Fairfield Horseshoe

I've been mixing it up a bit with my activities since the cold snap. As I'm no fan of ice (I might have mentioned this before) I've not been keen on taking a bike out. I decided to just do some things I don't normally do so hour long sessions on the turbo doing intervals, a bit of running, some winter hillwalking and even back into the gym to primarily do some weights but also a bit of rowing.

I've been quite enjoying it but I'd had enough of being indoors and last Saturday afternoon saw me head out to Abbey Village in the pouring rain to go for a run. I fully expected it to be sleet higher up and normally I'd be totally meh about running in it. I wasn't sure how far I would get and took my microspikes with me. I didn't need them on the way up as the wet slush got progressively more snowy as I climbed. I had the moor almost entirely to myself which is very rare even for a dull, cold Saturday afternoon. I saw only one other person at the Tower.

I put my spikes on for the descending as the slush was compacting under my shoes and causing traction issues. Legs were a bit tired on the last trog back to the car and it was pretty much dark by the time I got there, damn these short winter days. Just over 8 miles which is the longest run for quite some time no wonder my legs felt a bit battered.

Sunday saw us head up early doors to the Lakes due to a good forecast, the Fairfield Horseshoe was the plan. I figured it would be well tracked for good progress. The drive up was a bit sketchy, lots of ice on even the main roads, there was more snow in the Lakes than I thought.

Parked up in Ambleside to a balmy -6, quick kit then set off to do the walk clockwise with the boring trog to Rydal first. A while later trog back again as forgot to get parking ticket...find its free parking anyway. Grr. Head off again but this time anti-clockwise to just get up on the hill. The trog from Rydal will be easy in the dark if necessary.

Beautiful blue sky, white snow, mist on the lakes, stunning:







Crampons weren't necessary but I did have my axe out for a bit of support for big step ups with my short legs though I think, for the first time ever when walking, poles would have been really helpful for me as the axe is a little short.

Didn't seem to take long to get to the summit of Fairfield. I think I've been on it about four times and this is the first time its been free of clag. We didn't linger really and I remembered that the last time I did this walk it seemed to take an age to do this side of it.

It didn't disappoint! It seemed to trog on forever, my legs were a bit pasted to be honest, as were Jez's. Though unlike him I'm not prone to cramp so was having a slightly easier time of it. We realise now that neither of us had eaten enough, we only had one butty and one Lebkuchen each (which didn't go rock hard in the cold, recommended!) quite early on, but we got into that push on mindset.

The last descent was most amusing, lost of judicious application of the ice axe and to be honest would have been better with a pole or even putting crampons on but the adrenalin did make me forget my legs hurt. Considering how much of an ice wuss I am I actually quite impressed myself with my "just about controlled" sliding.

Last hike back to Ambleside was a pain filled nightmare and freezing, was warmer up on the hill as the sun got to it.




We got back to the car about 15:45 and decided just to get straight off due to the state of the roads on the drive up. I don't think I've ever left Ambleside without going for a wander round the gear shops. Great walk though my legs took two days to get over the weekend.

Derwentwater Trail Race

Yesterday was the Derwentwater trail race, I wasn't sure if I was going to do it but my legs felt fine in the morning, it wasn't chucking it down and I've not managed to run it the previous two years (cancellation and injury). So got my stuff together and drove up to Keswick.

The registration was in town which was great for wandering round prior to race start. What wasn't so great was shutting the boot lid on my Garmin when getting ready to race, d'oh. Screen smashed and only top right hand corner readable:

A new one is on its way, sigh. I decided spending mega bucks on one of the newer models was folly given my track record....

Anyway, raced without it. Race went surprisingly well, I thought my lack of running would really tell but I think I got away with it, not sure I would've wanted to run for much longer though. I did the just under 9 miles ish in 1.29.

It was a really enjoyable course, the only bad bit was the bogs which weren't so much boggy as just shin deep water. My feet were like blocks of ice after wading through them, keeping running was difficult so I used the section to recover well and keep something in reserve for the descent. On a dryer day the climb should be pretty much all runnable, even by me.

The course is basically one big climb followed by one big descent (down Latrigg). I had an absolute whale of a time on the descent and made up a lot of time and did a lot of overtaking and even managed to hang on to all my gained places on the last run in to the finish. A great run, shame about the Garmin though.

Kentmere Horseshoe

I had planned to do this walk last year but never did it. The mountain forecast for Friday was sunny, clear and warm. That forecast and a route coupled with easy navigation meant I was happy tackling the route on my own. In fact I decided to try running some of it if I could, this meant a bit of thought about what to take as sunny day or not I needed some layers and food.

My normal running sack would be too small with two litres of water in and my walking one too big and bulky so I settled on my old Salomon sack which is used as a commuting bag these days. I know it doesn't really tighten up enough and it was still a little big but it was worth a go. (My cat is drawing me daggers as he has just been shooed out of an irresistible open bag):

So I had two litres of water, my featherlite jacket and longs, a gilet, my very thin running gloves, a buff, jelly babies, gels, a couple of bars in case I really needed extra food, phone, compass, map (which I tried hard to leave), Garmin, camera etc. The bag was definitely too big, the other too small without ramming it full and making it uncomfortable to wear.

Earlyish start to get to Kentmere, a couple of free spaces next to the Institute but pretty full there by the time I got there. A couple of MTBers headed off somewhere but everyone else around headed off up the Garburn Pass. I wondered how I would get on with it this time as it was another warm day.

Bottom section fine if steeper and looser than I remember it. I ran most of it, stopped briefly to dip my buff in the stream before putting it back on my head which was nice. The gates were closed and stopping to open them made for natural breather points which helped. I had to walk when it steepened up on one of the switchbacks and when the track changed to embedded rocks as it was hard to keep a smooth stride. I was quite happy with that and as I had a long way to go didn't think it was sensible to be pasting myself on the first climb of the day.

The bag was annoying me a bit as I couldn't get it to sit comfortably, swishing around a lot and as it was too big for what I was carrying all the weight was at the bottom. Wasn't a show stopper though.

I have hurtled down this track several times on an MTB at a fair old barely in control clip, a couple of times on that climb I did wonder what the hell I was thinking as it was so loose and rocky but when I looked back down it strangely didn't look as bad ? I ran over the top and a walker held the gate open for me, noooo. He did say "I bet you wanted to stop" and I nodded.

I deviated from my original plan to take the main path and took a much more interesting grassy track up towards Yoke instead. A bit of bog hopping to liven it up then it was back onto the main motorway track towards the summit. It was very warm, I kept running until it got uncomfortable (rather than until I almost died) then changed to a fast walk for the rest of the climb.

At the top I made a point to look around, have some jelly babies or a gel and have a drink. This was the plan for every summit to keep fuelling ticking along. As it was a horseshoe I could see exactly how far I had to go. It was a nice view back to Windermere. Unfortunately the "improved" paths are a bit of an abomination.


I resisted the temptation to go really hard down the other side, I really needed to spare my legs as much as possible. I ended up doing a lot of effectively jumping in the air in an attempt to take it easy but not brake too much with my legs. Not sure how successful it was but it was fun, beats trying to walk down that's for sure.

Next stop Ill Bell summit followed by the steepest and most interesting descent of the day. Lots of loose stuff which would be best slightly wet but lots of big slabs/rocks that were best as dry as they were. I was sensible here as a fall would have been nasty, even the slow jog I was doing was better than trying to do a controlled walk.

Next summits visited on the Kentmere motorway were Froswick and Thornthwaite, with a whopping huge cairn on it. Next stop High Street, the highest point on the route. Onto the bridleway for a bit then off onto a more forgiving grassy track as the bridleway doesn't actually visit High Street summit. This is a side of the Lakes I've never really seen before, the visibility was so good, such a rare thing when I visit the Lakes.

Back onto the main track again towards Mardale Ill Bell and Nan Bield Pass. My feet were hurting a bit here, stepped on a few sharp rocks which had me convinced my shoes are on the way out then I told myself to HTFU! I remembered to look behind from whence I had came, the tops on the western side:

The eastern side was much rounder and grassier. It was easy running over towards Mardale Ill Bell, the views to Haweswater really opening up and I stopped quite a few times to look at them. As I said above I've never really seen this side of the Lakes. This pair kept moving into shot and just looked at me when I shooed them:

From there down to Nan Bield Pass on some huge rocks they have stuck in for a path, bet they are fun when its wet. This was my "get out" option, I could take the bridleway down from here if I was to tired to contemplate any more up. As I'd gone round that far I might as well carry on and it would still take a good while to get to the car anyway.

The drop to Nan Bield is quite deceptive, a lot of height is lost which meant a good climb up to Harter Fell, runnable even by me at first but soon steep and twisty so more fast walking. The walking had been going well, the gym work is starting to pay off because my knees felt very stable on step ups, in the past they can wobble when tired.

My bag was annoying me, it had lost ome bulk due to drinking some water and the shoulder straps kept loosening off. I realised the waist band and the end of the shoulder strap were coming into contact as I had to tighten everything up so much. The waist band was managing to loosen the shoulder strap off.

After a good fuel break on Harter Fell it was off towards Kentmere Pike on some nice grassy path, no motorway over here it would seem. I really enjoyed the run, though I could tell my legs were starting to hurt as I tried to avoid hard track as much as possible.

Over Kentmere Pike, a very large jelly baby break as I bribe my legs into making the long descent back to the car. The route was planned to head towards the track at Stile End rather than the more direct route, thought it would spare tired legs a bit. I'm not sure if that is true and I found myself heading towards the more obvious track towards Withered How. I yomped over some tussocks to correct this and got back on track.

Final stretch of descent to the Stile End track was interesting, a bit of scrambling down before arriving at the track. I had a seat at a nice flat rock and shook my legs out a bit. The original plan was to head down Stile End and pick up the road back to Kentmere which would be fine walking but I didn't fancy running on tarmac much so was eyeing up the grassy footpath off to my left. A map check showed it would get me down so I thought I would take that one.

I'd run out of water on Kentmere Pike and I was in need of a good feed as my mental faculties were going slightly. I took my Garmin off briefly then put it on the wrong way, display upside down (and didn't notice for a while). There was a sign on the gate that said "Grazing Livestock" which I misread as "Blazing Livers", it was faded but even so. Time to get to Wilf's!

The grassy track started well but then got quite contoury and boggy so a few slips to challenge the ankles. I saw a deer bounding up the hill and stopped to watch it thinking aww. Then I thought it was a bit of random place to see a deer. Into the next field with lots of cows and calves and I notice the colour of some of the calves....not a deer then, d'oh. One of the big cows started trotting behind me, which was worrying. I wasn't near any calves. I was almost out of the field when I came across a large group of cows and calves lying around the track between me and the gate.

As one of the big 'uns started moving as if to get up I thought better of running between them all and gave them a wide berth, in a bog, they didn't move. I got to the gate to see a woman walking up with a dog, so I gave her a warning about the cows and calves. Dog was on a lead but a little excitable. The track steepened up for the last bit which hurt. Through Kentmere onto another steep footpath down to the road.

I walked back to the car from there before heading to Wilf's for a good feed.

I was out in total for about 4:20, my Garmin had about 2:59 as moving time but I know it stopped recording on some of the climby bits so something over 3 hours and 13.45 miles according to Bike Hike. So much for short runs and I need another running sack, about 12 litres in capacity.

Whoosh!

...time just seems to have disappeared lately, not that I have been up to much.


Jez and I were in the Lakes for our birthday at the beginning of the month (yes we do share the same birthday). We celebrated getting another year older by walking up Fairfield from Patterdale, in the snow. I would write lots more about this as I took loads of photos but for some reason Jez's laptop ate them and they were never seen again. I was left with about 8 completely random photos on the memory card out of a few hundred. Only the Fairfield ones hadn't been copied elsewhere, ho hum.


It started as a beautiful day, lots of fluffy sparkly snow and lots of ice around. The climb up onto Farifield itself was very steep but the snow was pretty good so kicking steps was the way to go, except when I booted hidden rocks, that hurt. We followed some fell shoe tracks up. The tracks were actually heading down the mountain and fair play to whoever it was because we only saw a couple of elongated prints where they had had a little slide, there had been no application of technical hands or arse.


Some quite thick snow over the top and I got a view from the top rather than the pea soup clag I had last time I was up there. It didn't last long as the weather was coming in and Helvellyn had disappeared in the cloud. Our plan was to head back via St Sunday Crag and down into Patterdale. Once the cloud came in the light went really flat and I found negotiating some of the little ridgy bits on the way down to Deepdale hause a little tricky as I just couldn't make things out properly. I had a little lateral foot slip on one of the narrowest sections which sharpened the mind somewhat!


At Deepdale Hause we decided against continuing with the planned route as it was snowing and the cloud was down and we had to gain a fair amount of height again. We decided to drop down into Deepdale and head back that way, and what a drop down it was! It felt vertical (and looked it when walking away), lots of side steps to get down. A long boring trog along Deepdale then into the pub in Patterdale for some beer and a humungous plate of food.



An easy day after walking where we go pick up Jez's new car then an MTB ride on Saturday 7th where I managed not to fall off, which is a good thing. The bad thing is I achieved it by riding like a complete wuss, really demoralising. I felt really shattered for some reason and wasn't particularly enjoying myself in the driving rain and wind. We headed out in the afternoon, just as the lovely morning was replaced by minging weather. Very wet and cold and for once wasn't bothered about the ride being short!


Sunday I was supposed to be doing a long run but just couldn't get myself to do anything, thought I might have had a bit of a sniffle. On Monday I woke up thinking I had a bit of a sniffle but I was fine in the afternoon so I headed out after work for a run. I mile easy, 4 miles at 8:40 and 1 mile easy again. I headed into Cuerden park where there are a few hills so I knew I would need to work harder on the easier sections to compensate for the hills. First fast mile was 8:47 and I never paid attention after that. In the end the tempo section averaged 8:13 mm which was far too fast and I had massively overcompensated for the hills and I had a feeling I was going to pay for it.


Tuesday I felt a little coldy but got up and cycled to work, I was feeling fine after about 20 minutes and had a really good ride in, little wind and an average of 16mph which is quite fast for me on the Spesh. The ride home was supposed to be a bimble but for some reason I pushed a little bit on the first few miles, I think it was just nice to be riding home in proper daylight. At Freckleton a roadie came screaming by me (as they do), then up ahead two blokes joined the Marsh Road in front of me. They weren't going particularly slowly but for some reason I decided to try and catch them.


I was averaging about 19mph (it has its own momentum I think the Spesh) and caught up to the first one, who was on a road bike but wearing fairly normal clothes. I had to wait for a gap in the traffic to overtake then I got passed, I had to accelerate hard but I was off. I haven't worked that hard on my commute for quite some time. It didn't take me long to get to the second guy but I had to wait a little longer to pass him. I remember looking at the computer and I think it was reading 23/24 mph as I accelerated to get past before I got flattened by the traffic.


I was working far too hard by then but I kept pushing at around 18/19 mphwhen I realised that I was reeling in the roadie who screamed past me earlier, think he must have backed off quite a bit. Unfortunately he got through the lights at the end of the Marsh Road and I had to wait else I think I would have got pretty close. I had to take it really easy for the rest of the ride home as I felt toatlly knackered, not a good sign and not very clever.


