11 Fell Tops and 15 miles

Earlier in the year I had purchased tickets to go and see the Legends of Fell Running talk in Keswick at the Theatre by the Lake, Ali and myself decided we may as well make a day of it so we had booked the day off work and headed up early to Keswick with Steve Fish.

We parked the car at Whinlatter and made our way up Grizedale Pike, the sun was out but it was fairly overcast and there was plenty of cloud at summit level, a theme that would continue throughout the day. I felt ten times better than Friday night, maybe due to the slightly slower pace, but I felt like I had different legs!

After the steep drag up Grizedale Pike we had soon bagged our first summit of the day, the conditions are visible here, Steve at the summit.

I had roughly planned a route taking in a horseshoe type shape around the North Western fells, an area of the Lakes I haven't visited in a long time, and we followed the plateau over to Hopegill Head.

We then turned to head over Sand Hill and dropped down to Coledale Hause.

From here we started our climb towards Grassmoor, the cloud was thicker over this side and unfortunately we didn't really get any views, we stopped for a quick bite to eat at the summit shelter and then headed off in the direction of Whiteless Pike.

Ali took over the navigation from here, I am trying to teach him a bit more about map reading and navigation and he's not a bad pupil! As we dropped off Grassmoor and and headed over the head of Rannerdale Beck we caught our first glimpses of Buttermere below and over to Newlands Hause on the other side.

We turned back on ourselves and ran over Wandope and on to Eel Crag, practicing taking bearings on the way. This is Steve and Ali at the summit of Eel Crag.

I really enjoyed the descent over Sail and down to Sail Pass, no pain and my legs were flowing well, getting back into my downhill groove. We ticked off Scar Crags and then took another 5 mins for a quick bite, before we carried on to Causey Pike.

It was getting time to head back to the car, so we picked up a trod from Causey Pike in the direction of Outerside, climbed this and dropped off the other side to Coledale Beck enjoying the scree run on the way down.

From the top of Outerside we had great views down over Keswick and Derwent Water.

We followed Coledale Beck down to Braitwaite before retracing out steps back to the car. An excellent day out and one that still had plenty of fun to come. We headed to Keswick for a swim and shower before grabbing something to eat.

Leg 1 Emma's BG

Friday night was a bit of an eye opener for me, I was looking forward to supporting Emma's BG leg 1 with some trepidation due to the lack of time I have spent on the fells in the past 6 months, and the fact I had spent the previous weekend in France eating cheese and drinking wine. I got away from home slightly later than planned but made good time up to Keswick, I did however forget that I had only had a cheese sandwich earlier that day and had forgotten to get something for dinner on the way, whoops!

I joined Emma in the square in front of the Moot Hall as she prepared herself for the next 24hrs on the fells and let the nervous energy build up. I was carrying Emma's sack with her kit and water/food, the plan was that we would meet Yiannis at the top of Halls Fell to follow his "parachute" descent. We were a group of 4 support, Mark Smith(Swiss Toni), Mark, Dave and me.

I could tell from the start that I was going to struggle, she was setting a blistering pace and I had forgotten just how quick the BG pace is compared to my leisurely wanderings in the fells of late. I had to take a short cut below Skiddaw to Hare Crag and then join the group again, I swapped bags with Dave and skipped Great Calva and went direct across the river and up Mungrisdale Common. The group caught me at the foot of Atkinson Pike but I noticed that Mark had dropped off the back. I wasn't sure if he knew where he was going so I walked with him up the scree to the summit of Blencathra. I was now starting to regret wearing shorts as my legs were cramping due to the cold, the temperature had dropped quite a lot.

We could see the torches of Emma's party heading down the gully but I decided to stick to what I know and used Halls Fell, it was pretty greasy at the top and it was now getting quite dark. We picked our way down and after what seemed like quite a long time we made it down to Threlkeld. Emma was long gone but we still managed to grab a brew and a muffin. I also bumped into Duncan which was great to have a chat with him, and being the gentleman he is he gave me a lift back to Keswick before I drove home.

