The Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon 2013 Corney Fell

For the weekend of the 6th and 7th July, Sam (my youngest son) and I headed to the Lake District for the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon.  It was only four weeks since I completed my BG and Sam had been busy with his GCSE finals, so we weren’t expecting to break any records!

We’d entered the Carrock Fell course which was one level up from our previous efforts and would give us a slightly longer and more challenging route.  I had mixed feelings about this as my feet had been very blistered and bruised in the BG and hadn’t had much time to recover!

We arrived late on the Friday evening, pitched our tent in the late arrivals camping field, and settled down for the night.  It was warm and the air was full of midges so we made use of the midge screens built into our snugpack sleeping bags – these had not previously been put to the test and although a little claustrophobic worked a treat, which is great as they were purchased primarily for bivvying where midges and other critters could be a problem!

 
On Saturday morning we awoke to a glorious sunny day and wasted no time applying the sun cream.  We didn’t know the competition area at all so we had to carry more water than normal in case we couldn’t dip en route.  This added to the weight we had to carry but couldn’t be helped.

Day one saw us climb out of the valley then follow a long and undulating route through the fells.  The navigation was relatively straightforward as the landscape didn’t lend itself to interesting route choices, which was a bit disappointing as it’s the navigational challenge we enjoy most. The ground was generally covered with rough long grass and proved heavy going for me. There was also a lot of contouring which caused some blisters on our feet and forced us to choose long routes in an effort to limit the damage.

We arrived at the overnight camp early in the afternoon.  The location was stunning with views of the coast and western fells.  After a wash in the stream and plenty of rehydration, Sam and I spent most of the afternoon and evening snoozing in the sun, before retreating into the tent when the midges started to appear.  It was a blissful restful way to spend the afternoon! We slept pretty well despite the long afternoon snooze.  I could have slept for half of the next morning too!

Day two brought similar terrain to leg one with lots more grass and contouring.  There was a line of runners to all of the controls which made for a race type scenario and little to be gained from good navigational skills.  However, the scenery was stunning and the weather hot so it still made for a great day on the fells.  I twisted my ankle on the run to the final control and had a temporary moment of horror when I couldn’t bear weight on my foot….thankfully the pain passed quickly and we were soon running again.  It was a brutal descent to the finish over a gorse covered slope which Sam attacked in impressive style.

At the finish the post race dinner was the best ever and the dip in the stream was lovely.  We also enjoyed the post race banter and met a fellow fell runner who has attended Sam’s school in Devon and knows some of his teachers and rugby team mates; a small world it is!

THE BOB GRAHAM ROUND - General Round up, thank you's and a nod to rice pudding

Well it’s taken me a while to get round to writing this last part of my BG report, but better late than never!  Now that I’ve had time to reflect and the reality of a successful round has properly sunk in, I know more than ever that l had a very special experience and one I’ll never forget.
 

A note to Camille and her Mum who have so far escaped a mention….Camille provided my road support at Honister and brought her Mum along for the ride.  I was so tired and focused by then I cannot recall seeing her there.  What I do remember seeing is all of the crew eating and drinking (and of course I also enjoyed another tub of rice pudding and a hot cup of tea myself).  Thanks Camille; it was never certain I would make it as far as Honister and you did a great job and it was lovely to see you at the Moot Hall at the end.



Camille in pink ready and waiting, scanning the horizon for signs of life!

 

Whilst I’m on the subject of rice pudding……a nod to Ambrosia:

Ambrosia at Dunmail Raise

At Wasdale

At Honister Pass

  

And a little later at the Moot Hall

Stef the tramp, wrapped in a blanket eating a different kind of Ambrosia….the best chips I’ve ever tasted!!  Camille’s Mum is also enjoying hers in the background J

 There is a story attached to that blanket which raised a smile or two at the time.  I had sat down on the Moot Hall steps and was feeling a little chilly when a friendly festival goer who had been chatting with us by the green door came over and handed me the blanket he’d been wearing.  It was highly scented with beer but was lovely and warm and I don’t mind the smell of beer so I was very pleased with it!  I noticed a few passers by looking at me in a concerned way but hadn’t really taken much notice until someone in my crew mentioned jovially that I looked like a ‘bag lady’; this amused me greatly!  Not long after, a middle aged man passed by, paused, then started rooting in his pockets looking for something…..then he spotted the fell shoes sticking out of the bottom of my blanket and empty celebratory champagne bottle by my feet, did a double take…then rapidly walked away.  This was greeted with peals of laughter…Stef the tramp missed out on some pennies for a cup of tea!!!!!