I paid for the hard efforts by being barely able to make myself get out of bed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I couldn't believe how tired I felt. On Saturday I woke up with a proper sniffle, at last, I have been trying to fight something off! I was stuck working on Saturday so I coudn't get to the XC race or go out for a run but I didn't mind as I was ill anyway. I rested again yesterday as still felt a little sniffly in the morning but woke up this morning feeling like a new me.


I hate when a cold is trying to get a hold for ages, there have been a few going round the office and I've done well not to catch one.

Ivana Falloffalot!

That was my name on today's ride! I've not fallen off this much in years, three times in one less than 15 miles ride!

I had hoped to do 20 miles but there were some very tired legs in our group so we did the short version of the ride. It was great to be out on proper Lakes bridleways, good technical riding and hard climbs. We have a regular ride that we do that starts at Wray Castle, heads up towards Iron Keld, down from there towards Little Langdale and Hodge Close, then back past Iron Keld then normally towards Hawkshead and up into Claife Heights. We missed out the Claife Heights section today.

Its a good ride, a bit of everything and not massively prone to being boggy. We were a bit later than normal setting off due to Jez's physio appointment, I don't think we started riding until after 11, there were 7 of us in total with 3 girlies riding.

First few miles were fine, my legs felt good after a full rest day of pigging out and I had to stop myself going off too hard at the start, it wasn't a local easy ride. It was really still but not massively sunny, which was suprising considering how windy it had been on the drive up. I ended up taking my waterproof off and putting my gilet on as I was too warm. I had my camera in one of the back pockets, there was some nice snow covering on the hills:

I hung back to take some pictures after we'd climbed up Iron Keld and were about to head down Arnside. I had a nice chat with a couple of elderly blokes, one of whom was fascinated by my bike, particularly the pedals. I then set off on the first part of the descent to catch up the others. This is one of my favourite Lakes descents, as it has a little bit of everything: rocks, rubble, ruts, sheep, grass, water spashes...

It was nice to do some more technical stuff though I had forgotten the rocky section at the top and just kind of blundered my way down it, I got better later.

We regrouped about half way down, just after the wall above. We continued down some more, I was in front for some reason and I was crossing a bit of a grassy plateau and looking well ahead as the track was about to split and there were quite a few line choices I could make.

All of a sudden I felt the front wheel slide away, now I've gotten lots of front wheel slides back before but not this one it went too fast and I slammed to the ground on my left side, still holding onto the handlebars wondering what the hell just happened. I had felt my head hit off the ground but as it was grass the helmet took it and I was fine.

My foot was stuck in the right pedal and I was tangled up with the bike, I shook my foot out and stuck my hand up to wave that I was ok. Then I realised that the ground was sopping wet and my kit was doing a fantastic job of soaking up the water, so I scrambled up. Fall No. 1.

In my world all this took a bit of time but according to everyone else I was only on the ground a matter of seconds before I jumped back up like a scalded cat. It was very spectacular and dramatic to watch apparently, particularly the bit where my head bounced off the ground. I felt fine, very wet and cold now but ok. I was very lucky a few metres further on and the rocks started again and it would have probably been a very different story.

We had a look to see what I had skidded on, there wasn't much but you could just see where my wheel had slid on a small rut (ruts and me at the minute!) hidden in the grass. I checked the camera and it had survived but I put it back in my bag and then proceeded to forget about it for the rest of the ride. I hate to think what I landed in but I seemed to spend the rest of the ride accompanied by the smell of sheep poo, though we were never far from sheep during most of the ride so I'm not sure.

I got back on and set off actually quite unshaken for me, rode the rest of the descent fine. Everything went ok for ages and I was generally riding well then we came to a "challenge" climb. It only a short but steep rise, it has a few rocks on it so you can't just take a straight line up it and you can't do it in too easy a gear as the front will wander but too hard a gear and you won't get up it either. Now I've cleaned it before but I think it has been on the Titus as on the On One the rocks were getting in the way of my back wheel.

On the second attempt I was really close but still had to unclip, but my left foot (normal unclipping foot) got stuck and I toppled over onto a big rock. It took me a while to wriggle it out. Fall No 2, not quite so dramatic. I've been having a few problems with unclipping since I changed the cleats but thought it was because the old cleats were so worn that I only had to think about unclipping and my foot was out, I obviously wasn't twisting out enough.

We continued, I was annoyed at this fall and was becoming sure that my brakes weren't working properly, I think the rear needs new pads and I wasn't imagining that one. I was also thinking that my forks were blowing through their travel and also rebounding very quick but I put that down to the gremlins getting into my head after falling off.

My legs were still feeling strong and I was generally riding better and better. I realised that my technical skills needed sharpening up a bit really but I was still trying to descend at a speed too fast for my current ability. I decided to slow my descending down a bit, until the next descent where I forgot of course.

On the evil climb back up to Iron Keld I had the tell tale throb of a forming bruise just above my left knee. I managed to clean the climb with a gear to spare which is the first time ever, it has a lot of loose stuff on it and some roots but I managed it all ok today, was puffing like a train at the top as usual though. I also noticed on this climb that the instep seem on my right boot was now unstitched, oh great, I hope I don't have to fork out for a new pair of winter boots. I didn't notice when setting off so may have done this in the first crash?

