173. Dragon’s Back race 2023, 4th to 9th September 23

134.44 miles, 10,094 m of ascent, 47 hours 45 minutes, 21 seconds. 107th ultra. Hatchling course.

We volunteered at last year’s Dragon’s Back Race with the intention of gaining as much information as possible and getting the race credits. My first thought was we need to be in by 8pm each evening, to avoid night time navigation plus have time to do race admin, eat and sleep as we’d also need to be out on the trails by 6am, which is a 4.30 alarm! I read a lot of blogs on the race and knew having a coach was a good idea so I signed up with Kim Cavill who gave me good guidance throughout the year and incorporated strength and conditioning. I’m not sure how good a client I am as we know the things that work for us such as plenty of time on the route to train for the terrain plus learn the route. I didn’t do the yoga but keep meaning to. I also had a year hit with episodes of fatigue which reduced my ability to train. I finally got a GP to check my testosterone levels and as expected these were low.  I had to go private to get a menopause specialist to prescribe testosterone as the years wait on the NHS seemed too much, not all GP’s have the training to prescribe this for women. The private appointment was amazing as she looked at me for more than just my menopause symptoms. She recommended taking iron supplements as although my ferritin was within normal limits she felt as a runner it should be much higher. Time will tell if all this contributes to reducing the fatigue episodes.

We had a good taper planned but didn’t expect Andy to be full of nasty cold for two weeks before the race. I rested early and avoided the worst of that.

TENT 12 – Tent Mates

Pete Huzan we met volunteering at Cape Wrath 2021 and have done numerous recces with.

Karl Williams friend of Pete

Pete O’Kane, another friend of Pete’s. He did Cape Wrath 2022 and will be referred to as Pedro. 

Niklas, from Sweden. Pete met him at Cape Wrath last year, he tried Dragons Back timing out on day 3.

Patrik and Simon, also from Sweden. They chose our tent as they spotted the other Swede was in it. Andy formed a messenger group so we could introduce ourselves. It was through this we learnt of Patriks missing bag! Simon completed last year. Patrik had to miss his last 2 attempts. 

SUNDAY 3rd

Rachael dropped us at New Pudsey station. We were carrying an extra sleep bag, mat and poles for tent mate Patrik as his bag was still in Stockholm airport. Trains to Chester and direct to Conwy with a lot of ‘Would be Dragons’. We chatted to Anthony Stevens that we’d met at Cape Wrath. 

Registration wasn’t too busy, we met Pete H and various other friends. Dropped off my main bag 14kg (max 15kg) perfect! Karl’s wife gave us a lift to Lidl for last minute shopping then we walked to the AirBnB house. 

Walked back for the Race Brief at 18:30 and tea. 

We didn’t stay too long but managed to get a tent mates photo except they missed Pedro off it! Pedro was struggling getting routes onto his watch Andy tried to help but the borrowed laptop didn’t have the right software. 

Back to the airbnb and early bed. 

MONDAY 4th. 24.11 miles, 10.44.30, 2824m. Conwy to Pen y Pass. 

4:30 alarm, out the house by 5:05, straight to Conwy Castle to hand in our bags. Drop bag 2.5kg, phew!

Race bag with water 6.6kg! 3 litres was water. Andy’s 6.9kg. We knew we needed plenty of water as it was hot already. The choir was singing, a lovely atmosphere in the centre of the ruins. 

At 6am sharp out along the walls. We were quite near the front. Up the hill then we did our sneaky route to avoid crowds, Karl joined us. As it turned out the ladies just in front of us popped out onto the track so we hadn’t been quicker. There are sections of mandatory route but then the rest is just recommended so we needed to ensure we didn’t break the rules. 

Up Conwy Mountain in a stream of runners that steadily overtook us. The heat didn’t really hit us until the start of the big climbs. We were pleased we did the next short cut round Tal y Fan with the steep climb up to the stile and trig as we overtook a lot. It was disappointing to not be allowed to climb back over the stile as the track was rough and gridlocked.  

We’d not seen Pete since the start as he set off fast. We saw him sitting a little later struggling with the heat. He stayed with us awhile but not as far as the shortcut missing Carnedd Dafydd, 3^rd highest mountain in Wales. Then the descent down to Ogwen checkpoint which was busy with people climbing up. We ate our pasties as we ran along the road. I’d only drunk 2.5 litres, I was pleased to know Andy was drinking more. 

Half a can of soup each worked well, a good drink but only filled 2 bottles for the next section. I left my poles in my drop bag knowing I wouldn’t use them much on this section. 

Andy led the way up the steps to Tryfan. A couple of guys fell in behind us. Any spot of shade had runners sheltering but we kept moving. Andy was happy to lead us up the scramble. He struggled a few times nearer the top, slipping back and was heading straight up rather than on obvious good paths next to us even when I pointed them out. I suggested stopping to fuel up but he was keen to get up. Finally I managed to get him to stop. He looked pale with wild sunken eyes. I got him to eat and drink but needed better shade which we found. He was talking randomly at times, didn’t want to sit in one spot because of the ‘pool of water’, to me he was hallucinating. People stopped to check on us. I asked them to send a marshal down to us. Niklas went by, I was surprised he been behind us.

Finally Andy asked me to press his SOS button and I rang HQ. They advised someone was on their way, they encouraged me to keep him cool and drinking. Jenny, a medic from mountain rescue, arrived. We chatted for a while. I think I was with him 40 minutes before Jenny talked about me going on. Guide time for the top of Tryfan was 2pm, I left at 2:30 so it was always going to be tough getting to the cutoff point at Pen y Pass. 

I don’t like the descent of Tryfan. A marshal guides you over the narrow top then you just find a way down. You keep seeing good paths below and head for them only to realise they’re not really tracks! I saw Michael Burke a 3 time completer but he was struggling. I was surprised when he pointed up the Glyder ascent and asked if we went up that!

It was a tough scree climb, I was taking it too quickly and soon slowed, luckily it was mostly in shade. The top is rocky with no real path. I was slowly overtaking people, hoping I’d make the cut off but knowing I didn’t want to go up Snowdon without Andy. 

Over to Glyder Fawr checkpoint then the marshy descent. I overtook more people here and found Karl struggling with cramp. I gave him salt tablets and ran down saying I’d see him at the checkpoint. We’d not perfected the final run to the checkpoint and a marshal was up higher than my planned route. I’d be surprised if I really needed to climb up to him but did. We’d gone lower and slower than Pete last time but I’m sure he didn’t take the route I did today. 

I missed the cut-off by 5 minutes! I bought an ice cream from the YHA and sat in the shade and updated a few people knowing I’d have no internet or reception at camp. I’d thought about walking down the hill to camp but chose to get a lift when the offer came. 

No news on Andy. Pete was in camp having stopped at Ogwen so I got sorted then saw Nikki medic who said Andy was back. He came to the river with me but felt washed out and nauseous. He didn’t eat at tea time and wanted an early night. 

We heard the 3 Swedes and Pedro all finish. Niklas only just made it so I’m glad I didn’t try!

Apparently James Thurlow from the tracking service was really surprised I’d left Andy, he put me down as a Hatchling when he saw Andy was in trouble so he had to change that when he saw me moving again. 

TUESDAY 5th. 13.34 miles, 5.17.53. 1453m. Camp 2 to water station, Maentwrog.

Andy wanted as much rest as he could. He still struggled to eat. We decided to try the first half of the day, Pete planned to do the second half. We wanted to be out of the heat as soon as we could. Karl came with us at 7:35. I knew really it was too late to get to the water point cut off but wanted what was best for Andy. We’d been going only a few miles when the race leaders, who have to set off later, slid past us running up the hill! In the woods I said to Karl he was best to push ahead if he wanted to try to make the cut off as we were getting slower. He headed off. 

Andy was getting slower and not really looking up much. At the end of the mandatory route where we would leave the road and head up Cnicht (the first checkpoint) I suggested we should head back to camp. He agreed but checked his map and decided to go back by staying on the road rather than back across the fields. That way he’d either meet the vehicles leaving camp, be able to catch a bus or be easier to find if he needed to stop and call for help. He encouraged me to go on, he just felt tired. I was relieved as I was worried about the steep climbs ahead but I was anxious about leaving him on his own. He made it back to the main road ok and was picked up by James Thurlow and taken for coffee so it worked out well. 

I continued and soon was climbing up but luckily in the shade. I asked a photographer to look out for Andy as he was on his way down. I was amused when I overtook two racers as they were taking an extra long route round to avoid a boggy section. I know some people struggle with blisters when they get wet feet but I knew it wouldn’t be long before they couldn’t avoid it! I’m lucky as wet feet equals soft feet and no blisters. 

The final climb to Cnicht was also in shade. I was soon making my way down the scree section. We’ve done it differently each time! Over the dam and up the boggy section. I’d seen Karl ahead and soon caught him. He was enjoying chatting to Bob the oldest competitor in the race at 69, I think. 

There was a group of what we thought were hikers ahead. Stopping to check their route frequently. I caught them and realised they were racers. They said they were fine as I passed them, I needed to get away as the bigger the group the slower the progress!

I spotted Karl had a good route on the way to the first Moelwyn but he was behind me so I couldn’t follow. It was really windy on the top and I kept tripping over my running poles so I put them away. It’s a horrible rocky route between the two Moelwyn’s but looking back I couldn’t see Karl taking a better route. It’s a ‘there and back’ on the second Moelwyn, a guy coming down was really struggling. I caught him at the dam and showed him the way down. There was someone painting the dam wall but he’d left a gap for us to slide over! Of all the days to pick!

It was hot coming down through the bracken, Kirsty had warned us of this before we left. It wasn’t long before I reached the water point checkpoint at Maentwrog. I’d missed the cut-off by 34 minutes. I was advised to head to The Grapes pub as they’d be collecting us from there 90 minutes later. I led a couple of guys over. One guy had helped someone with heat exhaustion yesterday and he was too late to catch the checkpoints but was told he was still in the race as credit. Sadly today was too much for him. 

I had an icebcream Sundae, of course. Good to chat to other Hatchlings and hear from Andy that he was safely in camp. Looking at the news they were predicting today to be the hottest day of the year but tomorrow to be hotter!

Back at camp by 15:20. A full soak in the cold river which was perfect in the heat. Protein shake, chips and fruit smoothies. Bonus treat!

I missed Pete coming in at 18:20 as I went to get warm clothes on but saw him just after with his dragon wings on, he’d run in them all day!

Andy ate a little more but was still tired. Early night again. We’d been given an extra 30 minutes today, they wanted people to use it at the main checkpoint and the time would be taken off their running time, this gave a final cut off time of 22:30. 

WEDNESDAY 6th. 15.06 miles. 5.38.57, 1127m.  Machynlleth to camp 3 With Andy initially then Pete.

We chose the shorter second half section which meant get ready for 8:30. We’d not really heard our 4 dragon tent mates heading out at 6am. We were bused to Machynlleth at 9:30 but couldn’t really do anything until we were allowed at the checkpoint for 11:45. We sat on a bench in the shady park thinking we didn’t really need anything from the Coop. We’d been told they would weigh our drop bags as they were worried people would stock up on beer and other goodies. 

A quick gathering at the checkpoint. Carmine played the accordion as usual and we were off. He’s doing the Hatchling course carrying the 10kg accordion on his back! He soon caught us. 

Andy hadn’t been sure what to do today. He knew to be a Hatchling he needed to start each day with the intention of completing the section but had to reach a checkpoint, the Hatchling rules weren’t clear but Shane went through them before we set off today. We set off up the hill with Pete knowing the first checkpoint was at 2 miles. Andy decided to stop there and find a shady spot to rest in before heading back down to the Machynlleth checkpoint. It wasn’t heat exhaustion any more but the aftermath of not eating much for a few days. He wasn’t on his own so had company to go to town with as it was a long wait for the lift back. 

Pete and I had a good run. He wanted me to name the Seven Dwarves and then allocate a name to each of us in the tent as we were Snow White and 7. He was surprised that I didn’t know them all plus didn’t want to be Snow White. Pete had allocated Dopey to himself thinking it wasn’t fair to give the name to anyone else but ended up calling me Dopey instead. 

We stopped by the river on the way to Pumlumon. Carmine played again! Pete has a sneaky crossing up to a better path on the other side of the stream. We’d missed the right place to cross on both the recces but Andy found it last time so we knew what we were doing. Lots followed us. It was on this track that the first fast runner caught us shortly followed by the race leader. Pete had shown him the shortcut when he met him on a recce. Pete joked about coaching him and he laughed and thanked Pete for the tip. 

The climb up Pumlumon was hot. I tried ringing Pete’s mum for him a few times as his phone was too deep in his bag. I also managed to hear from Andy. We knew there’d be no reception in camp. 

It’s a long run in with good views down to the camp and we run past it before heading down to the road. We ran the last track section into camp and were greeted with ice pops. Amazing in that heat. 

Karl was already in. We planned to go straight to the stream but a guy said he’d had chips sitting in the water so we loaded up with chips and sat in the cold water as recommended. Someone had dammed up one end so there was a nice pool. 

I headed back to get dressed and get my tea plus more chips for Pete a drone flew overhead and we made it into the official videos for days 3 and 6. We could see Andy walking into camp. He was feeling much better so ate well. Whilst we were all sitting eating suddenly Niklas appeared as well! He’d been timed out at Machynlleth. How disappointing! He was shattered having only just got in in time both days. We headed to bed just after Pedro came in and heard the other guys come in too but left them to get themselves organised. 

THURSDAY 7th. 42.16 miles, 12.55.12. 2267m. Day 4 with Andy. 

Up at 4:30 and ready to leave by 6 with the intention of doing the nicer first half of the day in the cool. It’s mostly road after that. We’d had our trackers taken off last night for charging so headed for bag check and to drop off camp bags and drop bags early to avoid a queue through to the start but it was very efficient. A few people had head torches on but we didn’t need them. It was slightly gloomy heading up the hill just after 6am but clear. A long slow chain of people, many overtaking us. It was great to see the wind turbines ahead and know our journey. The steep down in the pine trees was tricky as there were so many of us. We got stuck behind people a few times but mostly got by. I had started wearing gaiters after doing this section the first time so I was pleased to not get any pine needles in my shoes this time even though the Velcro had come off at the back. 

Up and over the hills following the long line of people hoping we were hitting the better tracks that had been faint on our recces. Andy was happy to keep going at the first checkpoint that was 7 miles in. We pushed along the 2 road sections. It was interesting seeing the different routes up to the Esgair Penygarreg trig point, there are quite a few to our right so I’d be keen to get that route. Others on the official route were slower than us. On the way down to Elan village we saw Pedro and the two Swedes, I guess we had fresher legs! 

Into the main checkpoint. We were moving well at our 8pm finish time speed. Andy was keen to keep going. A quick stop to check feet and reapply squirrel nut butter to my back as the bottom of my race vest was rubbing. 

