Stolly's Running Adventures

[Stolly]

Not to be confused with Jayne's Diary .

Okay with a whole year of running lying before me, I've decided to keep a diary of the various 'good' runs I do. By 'good' I guess that means any run or race that I think is worth recording but I can't imagine that it'll be more than one run every week or so. Please accept my humblest apologies for dumping this on you but feel free to chip in (criticise, take the piss or completely ignore me) whenever you like.

For my part I will do my best to make my diary as interesting and varied as I can and, with a bit of luck, a bit of fun. As I live in the Dales its bound to be a bit Dales-centric but I get about a bit and the Lakes are just down the road. Anyway it'll be about my runs where ever the hell they are.

So...... watch or make a point of not watching this space!

[Stolly]

26th December 2007 – Settle to Malham to Settle Loop – 13 Miles and circa 1500 ft of climb

Ordinance Survey Route

So Boxing Day morning, its 9 o’clock, I’m up and about in the Stolly household (but nobody else is) and it looks a fine morning for a run. Well, when I say fine, it’s actually cloudly on the tops, slightly chilly and its raining . I’ve only recently moved to Settle so I decide on a new run off the cuff, have a quick check of the map to suss out the route I plan to take and I’m off.

My half way target, which I’d guessed would take about an hour, was the road out of Malham above Malham Cove. Once there I could then loop back on a track a little further up that road that heads back west to Langcliffe before I then have to swerve to the left (south) back to Settle.

The starting point was the footpath south west then north east through the fields accessed from road, just down Ingfield Lane behind the Falcon Hotel - SD818632. This path pretty much immediately hits you with a sharp (but runnable) climb up onto the ridge and leads on to the Pennine Bridleway which I then followed north. I crossed the Settle to Kirkby Malham road (Lambert Lane) at the top and followed Stockdale Lane in a north easterly direction that again becomes the Pennine Bridleway to Malham.

Stockdale Lane is tarmac until its gets beyond Stockdale Farm but then becomes off road all the way to Malham; it all seems a gradual up hill climb too but nothing too challenging. I'd estimate that the total climb out of Settle to the highest point just before Malham to be about 1250 feet. You do reach the point though where you are in the middle of nowhere, on your tod, on exposed moor land (kind of reminiscent of the opening scene in American Werewolf in London with the cloud down) and the wind, pretty un-noticeable before, definitely picked up here. All in all it was becoming a good trot though and I reached Malham after at SD892640 pretty much exactly one hour of running – a good view of the Cove too, as I sprinted down the descent here to the road.

I then ran up the road for maybe 500 metres before taking the Langcliffe track on my left at SD887648. This track seemed well used by farm vehicles was almost a gravely road in places so it didn’t much count as fell running to me but it eventually turned into grass, rocks and mud after a couple of miles or so.

Here though I did hit a painful problem – I was now running directly into the wind and it was increasingly chilly. Nothing my gloves, hat and tops couldn’t cope with but my shorts definitely couldn’t cope and things ‘down below’ got numbingly cold. Eventually I had to run with my gloved hand cupping the area (a la Michael Jackson ) to shield my frozen <turn away now ladies> willy from the biting wind. Where are the thermal pants when you need them!

Anyway that helped a lot and eventually I hit the fell above Langcliffe at SD837654 feeling a lot better with a choice of routes before me – either west and then south back to Settle or south then west. I chose the latter, swerving to the right at SD838642 which gave me a humdinger of a descent down into Settle for the finish.

All in all a good run albeit with tame terrain, maybe 1500 feet or so of runnable climb altogether with the distance measured afterwards with my trusty piece of string to be almost exactly 13 miles give or take. My time was 2 hours and 4 minutes. Oh and I broke in my brand spanking new Walshes which were a dream with no rubbing or blisters or anything.