The track rolls along in a generally upwards direction, some technical sections I clean easily though they have filled in some of the bigger holes annoyingly. We were almost at the top where there is a bit of a rockstep, at least on the line I was on. I have cleaned it before but this time I didn't quite lift my front wheel high enough or something, whatever I stalled with front up step and back wheel still below it. I just couldn't unclip my left foot at all and I fell hard onto my left knee on the rocks. I was extremely peed off with this, I didn't spud myself (or should it be egg myself as I ride eggbeaters?) this much when I first had clipless! Well I did but that's not the point. Fall No 3.

After various people had finished laughing at me I realised that my left foot was still stuck in the pedal and I couldn't move. I couldn't seem to get my right foot to a position where it would help me get up. In the end after a bit of pointless flailing of limbs, Jez had to lift my bike up a bit and Ed had to help me up a bit before I could free my foot.

I sat down at the side of the track and had a look at my shoe, the cleat had moved. Jez got the multitool out and one of the cleat screws was really loose. What cretin put them on? Oh, that would be me! D'oh. It was tightened up for me. I was annoyed at not getting up something I'd managd in the past so as everyone else continued on I pushed back down a bit so I could ride what I'd just messed up and cleaned it no problem at all, typical.

Downhill for a bit as I caught up with Pam and cruised downhill, her back tyre rolled over a rock which threw her back wheel seriously sideways, almost level with the front. She calmly just kept riding, when we got to the bottom she said she had quite a scare! Didn't look like it from where I was though so well done to Pam.

After that is was a short slide along a muddy track then back along the road for a bit to the cars. We packed up and decided to head to Wilfs for some food, I was wondering how I was going to find room for some food as I'd had energy drink in my Camelbak and we hadn't really been out that long. As we set off driving I was soon starving. Even though we had done quite a short ride we had been out for quite a while, actual moving speed was about the same as normal but there were a lot more rest and faff stops (and not just me falling off) than normal which I hadn't taken account of.

Having had a think about my forks, the last time I can remember that I put or messed around with the air in the forks was when the On One was built. I can't remember exactly when that was but it was built around 8 - 9 months after the Titus was built. The Titus was built in August 2005!

I run the Revelations at 115 mm on the On One and over the last couple of months I've been gradually unwinding the UTurn doofer to keep it at 115mm, so I think its about time I looked at what the settings are. The Rev forks have been utterly fit and forget.

Oh, MTB gods..its someone else's turn to fall off!

Coniston Trail Race - Report

Well, that was wet (and muddy)!

I woke on Saturday to lead grey skies and a little rain but nothing to suggest how bad it was up in the Lakes. As the start had been delayed by two hours after the problems they had at the Derwentwater race I had plenty of time to wake up, eat etc. Pam and I even visited the farmers market - it was really chilly, I had a hat on for the first time in anger this autumn and my down gilet, which is filthy and really, really needs sending away for cleaning (that's what happens when you carry bags of mucky compost around in a pale blue gilet).

Jez had gone off to Staveley at 7:50 this morning to ride over Garburn pass with some friends of his from work. He phoned me just as we were setting off t 11:30 to say that it was lashing in the Lakes and he was calling it a day it was so wet, oh goody!

Things didn't really get bad until we got off the M6 and it just chucked it down and the wind was strong. Anyone that was out and about, be that on foot or on bike, looked drenched...and miserable.

As we pulled into the car parking area at Coniston Hall the rain was horizontal and there were lots of very wet people milling around. I saw a couple of people walking towards us with their race numbers but they also had the t-shirts too, so something was afoot as they normally give them out once you finish.

We drove down to the first (very wet but cheery) marshal who informed us that the main 15k courses had been cancelled on mountain rescue advice and there would be two laps of the low level Sport Trail course instead, with everyone starting at 2pm. This was a little disappointing but given the weather conditions it was the sensible decision. The marshal told us to head along the track where we would be directed to park by other equally wet and cheery marshals. The track was in fact a brown river, it was just sodden.

We parked up and got ready to dash to the registration point, we waited for a few minutes to see if the horizontal rain would ease off but not a chance. Pam decided to accompany me to registration and we were both dreched within about 30 seconds of leaving the car. This wasn't ideal as the trousers I was going to change into at the end were soaking wet through now. I at least had gore tex lined boots on but poor Pam had running shoes on so her feet got soaked through. The brown river/track was actually an inch or two deep all the way along and the grass alongside was just as squelchy so there was no escape from it.

The registration point was in a building rather than a marquee this time and it was crammed full of wet runners. I picked up my number and was given my t-shirt, I also saw that they had brought the t-shirts from the Derwentwater race as well so I picked up one of those too. We headed back to the car so I could get ready to run.

The car was lovely and warm and I thought about how I was going to get my kit together for running. I had most of my kit on already but I needed my running vest, shoes, gloves and jacket which were all in the boot of Pam's car. The seats were folded down as she had her bike in but it's a Vectra and the stuff was right at the boot door, no way I was going to reach it from the front seat.

I decided to take my wet trousers off, take my nice warm fleece off and make a dash for it. I was freezing and wet by the time I got back in the car with my bag, then realised I'd left the shoes! Out to get cold and wet again, at tleast I was keeping Pam entertained. Pam had originally intended to do a short offroad ride while I ran but she had decided against that in the end. I decided to pin my number to my running vest then wear that over my jacket rather than put holes in my jacket, it's thin enough without putting holes in it. I put a buff on my head to keep weat hair out of my eyes and my thin running gloves on to keep the wind off my hands.