We saw Patrik and Simon. I offered Patrik my leki running poles as I’d stopped using them but he’d not used that style so declined. He’d apologised that morning as someone had stood on and broken one of my old poles. He promised to fix it, but I reassured him I didn’t need them back. 

Out within 25 minutes. We saw people hobbling down the road who’d just done the necessary 1.1 miles to the next checkpoint. 

We kept overlapping with Pedro on this section as we passed the reservoirs and headed up to Drygarn Fawr trig, where we’d first properly met him on a recce. 

The rolling road section was hard work. I couldn’t keep motivated to run but knew we’d eat away at the miles if we did at least run on the downs and flats. I was worried about getting shin splint pain by doing too much as well. 

The farm track section was less muddy and churned up than a month ago. In places slate was down to make it easier to grip. We stayed on the high track between sections but probably should have gone on the race route below as it’s a mandatory section but we were very close, within 200m. 

It was nice and soft coming back down to the road. We both stood in streams to cool and get clean. I wish I’d cleaned my shoes a little more. 

The long road section was painful. I’d been thinking of trying all of Day 5 (tomorrow) but knew the first section was mostly road, a good 10 miles or so. I also really wanted to be with Andy and when we knew the next day would be full sun the decision was made. We’d been blessed with cloud cover which kept this day cooler. 

We took Pete’s shortcut to miss a road section and saw people cutting various other corners. 

It was wonderful to get to camp and receive another ice cream! Karl, Pete and Niklas were all back as they did the first half, my Bear was sitting waiting for me in the tent! A very quick soak in the river as it was very cold and in full view of the pub. We didn’t go to the pub but Pedro was back in time so nipped over before the 8pm last orders. 

Food and early to bed again. Full course completed today.

FRIDAY 8th. 20.09 miles, 7:47.43, 1878m. Cray Reservoir to camp with Andy, Pete and Niklas

Andy was feeling much better but we still decided to do a half day and enjoy our time in the Brecon Beacons. Up 6:30 ready to leave by 8:00 for the second half route, only to be told there was going to be a delay as the transport was being used to take runners that had opted just to do the last 10 miles (added as an option due to the heat). Our MPV driver didn’t realise he was taking us to Cray Reservoir but luckily we mentioned it! It was quite cramped at the checkpoint and they were worried about us wandering onto the busy road. We were due to start at 11 but they set us off at 10:30. Carmine played his accordion and we sang happy birthday for Shane the race director first. 

A steep sharp climb up Fan Gyhirych, the first hill then various climbs up hills towards the main Brecon Beacons. It was so hot with no shade. I had Pete’s dragon wings on but they were annoying, tickling my ears. I found Pete at the Storey Arms checkpoint and gave them back. A few people had missed the checkpoint at the underpass and gone straight over the road so had to head back! A lady was selling cool-ish drinks but we didn’t stop.

I’d been thinking of stopping at the Storey Arms due to the heat but knew we’d have to wait ages for transport back to camp. Andy mentioned the same. I suddenly remembered that if we went up Corn Du and were struggling then we could take the military road down to the tarmac road which would take us to camp. Pete and Niklas were using their free 30 minutes at the checkpoint but we just wanted to get to camp. I drank a lot and filled up. Pete had given me extra pain au chocolat which I really enjoyed as the chocolate melted into the bread. 

Pete and Niklas caught us on the climb. We stopped a few times to cool down but still made good time to the top of Corn Du. We were amazed how many people had dogs up there, especially as there was no water or shade. We were feeling good, the shortcut to camp wasn’t mentioned again. 

We stayed with Pete and Niklas over the tops and watched a guy take a different line when we were on the flat section after Fan y Big before the turn to Carn Pica. It’s rough on the top so we’re not sure if it would be any quicker or if they were more confident on the rough ground. 

From Carn Pica Niklas started to run and quickly disappeared. He and Pete had been joking about having a head to head race today. As we reached the last cairn and started a steep descent Pete started to run. We ran to catch up and reached them both at the stream. Niklas had intended to wait there anyway and we headed to camp together. Great to cross the line as a team. 

Another ice cream at the finish, even though mine snapped in the bag, it all got eaten. A good soak in the river, Andy dug out stones to get in deeper. 

Food and an early night. Lovely getting Dragon mail as we had no reception. We’d been messaging during the day with people when we could. 

We decided not to risk the full day and sun again tomorrow. There were two options: run the full day or the last section, I guess they knew everyone would want to run into the finish. 

SATURDAY 9th. 19.68 miles, 5.10.47, 545m of ascent. Trelewis to Cardiff castle with Andy, Pete and Karl.

Pete was finally ready to go by 9, we’d been told we were leaving at 8! He and Andy enjoyed putting ice cubes in their hats, down our backs then in their shorts as we waited. Debs White has been getting rid of loads. Pete gave us our daily motivational stickers. 

Lots of runners went by MPV to a big coach. We had to wait awhile as they hoped the other smaller coach would come to the camp. It was nearly 10 when they sent us by MPV to the coach, which was in a nearby village. We saw the earlier group still waiting for their coach to arrive! It was a long drive round via the Storey Arms. 

We were meant to be leaving Trelewis checkpoint at 11 but didn’t arrive until just after that. Initially we were told we’d then be leaving around 11:45 but suddenly it was 11:35 and we were off. They’d set the next coach off when they arrived. Pete saw the Swedes and Pedro arrive, having run from the camp, but we set off before them. 

Pete was late leaving as he put his wings on, Karl stayed with him and they ran to catch us as we jogged along. There was very little climbing today so even with the first climb of the day we were maintaining 15 minutes on average a mile, much quicker than 24 minutes yesterday!

Pete’s friend Heather kept popping up along the way to cheer us on along and came to the castle later. 

We’d hoped to meet some of Andy’s family at the water point checkpoint as it was a pub so we knew they could sit and wait for us but they got stuck in traffic plus we realised we’d be arriving 45 minutes early! We were given ice pops at the checkpoint, I drank loads and allowed Caz to pour cold water over my head. We were there for about 15 minutes. Pete wanted to stay longer but we were keen to keep moving. 

Andy was keeping an eye on the tracker as to where Niklas was in front of us and the guys behind.  We stormed along enjoying the cool beneath the trees when there was some but also how good it was to be on the flat most of the way. I mostly trotted along. The guys were faster than me so they walked for a bit then jogged to catch me. Pete kept complaining that we were running too much but would then run off to chat to someone. He was delighted when Ravi from India asked if he could take his photo as he was wearing his wings again especially when Pete got me to take one of the 2 of them. He then rushed ahead to ensure Ravi saw the Victorian post box!

It was wonderful watching the miles ticking down on my watch knowing we’d soon be at Bute Park and then Cardiff Castle. Just before the final corner Pete nipped behind a tree to change into his fiery legging and Welsh shorts. We don’t think he was the naked man the police were asking about later! The 4 of us ran to the drawbridge, held hands and ran the circuit round to the finish. It was so lovely to see Andy’s family and so many friends cheering us through. 

We talked to Andy’s family, got drinks and our bags and sat awhile. We hoped to see our final three tent mates cross the line but I knew I needed to change plus there wouldn’t be much time before the prize giving. 

Cathie and Co headed to their Airbnb. We headed back to the Premier Inn with Duncan and Jo. A quick shower and back for food and the presentation on the big stage. They started with the volunteers & staff who had run last year but missed out on presentation in the castle plus the 12 runners who repeated Day 6 so they could finish there. They read out the Hatchlings in alphabetical order but we just went up when we got there. Then the Dragons were called up, last to first, with runners still finishing and going straight up. The top 3 men and ladies were called up then photos of the top 3 with the original 1992 race director. All very lovely with the lights on the castle keep and sun setting. We managed to get some tent team photos. Patrik was very emotional about the support we’d given him by lending the gear. Sounds like they don’t have that same runners community support in Sweden. 

Duncan and Jo went back to the hotel. We had rice pudding with the guys then went back to the hotel too. Very tired and relieved. Sad that Andy didn’t get his Hatchling but hopefully we’ll do better next year! I’m pleased to have managed 134.44 miles with 10,094 m of ascent (33116.8 feet) in 47 hours 45 minutes, an average of 21 minutes per mile!

This year from 297 starters only 87 Dragons (29%) completed the full course with 134 Hatchlings (45%) reaching day 6 and 76 runners (26%) retiring before the end. This is the first year they have offered the Hatchling as an official race, we know one guy who entered knowing he couldn’t do the full.

Sunday we had an open top bus tour round Cardiff with the family plus food with Duncan and Jo in the evening at The Coconut Tree. Sri Lankan food. Train home Monday morning, in the rain. I only managed 2 of the 3 ice cream stops I’d hoped for!

WHAT WENT WELL

GRAB BAG

Having my food bowl and cup, with charging pack, head torch, protein shake, tooth brush & paste at the top of my bag. I also put a tube of electrolytes so I had my water sacks ready to fill first thing the next day. I’d add a spare waterproof if needed. Last in, first out each day. 

Should add insect repellent. 

DROP BAG

Spare shoes with sunscreen in one to stop it bursting everywhere. 

Spare tape, scissors, electrolytes, squirrel nut butter and spork which I didn’t use in the other shoe. I had food for the day plus a can of soup. Later in the race my poles went in but would have been too heavy at the race start as I had tooth paste etc from our overnight stay. I will use my poles on a full day but felt strong on the half days. 

MAIN CAMP BAG

Individual numbered day bags with food, alternate day tin of soup, cut tape for toes, race plan strip, socks for everyday, T-shirts alternate days. All in the bottom of the bag. Rolled up pillow, lightweight sleeping mat and warm sleeping bag tucked up in one bag. I had spare leggings, long sleeved too plus day 6 clothes stuffing the pillow. A bag with sleeping clothes, spare waterproof trousers plus jackets for camp. I kept my thicker race waterproof jacket in here when I realised I didn’t need it for the race. Waterproof hat and extra clothes which we didn’t end up needing. 

A bag with wash kit, lightweight towel and toiletries. Flannel was in grab bag. Would have filled the food bowl with cold water for a wash in the tent if I was too late to go to the stream. The streams were amazing. 

Crocs and Bear (spare gloves, eye mask and ear plugs in belly) went in just before my grab bag. 

Wet kit went to the bottom each day in one plastic bag. Spare food and empty plastic bags in another bag. 

I felt I had little to sort through each day. We were organised getting our bags topped up ready each day on our arrival for heading out the next day. If we’d been in later we would have eaten first then looked at kit admin before we slept.

FOOD

Pasties bought the day before we left and in-date for the race.  Didn’t get one for Saturday knowing we’d be passing lots of shops, think I would have a smaller bag of food for day 6 knowing there’d be spare food in the info tent plus chances are I’d not eat all my food on other days.

Pain au chocolat need at least 4 a day. They were great especially as the chocolate melted!

Choc bars and cheese worked if eaten early otherwise they melted. 

Need to plan race fuel to weight and carb ratio sooner. Coated flavoured peanuts were amazing plus higher in carbs. Add clif blocs again but not too much sweet stuff, I’ll avoid gels even though others were saying that was all they could eat.

THINGS TO REMEMBER FOR NEXT TIME

You get given a race T-shirt at registration so keep that for camp or the finish. 

Have zip off trousers as leggings but use for journey home. 

One shirt a day but 2 vests for the week. 

Take bikini for better river options nice to wash shorts if warm enough, I didn’t mind putting wet stuff on each morning as it was warm enough to dry before we set off but it may have contributed to the sore back I got but Andy put KTape on it which stayed on for 2 days and is less sticky than zinc tape which leaves sticky marks and then your clothes stick to that and you get sorer. 

Squirrel nut butter on my feet was great. I reapplied on the long day so will keep that in my drop bag.

BLOGS to read

https://tamingthedragon.co.uk/running-blog/f/dragons-back-race-2023

Five Ways To Finish The Dragon’s Back Race

Dragon’s Back Race 2021

https://www.bigskyrunning.co.uk/post/dragon-s-back-2023

https://overthecontours.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-dragons-back-race-2023.html (Dragon1)

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com

Dragon’s Back Race 2023: Facing the challenge again!

https://www.oldiesultras.com/post/dragonfire

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com

2023 The Dragon’s Back Race

 Be thankful for Andy, Mum & Dad, Family, Work, Friends, My health

Need to think about songs to have in my head.

DRAGONMAIL, many thanks to all who sent them

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Great Lakeland 3Day. 29th April to 1st May

The Great Lakeland 3Day is an Ourea Events run, an annual early May Bank Holiday event taking place in a different location each year. Runners have their overnight kit transported each day to the next campsite where an event village with food vendors awaits. They must carry enough food with them for each of the three days though and be self-sufficient while on the hill. The choice of routes is varied too with a shorter Café course all the way up the Extreme, with the added flexibility of choosing your course each day. We chose the Fellrunner course each day, knowing that the extreme had been too much for us in the past. We were given the map on friday evening which is marked with checkpoints, instructions then tell you which checkpoints and the order that you need to reach them for each day. The route between them is yours to choose. If you’re a regular Lake District runner you may know better routes than others. We studied the routes and made rough plans for each day, these often changed when we spotted other routes on the day or from chatting to friends in the camps who helped advise us. 

The weather was mixed with Saturday being misty on the tops including Scar Fell, Sunday we were in waterproofs all day and rarely saw anything because of the cloud cover but Monday was lovely with great views across the Lake District. We were both delighted at how strong we felt throughout despite sleeping in a noisy campsite and being a little less well rested. 

Day 1. 20.98 miles, 2715m of ascent in 9:12:58. 48th of 106. 11th lady. Start Coniston, over Old Man of Coniston, Hard Knott, Scafell and Bowfell, camp at Langdale.

Day 2. 21.69 miles, 2385m of ascent in 9:19:27. 28th of 58. 8th lady. Langdale to Pike of Blisco, Cold Pike, Crinkle Crags, Rossetti Pike, Loft Crag, Harrison Stickle, High Raise, Easdale New Bridge, Silver How back to Langdale

Day 3. 19.96 miles, 1917m of ascent, 7:00:46. 26th of 35. 6th lady Longmont Fell, Loughrigg Fell, Skelwith Bridge, Tilberthwaite Gill Bridge, Wetherlam, Brim Fell, Miners Bridge back to Coniston camp.

Overall position joint 22nd of 26 who did the fellrunner route on each of the 3 days.

DAY 1. Fellrunner route. 9:12:58, 20.98 miles, 2715m of ascent. 48th of 106. 11th lady. Start Coniston, over Old Man of Coniston, Hard Knott, Scafell and Bowfell, camp at Langdale. 

