9.54 miles, 1,098 feet, 1 hour 56 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Skelwith Fold - Skelwith Bridge - Drunken Duck - Rothay Bridge. Mainly overcast, with the cloud base at about 2,500 feet. Intermittent drizzle/light rain/graupel/sunshine. A moderate breeze at times from no specific direction. This was all on tarmac - water was streaming across the road in places. Very few people seen, none of them runners.
There is a smattering of snow above about 2,000 feet.
12.6 miles, 3,619 feet, 4 hours 17 minutes: Rothay Bridge to Swinescar Pike and back, via Loughrigg top, Silver How and Lang How both ways. Sunshine, and high fluffy clouds above the tops. A cold moderately strong wind from the north west. A few drops of rain. Terrain mainly wet/saturated/slippery. Not many walkers about - I came across the AAC Tuesday/Friday runners near Swinescar Pike - there were about a dozen of them; I saw 2 other runners.
I heard my first cuckoo of the year - just under Silver How.
9.33 miles, 2,940 feet, 3 hours 11 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including along the ridge to the true top, down to Hundreds Road and back up to the Pike, then down the race route descent through the kissing gate. Sunshine and high clouds; that cold wind from the north west persists; no rain. Terrain dry in place - yippee! - elsewhere wet/saturated/slippery. Very few walkers about; 1 runner seen.
9.03 miles, 2,309 feet, 3 hours 15 minutes: Drills and speed work in Borrans Park, then up/down Wansfell Pike via the race route from/to the kissing gate. Overcast with the cloud base at about 2,000 feet; misty below that. Intermittent drizzle. A cold breeze from the south east. Terrain damp/wet/slippery. Not many walkers on the fell; 4 runners seen, all in the valley.
Doing the drills I covered 3/4 of a mile. The faster running covered 2.1 miles in 36 efforts/36 minutes - roughly 25-30 seconds of running, with the rest of each minute as rest.
10.75 miles, 3,062 feet, 3 hours 25 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including down the race route to the road at High Close, down through Deerbolts Woods to Grasmere shore, and back up to the top via Loughrigg Terrace and the steps overlooking Grasmere. Overcast, with the cloud base above most of the high tops. A few minutes of drizzle; a few minutes of sunshine. The breeze from the north was jolly chilly. Terrain mainly dry/damp with good grip. Not many walkers about, apart from 2 very large groups, one of mothers/babies, the other of primary school children/teachers. 1 runner seen.
12.14 miles, 3,261 feet, 3 hours 47 minutes: Fairfield Horseshoe clockwise from Ambleside, taking the first, second and forth trods to the left on the ascent, and descending the non race side of the wall; I went down the rock step. Sunshine and high clouds, no rain, no significant wind. Terrain dry in many places with good grip. Lots of walkers on the fells; 1 runner seen.
I had a long walk out today.
From the cottage I'm staying in at Matterdale, round to the Old Coach Road, and up the north-east ridge of Great Dodd.
Across the Dodds, Sticks Pass, Raise, White Side (where I stopped to eat).
On over Helvellyn, Dollywagon and Nethermost Pikes, and took the direct line (rather than the zigzag path( down to Grisedale Tarn.
Down the length of Grisedale to Patterdale.... after a pitstop in Patterdale went along the road to Glenridding, up the valley to the youth hostel, over the Greenside Mine zigzags.... then bodged my way over some confusing ground to the head of Glencoyne.
Right round the path that traverses the head of Glencoyne and along the "balcony" path back to Dockray, and a quick mile back up the road to Matterdale.
24 miles and 5400ft of climb. I somewhat underestimated the bit from Glenridding back to Dockray, expecting only about 6 or 7 miles, but that section was 9 miles and quite a bit more climb than I was expecting.
A nice day, and I became embroiled in the Lakes Mountain 42 race both on the Helvellyn ridge and down at Patterdale.
Last edited by Travs; 20-04-2024 at 09:00 PM.
Wow, a busy couple of days Travs - well done.Originally Posted by Travs
11.01 miles, 3,102 feet, 3 hours 41 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including down the race route to High Close, left along the road, then back up to the top via the steps overlooking Loughrigg Tarn. Overcast, with the clouds above the high tops. A few minutes of weak sunshine. No significant wind nor rain. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Surprisingly few walkers about; 1 runner seen.
The bracken has started to rear its ugly head.
11.06 miles, 3,098 feet, 3 hours 39 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including along the ridge to the true top, down to Hundreds Road and back up to the Pike. Overcast, with the cloud base just catching some of the highest tops. Some glimpses of blue sky. No rain. A moderate breeze from the north. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Not many walkers about; 1 runner seen.
The blue bells are out in Blue Hills Wood.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote