Let's not talk about the time. I got a terrible start, but having not trained for 2wks I knew there was no point. I didn't warm up properly as I didn't want to put more wear and tear on my back and knees, my last back spasm was 2 days ago. The shortcut round the rocky traverse didn't really gain anything, but it was nice to clear the traffic. If I had any level of fitness I could have used it a bit.

As I dropped off cp1 and beared right on the next misadventure, some grumpy old bugger from Pennine barked "flags!" at me. Obviously someone who doesn't approve of route choice and new lines, so I ignored him. I had no leg speed about me along the trod to the mines, it was a shame as its a quick section, and I went wrong slightly on a couple of the twists in the mines. The steep ramp up from the mine track killed me off and I was pooped as I approached the road. The mines route has 25m less climb, but as I crossed the road the old sod from Pennine was well ahead of me. It later turned out he was slow downhill, so I would have expected to be in front of him if I'd have gone the normal way.

Going the right way off stickle pike went fine and I overtook the grumpy old codger. Going over the bog saved me some time, so that short-cut works. On the way up to cp3 a woman from Ambleside told me to stop taking short cuts; don't know if she was having a crack or in bed with the old bugger from Pennine so I ignored her too.

Next short-cut was down to the wall via a soggy bog drain. The drop off the edge was a bit tricky and I jarred my back twice. My legs were shot and I was struggling to lift them clear of the bracken. As I descended the precipitous hillside I could hear yet more comments and queries coming from the ridge above, but I was too preoccupied to care. This line would've been a lot quicker if I hadn't gone face first into the soggy pig twice, but I was behind the same guy at the bottom so lost nothing.

My next shortcut over some downed walls in a small enclosure got me in front of the two Ambleside guys ahead of me.

So mixed results, but the new route off cp3 was the best, and I'm going back for another look at cp1 to the road, I'm not done with that one yet.