[Stolly]

29th December 2007 – Shortish Pen Y Ghent Loop – 6.5 Miles and 1650 ft of climb

Ordinace Survey Route



This morning I dragged my 18 year old daughter out for a run; the rain had hammered down in the night but it had stopped for now and it didn’t look too cold out either. So we hopped in the car and I drove to Horton in Ribblesdale, planning for an up and down trot round Pen y Ghent. It’s a run that I do a lot, with all sorts of variations, but Kelly had never run it before. I think she was a little apprehensive and, when PyG came into view, seeing the snow on the top didn’t help. The pictures by the way are not of today

We started from the car park in Horton SD 807726 and went back down the road towards Settle, turning left on the public footpath through the field before the church. We picked up the lane after that and headed more or less east towards Brackenbottom. There at SD817723, we hit the slopes and headed up the Pen y Ghent track. This route up the mountain is really a series of relatively small climbs, although they can all be quite steep in places. It is all runnable though and even Kelly ran all the way right up to the bottom of the two right hand shoulders of PyG.



Getting to here, the wind and wind chill became much more noticeable and, having scaled the shoulders of PyG, coming over the summit for the start of our descent, it was really biting with the wind coming straight at us. Kels made the summit in 40 minutes which was really, really good going. She was only wearing normal road running shoes so I thought the descent would give her some grief but, although she had to be careful in places, she managed to keep her feet without too much trouble.

This descent off of PyG follows a rubblely path down at a nice gradual angle and, at the bottom SD838743, you can either follow the Pennine Way west or head north west into the bogs. Despite Kelly’s whinging, we went into the bogs . A lone walker started jogging with us here – he’d been part of a big group (a long distance walking club) doing the 3 Peaks but had been held back when one of the party wanted to drop out. He had all the right clothing on so was nobody's fool but was not sure of the right way ‘for this bit of the walk’. He also didn’t have a map ‘because he didn’t have his glasses and wouldn’t be able to read it’. Riiighttt!

He had been hoping that we’d be trekking through Black Dubb Moss (the notorious bit) but with a freezing rain now starting to fall, and the wind picking up down at this lower level too, I didn’t think Kelly would want to go there. The walker trotted with us until we hit Hull Pot Beck at SD826750, where we left him (with a few of my route tips for what they’re worth), with us then turning left (and south) towards Hull Pot. Hull Pot by the way had a huge waterfall in it today, due to all the rainfall, and was an impressive sight. From there it was a quick 300 metres before at SD823743 we picked up the farmers track (Horton Scar Lane) which we them followed all the way back to Horton.

Kels really felt the cold towards the end (her legs went crimson) but it was a great run and we both enjoyed it. Although she does do a fair bit of running and a lot off road, this was probably her first proper fell run and in ‘proper’ weather too. 1 hour and 24 minutes altogether.

[Stolly]

30th December 2007 - The Settle Hills Fell Race Route (sort of) - 7 Miles and 1750 ft of Climb

Having run around the local hills and done a little research, I reckoned that I'd worked out the route of this fell race. My research mind was flawed in that I referred to this web site Settle Hills Fell Race and then best guessed the route onto my OS map. I also chose to do the route in a slightly different order and, to paraphrase Eric Morcambe I (nearly) played all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order (with a couple upside down).

I did the last 3 miles of the race route first, obviously making this mostly ascent rather than descent, then I did the middle 2 miles the right way round followed by a 2 mile finish including a super fast descent down what would be the starting hard climb out of Settle in the actual race.

The start of my version of the run is a bit I run alot and I correctly figured out the climb up High Hill (which in the race would be a vertical drop of a descent). I did however go wrong in my middle bit and went a field too far before climbing up Little Banks towards Langcliffe Scar. This led to much meandering in the low cloud, scaling of walls and running through fields that I knew had cows in but I was not sure of the type. There are quite a few of these in these parts



and although I'm sure they're very friendly, suddenly surprising a group of them in the clag didn't sound that good an idea. Anyway I eventually got on track, met the cows (not Highland cows with ape hanger horns thankfully) and found my way to my turn at SD837656. From here it was a doddle and the run down to Settle was great fun as usual. 1 hour 26 including all the fannying about in the middle section

This is the route map that I should have used

[stevefoster]

Good thread Great avatar Keep it up Stolly

[Stolly]

Race #1

31st December 2007 - Auld Lang Syne - 6.5 Miles and 900 ft of Climb

I hadn't run this race before but for me that goes for most fell races - each race is usually a journey into the unknown with all sorts of surprises and disasters waiting to happen. The race itself is a loosely dumb bell shaped, there and back again run from Penistone Hill near Haworth to er.... a trig point. It was strange in that the start is from the top of a hill and when I arrived, choosing to trot over to register in just a tee shirt was a big mistake; it was frigging freezing. That said their payment to me for running , a bottle of Daleside beer and a cup of coffee (which I then proceeded to spill all over me, shivering with an uncontrollable shaking hand), was appreciated.

