Todays permitted exercise!

[Mike T]

10.08 miles, 1,569 feet, 2 hours 52 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Roman Ruins - Borrans Park, with drills and strides: 2 miles @ 15 or so strides to the mile - Stagshaw Gardens - Champion Tree Trail - Blue Hill Road - Stockghyll Lane - Ambleside. Overcast with no definite cloud base: some high tops visible, others obscured. Continuous drizzle/light rain. No wind. Terrain wet/saturated and slippery. Lots of walkers low down; four fellow runners seen.

[Mike T]

13.54 miles, 4,638 feet, 5 hours 28 minutes: Elterwater - Silver How - Swinescar Pike - Blea Crag - Easedale Tarn - Tarn Crag - Sergeant man - Tarn Crag - Easedale Tarn - Blea Crag - Swinescar Pike - Lang How - Silver How - Elterwater. Sunshine, with a few high clouds. A moderate and very pleasant cooling breeze from the south east. No rain. Terrain anything from dry with good grip to saturated and slippery. Easedale Tarn busy again, very few walkers higher up. Three fellow runners seen, though only one was on the fells.

The route up Tarn Crag directly from the tarn is not obvious from below - the ascent starts almost immediately after the stepping stones, not further around the tarn.

[Mike T]

10.37 miles, 2,929 feet, 3 hours 38 minutes: Travellers Rest - Steel Fell - Calf Crag - Sergeant Man - Tarn Crag - Easedale Tarn - Far Easedale - Travellers Rest. Initially sunshine through thin high clouds, but the clouds gradually thickened as the day progressed. No rain; a moderate breeze from the south east. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Not that many walkers about; two runners seen on the road.

The ascent to Tarn Crag from the stepping stones at the outlet to the tarn can be joined lower down, but it is rather boggy at one point and I suspect it will soon be blocked by bracken.

[Mike T]

11.7 miles, 3,396 feet, 3 hours 38 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Miller Bridge - Low Sweden Bridge - rock step - Low/High Pikes - Dove Crag - Scandale - Red Screes - The Golden Rule - Miller bridge - Rothay Bridge. Overcast and misty; the cloud base was above the tops. A moderate breeze from the north. No rain. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Very few walkers about; two fellow runners seen on top of Red Screes.

Taking it steadily, but not stopping unnecessarily, it took me 41 minutes from the the top of the Screes to the pub. How it can be done in 15 minutes is beyond me.

[Mike T]

9.12 miles, 2,619 feet, 2 hours 46 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Roman Ruins - Borrans Park - Stagshaw Gardens - Wansfell Pike - Wansfell true top - Nanny Lane - Wansfell Pike - race route descent - Ambleside. Sunshine, with some high clouds above the tops. A moderate breeze from the south east. No rain. Terrain mainly dry with excellent grip - the longer grass helps. Not many walkers about; two fellow runners seen.

There is a section of the upper part of Nanny Lane - about 1/4 mile in length - that used to be about 50% grass, 40% dirt/stone track, 10% mud - it is now 100% mud as some farm vehicles have been up and down it repeatedly.

[Mike T]

11.03 miles, 2,786 feet, 3 hours 13 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Roman Ruins - Borrans Park - Loughrigg trails, taking in Fishgarths Wood, Todd and Ivy Crags, Lily Tarn, Loughrigg top and down to the road at High Close. Overcast, with the cloud base initially at about 1,500 feet, rather higher later. A moderate breeze from the south east. A few minutes of light drizzle. Terrain wet/saturated and slippery in places. Not many about.

I heard two cuckoos yesterday, and one today. They are changing their tune - from cuckoo/cuckoo/cuckoo to cuckoo/cuckoo/cuck. I had not heard this before.

The bracken will soon block some paths - it is already 5 feet high in places.

[Mike T]

9.59 miles, 3,937 feet, 4 hours 10 minutes: NDG - Loft Crag - Pike o' Stickle - Thunacar Knott - High Raise - Sergeant's Crag - High Raise - Sergeant Man - Stickle Tarn - NDG. Overcast, with the cloud base mainly above the tops. No rain, though several times it looked like it was about to. A moderate wind from the south west. Terrain wet/saturated and slippery in places. Very few about.

I managed to find a path for much of the route between High Raise and Sergeant's Crag and back, though the section nearest High Raise is rather elusive.

[Mike T]

6.07 miles, 2,025 feet, 1 hour 40 minutes: Hartsop - Hayeswater - Angle Tarn - Boredale Hause - Hartsop. Sunshine and clouds, the cloud base was above the tops. A strong wind from the north west. No Rain. Terrain anything from dry to wet to saturated, and slippery in places. Quite a few walkers about.

This was an AAC run, though there were only three of us. My descending ability on rough paths was again shown to be dismal.

[Mike T]

11.69 miles, 4,567 feet, 4 hours 27 minutes: Travellers Rest - Steel Fell - Calf Crag - Sergeant Man - Tarn Crag - Far Easedale - Helm Crag - Bracken Hause - zig-zag descent - Travellers Rest. Overcast, with the cloud base above the tops. No rain. A very strong blustery cold wind from the south west. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. No other runners seen. Very few walkers about, apart from on Helm Crag, which was busy, and Sergeant Man, where there were 2 large groups (8+12).

Despite the cold wind I managed in just a thin long sleeved top, though I did have Montane Pertex trousers on over 2XU tights, and, of course, gloves.

[Mike T]

9.72 miles, 4,171 feet, 3 hours 52 minutes: NDG - Harrison Stickle - Thunacar Knott - High Raise - Sergeant Man - Tarn Crag - Easedale Tarn - Blea Rigg - Stickle Tarn - NDG. overcast, with the cloud base just catching some of the high tops. That strong cold wind from the south west was still there. A few minutes of drizzle/light rain. Terrain mainly dry with good grip, but wet/saturated/slippery in places. Not many walkers about; two fellow runners seen on Thunacar Knott.

Today I put my waterproof top on as it was rather colder than yesterday - and when the rain came it stayed on.