The obvious date to run the Settle Seven Summits would have been September Seventh but as I was busy that day, I thought I would run it on the Second instead. Now people who know me are aware that the 2nd of September is not a good date for me and so perhaps I should have thought about that before setting off, but I figured that since the year didn't end in a 1, I would be ok.
I have run this route a few times and always clockwise, so I decided to go anti-clockwise for a change. I suppose it is the equivalent of doing Healey Nab first on Coope's Dozen which as far as I know has never been done. So first up the very steep ascent of High Hill, followed by the Sugar Loaf, Warrendale Knotts and Tit hill. Four down, three to go and as I had arranged to meet Anne for a cup of tea at the café, I was feeling quite relaxed as I started down the steep stony track by Catrigg Force. Here disaster struck: I was going quite fast (well what passes for fast nowadays) when I caught my foot on a stone and went flying. Unfortunately there was no grass or mud to cushion the blow and I did quite a lot of damage - some very nasty cuts to hands, arms and legs, and what turned out to be a bad sprain to my right wrist. With the help of a very kind walker I managed to get down to a road and thence to Airedale Hospital where x-rays confirmed nothing was broken. However, I had made quite a mess of myself and of course my back wasn't too happy, which in total meant six weeks of no running.
Fast forward to yesterday and I decided to finish off the route. This time I did not tempt fate and went clockwise to pick off the last three summits, Giggleswick Scar, Pott Scat and Smearsett Scar. In total it took me 67 days to run the 14 miles which must be some sort of record. However, it is a good route and I hope some of you will come and run it when we allowed to travel again. We will of course be going clockwise!
