yjfdbhgua...

...and went on to finish Sunday's Blackpool Marathon.

But this was no ordinary fall, this was an M&S fall. (M&S = mutilation and scarring)

 Yes, with less than 10k to go, YJ took one of his signature falls and was soon surrounded by sympathetic bystanders. The paramedic estate car was summoned and he was assessed to decide his fitness to continue. Despite a gash to his forehead, which he was told "will need a stitch" and on the proviso that after finishing he went straight to A&E, he was indeed allowed to continue.

He subsequently did finish, after losing 15 minutes for this roadside assistance. He was a little further down the field than he had hoped, placing 419th out of 493 finishers, in a time of 5:10. He was the oldest finisher.

The race was 'won' in a time of 2:44 by wheelchair athlete Steve Hughes with the first conventionally powered runner, Ugis Datavs of Wesham second in a time of 2:48. First lady was Sally Wallace in a time of 3:18.

Ugis Datavs - yes, that's his real name.

YJ subsequently reported back to his nearest and dearest and then to A&E at Preston Royal, where his head wound was mended, not with vinegar and brown paper, but with the modern equivalent - superglue, and his pinkie was splinted using his index finger.

The following day, Monday 29th April, he reports that he is feeling a little bit sore, but nothing that a few days rest (you must be joking) can't put right.

Well done, John, your exploits compare well with those of Hayley Carruthers.

Pike performance

Yes, well done Matt on your Over 80 achievement at Rivington on
Saturday. You put many younger runners in their place.

Congratulations are also due to EtU who was rewarded for his 40 appearances at the Pike race with a special presentation.

World Beater

You'll be pleased to hear that our very own Ray (Mat Sticklegs) Stafford set a new Horwich and all comers Vet 80 record of 36:28 at Saturday's Pike race, obliterating the previous record by 3 minutes.

As an 'all comers' record on a unique course, this is therefore a world record. Well done that man!

The Seventh Pass - Saturday 11th May '19

Actually, it's the sixth and seventh passes, but I thought this was a punchier title.

During our two attempts at the seven we never descended into Ennerdale, so we have just Black Sail and the Loft Beck Crossing outstanding.  You can refer to earlier posts dated 27th June '16 and 26th June '18 to see just what we did do. YJ has devised the following to complete the job:-

The planned route starts at the southern end of Borrowdale; we'll need to settle on a suitable place to park and meet.

Then we climb to Sty Head and descend into Wasdale on the path adjacent to Lingmell Beck, thereby avoiding the more rocky tourist route below Great Gable and Kirk Fell.

From Wasdale Head we go up Mosedale and then using Black Sail we pass over into Ennerdale, descending close to the Black Sail hut.

Then it's up to the Loft Beck crossing, down to Honister and then down the drovers' route to the north of the motor road, and thereby back into Borrowdale. It's about twelve miles, so not a lot of distance, but a fair bit of climbing and, given reasonable visibility, we should see a decent amount of country.

As it stands, we have three takers, one more would make a car load, but the more the merrier!

Joss recce

I have been talking about doing a Joss Naylor Challenge for a couple of years and the TF decided it was high time I stopped talking and started running. So she very kindly offered me a choice of three Saturdays to recce leg 1, and so last Saturday I got out of bed at 5.45 in order to be ready to leave at 6.30. The TF had offered to drive and we made good progress to arrive in Pooley Bridge and be ready to run well before 9.

The start was fairly easy, if somewhat damp, and we reached our first summit, Arthur's Pike in about an hour. I then decided to "bag" Bonscale Pike as well whilst the TF sensibly kept to the JN route. We met up just below the summit of Loadpot Hill, and then had an easy if somewhat tedious run along the ridge to Wether Hill, Red Crag (the summit cairn of which was on the other side of a fence so we didn't bother touching it), Raven Howe and finally High Raise. Now the run might have been a bit tedious but the views were superb, and at High Raise we stopped to refuel and take in the scenery.

 We soon picked up Kidsty Pike, Rampsgill Head, High Street and Thornthwaite Beacon. At this point with only about 3 miles to go, life suddenly became much harder. There is a steep nasty 600ft drop into Threshthwaite Mouth followed by an equally horrible climb up to Caudale Moor. However it was soon over, and our spirits were lifted by the sight of EtU who had very kindly driven up to the Kirkstone Pass to save us the problem of getting back to Pooley Bridge. You may not be surprised to learn that EtU had acquired some company at this stage: I won't say too much, other than that they were young, blonde and pretty!

The final descent had a sting in the tail with a sharp little climb up to Pike Howe and we then followed the advice of Guru Ian and dropped off the ridge, through a boulder field and so to the Kirkstone Pub for a welcome drink. EtU then drove us back to Pooley Bridge and then it was back to Bolton.

We were blessed with good weather, great views and the very generous help of EtU who drove all that way in order to help us out - thanks Ed, it is greatly appreciated. My thanks too to the TF for organising it all and doing the driving. A great day out altogether.

Little Smartie attends first event

For those not already in the know, I made an addition to my transport arrangements at the end of November 2018

Little Smartie is a pure electric car and was purchased with my Mon-Fri trundle into Manchester in mind. She lives in the garage and has a dedicated home charger. 

