Great Lakeland 3 Day 3-5th May

3 great days in the Lakes.

Day 1

A 7:15 start with a leisurely walk through Pooley Bridge to the lake shore where we boarded one of the Ullswater Steamers for a trip down the lake to Howtown. We'd been promised a surprise, and what a way to start an event! The clock started ticking officially once we dibbed at Howtown.

It was cloudy, a bit of wind but summits were clear. So for me fairly straightforward until the checkpoint on Yoke. The map was 1:30000 scale and not especially easy to distinguish open access from farmland, and more importantly no crossing points marked. So my route off Yoke was a bit convoluted, but it got me where I wanted to be. Others opted to head for the Garburn Pass and down through Kentmere that way.

Day 2

Woke up to drizzle and low clag. The forecast promised for a bit of improvement later but being an optimist I left the suncream in the overnight bag.

I wasn't especially looking forward to the longish tarmac run to start the day, but given the poor vis and not knowing what the other paths would be like under foot I decided to play safe. Thankfully I remembered the race route off Wansfell so avoided the rocky bits and headed straight for the next control outside Bilbo's Café (used to be Lakesrunner shop). This control had caused much discussion the previous night for the competitors not familiar with the streets of Ambleside.

I didn't stop for a bacon butty, but headed for a short cut through Gaynor Sports where I perused the map section, especially OL7 for some more detail for the 2nd half of the route. Given the fact that I'd raced 'Loughrigg' 2 weeks before I had no trouble finding the summit, my route up Lingmoor wasn't optimal early on but eventually got me where I needed to be. My route choice for the last control involved dropping off Northeast and climbing the other side of the Valley near a spot called 'Pye Howe' (see 1:25k map). It was a bit of a gamble, but it turned out well. The next stretch past Little Castle How and Great Castle How seemed to take an age, and I began to wonder if I'd gone past the checkpoint. That worried I took a slight detour north just to check the position of Easdale Tarn. It was where it should be and I rejoined the path about 100m further on at the 'blue circle' (doh!). The overnight camp was in a lovely spot, just a shame the farmer had decided to do some muck-spreading in anticipation of our arrival.

Day 3

A shorter day, with some easy navigating.

I opted for the grassy line up Great Tongue, the rest went left or right! I started off on the path down the Grisedale Valley but soon gave up on that and veered off right onto the grass once I could spot a discernible trod. I had looked for one at the top but couldn't see it. Again no one followed.

Once over Boredale Hause there was the prospect of another long stretch of tarmac. If you'd had enough by the time you got to Howtown you had the option of catching the boat back to Pooley Bridge, sailing times were printed on the map. I decided to get back under my own steam.

Results are now on the Sportident website. If competitors stuck with the same course (I did 'B') for the 3 days then they appear in the overall results for that course. Currently I'm first FV, but there's a Lady above me listed as 'MV' so that may change. We all got a Lowe Alpine beanie hat for our efforts, the winners on the elite course got a signed Heather Dawe picture.

TF