11.54 miles, 2,736 feet, 3 hours 16 minutes: Lower slopes of Wansfell, including Borrans Park, Stagshaw Gardens, Blue Hill Woods, and 2 loops of High Skelghyll - Skelghyll Lane - Holbeck Lane - Low Wood - High Skelghyll. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 1,000 feet. Continuous drizzle/light rain. A moderately strong wind from the west. Terrain saturated/streaming/slippery. Very few walkers about; no runners seen.
11.57 miles, 3,659 feet, 3 hours 30 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Borrans Road - Old Lake Road - Salutation Hotel - Wansfell Pike race ascent and descent - Rothay Park - Under Loughrigg Road - Clappersgate - Fishgarths Wood - Todd Crag - Lily Tarn - Loughrigg top - race descent to Miller Bridge - Rothay Bridge. Sunshine, blue sky, lots of high clouds, intermittent drizzle/light rain/graupel. A strong wind from the north west - I had to handle rock to safely leave Loughrigg top. Terrain saturated/streaming/slippery. Not many walkers about, but I came across a group of 14; 6 runners seen.
The plan had been to take some photos of the way I descend Wansfell Pike for Mr B, but it was far too precarious to get my camera out.
12.15 miles, 2,398 feet, 3 hours 24 minutes: Loughrigg trails, including along Under Loughrigg Road to Rydal Water and White Moss, then taking in Loughrigg Terrace, Deerbolts Woods, Grasmere Lakeside, Loughrigg top, descending past the old golf club, and finally going through Borrans Park and Stagshaw Gardens. Sunshine, blue sky, and clouds catching some of the tops. A few minutes of drizzle/graupel. A moderately strong cold wind from the west - nowhere near as strong as yesterday. Terrain saturated/streaming/slippery; there is patchy snow above 900 feet - at the level I was at it was very slushy, the ground was not frozen and there was no ice. Quite a few walkers on the fell; i saw a dozen runners.
That's my 2000' of climb done for wansfell, 8x0.25m/250' reps of the big end of elbolton hill. I chose unwisely when it came to shoes, Scott supertrac, they are dangerous in snow it turns out. The grip is there when you're up on your toes climbing, but not at all when descending; the level of traction is unpredictable at best. I took the scree chutes twice, as it was preferable to snowy grass, but mainly came down a gentler line. No rabbits seen; normally this hill is crawling with them, but not today.
Steep snowy grass has to be one of the worst surfaces for traction - and microspikes don't help much if at all.Originally Posted by mr brightside
7th place, travs, that's a strong performance. Why don't you start coming downhill a bit faster too?
Yes.... the first 5 were well away, but when you look at the quality of them that is understandable.... i was in a close battle for 6th-8th.... the finish crept up on me a bit too soon, i was expecting 9 minutes or so, and suddenly the summit was in sight.
We'll worry about downhills some other time! ....as i'm focusing on the uphill race at the Masters Champs in Sicily this summer..... not even doing the fabulous Jubilee Plunge this xmas as i'm committed to a 1 mile road race instead.
11.3 miles, 3,012 feet, 3 hours 31 minutes: Wansfell Pike from High Skelghyll, and a High Skelghyll - Skelghyll Lane - Holbeck Lane - Low Wood - High Skelghyll loop. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 1,500 feet; misty below that. Intermittent drizzle. No wind. Terrain wet/saturated/slippery; above about 1,000 feet the ground was frozen in places with some small patches of ice, making it even more slippery. Not many walkers about; 6 runners seen.
I took some photos at the top for Mr B, but with the mist and poor light they are not at all helpful.
11.71 miles, 3,090 feet, 3 hours 47 minutes: Rothay Bridge - Miller Bridge - Stoney Lane - Rydal Park - Low Sweden Bridge - rock step - High Sweden Bridge - Scandale - Red Screes - south ridge - Roundhill Farm - Ambleside. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 800 feet; misty below that. More or less constant drizzle. A moderate breeze from the south west. Terrain saturated/streaming/slippery. There were a few small patches of snow above 2,000 feet, but the ground was not hard and there was no ice, apart from on the tarns at the very top of Red Screes. I saw a group of 8 walkers, and 2 runners, 1 of them in the valley.
As forecast, it was amazingly warm.
12.51 miles, 3,436 feet, 4 hours 19 minutes. Fairfield Horseshoe clockwise from Ambleside, going over most of the tops, but not Great Rigg nor Dove Crag, where I went to the left/west and the right/south west respectively. I went down the race/east side of the wall, and around the rock step. Overcast, with the cloud base at about 1,500 feet, but there were large banks of mist in places below that. No rain. A strong wind from the south, particularly on Hart Crag, which is often the case. Terrain wet/saturated and slippery, especially the rocks. I saw about 15 walkers on the fells. There were 2 runners in the valley, and the local park run was well supported, but I did not see any runners on the fells.
Merry Xmas to all!
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