After 3 months of ownership I thought it was about time she attended her first 'event'. So which one to choose? Not only do I now have to contend with 'cut-off' anxiety, I now have to think about if I can get to the event and back again on one charge - otherwise know as 'range-anxiety' in EV parlance.

Fortunately the Two Crosses event organised by the East Lancs branch of LDWA fitted the bill. A 22m return drive, with a 25m run in between. The drive was well within the capabilities of Little Smartie (65m range in Winter), but there was a bit of a question mark over the runners capabilities as it's been a long time since this sort of distance has been undertaken.

Event day arrived and the first wobble of the day, looking out the bedroom window to see a covering of hailstones. Little Smartie is rear-wheel drive. A quick check of google maps to see if I can avoid the minor roads without too much of a detour. Reassured this was the case, and off we set. Arriving at Event HQ it was a breeze negotiating the school playground and all the obstacles.

4 Seasons worth of weather and 6hrs50mins later, I returned to Little Smartie. Only now did I realised that I hadn't properly given much thought to the dilemma of keeping Little Smartie's interior spotlessly clean (yes, really!!) as befits a 'city' car.

Aside from the clean car bit, the event was a success. My pace was slow, but training dictates that I also need to spend time on my feet if I'm going to succeed at the Calderdale Way Ultra in June. A big thank you to East Lancs LDWA for fabulous event, food was great and good to see so many familiar faces.

TF

Spring Equinox 'Do'

I have booked a biggish table at the Black Horse for the 22nd.

Interesting article on fastpacking

If I only was a  few years younger, I would be up for this. Maybe some of you still are?
https://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/skills/series/running/fastpacking_-_a_beginners_guide-11796

Spring Equinox 'Do'

2019 Vernal Equinox is Wednesday 20th March, so a 'do' on Friday 22nd is indicated.

Any takers?

Saturday 23rd Feb 2019

UTUP tomorrow is the Black Dog, Belmont at 8:30. Apologies for late notification.

TF and TLofB Winter Epic

Sat 2nd Feb was set aside for second attempt at our first JN recce, the first attempt last November being abandoned due to weather conditions.

Well the two of us were determined that the weather gods were not going to get the better of us this time. The starting point was Dunmail Raise and the finish Grasmere. We had plan A, B, C......

Plan A was starting well when I spotted a trail of snowy footprints heading up the Fell. Whoever the early bird was, had big feet and was clearly used to winter conditions making a zig-zag trail up the Fell. I was soon making good progress, TLoB however was finding it tougher going as you can see from the picture, it’s not often that TF gains that much on him up a hill!

We finally made it to the fence line after well over 50 minutes of b(****)y hard work. Once on the gentler slopping stuff, TLoB recovered his mojo and was soon zooming ahead to the first summit.

It was here that Plan B was put into action. Surveying the route ahead we could at least see the fenceline to follow, but could predict that progress would be slow. So it was a day for taking in the views and enjoying the experience of the wintery conditions. Our next target was the top of the Easdale valley where we would make our descent back to Grasmere.

After a couple of little detours to check out the views, we duly arrived at the head of the valley after a further one hour of effort.

So in all, 7.75m (on my Garmin) 1370ft and just over 4hrs. Was it worth it - yes!

TAB to Bowland - The event

There was 4 in total for this little adventure into the Bowland Fells, YJ, EtU SN and yours truly. Weather was not looking the best but we hoped we'd be off the fell by the time it turned a bit 'yucky'

We headed off up the Langden Valley with the promise of a guided tour round Langden Castle. Both SN and myself were a little disappointed to find it was only a glorified cow shed, but we agreed to the obligatory piccies. The guided tour was brief to say the least.

From here we headed further up the valley to ascend towards Fiendsdale Head, negotiating a crossing of the Langden Brook. Wet feet for all.

Visibilty on the top wasn't great, so it was useful to have fence to follow, visiting the Trig Point on Fair Snape was left for another day. 

Navigating up to this point had be going 'swimmingly' well especially due to the number of boggy bits, but the lure of a waymarked trod down out of the mist had the only person able to read the map without glasses, making a spectacular parallel error into the wrong valley.

The map reader only realized their error once Langden Castle came back into view - ooops!! All we had to do now was find a safe way to cross back over Langden Brook, given that we were further downstream. Wet feet were a given this time. 

The gps trace reveals the true scale of the error! Thought they were in one valley to the right

All thanks to EtU for suggesting the outing. All felt it was worth another visit but perhaps in the summer months and to see if we can do the original planned route!

TF

TAB to Bowland

TAB is my newly discovered word. I'd heard it several times over recent years, but only in the last few days discovered its derivation. It stands for Tactical Advance to Battle, or in this instance, Tactical Advance to Bowland.
We (as in wfdbwgua) are planning a TAB on Saturday 26th January, commencing from GR SD 632 513, near Dunsop Bridge, at a time yet to be agreed.
We will proceed up the Langden Valley to Langden Castle (Google it). thence to Fairsnape Fell:-

Note:- it may not be this sunny on the 26th and the paint on the trig pillar might have faded.