7am start cool and a light rain so on went the waterproofs. Bags weighed 11.7 and 12kg so nicely under the 13kg limit. We realised our chosen route would have taken us through the purple prohibited area after we climbed up too far following others.  We tended to go with our route but see what others were doing.  A lot of the day was on broken down sharp bracken or over slate. There wasn’t always a path to follow so we pushed up steep slopes at times. Sadly we didn’t get many views as there were low clouds but coming off the Old Man of Coniston the clouds were below us do we had good views across the peaks. 

Coming down was tough as the most obvious route would have taken us through a purple zone. Instead we dropped down to a farm, the farmer wasn’t happy!

On and up Hard Knott which had no path really, unless we’d gone up the zigzags or a path parallel to it then cut up to the top. . We then ran along the top awhile before dropping down steeply to the bridge. Others had come down from the summit a lot sooner but I’d been anxious about the crash being to tricky to climb down. 

At the bridge a guy advised us to cross the steam and flow that path which was good going. 

Coming up to Scarfell we decided to take a more direct route which was perfect especially when we saw the route down a narrow gully which we would have had to climb on the main route. Instead we had quite a steep climb but it was good under foot so we could keep moving. 

Before we got to Scafell Pile we met Andy and Petra Chapman Gibbs out doing Wainrights. 

Loads of people were on Scafell Pike making it hard on the narrow paths to get down. Our route undulated over the tops to Bowfell and then the steep tricky descent to camp. 

Great to set the tent up in the dry and get washed and changed inside. We were given cake and beer token so headed over for scones, jam and clotted cream! Amazing. We sat outside and chatted with others and had Pizza for tea. 

We went into the hub to listen to a Q&A about Howard who did the Cape Wrath Ultra last year then the meds Nat and Nikki discussed footcare. We do it well but have more advice. Off to bed just after 8. Tired. 

DAY 2. Sunday 30th Fellrunner route 9.19.27, 21.69 miles, 2385m of ascent. 28th of 58. 8th lady. Langdale to Pike of Blisco, Cold Pike, Crinkle Crags, Rossetti Pike, Loft Crag, Harrison Stickle, High Raise, Easdale New Bridge, Silver How, crossing point up high behind Old Dungeon Gyhll and back to Langdale Camp. 

It was raining when we woke up. We put full waterproofs on and headed for breakfast ready to go. Sausage and egg sandwiches. 

We left just after 7 shoring we had bivvy bag and head torch. First test of the day was finding the way to the start we turned left out of the start area instead of right. I realised straight away luckily!  

We caught Jan on the old road and headed up to the turn of for Pikr of B. We removed our waterproof as here as we were warming up but soon had to put the tops back on and they stayed on for the rest of the day. 

Up to the top then out to … before heading to Crinkle Crags. It was tough finding a way off but we were soon joined by others who gave us confidence in our route choice. There was little visibly have any sense of where we were. Jan caught us here have gone over the tops and we chatted to Mark who was an orienteer. We stayed together for quite awhile as we looked for the Bob Graham path down and decided heading up that route would be easier, we avoided it and stuck to our planned route round to a long drag up Loft Crag. . It was wonderful to have a moment of seeing people heading off path up the route we wanted but they soon disappeared as did Mark once we reached the top. Jan stayed with us to the end but was part of the decision making rather than following out route blindly. Then the sharp down to … from here our last big climb up to High Raise. I was finally feeling cold so stopped to put my waterproof trousers on, backwards! The descent was steep and we ran little of it but we found it tricky. It was wonderful to see the clouds lifting and views around. 

One last climb to Silver How along with at least one other route do it was lovely meeting others. We were heading down to Langdale but had an out and back to a bridge then a tricky steep climb up behind the Old Dungeon Ghyll pub. The path from there was bumpy and we could see others on the flat path below. Into camp in a similar time to yesterday. Really pleased especially as the rain had finally stopped. Pete was at the finish and we dipped our timers. 19th finishers today but later that was at least 28 out of 56. First FV50 but Jan was seconds behind and she was a stronger runner. We had encouraged her to go on ahead earlier but she stayed with us. 

Changed into dry clothes then over for cake a choice of treats with Fiona serving. Tiffin with clotted cream for Andy and salted caramel brownie for me. We found seats in the main tent and Andy got hot food. Then we listened to Shane interviewing Lisa Watson who’s won the Dragons Back twice and then interviewed Tom Hollins as a Scarpa sponsored athlete. We know him for winning The Spine. Pete joined us with cake to share but had to get back to work. Lovely seeing a lot of the crew that we know. 

Back to the tent for 8 to get ready plus an early night. 

DAY 3. Monday 1st. Fellrunner route. 7:00:46, 19.96 miles, 1917m of ascent. 26th of 35. 6th lady. Longmont Fell, Loughrigg Fell, Skelwith Bridge, Tilberthwaite Gill Bridge, Wetherlam, Brim Fell, Miners Bridge back to Coniston camp. 

A dry morning, we had to pack up the tent and hand in our drop bags. There were queue for breakfast and drinks but we were off just after 7 with a steady stream of runners. Straight up a hill then over the tops towards Grasmere. Great to have views. 

Down to the edge of town then up Loughrigg. We’d run alongside a guy in red shorts, and took his route off road instead of going on road through town. He was quicker than us on the downs and flats but we overtook him on the climbs. We used him as a guide as to whether our route was a good one or not. It was interesting to see him behind us as we went up Wetherlam much later. Everyone seemed to be coming back the route we climbed Loughrigg which surprised us as we thought we’d be going off to the side. We took a different route round the tarn to the others around us which was lovely and took us down to the Lakeland 100 route. We met a lot of other runners after Skelwith Bridge including one guy running back as he had missed the checkpoint on the bridge. The others were coming towards us as we headed towards Tilberthwaite. We took a different route to get down to Tilberthwaite as there seemed a lot of road but sections we weren’t allowed on with the parrlel path, then we were excited at seeing the Lakeland 100 steps that we ended up going up them and were on the opposite side of the Gill to most people but we still got to the checkpoint bridge. We decided against going up the side of Wetherlam as it looked so steep so we followed the path and it was still steep at the top. The clouds moved in as we approached the summit and stayed with us as we picked our way across the tops of the final few hills, we came back over the Old Man of Coniston and were amazed at how many people were coming up. The rain stopped and by the time we got back to camp it was really warm, a totally different day.

Pete fed us brownies and we got changed before heading over for post race chilli. Really pleased with the overall event and our racing. We were pleased to be back in time today but it was less hilly and much more runnable. Home for a long hot bath.

172. Hardmoors 30, 7th January 23

Hardmoors 30, 7th January 23. 33.58 miles 1,379 m of ascent. 8 hours 4.34. 14.26 minute miles. Joint 103 of 196, 9th in age. 28th lady. 106th ultra. 

This was my 12th time of running the event, the route has changed a few times and is now nearly 4 miles longer with an additional hill from my first attempt so although this was my slowest time to date it was also my longest distance.
We started in Robin Hoods Bay and the section to Whitby went to plan as we chatted to the near constant stream of people flying past us. The coastal path was wet and wild, a couple of times I was held back by it but mostly fine. Normal conditions underfoot (muddy) gave us our usual advantage of overtaking people who have less confidence. I felt sluggish a few times so I ate which helped, snickers and jaffa cakes mostly. My hamstrings felt tight so I took 2 paracetamols with caffeine in and that plus the cheese and onion pasty was what I needed after Robin Hoods Bay CP. It was then a long slow drag along the cinder track. I’m not very good on the flat but was pleased that we mostly overtook people rather than earlier where we were being overtaken.
The turn back onto the coast with its undulations was great as any wind was behind us, the rain stopped and the sun came out. That gave me the lift I needed but I had to keep slowing as Andy was struggling with the hills. As usual he’d spent most of the time chatting to people on the cinder track and either speeding ahead of me or having to chase to catch up so was surprised when I started to pick up pace as he’d used a lot more energy earlier! I was delighted and surprised to overtake a few more friends as we got close to the finish.
It’s a stunning race with its coastal views and I highly recommend it to everyone. 5 well stocked
checkpoints and plenty of good food at the finish all add to the experience. I think we’ve had dry
conditions under foot the last 2 years so that helps me feel positive about taking 46 minutes
more than last years personal worst time!

Did I mention there was chocolate at the
checkpoints?

Moors The Merrior

Moors The Merrior. 10th December 21.12 miles 1,231 m of ascent. 5 hours 12.56 minutes, 14:48 minute miles. Joint 80th of 160 finishers 31st lady and 5th FV50

Snowy underfoot, a few snow flurries but a dry day really, a little cold at times. Forecast was between -1 and 1.

Before the race I was really excited to be racing, so much better but I know Andy still has a cold so that was my only concern.

How did you feel the race went? Awful. I felt dizzy within minutes of the start which was a steep uphill climb and very quickly went single file, Andy disappeared off and I just marched it and adjusted my speed to how I felt which really helped. Luckily the fast ones were already ahead and there was quickly a gap behind me so I felt so pressure to move any quicker. Once on the top I felt fine again, no more dizzy spells all day but I didn’t feel I had any power in my legs at all, especially my hamstrings felt tired so although I was still strong on the hills I’m usually stronger than Andy and he disappeared! Having said all that we did a really good time, we were aiming for 15 minute miles as we knew it would be hilly, 1,231 m of ascent, and we were quicker than that just. There were a few times I was a little anxious on the downs because of the snow under foot and worried about falling but it was fine. I was delighted my achilles didn’t bother me, my right knee twinged a few times but not much.

Did you work to your nutrition plan throughout the race? Awful. I felt dizzy within minutes of the start which was a steep uphill climb and very quickly went single file, Andy disappeared off and I just marched it and adjusted my speed to how I felt which really helped. Luckily the fast ones were already ahead and there was quickly a gap behind me so I felt so pressure to move any quicker. Once on the top I felt fine again, no more dizzy spells all day but I didn’t feel I had any power in my legs at all, especially my hamstrings felt tired so although I was still strong on the hills I’m usually stronger than Andy and he disappeared! Having said all that we did a really good time, we were aiming for 15 minute miles as we knew it would be hilly, 1,231 m of ascent, and we were quicker than that just. There were a few times I was a little anxious on the downs because of the snow under foot and worried about falling but it was fine. I was delighted my achilles didn’t bother me, my right knee twinged a few times but not much.

How well did you cope with any low points in the race? I ate and tried not to moan to Andy. I was so happy to be racing I kept focusing on that. I did get annoyed at the runners who ran past me that ignored my well dones but was delighted by the few who were friendly and chatted

What would you do differently next time? Not be poorly for so long before and get some training done! I know doing all the DIY stuff won’t have helped either. I’m also aware I’m due on and this often has a negative effect about how I feel the few days before it or has done since perimenopause started

Did you follow a plan or go by feel? Aimed for 15 minute miles as we know we will be quicker on the downs and we just accept the ups will be slower, we just try not to go too fast too soon

How did you feel at the finish? Delighted as they had cheese and onion pie with mushy pies which lifted any doubts. I was sad that one of our friends was so much slower than us but I was delighted that another friend was only 24 minutes quicker than us and she is super speedy but this was her first event like this. I just wanted to get home

How was your recovery in the next 24hrs? Hot bath for 90 minutes and pizza. Stretched a little but not enough. Must book next sports massage!

172. Dartmoor Way Granite 50

Dartmoor Way Granite 50. 5th November 22. 50.67 miles 2,205 m of ascent. 12 hours 54.06. 15.16 minute miles. Joint 23rd of 35 finishers 37, 4th lady and first FV50, 105th ultra.

We chose the race as it was close to Andy’s uncle Bob’s house. This allowed us to have a week where we recced it over several days as training plus confidence on race day. 

The race finishes at Oakhampton which is 30 minutes from Bob’s. The coach taking us to the start left at 6 and it was a smooth journey until we reached the single lane roads and there was no way he could turn to take us the last quarter of a mile to Scoriton village hall.

There was gentle rain and we knew the forecast was for 100% for rain so we started with our waterproofs on. Scoriton is off the Dartmoor Way but they needed the extra miles to make the race 50 miles. We started at 8 and followed mostly road but a few bits of muddy trail covered in a sprinkling of golden leaves to checkpoint 1 at Buckfast 3.1 miles in. The 100 mile race started midday Friday but were all through by the time we arrived. We went in the front door gave our numbers and headed straight out and back into the course. 

The next checkpoint of Manaton was at 24.7 miles. We knew we had enough food and drink to get us there. Our plan was to go at a steady pace, Andy’s pacing sheet was for us to average 3.5 miles an hour as I didn’t think after the recce we would manage 4 miles an hour as it’s such a rolling course and tricky underfoot in places. We were already ahead of plan but that was mostly due to the road plus it being downhill to Buckfast. 

From Buckfast it was a steady climb over the next 10 miles going through Ashburton and then eventually onto the moor and up to Haytor Rocks. Rain was falling gently but we were warm on the climb. We were finally on Dartmoor, our highest point of the day. Despite the exposure to the elements the wind wasn’t too much. From here we followed old tram tracks steadily downhill. We past our first 100 runner but she was dropping out due to sore feet. We offered tape and paracetamol but she had already made arrangements for being picked up. The route is stunning if you can forget the road sections, lots of fields to cross but there’s also a massive network of walled paths, often tree covered so you run down the tunnel. It was particularly magical with the golden leaves.

The route splits into 2 just before Bovey Tracey with the 100 milers missing off the link to Bovey Tracey. On our first recce we followed the 100 route as we didn’t have access to the 50 mile route and were confused at one point when we saw a Dartmoor Way sign pointing off our route. This is where we rejoined the permissive path that the 100 route took. We went back another day and did the Bovey Tracey loop so it was easy to follow now and was mostly old tramway so easy underfoot. We’d been trying to get used to our Leki poles but I didn’t think they helped on tarmac as you can’t push back. This track was a mix of tarmac sections and packed mud so I gave up. The poles were great especially on the hills but having had training in how to use them I used them more on the downs off road as previously I’ve just wanted them to push me up hill and thought they’d hinder my descent.

Manaton checkpoint (24.7 miles, 5 hours 28) was off the main track, a there and back so we saw a few racers heading back on course. The checkpoint was indoors, they had plenty of food laid out and were providing lentil soup and cups of tea. Perfect!! A couple of toes on each foot were sore so I took both shoes off. I’d applied Kinesiology tape to my big and next toe on both feet as they are the ones that I usually blister if I do get any. I usually use zinc oxide tape but it sticks to everything and Andy has had good success with the Kinesiology tape with damp feet the tape had mostly slid off or I pulled it off when I removed my toe socks. I had thought about wrapping zinc oxide tape over the top and will do in the future. So on went fresh zinc oxide tape plus I added tape to my little toe. I was aware that I’d worn the wrong shoes, a last minute change as I thought I needed the grip with the wet weather recently. They were tight across my toes, why are shoes so narrow! I wore Scott Supertrac Ultra RC but prefer Saucony Peregrine 11 but the grip is wearing on them now, I’ve worn the Scott’s a few times but not on that distance also they weren’t as comfortable as my previous pair, I find it frustrating when shoe designs change.

