‘Twas Hot!

A great day in the Lakes on Saturday, if a little hot on the climbs!  Route planning courtesy of YJ gave us 14.3m with 4,760ft of climbing.  The objective was to joing the OCT race route above Little Narrow Cove just below Scafell Pike with the possibility of seeing FSS and AS.  

Having parked at the New Dungeon Ghyll, we avoided the road by taking the race route through the camp site before climbing via the Band to Three Tarns pass, we then headed down making our way via Great Moss up Little Narrow Cove which was A FURNACE with the heat bouncing off the boulders and straight at us.  I think its fair to say we both suffered on the climb, but kept topping up water bottles from the stream in an attempt to keep hydrated.

We encountered many OCT-ers along the ridge to Esk Hause but by the time we reached the checkpoint at Angle Tarn we had decided that either FSS and AS were having a Stonker, or they’d retired.  We later found that the latter  was the case as AS had developed a severe migraine probably induced by the extreme heat.  After dawdling and chatting to the marshalls et al at Angle Tarn we made our way back via Rossett Gill and Mickleden Beck to the race finish where FSS and AS were recovering from the heat with about a third of the field.

See FSS’s account here and don’t miss clicking on the link to the FRA forum for various tales of woe – one runner admitted to hospital, Mrs Moo from Bowland losing 8/10 toe nails etc.  Hope Paul and Geraldine suffered no lasting damage - no results yet but the winners were from Eryri.

We didn’t encounter any of the 16 P&B BG aspirants on their mass attempt but I see on the forum 8 got round in sub 23:00, one Bowland runner smashed the club record by posting a 17:38 round – amazing in those conditions.  Well YJ and and I broke no records but had a very enjoyable outing.  Couple of snaps below.

Scafell, Broad Stand, Mickledore, Scafell Pike

 

YJ skirting Great Moss with (another)  Dow Crag looming large to the left,  Little Narrow Cove providing the definition between this and Ill Crag.  Looking up the valley - Esk Hause in the distance

What news from the locals?

Scotland next week – snow forecast NLN