From there we will turn south and then east to return to our start point. Total distance about 10.5 miles, starting on track and then rough fell. Forecast is dry, but cloudy.
I can forward a map to anyone who is interested.

Season's Greetings

Anne and I would like to wish all our friends in WFDBWGUA a very happy Christmas and New Year. Once again, we are not sending cards but are making a donation to charity instead, which this year is the Yorkshire Cancer Centre.

Christmas (well, nearly) "Do"

After some consultation, I have booked a table at the Black Horse, Limbrick, for the evening of Friday 7th December.  I'd be grateful for numbers.

A PyG of a day

In the end there were just two of us, the TF and my good self. The original plan had been to go to the Lakes but the strong winds meant that we opted for a (mainly) low level route in the Dales instead.
The day started gently with an easy trot alongside the Ribble to Stainforth and then we started on the only real climb of the day, the 4 mile and 1600ft ascent of Pen y Ghent. For those unfamiliar with the route, it is a long steady ascent for 3.5 miles followed by a scramble up some rocks just before the summit, which we reached about 2 hours after setting off.

The rocks had been very slippery so we decided to descend via the Pennine Way to Horton and then follow the river to Helwith Bridge and then to the excellent cafe at Knight Stainforth. At this point, the TF who was suffering with a head cold, sensibly decided to call it a day, so I fortified by tea and buns jogged the last three miles back to the car and then returned for her. In all it was just over 17 miles and 2000+ ft of climbing. Thanks to the TF for driving up to Settle and for the pleasure of her company.

Pen y Ghent

To Be or Knott To Be

The Knott in this case being Arnside Knott which was the venue of an excellent fell race earlier today. It was 6 miles and about 1000ft of climbing, well marked and well marshalled, and at times offering some stunning views of the Lakes. And there was an interesting sting in the tail at the end.
It was my first race since June (Two Lads) and I found the start and the first hill quite tough. However, I eventually found my rhythm and had an enjoyable battle with two other runners, one from CLM who beat me and one from Howgills runners who didn't.
No results out yet so I don't know how near the back I was, but to be honest I don't care. It was a grand day out: good race, lovely weather and a pub lunch to finish off. Happy days.

A couple of 50s

I've not yet had time to write up about my trip to the GRP in the Pyrenees, but thought I would do a quick reflection after getting home from being the event co-ordiantor for the Red Rose 50.
Grand Raid Pyrenees Tour des Lacs 82km, 51 miles
First 10 miles, 4500 feet of climb completed in 3 hours - average 18 minutes per mile.
Next 11 miles to the checkpoint at La Mongie, a further 3500 feet of climbing but over 4 climbs from starting altitude of around 7000ft above sea level. Toughest terrain  (boulder fields) used in event. Result - took 6 hrs 30, one mile took over an hour. Had difficulty breathing so had to keep stopping on climbs. Lost 150 places and timed out. Fellow English competitors in GRP80, Bob Nash ran the last few k with me being timed out  by approx 45 minutes. Abigail and Michelle Sunter, made the checkpoint in time but retired there. Winning time was an hour and a half slower than my previous run in 2014. In all 160 of 1160 starters retired at the CP. In the Ultra 160km which started with same route, Albert completed in about 45 hours,  about 7 hours slower than he expected. Karen Nash was third lady overall (21 started, 7 finished) in about 42 hours which is six and a half hours slower than her time of three years ago. Of the near 400 men, 41% retired.
Red Rose 50 this weekend
Not got the full results to hand yet but Karen Nash finished 2nd overall (not 2nd lady but overall) in 10 hrs 30. Albert was about an hour later.  Bob Nash (who is 74) and Abigail both completed in about 15 hrs 30.
The Red Rose 50 has half the climb of the GRP80k but that is still over 7,500ft. We had 13 retirements from 141 starters, a mix of walkers and runners.
It just puts my "failure" at the GRP into perspective.
I will up update with some photos - and exact times later in the week.

Quarterly 'Do' - Friday 21st Septmber

I have booked a table at the Black Horse at Limbrick for our Autumn gathering.

Hope you can make it, grateful for numbers in advance.

Regards,

The Settle Seven Summits

A few weeks ago, the running of Coope's Dozen was in serious doubt because of access issues after the Winter Hill fire. I suggested a possible alternative (see Blog July 15th) and today the TF and I went out to reconnoitre it.

We went round clockwise taking in Giggleswick Scar, Pot Scar and Smearsett Scar and stopped for tea and buns at the café in Knight's Stainforth, where we were joined by SWINW. After this we detoured via Catrigg Force which was pretty spectacular after all the recent rain. and decided to add an extra summit to the original list, one that is known locally as Tit Hill (for reasons that are obvious when you see it). It is actually fairly insignificant, but we thought that EtU might appreciate it's inclusion.

We finished off by doing Warrendale Knotts, Sugar Loaf and High Hill, before returning to Settle for more tea. The total distance was exactly 14 miles with over 2500ft of ascent. It was a really good day out and I would like to add it to Coope's Dozen as an annual run for the WFDBWGUA group. My thanks to the TF for driving up here to keep me company.