20 minutes later we were on the path again, we’d arrived 90 minutes ahead of the schedule so were still nicely within our goal. We headed through a few towns and down to Fingle Bridge near to Castle Drogo where we’ve been before for family walks. As we crossed the bridge both arms felt tingly, we’d just come down a long descent and it was as we reached the flat before the next climb. I had a good drink and just ate. Never felt like that before and because I was feeling strong otherwise I just tried the obvious, next thought would have been to sit down. Andy knew I wasn’t quite right as I really slowed down behind him, it’s hard to fill your face when you are holding poles but I knew not to push and let the food digest. I was soon feeling much better.

It was only 4.5 miles to the next checkpoint of Chagford (38.5 miles, 9 hours 22) and we were delighted to get there without really needing our headtorches, we just needed them a little on the road as we approached to warn cars of our presence. Just as we arrived we saw 2 guys that we had overheard talking at the start that they didn’t know the route and had no map, we advised them it was mostly waymarked but you had to keep an eye out for the signs. We’d chatted to them before we got to Manaton but another guy in front of us took a short cut and they followed him, we stuck to the race route. Andy thought they must be either 30 minutes in front or behind us as we didn’t see them on the over lap of Manaton, turned out they totally missed that checkpoint out! I thought that was odd as it was really well marked with race signs at the turn. We could see by the trace from their trackers the shortcut they’d taken earlier.

Chagford was another amazing checkpoint, all keen to help us. I think they were surprised how happy we were. Again we enjoyed lentil soup and cups of tea. I was avoiding bread and therefore sandwiches in case there was sugar in it! I needed to tape below my right ankle as I forgotten these shoes always rub there but I was fine to keep going. We’d arrived 1 hours 38 ahead of the plan and we didn’t stay long this time. It was headtorch time as we departed and followed a few narrow lanes initially. As it was November 5th we hoped for fireworks and were pleased that the moon was able to slip out from the clouds as they finally started to thin out. We could hear a few a few pops and fizzles but saw very few as we went through South Zeal. Very disappointing.

We overtook 3 from the 100 mile race before the final big hill as we were able to race down the road. We caught up the 2 guys I mentioned earlier they were with a guy with the route on his watch but they’d missed a bridge as we were following a stream, they followed us but I took the wrong higher path so we headed back down, they pretty much stayed with us when they realised we had a better idea of the route. We climbed up high on the moors before heading back down and into the woods which I remembered would be rough under foot. We raced along with poles to keep us upright as the leaves hid many trip hazards. It didn’t take long before we were racing up the final tram track, I remembered this being uphill but it didn’t feel it tonight! I was motivated by finishing before 9pm plus just feeling so strong still. The path down to the river crossing was marked and so was the last few meters to the finish arch. A wonderful feeling, I was even amazed that I wasn’t in my usual state of needing to sit down as soon as we finished before they took my tracker off. Possibly because we were on grass rather than solid floor inside as I get painful feet when I’m not moving. We were given our medals and went inside. The 2 guys finished just behind us. We chatted to them over food, with others it’s amazing how many people had chosen this to be their first ultra. We had to buy our food but it was warm and filling. We could have showered there but I couldn’t be bothered to walk back to the car and then back to get our gear. Luckily mandatory kit says you have to carry a long sleeved top and I had an extra spare one just in case so I could change for a drier top layer.

I’m delighted that I managed to do this without sugar but will be adding snicker bars back in as I love knowing I have the change of taste when I need it but I will be using dates again! I was delighted to have no blisters just the rub by the ankle on my right foot and bottom of my race vest on both sides! Despite there being a lot of road I’d love to come back and do the full circle, perhaps next year.

171. Cape Wrath Ultra

Cape Wrath Ultra, 22nd to 29th May 22. 238.55 miles with 13,918 m of ascent 75 hours 59 mins 05 seconds. Joint 69th of 104 finishers 270 started, 12th lady of 23 The terrain type was broken down for us as: 20% Trackless, 38% Single Track, 30% Double Track, 12% Tarmac Road.

20th May Journey to Scotland. We invited Bill and Olga round for birthday elevenses and conned him into dropping us at New Pudsey station. Rachael had dropped amazing birthday chocolate millionaire slices off which mostly disappeared on the journey.  It was trains to York, Edinburgh and Glasgow before the final leg to Fort William. This was the first time we spotted others with the 79litres Orlet dry bag which was compulsory drop bag. The 7 of us sat together once we’d worked out which half of the train was headed to Fort William and not Oban! The conductor was very chatty and witty having fun pronouncing the place names. We walked the 15 minutes to the BnB even though we knew our bags were around 18 kilos and not the easiest to carry. Distillery Guest House was closed up but our key left for us as the train arrived at 22:09. 

21st May. Breakfast at 9. The host family are Italian and the wife was keen to teach us all Italian as she’s not learnt much English as yet. We packed what we needed for kit check, it took awhile to clarify they only want to check mandatory hill kit but want your drop bag to add the sticker they weren’t bothered about seeing the camp mandatory kit. As Andy said if you get into difficulty on the hill that’s their problem if you’re cold in camp they can deal with it easier. Probably by giving you a strike, 3 strikes and you’re out!

We met Peter H off his bus and chatted at his youth hostel before last bits of food shopping and lunch at Morrisons. The waiter was very chatty as she cleared the tables saying she’d let Andy off from washing up. We managed to find a Scottish ice cream brand and flavour Cranachan by Isle of Arran. A dessert of cream and fresh seasonal raspberries is bolstered by Scottish oats and whisky. It has been called ‘the uncontested king of Scottish dessert’. 

It was a rainy day so we didn’t head up to kit check until 4pm and then only got checked, said hello to those we knew and headed back to the BnB to pack up everything. Andy has done us a race plan so we know the days distance plus rough times but he’d calculated 4 mph instead of the 3 that we expect to do. We don’t want to miss any cut off times but don’t expect to race it either!

22nd June- Cape Wrath Ultra – DAY 1 – FORT WILLIAM TO GLENFINNAN – 23miles with 500m elevation. 4:54:57, 20.81 miles, 627m, 270 started, we finished 194th
Breakfast and leisurely walk to drop our kit bags off luckily Shane Harris drove by and took them for us. Andy’s was 17.4kg and mine 17.9kg well under the maximum 20kg. A walk to the ferry after a quick chat from Shane Olly. Our leader kept holding up the wave 3 sign. People stopped for coffees etc as we’d been told there was a delay. We jumped on the ferry with the last of wave 2. It was a rainy day as we cramped up together inside. Short walk to the start where they were serving drinks. We had photos under the start arch which was moved from the road side temporarily. The piper played and wave 2 went, we were about 15 minutes late setting off. 5 miles of road running along Loch Linnie with Phillipa who was maintaining 90 seconds run and 30 walk she powered away from us. We headed inland on a good 4×4 track before the big climb of the day. Muddy under foot at times. We passed the rescue team assisting one of the runners at the side of the track this may have been the broken ankle.

It was fascinating seeing peoples different strengthens those we passed going up hill and the others who’d fly down them. Then the usual story of running along side people for them to disappear off once we got onto solid track. This was really to be the story of the whole week! We’d been warned the bridge just before our finish hadn’t been rebuilt in time so we reached the car park where our transfer vans were and headed off towards the rivers edge. Pete had started in wave 1 and was walking back chatting away having already finished. Pam was at the finish to scan us. Back to the van in the pouring rain and a lift to the muddy campsite under the viaduct. We were in tent 13, we’d already met 4 guys who’d travelled up from Portsmouth together. There was also Daniel. Good food, quite a few midges, early to bed and lulled to sleep by the hum of the generator and slamming of the portaloo toilets. Luckily we both had ear plugs. 

Harriet Shields 22 May 22 16:20 Watching you with awe. I’ll look after the ice cream for you whilst your away, Harix

Julie Beaumont 22 May 22 17:10 Well done both on completing your first day

Jenny and Ken Wyles 22 May 22 18:29 Hi Both. Best of luck for the event. Enjoy it. We’ll be following! Well done on your first day

23rd June -Cape Wrath Ultra – DAY 2 – GLENFINNAN TO KINLOCH HOURN – 35miles with 1,800m elevation. 11:49:52, 35.02 miles, 2045m, 268 started, we finished 141st, 25th lady.

I was impressed with how quiet our tent mates were as they were all up and at breakfast when we woke at 6. We packed everything up before breakfast, they all had that still to do. 

As with Andy’s plan we started at 7:30, along the road and under the viaduct on a good track. It was raining initially as we climbed up the first hill. Jonathan recognised us from Northern Traverse chatted to us as he over took us. Over the first hill Andy noticed a lower track closer to the river.  We tried not to follow others but the main group of runners were on the higher track that we were on. We decided to go to the lower track as didn’t want the extra climb that this track was aiming for. A few runners followed the lower track, there was a section where the path seems to disappear by the riverside and a few runnrs went that way but it looked hard work. A larger group crossed the river. This was our first of many river crossing. It was a strong current but not too deep, we soon had to cross back over only to recross further down where the other track came down to join us. Andy headed back to help a couple who had chosen a harder crossing point than us which appeared deeper. 

Into the woods and on a tricky 4×4 track which seemed to be made mostly of old tires. We then joined better track and arrived at our first checkpoint of the day at Strathan. We were 30 minutes inside the 10:45 cut off time which pleased us as it had been boggy and slow going to get here. Debs White later remarked how much drier and easier going it was last year. We followed a better 4×4 track through the woods along side the river Dessary and on towards check point 2. We’d chatted to a guy who knew the route near Sourlies bothy just before CP2, as we weren’t sure if we could cross the beach or have to go up higher, so we followed him. The section before the checkpoint we were warned could be waste deep bog. There were plenty of people trying to find the best route across but it was quite firm in the end.

Cut off at CP2, Carnoch was 15:00 we got there at 13:45 which was a good boost to us. We followed the river for awhile as the valley narrowed it was so beautiful. Suddenly I realised people were zigzagging above us and realised the path ahead thinned out. It was a long slow zigzag up and out of the valley but we were rewarded with an excellent climb down towards Loch Hourn and 2 hours ahead of CP3 guidance time. I’d put my rain jacket on at the top as it was raining and probably should have taken it off as the rain soon stopped. I really must try what others do and buy a larger jacker that will go over me and my rucksack!

There was a short section of road passing farms and campsites before the loch edge. The road goes no further you have to either hike out the way we were about to run or get a boat in. This area is Knoydart and known for how remote it is. At the end of the road we knew we still had 6 miles of very rough, undulating track. We’d run out of camp last time along it so knew it would be muddy and very uneven under foot with a few cheeky climbs. Following the loch edge there’s no sign of the camp until you finally reach the tarmac road a kilometre from the finish. We saw quite a few of the event crew out for runs. 

We knew the camp field must be boggy as we could see the portaloos lined up at the edge of the road before the turn to the finish. A guy overtook us and slowed to talk to another runner who turned out to be Pete. We couldn’t believe we caught him just at the finish thinking we must have missed him somewhere along the way, he’d under sold his fitness to us. It was the perfect way to finish. 

We found our tent and got what we needed for a quick dip in the river. I washed what I could but didn’t fancy sitting in it as it was a cool evening. A good meal and chat then early to bed. An air ambulance came in before we settled. Our campsite at Kinloch Hourn was at the end of a 22 mile long, single track road, the longest dead end road in the UK.

Peter Smith (No 78 – Aug 21)23 May 22 16:31 Grand job! Well done. I really hope people are looking after you like you did to us last August – thank you so much for that!! Keep plodding on, I won’t be doing much this week other than watching your dots!!

Rachael 23 May 22 21:31Well done Sarah and Andy! Hope you are enjoying your adventure so far! I’ve been enjoying the daily video updates! Hope tomorrow involves cake of some kind…

Alan Cormack23 May 22 21:49 Great running, you are doing brilliantly 🙂

24th -Cape Wrath Ultra – DAY 3 – KINLOCH HOURN TO ACHNASHELLACH – 40miles with 2,400m elevation. 14:17:09, 41.03 miles, 2719m, 238 starters

We knew this was a long day but also the highest elevation gain of the week. We were keen to get off in good time but didn’t quite make 7am but we’re moving by 7:08 following the long line of other keen starters. Fast runners have a set time they have to wait until before they can start so they don’t arrive at the next camp too early. Pete told us that someone, who had to start later, didn’t make the first cut of yesterday because the route was so much slower going than expected!

A steep climb to start the day but we were rewarded with stunning views all around we were entering the Kintail National scenic area. Good track underfoot with slabs and steps for quite a bit of it. One river crossing before we reached Shiel Bridge and CP1. Luckily it was a guidance time as we arrived at 11:30. There was a small cafe and I had a quick look at the ice creams but decided not too. The weather was perfect but I didn’t fancy carrying the tub, plus is wasn’t a new brand! There was quite a bit of road running here to get to the Kintail Outdoor centre. Pete had told us about a tuck shop here but I had plenty of supplies. We caught up with Pete just as the road stopped. He’d marched this out but we’d run it. He’s recced from here on but has been relying on other peoples route finding as he doesn’t carry a GPS and hasn’t needed to get his map out as yet. He’s a very experienced hill walker and orienteer so would know what to do when needed. 

We started with him on the gentle climb towards one lot of waterfalls but he sped up once the climb steepened. We only caught him as he stopped to take pain killers. We kept going but I knew I needed to do a bit of foot maintenance. We were luckily where we stopped just above the Falls of Glomach the most voluminous waterfalls in the Highlands as we’d followed people to the spot not realising they started to head down too soon as they all came back up. Pete spotted us as I put tape over the ball of my foot and he continued. He later admitted about how good his off-piste descents are. That’s why we couldn’t run with him as I can’t compete. The decent was technical at times as we climbed down a few rocky sections then it was muddy zigzags all the way to CP2. It wasn’t until we were on the rough road section after this that I realised we’d just made the cut off. I thought we’d arrived around 14:40 but our tracker showed 14:30, cut off time was 14:50!! This made me feel stressed as we still had a fair way to go and I thought we were moving well. We jogged along the track but runners seemed to be sliding past us making me feel we were slowing down! Andy was saying how he didn’t feel the race was as epic or remote as he’d expected just as I was starting to struggle and have real doubts about completing it. He grounded me by reminding me we’ve done tougher in The Spine.

It was a good, clear 4×4 track up to the pass and we soon made up places. Coming down the other side it didn’t take long before we were back on the bog and a fainter track towards Loch Calavie. Just past here was CP3, we arrived 30 minutes before the guidance time here so I felt more confident. Some checkpoints are guidance times where they can change them to a cut off if they are concerned about you and how much after that time you arrive in case they don’t think you’ll make. Cut off times you have to leave the checkpoint by that time! 

