On 7th
June 2013 I woke up late at about 9am and remembered that a. I had a day off
work, and b. it was my BG day! It was a
beautiful hot sunny day and I spent it doing relaxing girlie things like
visiting the hairdresser to get my hair plaited, painting my toe nails,
pottering about in the front garden and having lunch out. But enough about that….you want to hear about
my BG!
Leg 1
Support crew: Yiannis Tridimas navigator, Ken Maynard and
Bill Williamson.
Leg one
starts at Keswick Moot Hall, heads north up Skiddaw, followed by Great Calva, crosses
the river Caldew, then climbs and descends Blencathra and finishes at
Threlkeld. It’s about 12 miles and 5,500
feet ascent.
After
photos and banter I set off with my trusty crew at midnight on the morning of
Saturday 8th June. The
weather was balmy with only a gentle breeze; shorts, club vest, and a long
sleeved top were plenty warm enough.
Although the sun had gone down, we could see a hint of blue sky near the
horizon and the outlines of the fells were clearly visible.
Yiannis
led the way and never faltered. I had
absolutely no appetite at all but I had promised myself that I would eat
properly, so as Bill handed me my salted boiled potatoes I ate them including
the tiny one he’d saved until last. I
seem to remember hearing the phrase ‘wash it down’ quite a lot; hydration was
important as it was much warmer that we fell runners are used to!
I was
entertained with stories of running adventures:
Bill has just completed his Ramsey Round (60 miles, 28,000 feet), Ken
was signed up for a canoe course the next day with his wife Karen as part of
his training for the Terrex adventure race (an epic 5 days of running, cycling
and canoeing), and Yiannis had just completed the Tranter Round (36 miles
20,000 feet). What a bunch of nutters we
are! It felt tough climbing the fells
and I felt slow and heavy; not a good start.
I tried not to worry about it and focused on the banter and eating
instead.
The river
Caldew was only ankle deep and was really refreshing; a very different
experience to the once thigh deep icy cold crossing I made there! As we crossed Bill pointed out that the sun
was rising already. We climbed
Blencathra to the air filled with the sounds of the Skylark in full morning
chorus as the light increased with the rising sun. It was just stunning. One of the northern fells looked like a
volcano erupting as it was crowned with wisps of grey cloud highlighted in
shades of red and pink.
The
descent off Blencathra passed quickly and I found myself trotting along the
road trying to think what I might be able to eat and wondering how bad the
midges would be at my chosen change over location aka ‘Midge City
I was
greeted by Ian Lewis and Livi Butterworth; my road crew, and Andrew McCracken,
and Dave Swift, who were ready to continue with me on leg 2. Dave’s wife Debbie
had come along too to join the fun and lend a helping hand. It was a bit of a sombre change over for me
as I was behind on my schedule, but everyone was cheerful and soon had me
filled with tea and rice pudding. I said
goodbye and thanks to the team and was on my way.
Splits:
Moot
Hall, Keswick 00:00
Skiddaw 01:28
Great
Calva 02:12
Blencathra 03:33
Threlkeld 04:08
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