21. Horton to Hill Inn..... via Pen y Ghent and Whernside
Date: 5th April 2009
Distance: 15 miles
Ascent/descent: 3,200ft
Route
Time: 2 hours 44 mins
This morning I ran the first two peaks of the 3 peaks race route (sort of) with two work buddies of mine and one of their friends - they are running the 3P for the first time at the end of the month but hadn't really run the route before. They were also stronger runners than me but fortunately one of them had 'impaired' himself running Pendle yesterday so I managed to tag along okay.
It was an absolutely glorious morning for it too and once we hit the trig on top of Pen y Ghent the views were marvellous:
Looking towards Settle still under early morning mist...
And our next destination, Whernside, poking its head through the clouds...
From the trig we didn't bother following the true race route but instead blitzed a more direct (but much boggier) route via Hull Pot, eventually picking up the race route at Long Mires. As the crow flies this line is probably 3/4 of a mile shorter but thats sort of balanced out by the ground being tougher going. We made good time (well for me we did) and hit Ribblehead after 1 hour and 40...
Then it was straight up the steep side of Whernside following the race route, with me hitting the trig in incredibly good shape (and not a twinge of cramp) another 37 minutes later. Looking towards Pen y Ghent in the now far distance from the Whernside trig point...
We then blitzed the descent to Chapel le Dale and arrived at Hill Inn with my watch saying 2 hours 44. Legs also in good shape............. which is probably a sign that I'll completely screw it up on race day!! Fabulous run all the same.
Reply With Quote