Past here we knew there was another climb but there was a boggy stretch first. We’d been running near 2 other ladies Andrea and Sophie both with different strengths. They got to the river crossing before us and were struggling to work out where to cross. Andy spotted the end of a metal ramp. We crossed in the shallow area near it then he took a leap of faith realising the other half was submerged. Andrea missed it when she first stepped in but luckily didn’t go under. Sophie and I learnt from their experiences and crossed safely. We knew we needed to get to the Bothy so Andy cut a direct line for it following posts from an old fence line. Our GPSs suggested a path to our left as this was really wet and there we found a faint path. 

We climbed up from the Bothy Andrea was very strong on the hill and Sophie stayed not far behind us. The weather was deteriorating to cold rain. A steady climb to a craggy top with flags to guide us up and over the rocky track and then a nightmare of muddy sloppy zigzags.  We cut the corners off a few to get a better grip and soon caught Andrea and she followed us before powering in ahead again. We could see the camp for ages and it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. We pushed on into the woods and followed the tape as it guided us across the rising river. We quickly washed our legs. I’d had to stop and put my legging on in the way down the hill as I’d got cold but I wanted to have clean legs and not need to return to the river for a wash.  I was delighted as the camp was within reach and raced across the field but the finish was further past last years and up and round the camp. Such a relief as it was 21:24! 

We saw Pete as we ate. He was 30 minutes quicker than us. He was surprised we didn’t catch him on the flat track section. We didn’t stay in the tent for long wanting to get to bed early. Our tent was full of drying clothes sadly Id left my clothes line in the first nights tent and haven’t seen it since. One of the Portsmouth guys in our tent missed the cut off. 

Rachael 24 May 22 18:30 Realised earlier today that I was a day ahead of myself with my comment yesterday! Cake is good any day but my comment really relates to 25th! Hope you have had a good day!

Martin 24 May 22 19:26 Well done Sarah and Andy, looking good.

Lois F 24 May 22 21:07 Keep up the good work! You two are amazing! X

Fantine 24 May 22 21:59 Hi! My name is Fantine. I’m French and I’m following the race because my friend Patrick Moissinac (n°193) is taking part in it. I really like the ultra-mails concept. That’s why I decided to send some kindness and support to other participants too (selected at random because there’s a lot of you). I send you a little bit of warm and sunlight from France to cope with the cold rain. I wish you luck and remember… You’re stronger and braver than you think! You can do it!

25th – Cape Wrath Ultra – DAY 4 – ACHNASHELLACH TO KINLOCHEWE – 22miles with 1,400m elevation. 7:59:39, 22.05 miles, 1815m, 190 starters!

It was lovely that so many people acknowledged my birthday. Andy reminded a few people to boost my morale. A shorter day so we didn’t feel we had to start too early. There was a lot of talk of the train out of here. 2 of the 4 in our tent joined the timed out guy leaving just Mike of the 4 of them to continue. I guess those who might have continued as non competitive were put off by the ongoing rain!

A shorter day so we set off at 7:30 Andrea stayed with us for the start of the day having said how grateful she was for our support yesterday. It was a steady climb past the station and up into the trees but it got really windy when we hit the top. It was hard to move through the pass to the other side without hurting ourselves on the rocks. We tend to use the poles for climbing then stash them under our rucksacks through elastic ties. On descents I need my hands free especially when they’re rocky and you need to grasp the rocks to move. I always worry with sticks they get caught or you place them somewhere and they move with you weight on them. 

We were at CP1, Glenn Torridon at 10:45, 1 hour 45 before the cut off. From here we followed a really well laid track beneath Beinn Eighe so it was easy to follow. The weather was behind us so the rain and hail tended to batter on our jackets not our faces. I was amazed to see one of the event team photographers filming us crossing one of the streams in such poor weather. There was a steep climb up to the top of Coire Mhic Fhearchair we couldn’t see the loch and struggled just to cross the stream. There was another photographer there trying to get us to look up!

From here there was no path. The map warns stay above the 375m line and head east! People were spread out over the slope finding a way down or staying high. We moved down trying to find some sort of good line. The weather was deteriorating and we didn’t always have good visibility. We ended up just following the general straight line of the GPS and trying to go round the rocks. I wasn’t bothered about going through the bogs. We crossed one river and 2 guys appeared to have attached themselves to us as we progressed forward. Occasionally we could see others ahead and certainly after the last river crossing I could make out the faint path they’d taken. One of the guys went straight across the river and waited for us but not offering support to cross the river. Even once we’d got onto the good path they stayed behind us despite us encouraging them to go past us as they could just follow this to camp. Finally they went in front and were much quicker than I was. It was a stony path so I couldn’t always get a good pace for fear of falling. We past a rescue with a medic beneath a bivvy cover and rescue supporter standing by. Later others told us they’d seen 6 runners trying to warm the guy up. We know the air ambulance was called later. 

Finally we were through the trees and on the edge of Kinlochewe. I was too cold to go to the garage for ice cream even though we were in time. It was lovely seeing key people from the race company such as Graham at the road crossing wishing me a happy birthday. Into camp by 15:30 we were delighted as it had been a really testing day but we’d comfortably achieved it. 

We’d been moved to tent 12 as there were only 4 remaining from tent 13. 4 guys had already arrived and taken a pod each luckily one of the guys moved for us. The rain had mostly stopped but every hanging space was filled with wet gear. We unpacked and sorted our race rucksacks for tomorrow and headed for tea. Again I didn’t fancy a wash in the river, we remember how many midges there had been last year. 2 bowls of chips one with soup, a lovely tea and rice pudding, I was too full for cake! I was delighted by the amount of ultra mail I received Andy had worked his magic as usual. 

The safety team were hanging out in the catering tent ensuring everyone was aware that the weather forecast for tomorrow was more of the same and were suggesting we all put a extra synthetic layer on and take plenty of warm stuff. People seem to recognise us from other events as one of the safety team members just said to me she didn’t think she needed to have the chat about weather conditions as she knew I’d be sensible. 

We’d worried about Pete but he came in last he’d ended up running with another competitor. We didn’t see much of him as by 8 we were keen to sleep and he was chatting! 

Duncan 25 May 22 07:05 Happy birthday Sarah, nearly there.!

Jo 25 May 22 07:08 Happy birthday! Hope the sun shines on your day and the running is good. Have a wonderful week. xx

Shawn 25 May 22 07:15 Happy Birthday Sarah!! Have a fantastic day!!

Alan Cormack 25 May 22 07:17 Happy Birthday 🎂

Cathie, Zac, Tom and James 25 May 22 07:32 Happy birthday Sarah N,c Happy birthday Sarah

Katie Hewitt 25 May 22 08:07 Happy birthday Sarah! You are amazing!!! Lots of love

Lynn Cowling 25 May 22 08:09 Happy Birthday Sarah, keep running 🏃‍♀️

Maegan 25 May 22 08:10 Happy Birthday Sarah!!! You are doing fab – keep going!!! Enjoy your few days relaxing at the end Xxxx

Hannah Wilson 25 May 22 08:14 Happy birthday Sarah!!! Go,go,go!!!!!

Caroline Noble 25 May 22 08:20 Happy Birthday Sarah🎉🎂🎁 Thinking of you 💖 Go for it 💪💪💪💪💖💖💖

Kim and Steve 25 May 22 08:32 Happy Birthday Sarah! Have a great day running!😄🥳Ice cream at the end.😁

Juliet 25 May 22 08:33 Happy Birthday Sarah! Hope the sun is shining and your feet are blister free

Gwyneth and pippa x 25 May 22 08:40 Hi best bud you go gal your totally bonkers! But you know that!! Go go go Sarah you can do it happy happy birthday

Lindsay & Ian xx 25 May 22 09:02 Happy birthday Sarah, enjoy your run

Kate Smithson 25 May 22 09:19 Happy birthday Sarah you absolute legend! You’ve got this! So strong and determined 👏🏻 Everything is possible, thanks for teaching me that. God speed xxx

Chris Campion 25 May 22 09:29 Happy Birthday Sarah !!! Have the best day out there, smile lots and eat all the cake you can find x

William 25 May 22 09:35 Happy Birthday Sarah!

David Harper PPRC 25 May 22 09:48 Happy Birthday Sarah, have the best day you can in your race.🎂🏃🎈

Adam and Tracey G 25 May 22 09:50 Happy birthday you crazy lady! ‘Enjoy’ your run!

Becki Johnson 25 May 22 10:07 Happy Birthday!! Well done and keep going your doing amazing!!

Paul Dewhirst 25 May 22 10:09 Happy Birthday – enjoy!

Julie Marshall-Pallister 25 May 22 10:14 Happy Birthday you absolute star, I hope you are enjoying! Stay strong! X

Juliette ward 25 May 22 10:25 Happy birthday . Hope you manage to eat some cake on route . I hope you enjoy your birthday as you’re obviously doing something you enjoy 😉 xx

Anjuli Parmar 25 May 22 10:29 Wishing you a very happy birthday Sarah!! You are both doing really well in your race, keep pushing!! Take care, Anjuli

Ian Robinson 25 May 22 10:35 Happy Birthday !! hope you have a great day, definitely one to remember !! question is what flavour ice cream is waiting at the end ?

Robert Samuels 25 May 22 10:54 Wishing you a very happy and great birthday Sarah. X

Pam Birchenall 25 May 22 11:13 Happy Happy Birthday Sarah. Have a super running day.

Geoff Harrison 25 May 22 11:18 Happy birthday Sarah. Hope the weather is being kind th you and you’re enjoying the run

Janet Ashton 25 May 22 11:37 Happy birthday Sarah! I hope you’re enjoying your challenge and will also be able to celebrate some more when it’s finished! Amazing achievement to take it on! 🏃😊🍾😋

Ralph Mcdermott 25 May 22 11:42 Happy birthday. Hope all goes well with run

Els Allan 25 May 22 11:49 Happy Birthday you crazy lady!

Ruth Duffy 25 May 22 13:42 Happy Birthday Sarah! You must be crackers – amazing and an inspiration, but crackers nonetheless!🙂

Becky Borchard 25 May 22 13:43 Happy birthday anty Sarah! Hope you’re taking in all the amazing views! You are an incredible inspiration to us all x

Ken & Jenny 25 May 22 13:58 Well Happy Birthday Sarah!!! Hope everything is going well & you’re enjoying the trip

Nicola & Jon 25 May 22 14:13 Happy Birthday Sarah. Hope you have an amazing day x x

Neil Holloway 25 May 22 14:26 Hey Happy Birthday …. and did you leave the gas on?

Amanda Lea (LBT) 25 May 22 14:42 Amazing! Happy Birthday 🥳

Colin McFadden 25 May 22 15:03 Great running Sarah – tough conditions but keep going and you’ll get to the lighthouse

Rachael 25 May 22 16:23 Another day of running done ✅ a special day too- hope you have enjoyed today! 🍰 🎈 xx

Mike and Linda 25 May 22 16:30 Happy Birthday Sarah. Have a great run!

Tim Ayres 25 May 22 16:35 Well done both of you for finishing day 4. Hope the rest of the ultra goes well.

Julie Pimlott-Jones 25 May 22 16:46 Hi Sarah, hope you’re enjoying your challenge and having a brilliant birthday. Lots of love Julie & Mark xx

Julie Beaumont 25 May 22 17:56 Happy Birthday from Julie and Richard. We hope you’re both having an awesome experience

Jacqui 25 May 22 18:13 Happy Running Birthday Sarah! Good luck xx

Jane & Ian 25 May 22 18:32 Happy birthday wonder woman xx

Kelly 25 May 22 19:01 Happy Birthday Sarah!!! Hope you’ve had a good day and it’s not been too challenging today! Well done so far!! Keep going! xxxx

Olly 25 May 22 19:04 Happy Birthday Sarah! You’re smashing it. Keep going. X

Jason B 25 May 22 19:15 Happy Birthday! Hope it was a good day for running and you managed to have some cake or icecream! Making great progress by the looks of it, keep it going!

Cathy & Adrian Martin 25 May 22 19:30 Happy Birthday Sarah! I hope you’re having a lovely day! What better way to celebrate your Birthday! Enjoy the rest of your race!

Nadia El-Awady 25 May 22 21:25 Sarah, you’re an inspiration! We’re rooting for you from Leeds!

26th – Cape Wrath Ultra – DAY 5 – KINLOCHEWE TO INVERBROOM – 27miles with 1,400m elevation. 7:57:46, 26.12 miles, 1649m, 163 started but only 123 were competitive. 

It was 7:13 when we started we knew it was a shorter day again today. There was a lot of road and good track to start with so we motored a long but were warm in no time. It was a much nicer day than expected so we took the waterproof layers off. Not long after this the jacket was back on when the heavens opened. I had been enjoying the views a long the valley before we headed into the trees and the climb began. We were 2 hours ahead of the guidance time at CP1. 

I can’t remember much of the next section of Fisherfield, The Great Wilderness but the map shows a track less section before a clear path down to CP2 bridge. I remember a river crossing with the photographer hoping to catch someone falling in. We then climbed a hill and the views around were amazing with the dampness bringing out the yellow of the gorse against the dark sky, seconds later we were being pelted by hail! This time catching hands and the side of our faces. It didn’t last long. We rolled down through the farm land to the road and turned into the checkpoint. 

There were a lot of vehicles here I guess waiting for non competitors. Andy ran in a did a sweep of high 5’s with the team. Andy Hasty one of the rescue team came up to Andy later and said had Andy seen had got a strike that day for being too happy! It always cheers us up seeing the support teams and it’s nice to show our appreciation of their time. 

We took off extra layers before the next climb and ignored the short shower. The sun came out to greet us with views. It certainly wasn’t the day the forecasters had warned us! I really enjoyed that climb up then moon like landscape of the top before we headed down the rocky, ankle twisting track to camp. We’d run up that last year so knew what to expect. Again the finish was a little further away than last year but it was a good feeling to arrive. 

We were taken to our tent. Our bags were already inside as weight as 3 tents had already blown over the wall. A lot of competitors were being taken to the main social tent until their tent could be erected. I joked about giving the camp crew a hand once we’d changed not realising what a battle they were having! I washed my legs, socks, shoes and feet in the river as rain softy started to fall. I was back in the tent when it really started to fall. We were so luckily to arrive with mostly dry clothes. 

We didn’t stay in the social tent for too long after our evening meal and I was delighted when Tammy, from the kitchen, got me some chocolate cake from the kitchen as I wasn’t so keen on the cake they were offering. 

Ryan Turnbull (Pudsey Pacers) 26 May 22 10:53 Happy Birthday Sarah. Hope it’s Ultramazing!

David Waring 26 May 22 12:17 Belated Happy Birthday Sarah – you’re amazing! Good luck to you both.

Rachael 26 May 22 22:59 Wow some challenging weather and conditions over the last couple of days. I gather quite a few drop outs and the 7am start a bit quieter than previous days? Great going the pair of you!

