Hello Bob

Evening peoples, this week i once again had the pleasure & honour of being joined by Mark Lyons (@runner786) for a few gentle miles in the Lakes. 

Now, when i say gentle miles, i don't really mean it! We'd decided to do leg 2 of the Bob Graham Round. Leg 2 runs from Threlkeld to Dunmail Raise, via 12 peaks, in around 13 miles, and over 5k of vert, and around 4500k of descent. See, nice & gentle! 

We agreed to meet at Dunmail Raise layby to drop one of the cars, and head to Threlkeld to the start. Leaving home the weather was perfect, cool with clear blue skies and sunshine. As i hit Keswick it started to cloud over but nothing too bad, and the cloud was higher than Skiddaw summit which is always a good sign. Toward Dunmail the very top of Helvellyn was in cloud, but everything else was clear. 

From Threlkeld you head straight up Clough Head. Straight up! In less than 2 wet, boggy steep miles, you climb over 2,000ft! Not surprisingly when we reached the summit there were high winds and about 30ft visibility.

We ran on to Great Dodd, Watson Dodd and Stybarrow Dodd. I was coping ok on the flats & descents but the climbs were literally killing me!

I'd started out with compression calf sleeves on, but i rolled them down half way up Stybarrow Dodd, my calves just felt restricted, so they'll be staying purely for recovery from now on!

Heading up to raise the weather started to deteriorate, the wind was picking up, it was cold, and visibility was reducing by the minute. 

We made the summit, and i boosted a Gü energy gel to try and pick me up on the climbs. Then we took off over the rocky section to Whiteside. 

                      Mark on Raise

The next climb upto Helvellyn Lower Man just about saw me off, and Mark looked a bit cold with my pace slowing us. An icy rain had also started by now, which was just wonderful. Not! 

We reached the high point of the route on Helvellyn, Took a very quick photo, of absolutely nothing as it was so cloudy, and then legged it to the shelter to hide from the wind for a minute and grab a drink. 

           Views on Helvellyn - Mark

We had decided at this point to skip the final 2 peaks (Fairfield & Seat Sandal) which still left Nethermost Pike & Dollywagon Pike. We ran on from the shelter, and hit the ascent to Nethermost Pike, where i promptly stacked it and burst out laughing! The ridgeline to Dollywagon Pike usually offers amazing views over High Crags & Ruthwaite Cove, today however we were more intent on finding the fenceline descent to Grisedale Hause. Which as Mark called it 'a line so steep i thought i was dropping into Lucifers toilet' and gave our quads a pretty good beasting! 

We took the Raise Beck trail path back to Dunmail Raise, a technical, rocky descent which was just enough to finish us off! 

All said & done we'd covered 11.2 miles with 4475ft of ascent & 4088ft of descent. Soaked the bone, cold, muddy, and happy as Larry :-) 

Next time i'm heading to Marks playground, Rubberslaw! 

2 Skiddaw Runs & A Buttermere Wander

Hello Peoples!!
Firstly thank you for the responses to my last post, much appreciated.

So it's been a couple of weeks since i wrote on here, as usual! In the last two weeks though i've had 3 really good runs with a few short ones thrown in for good measure!
Firstly Agent A and I had an early morning jaunt up a frozen Skiddaw last Monday before i had a day at work. The temperature in town was cold, but manageable, and i set off before Adam arrived, he's faster than me anyway! I got up Latrigg in average time, but had bad stomach issues as soon as i hit Jenkins Path which slowed me down a bit. Adam soon caught me at the first gate on the ascent of Jenkins and we power hiked up the zig zags and resumed a very slow pace to the stile below Little Man.
My legs were like lead, i had no strength for some reason, but we ran on and then power hiked up the last climb to the summit plateau and jogged to the summit.

 It was a bit cold on the summit!

 As proven by the ice on Adams legs!

 Agent A braving the elements too

Agent A descending from the summit

The descent was fun as always, steep technical trail interspersed with hard packed paths, leading into Latrigg which is a fast path back to the car. I then went to work, which was fun on knackered legs!

The next day Matt text to say he was up for a run of our local route, a mixed bag of tarmac and muddy fields for 3 miles. My legs were sore and tired after about 100 metres, and Matt was pushing a decent pace! I was happily surprised at the finish of the run to see we were actually faster than the same route the week before, and even got out on the bike the next day and felt ok!

The Sunday night tradition of running Skiddaw was reinstated this week after a hiatus for surgery and without me heckling people to run it, they never do! The weather was perfect, clear skies and sunshine, and the tops were covered with a healthy dose of snow.

Agent A was nursing a mega hangover at work and was in no fit state to join us (pansy) so myself, Matt and George decided we would skip Latrigg and start from Underscar Carpark. Matt & George are fit guys and soon left me for dead on the ascent, waiting every few hundred metres to make sure my headtorch was still heading up hill.

Just above the zig zags on Jenkins path the snow took over and it was a welcome return! The crunch of each footstep was amazing, and the jog up to Little Man stile, and onward to the summit stile was pretty magical under a starlit night sky. The summit plateau was enshrined in a thin cloud which dissipated quickly thankfully. 

 George (seated) and Matt on the summit

 me, stood on the Trig Point on the summit

George & I on the summit

The descent was great fun, the snow allowed for a fast descent from the summit, and Jenkins path was a joy to bound down under the moon light to the car park, once again a thoroughly enjoyable jaunt up and down a hard fell!

The weather for yesterday was forecast to be perfect for a run, so Agent A and I headed to Buttermere to run my favourite route in the mountains, and a route that Adam had never walked nor run. 

We started out with the run from the hotels along the farm tracks to the base of Red Pike. The climb up RP is a little over 2000ft in less than 2 miles, and it's a real slog!! we made the summit in 70 minutes from the car, a ways off my pb, but still pretty good going!

 Agent A (above) and Myself atop Red Pike

From Red Pike we dropped down to cross the top of Chapel Crags and climb up to High Stile. From High Stile we ran the technical ridge line above Comb Crags over to High Crag, taking us to over 3000ft ascent in less than 4 miles! The Gamlin End descent off High Crag is a quad crushing mix of loose scree (talus to the Americans) and hard stone staircase to the foot of Seat. We walked over Seat and took in some GU Chomps and Clif ShotBlocs then ran the descent to Scarth Gap, where we decided to carry on over Haystacks to stretch out the day a little longer!

 Running the ridge line above Comb Crag

 Descending Gamlin End

The first scramble on Haystacks 

Haystacks was Wainrights favourite mountain, and it's easy to see why, a mixture of steep path and rock scrambles leads the way over the fell to Innonimate Tarn, which is generally where i eat lunch if hiking the route! We briefly discussed heading over to Honister and completing the full horseshoe, but dismissed it and instead decided to cut down the sheep trod to the bothy. A quick drink and more energy blocs at the bothy and we descended to Gatesgarth in the valley bottom, and followed the lake back to Buttermere village. We quickly spruced ourselves up (deodorant and a change of t-shirt) and we went to the little cafe and destroyed some amazing sausage baps and a few cans of coke! all in all an absolutely fantastic few hours on the fells, and i think Adam was suitable impressed with the choice of route!

 Innonimate Tarn on Haystacks

The view of Crummock and Buttermere from the Bothy is worth the hard work!

The End 

(until next time)