The turn out was excellent with in excess of 470 runners according to the Woodentops web site and they huddled all of us into an old quarry for a packed start.

From there the race course goes off down the road before veering left along a muddy track and then hacking down a short sharp descent to a stream followed by a short sharp ascent up the other side. Worryingly my legs felt a bit 'leggy' on this ascent, less than half a mile into the race. I still managed to run up it though and once at the top I settled into a more comfortable stride. Here I am, leading a pack of impressed(?) runners in my wake - eat mud, losers!



After that, the run is very much a nice gradual climb to the top of a hill in the distance on Stanbury Moor, making the turn back at the trig point. I made the turn after 30 minutes and for half a mile or so the muddy track here disappeared to be replaced by boggy hillside with one or two seriously muddy plungepools to wade through. Then it was back on the track we came up on with the chance of a bit more speed, now on an equally gradual descent, and of seeing one or two tail end charlies still going the other way.

The same sharp descent and ascent near the end (but the other way round of course) but with a nice muddy run cutting of the corner to the finish. Here's me sweating like a pig on a stick nearing the end:



I'm enjoying it, honestly, despite the face. Unfortunately I went overboard on layers (3 tops, a hat and gloves) but after my near death experience running the Tour of Pendle, I've decided that I don't do cold.

Anyway a great race and a cracking start to my 'campaign' with an official time of 55 minutes 20seconds. No idea where I came yet - the results aren't up - but at some 16 minutes behind the winner it'll be around 150th if I'm lucky ----> Edit: I came 154th.

[Stolly]

4th January 2008 - The Settle Hills Fell Race Route - 7 Miles and 1750 ft of Climb

Okay so I've already run this one last week but going round again yesterday afternoon was definitely what I'd call a 'good run'. Firstly Kelly came with me (for what was her last run too before going back to Uni tomorrow), secondly we were following the proper fell race route this time see map and thirdly the mountains were covered in snow

Mind you I'd done a 6 mile club run on Thursday night and had felt really under-powered for some reason but, on waking up yesterday I realised why; I was getting a cold..... so spending a couple of hours on the open fell side in the wind, cold and snow wasn't exactly the wisest move I've ever made.

Settle itself was below the snow line but once we'd got to the top of the first c. 500 ft climb we were comfortably running in snow land with a good 3 to 4 inches of covering. This is the view of the hills that still faced us (minus the snow of course) at the top of this climb:




Kelly in her road shoes must have fell over half a dozen times getting this far but, what with things levelling out for a while and the deeper snow, she started to get better grip. At our turn left for another solid climb (SD 846640) everything here went off track with the ground largely snow covered tussocky grass so grip wasn't an issue here either; this climb was steepish though and was into low cloud and....... highland cows! Out of the clag a group of about 7 or 8 appeared right in our way but, although we did walk (rather than run) and more than a little gingerly, they were pussy cats and barely gave us a second glance. A real gorrillas in the mist (well great big, hairy cows in the mist) wildlife experience.

I must admit I'm starting to really appreciate the terrain of this run, more than a good slice of which is off track or trod (not even any sheep trods), and what with the snow too, it all makes for a terrific mountain adventure. We reached the turn at Jubilee Cave and followed a much appreciated track back past Attermire Scar before crossing our earlier route and going all off track again, following the right hand side of a wall to the top of High Hill.

I just can't wait to run this actual race because the drop off of High Hill is frighteningly steep, albeit with a couple of slightly less precarious but longer descent routes to hand. It must be fantastic to be a spectator at the bottom of this 300 to 400 ft sheer drop during the race - it must be carnage! Anyway with Kelly's lack of any grip what-so-ever and the snow we had to (unfortunately) carefully walk sideways down here and then at the bottom got on to the Pennine Bridleway as it winds towards Long Preston before dropping down through the fields into Settle for the finish. I didn't time the run exactly but I guess we were out for maybe 2 hours.

