Winter Hill and Great Hill - Saturday 10th August

A dry morning after all – but to look at those clouds it’s hard to believe we didn’t get rained on.  Good to be back out with the gang after a spell of absence.  A few more of our intrepid adventurers in the usual place

 

 

 

Don’t let them out officer!

Black Coombe and the Lakeland Fells

 

Capricorn 2013 (Saturday 31st Aug)

Anyone up for a challenge?

How's about this as an alternative Saturday morning outing. Not too far to travel.

http://www.pfo.org.uk/events/capricorn-2013-aug-31-2013

Using a 1:25000 map with I guess some extra detail for the quarry areas. Can be run in pairs.

A choice of 2,3 or 4 hours. So you could even be back in time for lunch (?EtU)

Pre-entry or enter on the day.

TF

While I'm on a roll...

I'm sure I've talked with a few of you before about this site, but whether I have or haven't, I decided to go and visit Overexposed again today when I stopped for a short run on the way back from a meeting in Rotherham. This time I brought back some pictures.

The site is the wreck of a B-29 Superfortress that crashed in bad weather in the Peak District on 3rd November 1948 with the loss of all on board. Still not sure I can get my head round the sheer force of the impact with hill that tore it apart, or that if they'd descended only a few seconds later, they'd have surely missed the hill altogether.

I normally spend a significant amount of time here when I go up to it, just walking round looking at it all, trying to comprehend what happened.

Borrowdale summary and a Cracken evening out

To summarise my Borrowdale; I got round, I'm pleased with that after the failure on the TwA. It wasn't without it's frustrations as I faded quickly on Gable with the tibial stress problem playing up quite badly, still, I plodded/limped/ran when I could and made the Honister cutoff with 15 mins to spare and then frankly, sauntered up Dale Head and tip-toed down to a 5:35 finish. I stuck it out though, thats the main thing! 

Other highlights included not arguing with Billy Bland over my shirt size, I asked for a small, he said I looked like a medium, I came away with a medium… Saw the great man again at the first gate and was told to "Get up there, lad!" which was a great bit of encouragement! There were also plenty of friendly faces out and I met a few new ones during the day.

I saw a few of those faces along with some of last years OCT outing at Cracken Edge last night. TF and I surprised each other at the start as we both had no idea the other would be there. Thankfully for having forgotten the map I'd printed and finding no spares going, I took some mental notes from TF's description of the course and once a horse and rider had headed in the other direction through the crowd, we were off!

It's a great undulating route with a couple of decent climbs in there too, I'd prefer a little less road but even so, a fun course and well staff by MRT as it's a fundraiser for the Kinder Team.

I started off slowly, the leg still isn't 100% and the left calf was aching post-Borrowdale. Once the first climb from the start was out of the way and there were some fields it was a case of seeing how quickly I could pick people off until we got to a wall and a queue to get over it, though I did find myself behind Clare Griffin who I've been in contact with the OCT retirement. I stuck with her round part of the course, she'd leave me on the climbs and I'd career past on the descents and we finished around the same time, not sure how close though, the results aren't out at time of writing.  EDIT: as I hit publish on here, I saw this.

The highlight of this race though has to be the run over moorland after the last climb, the weather was perfect and the sun just setting so on the way in the sky was turning in to a myriad of reds, pinks and oranges. A good way to head in, until the lack of light in the forrest before the last fields made for a descent of great concentration on the footwork to avoid tripping.

Just to tie up the names/faces/people connections; at the end I got talking to Darren (didn't get his surname) and Nick Ham, who were the team who reported KLM and I in at Angle Tarn on the OCT and found Clare talking to a fellow Macc runner called Phil, who I'd run in with from Dalehead Tarn on Saturday, having no idea he ran for Macc or was a friend of Clare's. Finally, I discovered that TF and Roger Ashby knew each other - I'd met Roger in Tebay services while grabbing a coffee on the way up on Saturday. It's a small world this fell running stuff, but a very good one! I did see a few more faces from Borrowdale on the evening but didn't get chance to talk to them.