27th – Cape Wrath Ultra – DAY 6 – INVERBROOM TO INCHNADAMPH – 45miles with 1,400m elevation. 12:18:15, 41.16 miles, 1981m, 106 competitors started 

Knowing this is the longest day we were keen to leave with the mass start at 7. I’d also heard there were a lot of runnable tracks plus ‘only’ the same elevation gain as the last 2 days. 

We trotted along the road then a track before a steep climb into the woods. Once at the top of the climb we knew there was a path less section so we followed our GPSs but also the line of people ahead. I’m sure our notes described it as a ‘boggy pain’ but it was nothing compared to what we’re used to. There were some stunning waterfalls and views around us it was a lovely day. Not long before we reached the checkpoint Pete slid alongside us. He chatted about his recce here and knew he’d loose us as we were soon onto a flat Loch side track. He also stopped to play fetch with the rescue teams dog at CP1! We were here 30 minutes within the guidance time which lifted my spirits. 

A nice trot along the Loch side and down following the river Einig through the woods. People overtook us as usual. We crossed a bridge and we’re greeted by supporters on the track side which was lovely. Then down the road to Oykel Bridge and another round of high 5’s. 1 hour 15 ahead of the cut off. Over the bridge and more steady miles on the flat tracks we chatted with people especially Adrian and Tania good mates running together, we called them the red team as they both had read waterproof jackets. 

We’d heard about a potential dog that we might be rescuing but we’d not been able to speak to the rescue place due to being too late or no phone reception. Andy managed to get through to confirm our interest so this motivated us on the monotonous trail. 

We were following a clear riverside track but knew we needed to head into the tress. There was a lot of tree felling and a sign warning people not to go that way possibly put some people off turning from the track. A few guys were returning towards us. 

Checkpoint 3 we’d made up an extra 30 minutes which was a great feeling. I didn’t like the road section but we kept moving. It was a good track for quite some way after this but then got confusing with our GPS route wanting to take us higher. We found a really good track to follow but then suddenly we were well off track. It’s hard to know if it would have been just as quick to stay up high like that and follow the valley bowl round or go straight as we did and up and round the rocky landscape. There was a photographer just before the narrow pass who said people had been coming from all angles. We teamed up with Shane Harris from here. The path wasn’t always clear and a few times we had to climb up and round. We could hear the buzz of a drone plus saw photographers in several places. Having made excellent progress all day this really was a sting on the tail of the day and really slowed us but we knew we’d reach a good track and head down to the camp at Inchnadamph. 

Again it was dry when we arrived but not for long. We often had to wipe the floor of our sleeping pod as it hadn’t dried since being erected but it was never a huge amount. It was great not having wet clothes just wet socks. I had clean injiged socks for every day and changed the outer alternate days. Bra and T-shirts had to survive 4 days as I knew there was no point having clean for every day as it I’d soon be wet or sweaty anyway. 

Pete was in 30 minutes after us so joined us for tea. 

Harriet shields 27 May 22 19:17 Amazing going. What’s happened to the Norman weather you guys always have??? Cheering you on, Hari

28th – Cape Wrath Ultra – DAY 7 – INCHNADAMPH TO KINLOCHBERVIE – 38miles with 1,600m elevation. 12:21:22, 36.93 miles, 2183m, 104 starters, finished 75th

I felt daunted by today. Although not as long as yesterday there was more climb and probably not the easy tracks of yesterday just the 4 miles of road at the end! We were a few minutes after 7 starting and retraced our steps from yesterday but were soon of the clear path and climbing up a narrower path. Stunning views from the top and a trickier, slippy decent back to the type of trail we love. We passed by Eas a’ Chual Aluinn waterfall the highest waterfall in the UK at 200m, I was too tired and too keen to keep moving to stop for long or take my phone out to take photos. We were above Loch Glencoul then Loch Glendhu and it was slow going for most of tracks on the steep side of the hill where you couldn’t always find a drier more secure footing. People were good and moved aside as we did for those who could move quicker than us. It didn’t seem to take us long before we were at the end of the loch and onto the 4×4 track a long it’s northern shore. We heard Pete a few times and were sure he’d over take us but he didn’t catch us as we powered along to checkpoint 1. We were an hour ahead of the guidance time but I still didn’t want to relax as I was sure there was still a chance of a sting somewhere! 

Again it was a clear track to follow up the hill and it was good to see the same faces we usually chat to such as Adrian and Tania. One of the faster runners Paul with the beard chatted for awhile too. He always looks like he’s taking it easy and out for a day trip but then finishes high up the table! 
Near the summit of Ben Dreavie we took the 90 degree turn off the good track onto a thinner path that took us to the summit and 365 degree views. The path stopped here and we followed almost the same direction off the hill before a sharp right turn down to a loch. We tried to not just blindly follow others but felt more confident when Pete and Shane caught us. It was good to have some banter across the bogs until we came to the track that took us down to CP2. We’d lost Shane and Pete started talking to his friend Peter that we caught up so we didn’t see him again until later. We were 2 hours ahead of the cut off. 

There was a good track for us to follow then we knew we needed to turn off this and could see people but didn’t find much of a path. We followed a stream then the side of 2 lochs which were uneven and rough. Andy would look for an easy path with less mud but I found it tiring climb up and down and often found the track it’s self wasn’t too muddy. We were with a guy who’d struggled leaving camp this morning and had tried 4 different pairs of shoes not knowing which was the best to wear. He was impressed with how quickly we moved a long the loch edges and tried to stay with us. It’s amazing how many road runners there are!

We reached CP3 at 18:30 in plenty of time. We just had the 4 miles of road to do and we jogged a long it, walking on some of the climbs but essentially we ran it in under an hour!

Coming down the hill and seeing the checkpoint at Kinlochbervie was quite emotional as that was where we found out Kipper had died last year. I felt quite emotional thinking of John Kynaston who would have been racing this year as well.

Another dry end to the day and showers!  How wonderful and they were warm! 

Kim 28 May 22 11:17 Awesome work Sarah, keep going! Hope you had a good birthday!

Rachael 28 May 22 23:06 I read that this was the last long day… the light house is calling you! Great work team Norman 😃 💪

Pete Smith 29 May 22 14:36 Herculean effort to get this one done. Slightly different to the August version. Hope you’re both feeling ok. Enjoy the medal ceremony! Yours and Andy’s will weigh just that bit heavier than mine. Massive well done!!

29th – Cape Wrath Ultra – DAY 8 – KINLOCHBERVIE TO CAPE WRATH – 16miles with 700m elevation. 4:28:28, 15.43 miles, 899m, Joint 69th of 104 finishers 270 started, 12th lady of 23

Andy had started to call Pete ‘On going tramp’ after one of Pete’s friends wished him well with his one going tramp!

Today was turned a little upside down as we run to the lighthouse then need to get a minibus and boat to get us back to the mainland so the fastest runners were set of first in batches of 15 every 15 minutes. Graham said he’d thought about setting men and women off separately but decided it wouldn’t work for us. Funnily enough Andy and I were in separate groups one either side of the 15 minute groups. It was fine though and we set off together at 8.16. Bear decided he wanted to come with me but was in a plastic bag inside my bag as it started to rain as we left. There was a slight delay as Andy couldn’t find his hat so he went back for it, this somehow seemed to trigger his tracker and he started 2 minutes after me officially! As you’d expect it was in his bag all along.

We trotted alongside Loch Innis na Ba Buidhe overtaking the rest of my start group and a few of Andy’s group. Onto the road for a few miles, I was amazed at how well we were moving but didn’t feel we were pushing it. The path out to Sandwood Bay is so much better than I remember from 2009 when I was last here. Wide and clear. We chatted to people as we past them, one guy kept up with us for a while, we were also overtaken by a fast lady, Rosemary Byde. We made our way to the sandy beach, Andy moved across the sands to find a more solid bit but our pace slowed dramatically as it was hard to move.

A shallow river crossing then we were onto the slopes, we knew there was little elevation gain today and that it was all in the 2nd half of the run. I hadn’t realised it was mostly pathless so we followed the line of the GPS and looked ahead for other racers. I was amused when we caught 3 guys up as one of the guys was obviously leading the other 2. We stopped to take waterproofs off and the guy from earlier caught us up and seemed to join in with the other 3. When we started again we soon overtook and took our own line across the bog and the 4 guys spread out more as though they knew they could follow us instead! I’m more amazed that they didn’t have their own way of navigating and wondered what they had planned to do if there weren’t running with others. It’s hard to know if they were competitors or people who had dropped out earlier but were joining in for the full last day.

On the first big climb we saw the lighthouse but it was hidden on the next rise, I felt a bit disorientated when we came down from this rise but knew what direction we needed to aim for. We caught Rosemary up, her knee was bothering her so Andy gave her paracetamol, I kept running hoping to not slow us down too much. It wasn’t totally straight forward from here with a steep climb down to a stream which was narrow but quite deep to cross then a stiff climb up to the road that would lead us to the lighthouse. A guy flew past us, turns out he was non competitive and really loved racing the last day. Even on the road we couldn’t see the lighthouse until we turned the corner just half a mile to go. Rosemary was with us but we let her go ahead. It was a wonderful feeling to go through the gates and on to the finish line. Pam was there to scan us as finished. We’d held hands for the photos and Andy spun Pam round which the photographer liked so he had to do it again. As usual I was keen to sit down so I was happy to head into the café and order tea and a sandwich. Andy chatted outside as usual to others. There were a few minibuses but being a single track road they were spread out. A lady was ushering us onto the bus but then it took awhile to fill up before we left. Andy suggested we went back to the lighthouse for photos but as we were on the back of the bus and not knowing how long we’d be we didn’t, we knew there was a photographer from No Limits. It didn’t take long to get to the slipway for the ferry to the mainland, we’d arrived at the lighthouse at 12:43 and were on the ferry by 2. The boat only took 12 so a few people had to walk back to the bus to keep warm, they weren’t happy. We knew there was then a short walk to the campsite, it was lovely that it was a dry day.

Our bags were in the tent again so we got organised and headed for food. We’d both been looking forward to a soak in the tarn behind the campsite but it was too cold. We found out the schedule for the evening and tried to work out where Pete was. Phillipa sat at the table and chatted, I’m not sure how much of the course she ended up doing but she was out every day somewhere. She told us that as she turned the corner to see the lighthouse she saw a naked man! We looked at each other and in unison said ‘Pete’! We knew he planned to finish in fancy dress and would need help to get into it. He had a Spider-Man skin tight suit on, she managed to get a photo. When we saw him later he tried to deny it was him by saying he had a different rucksack, he was disappointed as he’d taken his race number off but everyone said hello to him as he finished! I said they would be tracking him still.

The bar opened and we watched the weeks videos of the event, had a team photo then evening meal before Shane O did a speech about the 38% finish rate being the lowest yet. We then got up one by one from last to first to get our medals, Andy had asked if we could go up together. There was a band playing, the ferry driver was one of them. They played for a hour or so after we went to bed, I was too tired to party for long. It was lovely seeing people that we had chatted to during the week.

Reflections

As with all the other nights I was very warm overnight although I learnt to not wear all of my thermal layers, I was so pleased to have such a good sleeping bag and mat. I was pleased to always have my spare waterproofs as I needed a toilet break every night! Having waterproof socks that I only used in camp was great, I wish I’d had mini welly’s but my crocks were fine at keeping my feet warm and dry, easy to slip off when I got to the tent to keep it clean. Most evenings I got cold in the social tent but that last evening I got my double bagged synthetic layer out of my running bag and that did the trick so I guess I needed one more warm layer for the camp. I think it was a mix of not being able to wash and being tired that made me cold but the food and warm drinks helped. I’d not moved the synthetic layer before for fear of forgetting it! I took too much hill food and the pasties went mouldy by the 5th day so that was a waste. Not sure what I would cut back on for another time as you never know what you will fancy but you will be well fed in camp. Must take Pain au chocolat next time, thanks to Pete for the inspiration!

I’m amazed at how few people completed it. One guy told us how he slipped in a river and all his kit was soaked and being too cold to carry on, that’s why mine is always doubled bagged. Others that just decided it was too risky especially day 4, so they bailed at the first checkpoint, the weather made the BBC news, see link below. I was amazed when the 2 guys in our tent left and how many more were on the station platform that day as it was an easy exit. It made it all the more impressive how many people kept going even as non competitive, I think it was 41 on the last day. They’ll be back next year better prepared and knowing at least more of the course than many of us did this year. It felt very different not knowing the course. Andy had studied it more than me as he went through the notes from a friend who did it last year, wish I’d studied it a bit more but then there was a lot to take in each day. I do feel for all those that slipped and ended up injured, not a nice way to end their journey. I know I was lucky being with Andy to support each other with the decision making on route finding and river crossings, although I think I only held onto him once just knowing he got over safely gave me the confidence to keep going. All in all it was an amazing adventure, boggy under foot but stunning countryside.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz730e1j3djo.amp

30th they bussed us back to Inverness. We found an ice cream shop then laundrette as I got clothes washed Andy shopped, we had lunch then a taxi took us to our Bothy Retreat for 2 nights. The hot tub was ready and she gave us local whisky to help relax us. It was so good to get all our clothes and kit aired out so when we got home it just needed to be out away, plus we loaded up our rucksacks with the heavy stuff so the awkward drop bag was easier to manage on the trains home. My legs were swollen and after getting the tape off my feet I found I had no blisters so the pre-emptive tape was worth it. Andy used kinesiology tape rather than zinc oxide which was just as good although needed more frequent applications than mine but was easier to remove.

These daily videos will give you a far better insight than a few words from us could!

Wraf, by Bloodyhard Crippling

If you can keep your kit when all about are losing theirs and blaming it on you.
If you can navigate when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too.
If you can trudge and not be tired by trudging,
And being hungry, don’t eat all your supplies,
Or being doubtful don’t give way to doubting.
And yet don’t look too knackered, nor talk too wise.

If you can dream and not make GPS your master.
If you can think and make Cape Wrath your aim.
If you can meet with Walton and O’Driscoll,
And treat those two legends just the same.
If you can bear to see the path you’ve taken twisted by bogs to make a trap for fools.
Or watch the plan you trained a year for, broken and stoop and build it up with worn out tools.

If you can make one heap of all your mandatory possessions and forget about the cost.
And be lost, and start again when you get your bearings and never breathe a word about being lost.
If you can force your feet and legs and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them: “Move on!”

If you can walk with runners and keep your humour,
Or talk with marshals and thank them all so much.
If neither mud nor driving rain can hurt you,
If all check points count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving hours with 240 miles worth of distance run,
Yours is the Cape Wrath Ultra and everything that’s on it,
And which is more you’re at the Lighthouse.

Well Done!

reworded by Andy

170 Fellsman

Saturday 30^th April Andy and I ran The Fellsman. It’s a beast of a race with 60 (ish) miles and 4,175 meters of climb across the Yorkshire Dales. 21:31, 92nd of 135.