I just love the hills around here - I searched for a suitably snowy picture of them on the internet but couldn't find one. This one though gives you an idea of the wonderful limestone terrain and beauty of it all.

Langcliffe Hills

I was planning on running Ovenden Moor fell race today but I'm feeling like a snot monster this morning so I'll have to give it a miss. Buggeration!

[Stolly]

12th January 2008 - the 3 Peaks - 24.8 miles and 5200 ft of Climb

The race route profile

So I'd been unable to run all week with a cold and was determined to get back with a 'gut buster'. The weather forecast for Saturday had looked good (broken cloud with some sun, coldish but, most crucially, not very windy) so things looked good to go for a blast round the 3 Peaks. I was really, really keen and enthusiastic as I sorted my bum bag and gear on Friday evening.

Then at 8 am in the cold light of a grey dawn, sat in my car (the only car) in Horton in Ribblesdale car park with a sleety rain lashing down and Pen y Ghent invisible in the low cloud before me I had serious second thoughts; something along the lines of "why the hucking, hucking fell am I doing this?"

Anyway what the hell and off I go. The route I was following doesn't follow the 3 Peaks race route at the beginning, taking a slightly shorter route to the top of PyG and part way through the bogs after that, nor going up Whernside where I take the more gradual but runnable loop (almost 2 miles longer than the 'up the side' race route) but other than that its the 3 Peaks. Using my trusty piece of string, my route measured 24.8 miles compared to the race which is circa 23.35.

I went up the right side of PyG via Brackenbottom and, maybe because I hadn't run for 7 days (and had several re-adjustments of my bum bag to sort out) this felt hard going. The bum bag with a bag of saltanas, some mini mars bars, a few jelly babies, a couple of gels and two drinks bottles (as well as my compass, map, mobile and other bits and bobs) was pretty heavy too. A bit of a bugger it has to be said when your legs feel knackered half way up the first hill . The rain had stopped though thankfully.

Anyway as I climbed the final PyG shoulders and 'raced' up to the summit, I was running on a nice dusting of snow over frozen solid ground and in clag. The frozen ground made my descent back down a much slower affair than normal too. By the way, as I was going down in my hat, thick woolen gloves, two tops covered by a windproof but wearing shorts (not leggings) because 'I'm hard', a lone fell runner was coming up following the race route in just a flimsy vest and shorts ....... and very, very red blotchy skin. Now he was hard!

Getting down below PyG, I then followed my sure and safe route through the bogs. This entails a straight run on a not too bad trod to Hull Pot, straight up the hill above Hull Pot following a trod which, from there on, is I think called the Miner's Path. This cuts a nice undulating diaganal, avoiding a lot of the boggy and watery maze that is Black Dubb Moss. That said it still scored 8 out of 10 on my 'bog-ometer'.

Eventually I came out of the boggy moorland onto lovely green sloping fields, with a view of forested land on the horizon to my right, a clag covered Whernside to the front and Park Fell (which I'm sure first time 3 Peak walkers kid themselves is Ingleborough) to my left. Park Fell kind of looks the part too but hides Ingleborough lurking some 2 miles (and 530 feet higher) on the otherside. Eventually after about 1 hour and forty minutes from my start, I hit the road, which I followed to Ribblehead.

Ironically down at this low level I started to feel cold; the rain had come back and I was running into the wind but, more than anything, my tops were now damp from sweat and this was chilling me. A quick drink and snaffled food break and I started the loop up to Whernside.

My roundabout route up Whernside is normally very easy to run but, as I hit the snow and ice line about two thirds of the way up, it suddenly wasn't. From about this point, they have slabbed the route and these slabs were covered in sheet ice making running on them well dodgy and forcing me to either run in the bogs to the side where I could or walk over the slabs. Things did improve as I came near the summit because here there was a fairly deep layer of trodden snow all along the top ridge line. Even more ironically up here, exposed to a fairly strong wind and totally clagged out I was really too hot - I had to take off my hat to regulate my body heat a bit and when I stopped for a snack at the summit wind shelter I momentarily felt a bit dizzy.

The descent from Whernside was again very icey but, because of the terrain which is rocky, rubblely path for a good way, I'm not sure it was particularly worse than normal. I got down to Chapel-le-Dale and my legs still felt pretty good; no cramp at all and I even ran up the road past the pub without too much trouble.