As I departed for the car TF said she'd leave me to write this one up, I said yes, but secretly thought "Oh dear, I'll end up making everyone suffer my prolix nonsense again." and at the same time knew I wouldn't be able to control it!

Oh, I'm going back round that way for Eccles Pike next Wednesday, did it last year and think I may be able to better it. Slightly longer and higher than the Pike race but there's not much in it, see here.

This Week

UTUPing today 8th and Saturday 10th.

Worsthorne Moor Race Sun 4th Aug (10.9k/274m)

Time didn't allow for a trip to the Teggs Nose race on the Saturday so I managed to source a slightly nearer race on the Sunday as an alternative.

I was curious to see what a difference 200m of climb would make to my time. Depending on the terrain, the intention was to run from start to finish with no 'walkies'

The start was in a field just past the last house off Gorple Road heading out of Worsthorne. We joined the Pennine Bridleway and began the steady climb along a wide track almost to the spot height 398m and 'kink' on the trail (908321). Ran all of this so +1

Here we turned right on a nice trod down Hazel Edge to join the main track running along the northern edge of Cant Clough reservoir. The unaccustomed hard breathing followed by a fast bumpy descent didn't agree with my diaphragm and a 'stitch' developed. Kept running but off pace so -1 for this section.

Back onto to some smoother track and by the time we neared the turning point at Hurstwood the stabbing pain in my side had eased and 'normal' race pace resumed. A bit of shade along to the most southern point of Hurstwood reservoir before out back in the sun along it's eastern edge to rejoin the Pennine Bridleway. Caught George back up again (Preston H, floppy hat) so +1 for this section.

Not enough of a lead on the last climb to prevent being beaten by George on the downhill to the finish. So a -1. So overall a zero. Need a bit more practice to get a few more +1's.

The time difference between the two races - 24m26s.

Me and TYC did Cracken Edge last night. This one was 11.3k/442m so await the results with interest to see if the time taken puts it squarely between the other two. TYC has promised a report, results will be up soon on the Hayfield site at www.cs.man.ac.uk/~temples/hc/

I'm not out for a utup for the next few Saturdays. This weekend is a trip to do the Brecon Beacons Fell Race (30.6k/1372m).

TF

Salt Cellar Fell Race Fri 2nd Aug (10.9k/486m)

If you go down to the woods today .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you're sure of a great surprise!

 

Well I certainly did when I came across these two creatures whilst recceing the final part of Friday nights race.

 

The location was Fairholmes woods, between the Derwent and Ladybower reservoirs. In all the times I've travelled along the Snakes Pass, this was the first time I've ventured up the road heading north. What a delightful area, I can see why it'd be a popular picnic spot.

 

The race route took you onto the moor to the east of the reservoirs and makes you wonder if they were a bit hungry when coming up with place names as we passed 'cakes of bread' and 'salt cellar' on our way round.

 

The early pace was a bit of a shock after all the long stuff I've been doing recently and I was struggling keeping ahead of the sweeper. The advance party could have done with a couple of machetes as we traversed round Dovestones Clough, they didn't do a good job of clearing a decent path for me through the bracken. That aside, it was a cracking route with good mix of tracks, trails, trods and a tiny bit of tarmac.

 

Can you top this for a finish line ( cue Dambusters music...)!

 

Results can be found on www.gritstoneseries.co.uk There's a couple of races left in the series. I can recommend Windgather, nice tour of the Goyt Valley

TF

A Run With a View

About as clear as I’ve seen it on Winter Hill tonight with the Lakeland Fells easily seen as well as Snowdonia.  FSS tells me that they could pick out Cadair Idris further south as well, so will have to look out for that one next time its so clear.  A couple more pics at Out & About.