I watched soaking wet people running past for a while until I finally left the warmth of the car and headed to the start line. The jog there would be my only "warm up" and as there was no point in trying to stay dry I got straight on with the business of getting wet and ran/splashed/waded along the track then over to the start area. There were a lot of dafties prepared to run so that made me feel better even though I was soaked to the skin aready.

Standing waiting for the start the water was puddling round my feet, the ground was so sodden it couldn't absorb anymore. I had decided to take it easy and not run really hard, just enough to stay warm. I didn't have a watch on (as I still haven't found the damn Garmin and I forgot my other watch) and no idea of the course so would be taking it easy on the first lap in particular. I also can sometimes overdo it in races and end up coming down with a cold. I thought I was fighting off a bit of a sniffle after Wednesday's drenching but two rest days seemed to put paid to it. The soaking I was getting now was laying me open to getting it again.

As it was a mass start it was a bit crowded but it made it easy to keep a nice pace, it climbed for a little while but it was nothing like what we would've been climbing if we had done the proper race. We were running across a wet field for a while then onto some hard packed tracks. We also ran alongside a main road (I assume the road to Torver) and this track was just standing water. I watched the feet of the runners in front of me to get an idea what the ground was like under the constant puddle.

We must have looked a sight but I didn't feel as miserable as all the Polaris bikers we saw looked, at least I would be heading home to a hot shower and proper bed rather than a night in a tent (though at least Sunday would turn out to be a cracking day for them). This section of th course was the most exposed to the wind and it was here on both laps where I had my "I'm not enjoying this" moments as the rain stung my face. However, once I turned off the road I had the wind behind me for a while.

I took it easy on the downhill section due to my psoas, particularly as it was tarmac (and I made sure I breathed properly), so I had no problems. The last part of the lap is along the edge of the lake and waves were breaking against the shore. This section was very,very wet and there were a couple of streams that run into the lake which we had to cross. In normal conditions they would either be a trickle that you could step over or not there at all. Today, depending on which part you stood in they were knee deep and also extremely cold. Even though my feet were wet the water in my shoes was warm but it was a real shock going through these. I tried to follow someone who hadn't disappeared up to their knees to pick a shallower spot to cross.

As I ran through the start/finish area to head out again a couple of people in front of me pulled over, they had had enough and didn't want to do another lap. Pam says she saw quite a few people doing this. I was tempted for a brief second but then I thought what the hell, I can't get any wetter. Wrong!

I set off up the climb on my second lap. The inital part is on fire road style tack and it had a bit of a stream running down one side of it and a dry line on the other. I was running up the stream line and was just thinking to myself that it wasn't sensible as I couldn't see what was under it when I stood on a rock and went over on my ankle. I swore to myself and gave a little skip, well I though I swore to myself but two people turned to ask me if I was ok so it might have been out loud.

It was ok after a few strides (the wonders of lots of off road running) and I kept on running. The field was a lot more churned this time round and the road section just as wet and windy as it was before.

I was really feeling soaked now, I don't know whether it was because I was getting more tired but I was really noticing it now. My running vest was absolutely sopping and it felt like it weighed a ton (should've wrung it out!), it was sliding around on the top of my jacket which didn't help. My wrists felt cold becuse the jacket was stuck to it and was so wet its wind blocking properties seemed to have gone.

I enjoyed the run downhill as the wind was behind me but the section along the lake was a mess after all the runners tramping through it. I'm sure the streams had gotten deeper because my feet felt so cold after running through them. Pam says they caused a few people to cramp - as she's waiting in the finish area she gets to see all the action. I could barely run the last kilometre, it wasn't so much slippy as like trying to run through treacle, I couldn't keep any sort of stride pattern going at all which is probably good practice for my first cross country race!

I finished with no idea what my time was or how far I'd run but I didn't care. Pam handed my my jacket which was at least waterproof and did help warm me up while we headed straight to the car. Even if I hadn't soaked my trousers earlier the rain didn't let up at all so I wouldn't have been able to have gotten changed anyway. I basically took my top layers off and got into Pam's car to sit on some towels. I put my dry race t-shirt on which was quite difficult to do in a confined space without punching Pam at any point. I put my fleece on but left my shoes/socks and everything else on and Pam cranked the heating up. My fingers were all wrinkly, it looked like I had been lying in the bath for an hour rather than running.

I had packed my recovery drink which I really needed to have after that drenching. I had the powder separately in a little bag to make it up fresh but as I was pouring it into the water the powder all stuck in the bag handles and I then proceeded to dunk them in the water so it all became a big blob. I think I got about a quarter of the powder in that should have been in there and as I was making enough of a mess of Pam's car with my muddy feet and legs without covering it in banana recovery drink powder I gave in.

The drive home was quite eventful too. The main road between Coniston and Ambleside had been wet with a little standing water on it as we drove over. It was now full of huge puddles, the kind where only one car at a time can go through and you wish you were in a 4 x 4. Some poor sod broke down in one of the puddles, they got help to get pushed out to clear the road but it didn't look good. We were glad to have left when we did as with the amoun of water still coming down there was a risk the road would be closed. We had only been parked up in Coniston for a little over two hours.

