Summer comes to a Winter Round.

16 January 2012

Keswick high street is deserted, I only manage to run at a reasonable pace down Newlands having made a last minute decision to go anti-clockwise because I’m worried about trees blowing down and squashing me. Chris who was set to come with me decided that the weather wasn’t up to it before leaving home and I guess I knew this too.  I’ve always said that you need good weather to get round the Bob Graham but have always secretly wanted to do it in the worst possible weather, this is my chance. The desire drains away rapidly as I have to crawl to get off Dalehead and it starts adding hail in to the mix.  I call of the chase at Honister and run back to Keswick through Grange.  In the morning I wake up to find my garden fence and garage roof showing signs of the rough night. Great Dunn fell recorded a 111mph gust and there’s quite a bit of flooding.

 

  I missed the mid winter round again. Failing in 2010 on the shortest day of the year due to poor planning and extreme cold -20 ish on the summits and also on a previous solo attempt in 2008 where I simply lost the will to continue in zero visibility and freezing fog. The winter round was becoming a bit illusive.

 

Not wanting to loose 6 months of hard training through a miserable autumn the rare sight of sunshine in the forecast lifted my hopes.  Being on the spot means that I can make a last minute decision to have another go. Chris’s plan to join me falls through again so it looks like a lonely start to proceedings. With support planned at Dunmail and Tom, a friend gently persuaded to come and meet me for a run over Helvellyn I once again set off down Keswick high street.

 

I stick with my decision to run anti clockwise, it makes support easier at Dunmail for Letty my wife and it feels like I’m running home. I also seem to get stuck in a rut running clockwise having run the different legs so many times at the same pace.  Heading down Newlands I warm up and make a conscious decision to try and get ahead of schedule early on, I always feel under pressure to get round in under 24 hrs and feeling good decide that if I can get ahead and then settle down I’ll have a better time of it, I forget my golden rule of getting the pace right from the begining.

 

A glance at my watch at Honister as I run through confirms that I have set off fast, just under 2 hrs,  I have a number of schedules in my head from running various things through Bob Wightmans website and know that I will not be able to keep this going. Being able to run without a torch because the moon is so bright is amazing, but I do get paranoid running over Pillar,am I being chased by a set of head torches. Is someone else out on a round?  It’s just after 2 am when I arrive at Wasdale. 

I still feel good and can’t believe that I’ve kept the pace up. The pressure for the 24 hour round is off and I can relax into my running. I decide to run up the main path to Mickledore rather than follow the traditional line up the shoulder to Scafell. I know the path a lot better and it isn’t sustained at a steep gradient. I ditch my stuff at the bottom of Broad Stand and scramble up onto Scafell.  It’s a bit unorthodox but I think I gained nearly 20mins by doing this, I also feel like I had a bit of a rest whilst scrambling.  I had planned to be running over the Scafells in the early morning but the moon is so bright that I’m not slowed down by the darkness.

Having lived in Langdale for 7 years, I hit auto pilot as I head up on to Bowfell. Mart Crag moor feels a bit alien as I don’t sink in to the now frozen bogs.  I know I am going to be too early at Dunmail to meet up with Letty my wife and 2 Kids. It’s also going to be too early for Tom who has been gently persuaded to come out for a morning run over the Helvellyn range.  Fortunately I had planned for this by leaving a tub of rice pudding under the stile.

There’s a nice stair case down Steel Fell where I can only guess recent attemps and successes have toiled up the saturated hillside leaving steps which are now frozen. I am amazed to be an hour ahead of my wildest predicited arrival time at Dunmail.

After eating my rice pudding I set off up Seat Sandal it's just after 6:30am. Now for the first time I start to pay for the early pace. I put my warm jacket and gloves on and back off the pace. On the summit of Helvellyn I take my first real break. With the sunrise just about to happen I remember Chris telling me how good a short power sleep can be,  I put my hood up, sit on my map and doze off. 10 minutes later I shiver myself awake again, it was a risky strategy but it worked, I could have been asleep for hours but after a few fig rolls and a sunrise photo shoot, I feel ready to be running again.

 

Dropping off Clough Head I manage to take a different line to my Dad who has come out to meet me. In Threlkeld I finally meet up with a proper Bob Graham Round support crew. Letty has the hot chocolate and bacon sandwiches ready. At 11.45 I’m ready to take on Halls Fell, I’ve only had to stop one minor disagreement between my 4 and 2 year old and am now joined by Tom and my Dad who has returned from Clough Head just in time.

 

 I pick up a set of poles to get me up Halls Fell and they do the trick. My Dad heads down once on the summit and Tom sticks it out for the onward journey. The usual bog trot is transformed with nicely frozen but not slippy ground. The Caldew is only calf deep and both of us get across without any unplanned swimming. Skiddaw looms in my mind as we descend Great Calva. Once at the fence I go for the Ibuprophen/ Caffeine gell double hit in an attempt to be able to get a decent pace for the descent to Keswick. We pass Letty my wife just before Latrigg and she appears to have inadvertently got herself involved in a minor mountain rescue. Skiddaw and Lattrig prove to be a lot easier in descent than ascent and after a brief jostle with Keswick Market I’m sitting on the steps of the Moot Hall.

With shooting stars, ghostly lights following me, an amazing sunrise and a few new little tricks the whole thing hasn’t sunk in yet. I just want to do one in the snow now.

 

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Comments

1. Nice one Steve! Sounds like a good day :-) Bob

   Posted by Bob Wightman on 17/01/2012

2. Nice one Steve, its deffinatley been the weather for it, although shame there wasn't any snow. Looks like you had a fantastic round... better than what Mhairi Cameron had to deal with!!. Cheers

   Posted by Charlie Sproson on 17/01/2012

3. Inspiring effort!

   Posted by Andy Blackett on 17/01/2012

4. What a blistering pace over Gable and Pillar. 3 hours for that section is fast in the daytime, let alone the night, and 4 and a half hours to dunmail is pretty nifty too. what were your split times on those sections? did you just drink from the stream or did you have pre-placed stuff anywhere?

   Posted by John Fleetwood on 19/01/2012

5. Well done fella. Sounds like a great round.

   Posted by Nick W on 19/01/2012