The Pike

It’s that man again

Darwen Tower with Pendle beyond

From Noon Hill

Noon Hill Summit

Pike Cottage from two different directions

A long weekend in the Pyrenees

Three years on, I returned to the Pyrenees, this time accompanied by Julie. We were only there for three   nights, taking a leisurely route down via Versailles and Le Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne and then returning via a night in the DOrdogne and then three nights at Ouistreham near Caen. I'll post some photos of the rest of the trip on facebook. Weather throughout was hot but at least in the Pyrenees  the altitude made it much more comfortable. We also made the very good decision to pack a full size fan which was used in most hotel rooms. I didn't manage a run until the day before we returned to England and that was only a 40 minute run on the flat - the first two miles of the GR36 then back : maybe one day I'll return to complete the rest of the GR36 through to its terminus at Bourg-Madame on the Spanish border, nearly 1000km away. I could only manage 10 minute miling for the first two miles : I'd probably not woken up as it was 7.30a.m. and about 26ªC. Later in the day it hit 40ªC on the way back from a beach.

I didn't manage to make it back for Saturday UTUP. The anticipated horrors of Friday afternoon traffic from Portsmouth meant we'd arranged to stay with Julie's sister in Staffordshire overnight.

Congrats to the great turnout for Coope's Dozen - looks like 14 starters, 12 full completions? to add to Ed, SN an yours truly a few weeks earlier. And congrats to our internationally renowned photographer, following her front page of the Runaround with the cover of the Fellrunner.

The first photo is from our walk from Le Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne - to give TLoB some inspiration. The rest from the Pyrenees where we covered some of the GR10 on the first day and headed up and out of the valley towards Spain on the second day.

Our walk from Le Puy-en-Velay included some of the Camino Santiago (Chemin de St. Jacques).

Le Puy is one of the four starting locations, finishing at Santiago de Compostella.

 Julie relaxing with a glass at our campsite at Estaing.

 On the road approaching Lac d'Estaing.

No wind at Lac d'Estaing

 One of the views

  Interesting artwork on rocks along the way

  Warming up as the cloud lifts

 Just before lunch approaching the Lac du Plaa de Prat

Borrowdale Fell Race

Great day on the fells supporting those racing – more pics of the race at Out and About.  Perfect conditions for the runners with good visibility and a light breeze.

From the footpath to Seathwaite

Identification Parade – Issue 2

At a chat prior to our Saturday morning run it turned out that some revisions and additions are required to my previous Coope’s Dozen blog posting. With apologies to Tony Marlow and to Andy ? they are as follows:

 

From left to right: Andy ?, Christa Whatmough, Fran Walker, Mick Murphy, John Swift, Graeme Smith, Tony Marlow, Alastair Murray, Suzanne Budgett, Albert Sunter, Mark Sammon, Josie Greenhalgh and Andy Ford. 

I hope I have now given the correct information. Please tell me if otherwise.

Responses

Thanks EtU – I was thrilled when Britta asked to use my snap for the front cover, having seen it on my blog.  The condition was that it would be a secret especially from Ian!  You can imagine how difficult that was, needless to say he was delighted when he received his copy of Fellrunner.  I had to tell someone as I was so excited and so SN was my only confidant and she kept the secret perfectly – thank you!

JtE the runner in the centre of the line up – grey shirt is Tony Marlow.  No idea who the fella on the left is.

Off to watch Borrowdale tomorrow – have fun on Winter Hill : )

Dig this

That Walter Raleigh chap has a lot to answer to.  Having just started the mammoth task of digging up a years supply of potatoes on our allotment I shall need to finish early on Saturday in order to do an afternoon's shift with the spade.  I shall arrive at UTUP on foot and will accompany whoever turns up for another hour or so, hopefully.

Identification Parade

Thanks to EtU and TYC I can now identify all but one in the picture previously posted showing the start of Coope’s Dozen. I don’t have first and second names in all cases. For ease of reference I am posting the picture again.

From left to right they are Tony Marlow, Christa, Fran, Mick, John Swift, Graeme Smith, Unknown, Alastair Murray, Suzanne Budgett, Albert Sunter, Mark Sammon, Josie and Andy Ford.

If anyone has any further information please let me know.

Wow! or Rather Double Wow!

Am I right in thinking that, not to be outdone by her better (?) half, NLN has followed up FSS's excellent photo on the cover of the previous Fellrunner, with one of her own on the current issue? This must be a first.

This Week

Planning UTUP Thursday 1st and Saturday 3rd.

