Attachment 5058
Should anyone be interested, this is what you should be aiming for as you drop off Pike o' Blisco. Not immediately obvious, follow the trod to the East and the corner of the wall (see it above?) and the trees will come into view. Follow it round to the right and you'll see the two stiles where you begin the drop down to Blea Tarn Plantation.
Martyn
Actually, this one shows what's on the other side once you get past the ruined wall/stiles. The discoloured ferns/bracken show the line of descent, quite rocky and nasty underfoot though, care needed.
Attachment 5059
Recced it with a couple of friends a few weeks ago and we couldn't find the line up Wetherlam either. We went up to the mine workings and then took a line heading almost due South to the summit missing Birk Fell completely. It was steeper than it looks and tough going underfoot, can't imagine this is the best line somehow.Originally Posted by Martyn P
I've recced it a couple of times recently, and it's my opinion that the best line is the diagonal. after you go through the gate at the bottom of Birk fell carry on the path till you see a bare grassy patch in the bracken to the left, then run up this and into the bracken. looking up to the top of Wetherlam you should be able to see the grassy ramp mentioned on the back of the Harvey race map, this is what you should be heading for. There is no obvious path, and there are a couple of small rocky outcrops to skirt around, but everyone's in the same boat and will suffer, no matter what line they take.
(On race day last year I just followed the crowd up Wetherlam, their collective line was good, and the bracken was flattened enough to make the going a bit easier)
Last edited by Ze Monsta; 01-09-2011 at 11:38 PM.
Thanks Ze Monsta, we obviously went too far up the Beck, but I geuss the route will be fairly obvious on the day?
It should be, enough people should know the route to take the crowd on the right line, just try and stick to as straight a diagonal line as you can.
Have you got the Harvey map with the instructions on the back? if not I can pm you a jpeg.
No I haven't, that would be most useful thanks.:thumbup:
Gentlemen, thank you. Seeing as it's unlikely I'll be anywhere near the front I'll take your advice and follow the flattened bracken! Just FYI, I found a nice link to a Garmin .khz file on the Scottish Hill Racing site last night and it appears to follow the Harvey map almost exactly. You can download this to your Garmin or drop it onto Google Earth ... not that I would stoop to using it on race day of course! Makes recces a bit pointless ....
The link would have helped wouldn't it? It's still early ......Gentlemen, thank you. Seeing as it's unlikely I'll be anywhere near the front I'll take your advice and follow the flattened bracken! Just FYI, I found a nice link to a Garmin .khz file on the Scottish Hill Racing site last night and it appears to follow the Harvey map almost exactly. You can download this to your Garmin or drop it onto Google Earth ... not that I would stoop to using it on race day of course! Makes recces a bit pointless ....
http://www.scottishhillracing.co.uk/...RaceID=RA-0260
Thanks for the photos for the descent off Blisco Martyn, probably the hardest part of the race to find the right line, but I can't open this attachment. would be really helpful as I'm heading up sunday aft for a final recce.
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