I'm pleased to say that Emma finished in 23hrs 8mins, a fantastic time and well earned. Well done Em :-)

A day in the lakes

Last weekend we had a day out on the bikes on the Saturday catching some sun and then decided to make an early start on the Sunday and head North for a run/walk round Skiddaw taking in the BG descent down Hare Crag and then following the Cumbria way track past Skiddaw House and back down to our start point at Threlkeld.

Heading up Latrigg looking back over Keswick and Derwent Water

We parked at the Cricket Club in Threlkeld and took the old Railway line path through the woods to Keswick leisure centre and then followed Spooney Green Lane till we joined the path round Latrigg and onto the ascent of Jenkin Hill.

 The North Western Fells

It didn't feel as easy as this time last year when I was doing 40+ miles a week but it felt okay and I still move uphill pretty quickly so hopefully I won't get left behind on Emma's BG in May. The climb doesn't get any shorter up Skiddaw and as usual for a nice Sunday there were plenty of people to share the path with. There was still a bit of snow hanging onto the upper slopes just out of the sun, as you can see on the picture below.

 Gem having a quick rest in the sun

It was good to get to the top for the wonderful views over the Lake District on a sunny, hazy morning in April. This time last year I was supporting Ian Charters on his JNC and I remember us having an equally nice day, see the post from April 2009. We crossed the fence at the three fence posts and headed down Hare Crag towards the Cumbria Way, this is where I decided to see how well my knee had recovered and I'm glad to say that I was running downhill with no pain at all, so fingers crossed I am fixed and can get back into some running. 

It was quite dry near the bottom of Hare Crag in the usually boggy area, and we made good time across to Skiddaw House before dropping down towards Threlkeld and back to the car. A good day out and I don't think far off 15-20 miles (I forgot to wear my Garmin, Doh!).

This weekend Gem was away on a hen do so I had a ride out on the bike on Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours, I was going well just over 32 miles in 2hrs. 

I'm Still Here

Hello All

Seems like a long time since I posted, good sense has taken over unfortunately and I have been officially resting since I pulled out of the TOP last year. My plan is to try and run again over the Easter weekend, I have Emma's BG coming up and Bill has asked me to help out on his Ramsay round later in the summer as well.

I have still been doing a bit of cycling but not much else. The pain I was experiencing in my knee has more or less dispersed now so I think I am ready. Fingers crossed I'll be blogging my runs again soon.

Weight Watchers

After stepping on the scales after Christmas I explained how I had a bit of a shock, due to my lack of running at the moment due to my dodgy knee I have looked towards my diet more carefully. I have in the past used the Weight Watchers points method to drop a few pounds and it is pretty fool proof, you get so many points a day, you eat what you want, and everything has a value in points. Once you get to your points limit for the day you can't eat any more, and magically you lose weight. Simple theory really it just ensures you eat less than you burn off.

Over the last couple of weeks I have lost 9lbs so I have made a half decent start, my goal is to get under 12 stone this year, the lightest I have been in recent years is 12st 10lb, so it will be a bit of a challenge. I managed to cycle in to work this week on Tuesday, it felt good and I did at least feel like I still had some fitness. I am going to build this up steadily whilst I'm still being careful running on my knee. Plans are to go for a bit of a run this weekend so I'll have to see how I go. Hopefully should have more to report soon as I start to build back up to something like the mileage I was doing last year.

Booked some tickets yesterday for the Legends of Fell Running talk at the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick on the 19th May, part of the Keswick Mountain Festival. Hopefully Ali and I will be going up for the full day and having a run first if anyone would like to join us. Tickets are £14 but I'm sure it will be a great evening with Joss Naylor and Kenny Stuart on the bill.

Hope everyone's training is going well for those attempting Bob Graham Rounds this summer, I'm looking forward to some supporting all being well. I'm enjoying reading all about your training at the moment brings back some happy memories from last year, many enjoyable hours spent on the fells with friends old and new.