This was my 3^rd Fellsman and Andy’s 4th. Back in 2011 this was the race that Andy and I started together as friends, he’d never done a race this long before and I’d not recced it so we planned to help each other. 49 miles in when it was dark, I was tired but being fuelled by Andy’s fruit pastels he pulled me to the trig point on Buckden Pike and kissed me. I was hooked. 

We started at 8:30 Saturday and I was soon struggling with the heat as it was so warm over the first three massive climbs which all come within the first 13 miles. We had a wonderful lift from seeing so many Pacers getting ready for the 3 Peaks racers along the route between Ingleborough and Whernside but then we headed west up Gargareth and then on towards Dent. The checkpoints on The Fellsman are well stocked and you don’t go for too many miles before the next one so I was topping up my water bottled frequently, I use Precision Hydration electrolyte drink mix and I was getting food including soup and pasta but I was carrying too much sweet stuff, which I was eating between checkpoints and I started to feel sick.

The day started to cool as we left Fleet Moss checkpoint we regretted not putting our waterproof trousers on so both stopped to do it, Andy has his on backwards so had to take them off again, I was grateful for the long zips to make it easy to get them on over our shoes. It was a new route from here down to Yockenthwaite on the road. The checkpoint self clip here was broken and other runners were still trying it. You have the famous Fellsman tally circle to clip on this but having trackers for the first time meant we didn’t waste time and kept moving. I was keen to make use of the last few rays of days light before we climbed up to Middle Tongue not knowing how easy it would be to find this checkpoint. We were lucky with seeing other runners torchers plus just going with the GPS line to find the tiny tent easily.

Visibility was tricky as night fell; I couldn’t see where I was putting my feet as the mists & rain bounced my head torch light back. Was it bog or solid ground? Andy was amazing with his navigation, we had GPS as back up but even that played up a few times turning us in circles! I really felt like dropping out at Cray checkpoint at 47 miles but I wanted to repeat that kiss so had to get up Buckden Pike. From there it was his love and navigation skills that meant we finished as always together but those last few miles were very slow and tough.

The Fellsman has been going for 60 years but is traditionally a walker’s route and you have 31 hours which is plenty of time to complete it as a runner. It’s organised by the scouts so safety is high on their list. They have a strict mandatory kit list and check everything in your rucksack before the start. It includes 5 long sleeved tops and an emergency hooded, foil hypothermia poncho, as well as 300g of emergency food which if eaten means they will pull you from the race! Not sure if they ever check this!! I can’t wait to be back on the start line next year if anyone wants to join us, kissing at gates is optional.

We took 21 hours 31 minutes, just 4 hours slower than we’d hoped for!! 204 started, we were 92nd and only 135 who finished. 315 entered but 71 didn’t start.

One week later and we were racing again at the Leeds half marathon!

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/people/husband-and-wife-set-to-go-head-to-head-in-leeds-half-marathon-3677427

169. Northern Traverse

2nd to 5th April 2022, 186 miles in 78:45:11 (3 days and 6 hours), 8th lady, Joint 44th of 103

Where do I start? We were well trained as we completed the full186 miles of the coast to coast as a recce finishing just 3 weeks before race day and Blubberhouses Moor 25 the previous Sunday. Andy put together a race plan as we like to know how far it is between checkpoints and have points to aim for in between. How do you put a plan together for a race this long though! I know we’ve done The Spine but that was an endurance event and we were running this. We’d read blogs, watched other runners videos and talked to people such as Harriet and Karl Shields who did the event together in 2018. I reread my own blog from The Spine. None of this helped the panic of packing the day before the race as the UK went from spring like weather to snow plus a forecast for more cold weather.

WHAT TO PACK! As I left for work on the 30th I gave Andy the task of ordering new shoes for me Saucony Peregrine 11 size 10, the old version as the new ones are too narrow, I was panicking that my favourite shoe of choice Scott Supertrac Ultra RC’s grip would be too much especially with the long road sections and the rocky paths of the lake district. I get sore feet on short runs let alone something like this so didn’t need the tread digging in further. My old pair of supertracs fell apart when we recced the route and my new ones just weren’t worn in enough. Plus I thought having two different brands of shoe would give my feet a break. Andy loved the Peregrine’s finding the grip and cushion just right when we did the recce. He’d bought a new pair but realised they were narrower than the 11’s so bought 2 pairs of size 10 of the old style. .

I was also in awe of his new Montane Podium Waterproof trousers, lightweight but long zips so I wouldn’t have to take my shoes off. All I could think of was that the weather was changing and there was no way we’d get the dry, sunlit weather we’d had on our recce. I’d seen Wild Ginger Running testing the kit video and didn’t need any more convincing. So Andy bought me a medium pair of those. Remember DON’T try out anything new on race day! https://www.wildgingerrunning.co.uk/2020/08/03/montane-podium-pull-on-smock-pants-review-lightweight-waterproof-jacket-trousers-total-210g/

I was pleased to have Thursday 31st as a day off and spent most of the day repacking what I had already put together and packing it again. You can have a drop bag of 15kg that goes to the 4 main checkpoints, we used our 59L Ortlieb dry bag that we’d got for the Great Lakeland 3 Day Ourea event in 2013. Using Spine logic I took my sleeping mat (lightweight from the Marathon des Sables) and Spine sleeping bag, put a silk sheet sleeping bag inside so I could get in with dirty clothes on. I then found an old sheet sleeping bag and put all three inside and rolled it up like a sausage. This slipped into the bottom of my dry bag and as long as I remembered to squash it down I had enough space for everything else, plus no faffing around with lots of little bags at the check points.

I knew there was no point having too many changes of clothes so just took one clean set, sounds smelly but I knew from The Spine that you can’t always be bothered to shower or change much when you get to a check point as you just want to sleep or you find the showers too cold anyway! I had clean pants for everyday plus socks. Last minute I decided to wear my trusted winter leggings as it was forecast to be cold and if it was warmer at least I could run in a Tshirt if needed to cool down.

I made up food parcels into plastic bags for each checkpoint then reduced how much I was starting with and my Patterdale replacement food bag as we would have access to half way checkpoints on both those legs. Chia Charge Protein Crispy Bars Salted Caramel and Jaffa Cake flavours are my go to, then cliff bar Crunchy Peanut Butter and Peanut Butter Banana with Dark Chocolate Flavour both are amazing. I’ve given up chocolate for lent but needed fuel for this run so lent was paused and in went the snicker bars, one for each section plus a cheeky mars bar. I also like chunks of cheese and took shot blocks for each section but only used one packet on the last leg! There was also my tried and trusted pasties, mostly cheese and onion but a mix of flavours.

In the food bags went the pacing strips that Andy was writing plus spare batteries for the head torch. We tend to Sellotape the batteries together as it makes it easier to get them out with cold hands plus replace them. For some reason I couldn’t get them together right so they wouldn’t always work, it felt like too much wasted time stressing so close to the race! I also put together tiny plastic bags, saved from lateral flow test kits, with a strip of paracetamol and caffeine for those low moments and rennies as there’s nothing worse than indigestion when you run, it cured about of nausea for me this time. Plus salt tablets just in case I needed them although I now tend to run with a mix of Precision Hydration1500 and 1000 sachets, taking advise from Stacy Sims advice in her book Roar to separate fluids and nutrition, it’s still working really well for me. So in went 1x 1500 and 2x 1000 into each checkpoint bag. There might have been more but I think that was it.

Of course I had a wash kit, the trusted toothbrush and clothes to sleep in plus a warm hoodie to put on when I arrived at a checkpoint in case I was cold. I also had a protein shake for each checkpoint as we’d found this useful on The Spine. Andy made up a new checkpoint guidance sheet so we would remember what to do when we were shattered as we arrived at each checkpoint, plus a new number for my shoes to keep them together and identifiable as mine.

We had a mandatory check list but most of that was for the race bag. I also needed a first aid kit which was mostly zinc oxide tape but I added other bits as recommended. I always tape my big toe and the next one plus the little one on my right foot as they often blister but don’t if I prevent it. Plus a bowl to eat from and spork. Finally my crocks for those expected swollen feet.

REGISTRATION and START. We got 3 trains to St Bees meeting Eoin Keith, previous race winner and Kate Farley on the final train. Eoin was staying at the same hotel as us so joined us for dinner along with several Hardmoors friends Jo Barret, Heidi Lewis and David Wall. Robin Kinsbergen, who we know from the spine race, saw us at tea and gave us buffs from his race series. David’s wife was there so they happily took bigger bags up the road in their car as registration was at the school. Great to see so many of the Ourea event crew from our Cape Wrath adventure last year. Pete had even met us off the train but then headed back to work. Quick kit check of a few things, tracker on, stickers onto drop bag and finish bag plus tag for drop bag to ensure they knew where my bag was. Pete was taking the photos for Open Trackers.

Back to finish packing and get an early night but a quick catch up with Karl and Harriet Shields out for their 2nd Traverse together, it was Karls 3rd race.

Breakfast, the full works then a lift up the road by David to drop of the bags and have our pre-event chat at 9:30. We’d seen the Lakes Traverse race heading to their start as we headed up. We could dip our toes in the sea as Wainright did and take a stone to drop on the beach at the finish. Then we were off at 10:30am. I regretted not taking a picture of the weather forecast which predicted minus figures but it was warm enough to start without my windproof on even!

RACE PLAN. Our basic plan was to aim to be moving at 3mph with 30 minute rest stops at the 2 midway checkpoints and sleep breaks between 3 to 6 hours at the 4 main checkpoints. We didn’t know if this was achievable but it was something to have in our minds. I’d looked at the 2 previous events and thought somewhere between 3.5 to 4 days was possible but our aim was to enjoy the adventure and finish. The idea of stopping for food and afternoon teas along the way appealed, we’d just see how we went.

ST BEES to ROSTHWAITE (midway checkpoint) 29 miles, arrived 18:00 7 hours 30 (ETA21:40). so lovely to see friends from previous races and chat a little along the way. A big climb to start with then gentle undulations along the coast for 4 miles before heading East. We’d been advised about a detour at 10 miles to miss a hill but add a 600m of distance. Ourea events had signs up so no one missed that turn. It didn’t take long and we were at Ennerdale Water. Lots of people were supporting us. Lovely to see Carol Morgan and Paul Nelson. I’d researched and was excited at the thought of having Hartley Ice cream at the cafe but it was in tubs and just 3 flavours. I didn’t want to queue so we filled our bottles at the tap and headed on. I was pleased I’d overheard someone asking if anyone had left their map in the toilet as we saw a guy searching for his as we headed towards the lake, he was quickly reunited with it.

The rocky section along the lake didn’t seem as long as before and we were soon heading to Blacksail and our first climb of the day up Grey Knotts before the descent to Honister and Rosthwaite. Chatting with Colin Green helped. Kate was running with us and her coach, Dave Troman, came to say hello, she wasn’t surprised he knew us.

As we reached Rosthwaite we told Steve Braithwaite, Colin Green and Robin Kinsbergen of our rough plan to stay 30 minutes. Alec Major was there, we know him from Cape Wrath plus Debs White, I didn’t appreciate she was doing the Lakes Traverse until we caught up with her on Greenup Edge. All I remember from the menu was that there would be soup at every checkpoint plus sandwich making stuff. We both had soup and a few cheese and pickle sandwiches, filled up our water and felt ready to go after 20 minutes. We chuckled that the guys started to pack up as they saw us head out the door early!

ROSTHWAITE to PATTERDALE 15 miles (TOTAL 44) arrived 23:30 (ETA01:40), 13 hours 20. We expected to be ahead of the schedule here because the hills had only just begun. It was lovely to get to the top of Greenup Edge without the need for headtorches as the route was a little vague at the top with plenty of boggy bits to avoid if you wished. I was grateful for my poles going up here but it restricted my ability to eat. As usual we tried to get as far as we could without the need for artificial light casting shadows before we really needed it. As we bypassed Grasmere it was lovely seeing the trail of lights heading up the very steep climb to Grisedale Tarn. I ate a few bars on the road section before the climb as we got the poles out again. I liked the way Debs White had a place on the bottom of her bag for her poles and we had our inside the packs so needed help getting them out. The advantage of running together!

Again the descent was quick to Patterdale as we chatted to different people. The hall was tiny with lots of people crammed in. Nice food before resorting bags and resupplying. We asked about sleeping and an extra 8 person tent was erected for us. The other 3 were full including the entrance areas. It wasn’t the best sleep with the Dutch guys chatting next to us initially then snoring from somewhere. After 2.5 hours we were up and ready to go. I was surprised how good my legs felt, I think being lovely and warm in my sleeping bag helped. We’d planned a slightly longer sleep as we were ahead of time, plus it’s amazing how much time it takes to sort yourself out when you arrive at at checkpoint! Again we’d let the guys know of our plans for leaving.

PATTERDALE to SHAP 16 miles (TOTAL 60) arrived 09:15 Sunday (ETA 10:00), 22 hours 45. I had my protein shake and a couple of sandwiches. It was 4 am when we left. We knew we should be fine following the paths up towards Kidsty Pike although we knew we’d have to be careful not to miss any turns which of course we did but only briefly. Robin and his 2 Dutch friends disappeared quickly up the hill but we soon caught them near the summit and headed down to Haweswater with them. They seemed to appreciate Andy’s knowledge of the history of the place plus advice on what the course ahead would give them. We were strong over the distance and kept just nicely ahead of our schedule by 45 minutes. The weather was kind to us not too warm just dry and wind free, what happened to the cold snap! The food at Shap was excellent, a chilli with rice I seem to remember. Its the finish for the Lakes Traverse so was quite busy. Kate came in having bought sunscreen so we helped her loose weight by applying loads.

SHAP to KIRKBY STEPHEN 20 miles (TOTAL 80) arrived 15:50 Sunday (ETA 17:10), 29 hours 20. Kate didn’t stay long and was out the door before our 40 minutes was up. She was taking it steady as we walked with her over the M6 and headed off. The day got warmer but never too warm over the rolling hills. There was the new diversion we’d not done on the recce but this was easy to navigate and was nice to stay up high but otherwise there were no big climbs just rolling hills and a few road sections. We met a lady struggling with her asthma and feeling sick, she’d been like it at Shap but was keen to keep moving. Andy talked to her but she didn’t want us to stay with her there was nothing we could do. It’s always so hard to know what to do in these situations but she was moving well!