OCR photos

After a further look at those photos (link at end of last post) I'm on more than I realised. Blue top & pink buff. None after page 2 though.

Apparently we should have had some beer on top of Knott, but the quad bike giving it a lift met with a bit of an accident. Driver ok, bike a right-off. So there could be a keg of beer out there for the supping!

TF

Old Crown Round Sat 27th July (24m/7400ft)

What a gem!

Ever since nearly being swept away by the River Caldew on the LDMT in 2011 (bad weather courses in operation) I've wanted to return to explore the area of fells north of Keswick under kinder conditions. The Old Crown Round gave me a chance to do this with an added incentive of some alcohol to help me on my way round.

With the walkers setting off first and us runners picking a start time after 8.30am things were very relaxed from the off. The first beer was being sampled at 10.00am, Old Carrock Bitter - A smooth blend of crystal, chocolate and pale ale malts modestly bittered with East Kent Goldings and First Gold hops, then finished with a late addition of Styrian Goldings to give that classic liquid Christmas pudding flavour. With a further 20m to go it was a only a brief tasting, definitely a 'winter' beer.

Downwards and upwards to Blencathra. With low water levels, I nearly managed to get across the Caldew without getting my feet wet. The ale on the summit turned out to be the summer version called 'Sharp Edge'. Not listed on the brewery website, all I can say is that it was a different taste to the first, and given the hot thirsty work climbing to the summit I helped myself to few gulps more. Well it was just past midday!

Next stop was Skiddaw House YH. Here we were refuelled with a choice of soup.

 Attacking the Skiddaw summit from this side seemed infinitely more pleasurable than the usual tourist route up. Could have got quite carried away with the beverage on the top as suggested by the website - A true session bitter; largely Maris Otter pale ale malt with just enough crystal malt to round the flavour. A classic combination of Goldings, Fuggles and Hallertau Hersbrucker provides the bitterness, finished with a hint of Styrian Goldings.

 

Rain on it's way?

 

I had to reach the next two summits (Great Calva and Knott) without the promise of any beer. But the final goal was High Pike - Deep amber colour and a full nutty malt character are complemented by a complex hop bitterness derived from a subtle blend of Kent Goldings, Fuggles and Hallertau Hersbrucker copper hops finished with aromatic Styrian Goldings. Sampled a full plastic cup of this one, well it was only 3m to the finish and some of that on the same route we'd set out on.

Well it just goes to show that with beer and map I revert to type, went tottering past my turn off and once corrected stood for a long time looking down at some disused mine workings trying to fathom a good way through. Mind you with a load of 'Dutch Courage' on board, the cows in the last field before the final road section proved a doddle to negotiate.

The rain finally caught me up, and the finish line had moved to inside the pub. 8hrs16mins after I started, a good 4hrs2mins after the winner, but then he didn't stop for the beer!

A few more pics taken by Adrian Nicholls (I'm on 2 of them, 24, 25) can be found here http://3294602.tifmember.com/?Action=_VC&id=133293202&ppwd=ocr

TF

Coope’s Dozen–Today

I few pictures taken during the day

At the start

 

These three finished the lot.

 

And all but Healey Nab.

I hear that Albert, Suzanne and one other formed a super quick group finishing well ahead of the quick group. I’m interested to know if Suzanne is now the quickest lady beating Caroline Wright’s record. Can someone let me know please either by posting on this blog or by e-mailing me on sjohncoope@tiscali.co.uk Also, can someone either post a blog or e-mail to me a report on the activities of both groups.

I followed the slower fast group as far as possible being the only member of the slow group after YJ dropped out at Rivington Pike. My route from there was Two Lads and to the far end of Smithills Reservoir where I turned left to “the wall” and up to Counting Hill and Winter Hill where the group caught me up. Then down to Hordern Stoops where YJ kindly provided some refreshments. Then forward to Great Hill missing out Old Adam Hill hoping that I would be caught again near Great Hill. However I saw nobody from thereon and carried on to White Coppice, missing out Round Loaf, and to the finish. A Coope’s Eight so to speak. 15.19 miles.

A very impressive turn out in the hot and humid conditions.