Bill's Ramsay Round

I received a request earlier in the year to support Bill Williams on his attempt at the Charlie Ramsay Round (24 Tops, 56 Miles & 28,500ft). His attempt last year, which would have seen him complete a Bob Graham, Paddy Buckley and Charlie Ramsay round within 12 months, was unfortunately thwarted by bad weather. The plan was that Bill would leave Glen Nevis Youth Hostel at midday, we would then see him for the "2nd Leg" at 20:00 at Loch Treig Dam.

 Loch Treig Dam and Support Team

Ian Cookson and I travelled up on Saturday morning to the Rucksack Club 'Craigallan' Hut near Fort William. We got here around 14:00 and enjoyed some cheese on toast, cakes and plenty of cups of tea provided by Whinn Cliff (Bowland) and Jean (Bill's Wife) till it was time to make our way to Thirsit and down to the dam. It was good to meet a couple of the Bowland guys who were providing the static support, Ian Roberts and Andy Farmer and to see Ian Charters who had arrived on Friday evening. We relaxed and conversation revolved around the usual subjects till the allotted hour arrived and it was a quick dash to sort my kit out and out of the door.

We unloaded all the kit from the cars and carried it all the ten minutes from the road to the dam, once we had set ourselves up on the dam it was time to wait and watch the horizon for Bill, Will and Carwyn to appear. It was quite shocking to see the level of the loch, the water level is usually around the white tide mark you can see on the sides. Luckily there was a pretty strong wind which kept the midges away so I didn't have to wear my mosquito net hat, fashion statement though it is! Our wait was a few minutes longer than expected but we soon saw the three figure appear in the distance and they soon joined us at the dam for feeding and watering.

Bill, Will and Carwyn

Ian and I readied ourselves and as soon as Bill was ready we were off across the railway line and climbing Stob Coire Sgriodain, I was slightly concerned how I would cope with the climbing but obviously my strategy of eating cake all afternoon had succeeded and I felt quite energetic, and was almost setting the pace on a couple of occasions! It was about half way up the climb that the rain started and we were forced to put our waterproofs on, there was not much visibility on the tops and to be honest, not really knowing the route apart from a look at the map the week before, I just followed, occasionally handing Bill food and water as we progressed.

Stob Coire Sgriodain 

We reached the top of Stob Coire Sgriodain and continued on to reach the summit of Chno Dearg before the long downhill to the valley bottom and onto the climb up Beinn na Lap, it is a long way after the initial steep climb to the summit, in fact we almost missed it! It is then another long downhill section followed by a long section of track/path, a river crossing and then a really leg sapping boggy section. I needed a gel to revive my legs after this and to keep up with the pace along the track and down to the next support point and the end of our leg.

 After a bit of cake, and some hot chocolate we saw Bill off with Ian Charters and Bob Wightman and then walked out with Ian and Andy for about an hour and a half back to the car park. We got back to the bunk house for just before five and after a quick bacon and egg butty and a cup of tea we crawled off for a sleep.

Unfortunately the weather deteriorated after we left Bill and he eventually had to cut the round short due to high winds. Hopefully he'll have better luck next time. A great night, although very wet, Scotland is very remote and wild and the only signs of life we saw in six hours were a couple of deer, the Ramsay Round is definitely a serious undertaking and big respect to Bill for a superb effort.

Start of the leg shown by the Green Line

2nd Half of the Leg

Leg Profile

Walk out

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.