The rain followed us down to Preston I think or it seemed to, it was a minging day. Pam dropped me off so we could both get a hot shower before she came back round for tea later.

The upshot was the race was approx 6.8 miles long and I took 1:04 to get round, so not brilliant but I'm just pleased I finished, just hope I don't catch my death of cold.

The photos are on Sleepmonsters but I couldn't find any of me, which is not that surprising as I didn't notice the photographer at all though it does look stupidly wet. There is one particular one in the "Finish Area" section where someone is lying face down in the mud, yuck.

Quick Ride Round Grizedale NFT

We decided to take Jez's mate round the NFT in Grizedale today, he's not done that much MTBing so its a good trail to keep an eye on someone and at 12 miles or so about the right length for a beginner's concentration level. It was wet when we got there but quite still and a little chilly. We were gutted to find that the cafe was closed as they are renovating that whole visitor centre area - another trip to Wilf's would be called for.

Jez rode in front, his mate in the middle and I rode at the back as sweeper. My favourite part of this whole trail is the initial climb (and I very rarely say that about a climb) and as I was taking it easy I enjoyed it even more though riding that slowly is not without its difficulties at times. The wooden boards were very wet and slippy but we all cleared them easily (apart from one minor off much later).

As it became apparent that Jez's mate was coping just fine with things I started hanging back, then riding at my normal pace until I caught up then hanging back again. This was also quite good fun as the nature of this trail means that it is normally a flat out blast. There is only one real climb so I'm always on the redline round here keeping speed up and start making mistakes due to oxygen deprivation and trying to stay away from the person behind me. This time I got to rest frequently so I had an ace time, really throwing the bike around in the singletrack.

The On One was chainsucking quite a bit as the middle ring is goosed and it was starting to get annoying by the end. I also pinch flatted at the start of the very last section when I lofted my wheel off the little bridge. I did think it sounded like a heavy landing but got away with it until I stopped when I caught up to the lads. When I started rolling again the tyre was obviously flat as a pancake so I had to run the last section. It was a bit tricky trying to run on a rocky uneven track in bike shoes, I couldn't quite fit me and the bike on the trail at the same time either and I almost turned my ankle once.

I just pushed my bike back to the car whilst the boys rode ahead and started packing up. We visited Wilf's on the way home where I stuffed my face, I was starving and the post ride pint went straight to my head even though I asked for the beer with the lowest alcohol content. Jez quickly changed my inner tube when packing the bikes away when we got home as I had to dash off to my appointment with Alan.

The On One is now out of action too until I get the drive train sorted, I would ride it in blissful ignorance but now that I know its in dire need of maintenance I won't as now I know about it it will fall apart. I am on call this weekend so I can't venture too far into the wilds anyway so I will look at getting a road ride in nearer to home. Hopefully Jez can get this sorted on Sunday as he's away on Saturday, it will need to be prioritised over the Titus as I need a working MTB!

Saturday 14th June: Hill Walking

Planned a walk with Pam, first decent hill walk for ages. As neither of us had been walking for a while we decided against an all day epic, the original plan was to do the Kentmere Horseshoe but I think it was too long for a first walk back. We decided on a route starting from Honister Slate Mine on Honister Pass (cut out some climbing!). The route was to take in Grey Knotts, Brandreth, Green Gable, Great Gable, Fleetwith Pike then back to Honister Pass. Around 6 milesish, so not too silly.

We decided to set off around 8am to miss the fuel protest and stay up in the Lakes all day to make sure we missed it all, if necessary have some retail therapy in Keswick to pass some time! As I hadn't been walking for some time it took a while to remember what kit I would need. I had checked the mountain forecast and it was for showers in the afternoon but temperatures on the summits would be around 5 or 6 degrees. I decided against my full waterproof trousers and chucked my wind proof ones in only but as usual took my GoreTex jacket and put it at the bottom of the bag. I also chucked in windproof gloves, some glove liners, a hat and my thin running gloves (I hate cold hands), I also put in a thin fleece. I would wear converta pants, a t-shirt and arm warmers and a gilet to set off and add take off layers as needed. I found the map for these mountains and realised it is the only Lakes map I haven't changed to the more durable laminated ones, it has been well used and promptly split down a fold when I put it in the map case, new map then. I put the compass and my camera in the hip pockets of the rucksack, once more check to see if I could think of anything else then went to bed.

In the morning I made up a bladder with two litres of water (which I drank b*gger all of, naughty) and four butties with peanut butter and jam, which sounds grim but is something I will eat even when tired. I've made up lots of interesting concoctions in the past with sensible things like chicken, salad, avocado etc but I always loose my appetite walking and can never face them, PB and jam seems to work for me though. I took some salted peanuts and a few nutrigrain bars too. As usual my rucksack felt lovely and light until I put the water in but its not too bad once actually on my back. I had a change of top and my Tevas to change into after walking. Pam picked me up, the drive was pretty uneventful, the motorway was very quiet even for that time in the morning, probably people avoiding the fuel protest. I was interested to find out what Honister pass was really like, it is a famous pass for torturing yourself on a bike and on the map it had double chevron sections, unlike Wrynose and Hardknott which has triple chevron sections. At the bottom of the pass there was a sign saying up to 25% but it seemed to be only a few short sections really, I didn't think it was too bad a hill but then I was in a car I'd probably be cursing it on a bike. We parked up at the slate mine as there was plenty of parking though 4.70 for all day parking was a bit eye-watering.