The next stretch towards Ingleborough has consistantly been my 'wheels fall off' moment in past runnings of this route but here again I was fine even across the boards and slabs as the path got closer to the wall that is Ingleborough. That said I'd been running dead sensible all morning and hadn't exactly been going hell for leather. The steep climb up (the wall) to the shoulder of Ingleborough was fine too but, once up there, it was incredibly icey with lots of deep snow. Where the path was paved these pavings were like frozen waterfalls in places and it was impossible to run to the top and nor was it possible to run down after.

The first part of the descent here is always bad but today all I could do was carefully climb down onto the boulder pit that is the main path towards Horton. Running here was slow too because the ice and because my legs suddenly felt liiiike getttttinggg slowwwwerrrr. The 5 miles to Horton were a hard trudge to be honest with the last three being incredibly (fantastically) muddy and finally I crossed the railway line and ran up through Horton to the car park for my finish. A bit of a slow run but not too bad in the conditions.

My times for what they're worth:

PyG summit: 42 minutes
Ribblehead: 1 hour 52
Whernside summit: 2 hours 56
Chapel-le-Dale: 3 hours 28
Ingleborough summit: 4 hours 12
Finish: 5 hours 12

[Stolly]

Race #2

16th January 2008 - Beamsley Beacon Owl Event – 5.5 miles and c. 1000 ft of Climb

So last night a ‘troupe’ of head-torchers all congregated at the Swan in Addingham for a there and back again fell run to the top of Beamsley Beacon. The event brilliantly organised by Wharfedale Harriers is I guess technically not supposed to be a race but everyone there looked set to run it as though it was. On registering you’re asked to estimate your run time and for me - a) having no idea of the route, b) no idea of past run times, c) no idea of the terrain and d) never having gone up there day or night before - my estimate of 50 minutes was pretty much plucked from the ether.

In the half hour prior to the start at 7:30, everyone as they arrived registered and broke off into to small groups for a chat and, most importantly, to admire and fondle (their own and each others) head torches; and many of the head torches on show were classics – some looking like small head mounted rocket launchers, others like old fashioned cine cameras and others still more like candles on a stick (but generating less light).

God only knows what the residents of Addingham thought as we all lined up at the start in the pub car park, something between thirty and forty of us all looking like weirdly dressed miners before a shift, but who the hell cares and off we went.

The route ran down the main drag of Addingham before branching left and shortly hitting a footpath that immediately bridges the Wharfe, a quick 100 yards on the lane between Ilkley and Beamsley village and then up through a strangely water-logged field. From here on it was up hill and ‘upstream’ all the way to the trig. At the top of this wet field you enter a narrow gulley which is supposed to be a path but is (or was last night) actually a fairly full flowing stream. More over the gulley that you run through is very narrow in places and shoulder to head height deep too, almost like a tunnel in places, with little waterfalls to hop up and random boulders to watch out for along the way; weird enough on its own but made all the more surreal by splashing up it in the dark.

After the stream, you hit a farm lane, then a bit of road before a very rocky ascent over the moor all the way to the trig point at the top. Runnable all the way but not easy, made a little more tricky by the leading runners dashing back down well before you’ve got anywhere near the top and blinding you with their lights . Here's Stolly reaching the trig point:



Turning for the descent was a great relief but it was very easy to go ‘off track’ tumbling down through the rocks and heather – two runners in front of me went well off course but luckily their head torches were underpowered/crap/switched off so I actually didn’t see them to follow them until they almost appeared at my side.

And the descent down through the stream was utterly brilliant; fast, stupid, dangerous, rocky, wet….. but flipping brilliant. From this point hereafter I now proclaim and insist on all fell races, to be so considered as fell races, to have to compulsorily include rocky descents down streams (preferably in the dark) within their race route.

Anyway I stormed down the boggy field after that, over the bridge and up through Addingham to finish at the pub with a time of 49:46, a mere 14 seconds short of my predicted time. How skill was that? And did I win a prize? A quick pint and chips (and hello to AJF and Derby Tup) in the pub rounded off a superb event. Roll on the next Wharfedale night run.

[OneHillWonder]

Loving your routes stolly!! All around where my dad's narrowboat is - can't wait to try one or two out next time I am up that way