It seems an awful long time ago since I took the decision to train for and attempt the Bob Graham Round.  Through my experiences I’ve met a great number of wonderful people and gained a whole new family of friends.  I’ve explored the Lakeland Fells and got to know some lovely parts of the Yorkshire Dales.  I’ve learned how to run on the fells and negotiate rocky and steep ground.  I’ve also begun to understand how to fuel my muscles and keep myself hydrated.  There is still so much to learn and so many places to explore.  I hope my BG becomes only a small part of a long and happy relationship with the fells and all those who share my enjoyment of them.

There have been a few notable experiences in the run up to my BG that stand out in my memory, two of these being key to my BG chances:

The Scafell ascent.  Our friend Paul Atkinson met Andrew and I at Wasdale with a rope for me to attempt the climb up Broad Stand to see whether it was an option for my round as the quickest route up Scafell.  We had a look at the section above the rope climb from above, at which point I realised this was too exposed for my nerves so the rope went unused.  Next we looked at the drop to the Lords Rake approach and started the descent, but Andrew didn’t fancy it and refused to join us so I lost my nerve for that, and had to climb back up with knees wobbling.  Paul said I shot up there ‘like a rat up a drain pipe’! This left the Foxes Tarn route, however, this involves a scree covered descent to the approach to the tarn which I’d tried previously and found very difficult.  Paul didn’t seem phased at all by mine and Andrews cowardice and lack of climbing/scrambling nerves; he took it all in his stride and gave me a crash course on tackling scree.  By following Paul down the scree I found it wasn’t as bad as it had previously seemed.  This totally de-bugged the scree for me not just in this location but generally, and was a key turning point in my training.

The Blencathra descent.  In the early days I knew that the descent off Blencathra was a problem for me because it’s a huge descent and feels very exposed following either of a choice of two ridges from the summit (Doddick Fell or Halls Fell).  I’d heard of a new route that had been devised by a fellow fell runner Yiannis which follows a deep gully rather than a ridge and had been nicknamed as the parachute (because it’s very steep and seems as though you need a parachute to tackle it!).  Andrew and I met with some new friends to check out leg one and the parachute route and had a great day out.  When it came to the descent it was a knee shaking experience and took far too long to complete.  We arrived at the foot and I announced that I needed to go back up and try another route.  This was met by astonishment by our friends and a number of refusals to join me (not surprisingly!).  Auld Ken came to my aid and agreed to take me up and back down the Halls Fell route.  When we came to the rock climb at the top I baulked and Ken had to school me up a grassy traverse to the side as my knees were again quaking.  There was no way I was going back down that route; down is always worse than up for me!  Even the parachute hadn’t felt that bad!  We descended the Doddick route which is a longer option and was even slower for me.  This was a big problem and made me doubt whether a BG could be possible at all.  Some time after we’d met Paul (above) and sorted out the Scafell ascent, we arranged to meet Yiannis to have another attempt at the parachute with the expert.  Yiannis had fine tuned the route and took us and some friends on another reccie of leg one.  For the Blencathra descent Andrew took our friends down the Doddick Fell ridge route leaving Yiannis and I to tackle the parachute together.  I stuck to Yiannis’ heels like glue and shot down in no time at all.  We were sat by the car with our shoes and socks off sunning ourselves when the others appeared! So that was the end of my Blencathra troubles and a BG was looking increasingly possible! 

There is so much more I could say, but enough is enough!  Now is the time to call my rambling on to a close and say thank you.  Please feel free to share your memories and highlights in the comments if you have any special moments to add to my memory bank here on my blog.

 My thanks go to all of my support team; those that joined me on the fell and those that came out to support me and the runners at the road stops en route.  Your company made my round special and your assistance was vital to my success.  Thank you all so very much.  Also I’d like to thank everyone who joined me on my two failed attempts two years ago and also everyone who has joined Andrew and I out on the fell on the many reccies and long training days out we enjoyed.  There are too many of you to mention by name.  Last but by no means least my thanks go to Andrew for being there and sharing the sorrows and joys of the whole BG experience from start to end.