Todays permitted exercise!

[Mike T]

8.55 miles, 3,006 feet, 3 hours 30 minutes: Travellers Rest - Winterseeds - Little Tongue Gill - Grisedale Hause - Cofa Pike - Fairfield - Alcock Tarn - Travellers Rest. Overcast, with confluent uniform high clouds. Hazy in the distance. A few minutes of drizzle. A moderate breeze from the the south east. Terrain dry with good grip. Not many walkers on the fells; 2 other runners seen.

I took the 4 trods to the right/west when descending from Fairfield. I ascended to the top of Heron Pike from halfway along the final trod before descending directly to Alcock Tarn.

[Mike T]

11.26 miles, 3,003 feet, 4 hours 10 minutes: Elterwater Common to Sergeant Man and back, taking in Swinescar Pike and Blea Rigg both ways, and Lang How and Silver How on the way back. Mainly sunny, though there were some thin high clouds that attenuated the strength of the UV; no rain; a moderate breeze from the south east. Terrain dry with good grip. Not many walkers about; 4 other runners seen.

Some of the Loughrigg-Silver How race route is viable despite the bracken, some isn't, some I did not explore.

[Travs]

11.26 miles, 3,003 feet, 4 hours 10 minutes: Elterwater Common to Sergeant Man and back, taking in Swinescar Pike and Blea Rigg both ways, and Lang How and Silver How on the way back. Mainly sunny, though there were some thin high clouds that attenuated the strength of the UV; no rain; a moderate breeze from the south east. Terrain dry with good grip. Not many walkers about; 4 other runners seen.

Some of the Loughrigg-Silver How race route is viable despite the bracken, some isn't, some I did not explore.

I've got three friends staying Ambleside for a few days at the moment.... one ran for Warks in the inter-counties fell, another is a regular fellrunner (not racer), and the other is a dedicated track/xc runner....

They were definitely out on the fells earlier today... If you spot a group of three women running in the area there's a chance they are my friends from Nuneaton.

[Mike T]

I've got three friends staying Ambleside for a few days at the moment.... one ran for Warks in the inter-counties fell, another is a regular fellrunner (not racer), and the other is a dedicated track/xc runner....

They were definitely out on the fells earlier today... If you spot a group of three women running in the area there's a chance they are my friends from Nuneaton.

I will keep an eye out for them.

[Mike T]

10.04 miles, 2,741 feet, 3 hours 11 minutes: Wansfell Pike, including up/down the race route from/to the kissing gate, and along the ridge to the true top. Overcast, with cloud/mist down to the valley floor in places. I was either in or under cloud throughout. No rain, no significant wind, terrain damp/wet and slippery in places. Not many walkers on the fell. I saw about a dozen other runners, some wearing numbers - apparently they were doing "The Lap" - 47 miles around Windermere.

[Mike T]

13.19 miles, 3,216 feet, 4 hours 10 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Fishgarths Wood - Todd Crag - Lily Tarn - Loughrigg - Silver How - Loughrigg Terrace - Under Loughrigg - Rothay Bridge. Initially weak sunshine and high fluffy and streaky clouds, no significant wind, terrain damp/dry with good grip. I was just about to go up the steps overlooking Grasmere when lightning and thunder started, so I went around on the Terrace and the Under Loughrigg Road. By the time I got to the caves there was torrential rain, and the electrical storm was quite close - only a couple of seconds between the frequent lightning and the subsequent thunder. Lots of walkers about, despite the weather; 5 other runners seen.

[Mike T]

9.1 miles, 2,564 feet, 3 hours 2 minutes: Wansfell Pike from 2 sides, including along the ridge to the true top, down to the upper section of Hundreds Road and back up again, and up/down the race route from/to the kissing gate. Overcast, with the cloud base initially at about 1,500 feet, later above most of the high tops. A few seconds of drizzle. Terrain wet/saturated/streaming and slippery. A moderate breeze from the south. Not many walkers on the fell; 1 other runner seen.

Yesterday's rain has washed away a lot of soil in some places, leaving more exposed rocks than before.

[Mike T]

11.05 miles, 3,049 feet, 3 hours 34 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including down the race route to the road at High Close, and back up the steps overlooking Grasmere. Overcast, with the cloud base just catching some of the high tops. No rain. A moderate breeze from the south west. Terrain damp/dry with good grip. Quite a few walkers on the fell. No other runners seen.

[Mike T]

10.39 miles, 3,250 feet, 3 hours 27 minutes: Ambleside - Low Sweden Bridge - rock step - Low Pike - High Pike - High Bakestones - Scandale - Red Screes - south ridge - Golden Rule - Ambleside. A lovely blue sky with scattered high fluffy clouds. A moderate and most pleasant breeze from the south east. No rain. Terrain mainly dry with good grip. Very few walkers about; no other runners seen.

The longest of the paths just to the west of the tourist track below the rock step is now viable despite the bracken.

[Mike T]

11.63 miles, 3,478 feet, 3 hours 48 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Miller Bridge - Low Sweden Bridge - rock step - Low Pike - High Pike - Dove Crag - Scandale - Red Screes - south ridge - Golden Rule - Ambleside. Mainly overcast, some patches of blue sky, the cloud base was at about 2,500 feet. No rain. A moderate wind from the south. Terrain damp/wet/saturated and slippery in places. I saw 8 walkers on the fells, and no other runners.

Yesterday I ascended on the race side of the wall, today between the rock step and High Pike I went on the other side. I also went up to Dove Crag, and used the path from just below it to cross to Scandale rather than the path further down that goes via High Bakestones.

It felt very autumnal today.