemish.

I'd imagine it was in reference to the Pen y Gwryd... but some people also claim "Pyg" as in the mining reference.

[Llani Boy]

I'm with AK regarding the origins of Pyg as in Pyg Track.

The mines around Llyn Llydaw and the Pyg Track were mainly copper. The English word "pig" refers to a "pig of lead", the pig being an ingot of smelted lead.

I think the fact that on OS maps the Pyg Track is shown to have mines(disused)close to it has caused some confusion. The Welsh word for Pig, the curly tailed variety, is Moch as in Nant y Moch.

[Mike T]

13.03 miles, 3,817 feet, 4 hours 56 minutes: Travellers Rest - Far Easedale - Tarn Crag - Sergeant Man - Tarn Crag - Far Easedale - Calf Crag - Green Burn Bottom - Travellers Rest. Sunshine and clouds, with the cloud base above the high tops. A pleasantly cool wind from the north. No rain. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Quite a few walkers about. No other runners seen on the fells, though there were several low down in the valleys.

There were some arrows and dibber kites near Easedale Tarn for the OMM events. They have been lucky with the weather.

[Mike T]

12.25 miles, 4,555 feet, 4 hours 59 minutes: NDG - Harrison Stickle - Thunacar Knott - Martcrag Moor - Stake Pass - Langstrath - Greenup - High Raise - Sergeant Man - Stickle Tarn - NDG. Sunshine and high clouds, and a refreshing cool breeze from the north. No rain. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Lots of walkers in the valleys, not so many high up. I saw seven fellow runners, two of them doing the OMM marathon. Again, perfect weather for it.

This was my first visit to the lower part of Langstrath - lovely.

[Mike T]

10.83 miles, 2,886 feet, 3 hours 51 minutes: Travellers Rest - Butharlyp How - Easedale Tarn - Blea Rigg - Codale Tarn - Sergeant Man - Tarn Crag - Far Easedale - Travellers Rest. Sunshine and clouds, the latter just obscuring some of the high tops. No significant wind; a few minutes of drizzle/light rain in the last couple of miles. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Lots of walkers low down, very few higher up. No other runners seen.