We got ready to walk, using the YHA loo which was open at that time (wasn't when we came back which was a bit traumatic!) then "relocated" a gentleman who hadn't taken the left turn at the bottom of the pass to Seathwaite, he hadn't realised he had climbed up to Honister though all was not lost as he just decided to do his planned walk in the opposite direction. We set off up a fairly direct and steep path to the first summit, Grey Knotts. There would be no navigational challenges at this stage of the walk, we just needed to follow the fence. Like Pam I prefer to have steep climbs and gradual descents, I'd rather get the bulk of the climbing out the way at the beginning of the walk and have a nice easy potter back at the end rather than taking a gradual climb and a quad destroying descent down. My legs were quite tired from last nights run so I just took it nice and easy, no point getting too far ahead anyway, may as well walk on my own if I did that. Pam had brought her Wainwright guide for this area and the summit of Grey Knotts was supposed to have good 360 degree views, which it most definitely did. I stood on a little outcrop of rock and got the camera out and took a 360 degree series of shots with the intention of stitching them together eventually to make a panorama. It was here I noticed how windy it actually was and how bloody cold that wind was, my hands were frozen by the time I'd finished and I had to dig out my thin gloves. We had a look at Wainwrights detailed description of the view and could pick out Hellvellyn, Dollywagon and lots of others. It was worth bringing the book for that alone as my mountain identification is pitiful.

It was pretty cloudy over towards the Gables and the wind was quite strong here so we did wonder how strong it was going to be at "Windy Gap", the pass between Green and Great Gable (answer: very). As I was getting quite cold (tshirt, arm warmers and gillet only at this point) we pressed onto the next "summit", Brandreth. AW was quite dismissive of this little lump and once we got there it was easy to see why, even though it was really close to Grey Knotts it afforded none of the excellent views of the former. We didn't stop and carried on towards Green Gable. it was here that I started to notice lots of little groups of fell-runners no more than about 4 or 5 people to each one, I decided early on they weren't in a race as a) They were all wearing too many clothes, not the regulation skimpy shorts and vest b) There were no numbers in evidence and c) They weren't travelling that quickly for fell-runners. On the walk between Brandreth and Green Gable we passed several of these groups. It was getting colder and windier as we were getting higher but at least the climb up onto Green Gable generated some heat and my fingers warmed up at last. We decided to press straight onto Great Gable and have some food once we summited.

We dropped down to Windy Gap and were suitably windswept when we started the climb up onto Gable itself. I don't know what I expected this "path" to be like, it was more of a scramble with lots of loose stone and people moving up and down (more little fell runner groups). I ended up putting my map away and felt happier being able to use both hands. The steepest section was over quite quickly then we headed to the summit. We sat down in the lee of the wind and had some food and got the Wainwright out again to check which mountains were which, though the cloud was annoyingly swirling around the Scafells. I took a picture or two and then noticed a very, very, very black cloud heading our way. I was also getting cold again so I took the opportunity to do a bit of a quick change, gillet off, fleece and Gore Tex on. It was a good decision as a minute or two later is started to hail - so much for showers in the afternoon. We decided to move before things got too wet as we had to drop back to Windy Gap. I left both hands free and descended not too badly though I am a bit out of practice at it. Another group of fell runners came down and we asked them what was going on - Bob Graham Round attempts! It was so obvious to me once he said it. The guy I was talking to was pacing this leg for the chap behind him. They "only" had to get to Honister then do DaleHead, Robinson and Hindscarth and it would be over. The guy behind him looked fresh as a daisy considering he'd been going since 6pm the night before. Apparently this is a popular BGR time due to it being near the longest day and there was also a full moon which made the night navigation sections easier. The pacer also told us that Ennerdale fell race was being held and we may see some of them as we descended Windy Gap. We wished them luck (don't think they really needed it) and started the descent down Windy Gap to see some fell runners take the steep direct line of Green Gable, an impressive sight.

The path down Windy Gap is steep and very loose, it took us a while to descend it as we were stopping frequently to let the runners slide past. It is definitely one of those paths that are best done at speed as we were having a lot more problems than they were trying to stay slow. As we hit the bottom of the loose stuff one guy stopped to empty his shoe of rock and we asked him how he was doing. He very chirpily replied that he was on the way back now, the race is 23 miles with about 7000ft of climbing with rather a lot of it still to come from what I could see (Kirk Fell and Pillar are not midgets). After finishing with his shoe, he stood up, did a few star jumps (as you do) then tore off towards the climb up Kirk Fell, we did give him a round of applause.

From there we just had a gradual descent down to the car though we did have some good views of Haystacks, Buttermere and Ennerdale which seemed to be permanently in sunshine today. We had been out for around 5 hours which was good considering it was such a slow pace, the guide time was 6. We headed into Keswick for a post walk pint (which went straight to my head, glad I wasn't driving), toilet stop then some shopping. I bought a new NW Lakes map and a lightweight waterproof jacket which would have been ideal today. Then we decided to have some fish and chips before setting off down the road.

The M6 was practically deserted on the way back. Need to plan another walk for when Jez and I are off next week.