Night run Ennerdale Horseshoe

[Baggins]

Had an interesting run around the Ennerdale Horseshoe on Friday.

Set off at 18:30 on a dark cloudy night, cloud was above fell tops up untill Kirk fell. At first I was trying to make the cut off times for the race but tried the traverse on Haystacks that I'd not been on before and quickly lost the path, took over 20 mins longer than normal on that section.

As it was a spur of the moment decision I did not have my waterproof socks so lost all feeling in my feet on the splash uphill after blackbeck, my feet did not get warm again until I was in bed!

At Green Gable I turned into a strong headwind and on Kirkfell the cloud came down, only came out of it at times on Caw fell. I also lost time on rocky terrain as my legs got very cold and stiff all due to cold feet as I've been out in much colder conditions, its amazing what a difference having warm feet makes, but as soon as I was off Haycock and on to grassier terrain I was back on my daylight pace?

In the end I was an hour slower than I was in the summer but the effort seemed a lot more

Also realised I'd not used map or compass at all (used all the short cuts I know)

A very enjoyable night

So come on you other night runners now the season is ending what have you been up to.

Bill

[IainR]

Ours have gone OK. Almost every Thursday night has been terible, but we've still had some crackers, most of them are pictured on our Blogsite:

http://sarzmountainrun.blogspot.com/...ve-clouds.html
http://sarzmountainrun.blogspot.com/...moel-elio.html

The best one was the run above the inversion on the end of the glyders.

Overall it's been good to get out at least once a week in the dark, it's got us out, but we've also seen some cracking views.

We only had one epic, which was an illadvised traverse on steep slopes under Elidir Fawr:

http://sarzmountainrun.blogspot.com/...ight-epic.html

Generally though,. no matter now bad the weather we've done a decent off road run, but in the heavy rain and winds we've had to settle to down the old A5 and along the cycle track or in Beddgellert forest a few times.

[Fellhound]

Well, the Bowland Bat Runs have been a huge success again (as you know Baggins, you were on some of them) but we haven't realy done an "epic" like your Ennerdale

Impressive run Bill!

We have talked of a night Fiendsdale (the old route as we did in 2005 - quite hard at night) and a night Anniverary Waltz was also mooted at one point but neither has happened this year. The Yorkshire Three Peaks had also been mentioned but rejected as being too BORING!

So, long story short, we've only done fairly simple runs..... bunch of lightweights.

[Fellhound]

Incidentally Bill, what was your time?

[Baggins]

Overall it's been good to get out at least once a week in the dark, it's got us out, but we've also seen some cracking views.

We only had one epic, which was an illadvised traverse on steep slopes under Elidir Fawr:

http://sarzmountainrun.blogspot.com/...ight-epic.html

Generally though,. no matter now bad the weather we've done a decent off road run, but in the heavy rain and winds we've had to settle to down the old A5 and along the cycle track or in Beddgellert forest a few times.

That Elidir Fawr run looked fantastic, the sort of run you'll remember for years to come.
Did you do the Snowdon Horseshoe at night?

Bill

[Baggins]

The Yorkshire Three Peaks had also been mentioned but rejected as being too BORING!

Much too boring, who'd want to run round that

Bill

[Baggins]

Incidentally Bill, what was your time?

I took 7:20.
I was suprised where I lost and gained time.
From Green gable to Kirkfell lost 13mins, I tried to follow trod that cuts across after decent from windy gap but lost it and stopped to get some water.
But before that getting from Blackbeck to Green Gable was 30 secs faster, that could be due to my feet being submerged in water I was not hanging about
From Iron Grag to Crag Fell was nearly 2mins quicker! I was starting to imagine that warm bed by then
I was carrying a sack with spare balaclava and mitts, overgloves, breathable waterproof top and bottoms, fleece top, spare torch and about a kilogram of food!

Bill

[IainR]

No, we had planned on doing Nantlle Ridge, but the wind was just too high.

It's been a terrible winter in Snowdonia, very little snow, and loads of strong winds. But thankfully its been generally better recently. Had a good week this week. I've been out for a over the tops on 6 of the last 8 days. Set of at 6pm last night and had time to go over Foel Goch (Snowdon group) just before it got pitch black.