Does anyone have any information on this route, checkpoints, etc. of this circuit?
I know it visits 3 or 4 youth hostels in the Lakes including High Close, Eskdale, Borrowdale.
I think its 35 miles and 11,800 feet. I have around 14 hours for the fastest solo round.
Can anyone give me more info as I fancy a shot at it. It'll be like a half-BG, as there is no way I'm ever doing the full whack!
Ta.
Why walk when you can run.
It was planned by the South Ribble Orienteers, they may be able to provide more information.
http://www.sroc.org/
I have the map, with the checkpoints on, somewhere. I think the record is 7 or 8 hours. A certain Billy Bland. I helped pace him on that one, back in the mid 80's. I will try and find my map.
Taken from 'Lakeland Trails' by Tony Wimbush :
Eskdale YH
Slight Side
Scafell
Scafell Pike
Esk Hause
Glaramara
Longthwaite YH
Tray Dub bridge
Thunacar Knott
Blea Rigg
High Close YH
Lingmoor
Pike O'Blisco
Crinkle Crag
Charnley Crag
Lingcove Bridge
Eskdale YH
36 miles 10000'
Cheers, Ali
Thanks.
I have managed to locate a map, from 1984! I have contacted SROC and await reply. The name Tony Wimbush rings a bell - doesn't/didn't he run for St Bedes AC outside Bradford?
The website said 14 hours for the record and 10 hours for a team! I thought that was a little slow... 8 hours sounds better!
I quite fancy it for a bit of training for the coming seasons long events - plus it seems do-able even at this time of year, provided you get an early dark start on a section you know well.
I was wondering where you'd got to Marrow - you'll have to explain the old aviator and forum name sometime though...
Why walk when you can run.
I assume that visiting the hostels was an important part of the challenge. I could be very tempted to cut out Longthwaite!
You wait 54 years for a visit to England's highest peak, and then two come along in one weekend.
In August 1968, when there was no FRA, and the inaugural Ennerdale Horseshoe fell race had just been won by a local shepherd called Joss Naylor, a group of 20 boys and 3 adults from Aspley Heath Primary School battled a SW gale and horizontal rain along the path from Esk Hause to Scafell Pike. We all survived, despite our inadequate clothing, but I didn't make another visit to Scafell Pike until last Saturday's race. I was staying at Eskdale Youth Hostel, and noticed a poster about the Charnley Way, which I knew of but had never considered doing; but I realised that the Eskdale loop of the Way roughly coincided with one of the ideas I had for a possible walk on Sunday.
The Eskdale loop starts and finishes at the YH, visiting Slight Side, Scafell, Scafell Pike (via Foxes Tarn), Esk Hause, Esk Pike, Charnley Crag and Bow Fell: 22km with 1500m of climbing, according to the poster. Conditions were more benign than 54 years ago: moderate winds, clag only on the highest summits, and light rain from Ore Gap to the finish. It took me 9 hours and 40 minutes, which must surely be a SKT (slowest known time); the previous day's exertions were telling, not that I was ever trying to move at a fast pace. This included about 3 hours 30 minutes from Bow Fell to Eskdale YH. I had a bit of fun finding the route off Bow Fell to Three Tarns [don't do the Langdale Race without a recce!], and the bog-trot down the Lingcove valley seemed interminable.
I do remember meeting Gerry Charnley at one of the events he organised, just a few months before he died on Striding Edge, so it was good to visit the cairn on the obscure little crag that has been named in his honour. But I wouldn't want to search for that in the clag!
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
Bowfell can be confusing in mist... on more than one occasion i've came off without checking the compass and found myself heading towards Ore Gap instead of Three Tarns.
The huge sail like rock just to the east of the very top points almost directly towards the Langdale Pikes - I find this helpful when the clag is down.Originally Posted by Travs
Is the Gerry Charnley cairn on Esk Pike marked with a plaque?
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