Kirkby Stephen was our 2nd main checkpoint and although we arrived in day light we knew we needed a good rest before heading out hence the plan for a 6 hour stop. Soup and chips were the main feed and something called Cawl which seemed to be mostly veg, it was missing the protein, it was tasty and easy to get down. Being an old style rugby club ladies had to use the referees shower, the water was warm but the room wasn’t, it felt good. They were more organised with the tents here knowing how many people were in the tents, but not which pod they were in! It was very windy and despite setting the alarm for 5 hours later I don’t think I slept the full 5 hours. Neither of us were keen to get moving again but knew it always sounds worse inside the tent than it really is. I put full waterproofs on to leave the tent but needed to take my jacket off once back in the main building as I was too warm. We managed to get sausage and beans from the Neil in the kitchen, we started a bit of a craze but then he only had enough chips to give to anyone arriving at the checkpoint.

KIRKBY STEPHEN to RICHMOND 34 miles (TOTAL 114) arrived Monday 10:50 (ETA 10:30), 48 hours 20. It was 11pm when we headed out into the wind and gentle rain, we knew we had the climb up to Nine Standards Rigg so were dressed for the weather. We found the ginnel down to the river but took a wrong turn to get to the bridge! We had a good march up the hill without using our poles. Visibility was poor with us barely being able to see each other let alone the ancient line of cairns on the summit. From here we found the path fine and followed it over the slabs but then lost it as soon as we hit a boggy section where people has made paths in various directions as they tried to avoid getting wet feet! Sometimes we found the path which often turned into a dead end sheep trod but a few times we were left going round in circles and even with GPS on Andy’s phone we struggled to get back on track. We ended up going downhill on a really good track at one point and I knew from our recce this was wrong so back we went. Finally we hit the right track and made it to Ravenseat, home of the Yorkshire Shepardess. Except for the cold and worry of damaging Andy’s phone it was the best part of the whole adventure, the wildness of the night and thrill of being out there together, it’s why we’re so lucky to run together.

The route towards Keld and then the mine section went without bother, I just kept feeding myself, I seem to remember 3 chocolate bars in a row here plus a cheese block or 2. Easy to swallow and a massive sense of satisfaction and boost to my morale. The route took us down to the first stream and I was convinced it was a zigzag down but it wasn’t, we climbed up to Lownathwaite before the climb down to Gunnerside Gill and the remembered zigzag path. The climb up from the Surrender Bridge sign seemed so much more straightforward even though it was still dark, I know that’s why a recce is such a benefit, nothing ever seems as bad when you do the race itself. The night was lifting and we had the magic of a tailwind to blow us down to Surrender bridge, those 3 miles felt magical. We were on a high.

We caught a few people or were caught on the section to Reeth, it was good to see Colin and Stephen again as well as Heidi at the Bike Shop. The shop leaves the toilet block open for us, perfect for getting tap water and sorting ourselves out before the 12 miles to Richmond. We breezed over this section catching quite a few people but on looking at our timings we averaged the 3 miles an hour planned but then I guess some of that was going round in circles on Hartley Fell! We didn’t have many breaks.

Alec was there to greet us at the checkpoint with the news that the tents weren’t up as one had blown away and the fire brigade had to recue it from someone roof! Kate was here which surprised us but she’d slept less at Kirby Stephen. We were to sleep on the changing room floors of the shower areas. We ate well as we got sorted and ready for leaving before spreading out the sleeping mats and setting an alarm for 2.5 hours, I used Andy’s spare ear plugs, I stopped using them years ago as I get sore ears but I needed to block out the noise of people moving about plus any potential snorers, it worked along with the eye mask.

RICHMOND to THE LION INN 43 miles (TOTAL 157) arrived Tuesday 05:10 (ETA 03:50), 66 hours 10. We planned to have a short break so we could use the daylight for the tricky fields section as we know the Cleveland Hills beyond very well. Breakfast was an amazing curry meal, like a pot noddle but nutritious and tasty, I was delighted!

It always takes longer to leave a checkpoint than you can imagine despite us having a checkpoint list to keep us focused. We were 20 minutes late arriving there, had an extra 1 hour 20 in total at the checkpoint and so were 1 hour 40 behind our schedule as we left. I wasn’t really paying attention to it now, I just wanted to keep moving at a pace that worked for us and not make it rule or stress us. We knew the next 21 miles were flat, with at least 6 miles on tarmac, at 3 miles an hour it should take us 7 hours to reach the 24 hour garage on the A19. We trotted along, thinking about whether to stop at any of the pubs along the way as John Kynaston had. We decided not to especially as we knew our favourite cafe in Ingleby Cross was shut on Mondays. We aimed for the garage and were delighted to get there just before it was dark, the lights of the lorries parked up behind the petrol station surprised me at the extent of the facilities there and why they needed that 24 hour hub. We knew it got dark around 8:30 pm, we couldn’t believe the flat landscape had allowed us to make up time and we were back on schedule! I’d hoped this but didn’t want to believe it but it gave us confidence that we might finish in daylight tomorrow. I’d already mentioned to Andy that perhaps we should make contact with our friend Bill to see if he fancied a day out in Robin Hoods Bay to ferry us home tomorrow. Andy had rung him earlier and said we’d confirm our expected progress in the morning.

I was shattered though which was a concern. I bought chocolate milk and an egg mayonnaise sandwich and asked if it was ok to have a lie down on the floor under the bench. It was obvious by her reaction that I wasn’t the first to ask, she didn’t offer me a duvet or pillow though! I couldn’t relax, couldn’t get comfortable and the music was too loud so we didn’t stay. Andy had spoken to Karen who was leaving as we arrived, she was planning to sleep somewhere on the trail, he suggested the woodshed at Scugdale. As we started the climb up to join the Cleveland Way we didn’t realise that Karen was sleeping in the woods. I was struggling. We sat on a bench after the climb down from Scarth Wood Moor so I could eat something as I felt nauseated, I’d been looking forward to the garlic mushroom pasty but after a couple of mouthfuls doubt I’ll try one again! Andy gave me a renne to see if that would settle my stomach. We kept moving and I hoped the woodshed would be empty, it was. Andy moved the bike that was for sale and I lay on the wood piled up and closed my eyes, I said I wanted to leave by Midnight as I didn’t want to loose too much time. I slept but possibly only 10 minutes or so but didn’t feel I needed the full 40 minutes we were there for. Andy used the time to check his feet and we were off. We know these hills so well from the Hardmoors series and I still can never remember if there are only 3 sisters or 4 after Lordstones cafe, we were grateful for the water tap there but a cafe stop would have been nice.

The climb up from Clay Bank to Round Hill seemed to go on for a lot longer than I expected it to but the miles were ticking along. I was amazed at the mass of lights around I guess we’re used to running here in daylight and don’t realise how many little villages are dotted about below. Somewhere I saw a hedgehog and was quite delighted! Finally we were on the old railway line and I knew it was going to be flat going to get us to the Lion Inn 6.5 miles away. The route curves in and out so it was hard to know when I saw lights ahead if they were the pub or racers ahead. I could see cars at times but the pub didn’t get any closer. We walked and jogged and had finally picked up the pace when I realised we’d missed the turning to the pub so we had to back track a little. There was a sturdy tent pitched with various small tents around it and a row of portaloos nearby. The main tent was doing an amazing service of fantastic tasting food. We got sorted and headed to a tent that we could have just for us 2. We’d discussed with the usual crew that had turned up that we would leave at 09:30 setting the alarm for 9am. We’d arrived at 05:10, 1 hour 20 behind the schedule but I’d stopped thinking about those numbers now. I set the alarm for 08:45, giving me 2 hours 45, I slept so deeply I was surprised when the alarm went off and Andy was already on the move. He said that Colin and Steve were already up, they left about 9 I think.

THE LION INN to ROBIN HOODS BAY 29 miles (TOTAL 186) arrived Tuesday 17:15 (ETA 19:30), 78 hours 45 minutes and 11. Actual 193.66 miles 9115 m of climb. The 3 miles of road weren’t too bad, we overtook Karen and a brother and sister that were doing the route together. Then the lovely off road track, 6 miles down to Glaisdale, the 3 of them overtook us on the short road section and disappeared off. Andy rang Bill to say we were on schedule for the 19:30 finish, we’d left the checkpoint at 09:40, I still can’t believe how long it takes to get moving! On checking our race plan we were expecting to leave at 09:50, we were surprised that we were back on plan, we didn’t feel we needed the full 6 hours at the checkpoint that we had planned but I’m amazed we were there for 4.5 hours. We knew the stretch down to Glaisdale would be quicker than our 3 miles an hour and even though we slowed on the rocky path along the river for the 2.5 miles to Egton we were still moving nicely. There was a free drink stop at Egton but we both felt we had what we needed, I couldn’t be bothered to go round to the front of the building and then we saw there were quite a few racers there so we were pleased not to join the queue. Andy called out to Colin and Steve and on we headed. Colin caught us on the old toll road to Grosmont so Andy could warn him of the 2 mile steep climb out of the village. As we climbed Bill and Olga pulled up. He’d spotted a good place for a photo so turned round and headed back up the hill. We didn’t stop there for long but Steve had caught us up. We stayed with him on the path down to Littlebeck and through the woods. Andy took an early turn but Steve has a fancy fenix watch that had a clearer path marked on it and knew we needed to go just a little further to get down to the waterfall and troll bridge at Falling Foss. Before the sharp turn at the end of the woods we found Colin and another runner, Louise trying to climb the steep side above the path to get to the road, in hindsight they were very close to the road but we didn’t want them getting penalised for missing any of the official route so they came back down. Another steep climb before the last big boggy section towards the coast. Steve struggled across this section where as I stayed ahead with Colin, and Louise. Andy held back with Steve as he was feeling really strong. We got to the road and all stopped to put rain jackets on. I knew Louise said she was fine with bog but struggled on the road. I was surprised how long it took for them to get sorted as Andy and I started off as soon as we had jackets on. It didn’t take long before we realised we were ahead of them. I was desperate to finish more than trying to be ahead of them. We were quickly through Hawsker and onto the coastal path for the last few miles. We know this last section so well and it was so lovely to be off the road. Andy rang Bill again knowing we were doing so much better than we could have hoped. He and Olga walked down to the hill in Robin Hoods Bay so as we came down the hill they were there with Pete to greet us as we finished at 17:15:11. It was the perfect finish having Pete to scan us at the end. Being completists we walked into the sea to dip our toes as we had in St Bees. I forgot to throw my stone in!!

We had finish photos then the others came in as we walked back up the road to Fylingdale Hall. Luckily they don’t do the fastest time back to the hall race anymore! Shane Ohly was there and came for a chat which he recorded, it ended up being used for the daily blog as I mentioned how we’d met running 11 years ago on the Sunday. https://www.northerntraverse.com/2022/04/lifelong-friendships-and-tales-of-adventure-on-day-four-of-the-silva-northern-traverse/ A wonderful feeling to get into the back on Bill’s car and be driven home. I had a quick bite to eat, showered and was in bed. Andy unpacked!! I wasn’t happy about having to do that the next morning!!

All I can say is I loved it. I can’t believe how well the rough plan worked, we hadn’t expected to follow it at 3mph but found it so useful to know roughly where we needed to be. The marshals were great, the food was perfect and enough. I’m glad I had my protein shake at each stop but possibly didn’t need it. I know of others who didn’t get the food they needed and there were issues but with space and sleeping space not being quite right. Looking forward to either doing the race again or helping on it some time. So good to see familiar faces from other races plus the same Ourea events team.

The Northern Traverse – 300 km across Fell, Dale & Moor
Andy Norman (with Sarah)

At around tea time on Tuesday, we ran down the slipway at Robin Hood’s Bay and hugged each other as the North Sea waves rolled over our legs. Just under 79 hours earlier we had been standing in the Irish Sea on the other side of the country! In between those moments we completed The Northern Traverse, a 300 km (186 mile) self-supported ultra race following Wainwright’s coast to coast route from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay.

We had set off with a simple plan of a minimum average pace of 3 mph for the whole event. We knew that the big climbs were in the Lakes and there were some easy running sections later on but loads of other hills & technical sections scattered along the course. There were four main checkpoints, Patterdale, Kirkby Stephen, Richmond & Blakey Ridge, where we planned to stop, refuel & rest but there were no set cut-off times. Our rough plan was to stay at each one for either 3 or 6 hours and get as much sleep as we could. From the moment we started we were consistently ahead of our guide pace which meant we were able to stay a little longer in each checkpoint, and therefore we were fresher when leaving and able to keep moving well. We completed the 186 miles in 78 hours 45 mins, or just under 3.5 days. A couple of hours ahead of our plan.

A few memorable moments

• Chatting with one of the elite runners (Eoin Keith) on the train there.
• No new ice cream flavours at Ennerdale Bridge!
• Stunning Lakeland views.
• Having an 8-sleeper tent put up for us at midnight in Patterdale.
• Two snoring Dutchmen joining us in the tent shortly after that.
• Overnight climb passed Angle Tarn and sunrise at Kidsty Pike.
• Great veggie chilli at the mini checkpoint in Shap.
• Freezing cold shower at Kirkby Stephen Rugby Club.
• Getting totally disoriented in a bog near Nine Standards Rigg, at 2am, in the rain & wind.
• Lovely long run hill down after Gunnerside Gill to Surrender Bridge.
• Sleeping on a cold changing room floor at Richmond, as one of the 8-sleeper tents had blown away.
• 6 miles of flat road, in the middle of all those amazing trails.
• Eating pies and eccles cakes in the A19 petrol station shop.
• Twenty minute nap in a woodshed near Osmotherley.
• Running multiple Cleveland Way hills overnight, with the lights across the coastal plain below.
• Meeting a friendly Pacer on the road climb out of Grosmont.
• Feeling great and running well across the final moor and along the NYM coast path.
• The deep sense of completion having made it from coast to coast.
• Most of all sharing the trail with old friends & making new ones, both runners and from the event crew.

If anyone is thinking of attempting an ultra this might not be the first one I suggest but it’s definitely one to put on the Wish List.

Event Director, Shane Ohly, feedback from the Northern Traverse. You can read it on our website here.

Event film You can watch this on YouTube here. 

Seasonal Foraging in Yorkshire by Lea Eyre at Make It Wild

Baron strawberry can make tea with leaves. 

Common sorrel red flowers like dock leaves, use on salads. Starts rounded too then comes to a point as it grows, like an arrow head. Dock leaves have a red tinge. Selenide similar leaves but more rounded with veins the roots are good but not the leaves. Lords and ladies larger version but poisonous, won’t kill you but will make you poorly. Vein round the outside. Grows close to wild garlic. 

Dandelion. Leaves bitter but edible good for digestion. Flower head for fritters or sprinkle on pasta. Root roost then grind to make coffee or use as a root veg. 

Dogs mercury poisonous. 

Hairy bitter reds like cress, lots of stems and circular leaves tiny white flowers. All edible

Opposite leaf saxifrage. golden Yellow flower stubbly 

Wood sorrel. Heart shaped, 3 leaves with a crease, fine stem red pinky stem at the bottom. Similar to a clover which has round leaf. Leaves fold in on themselves after dark.

Scarlet elf cup. Fungus. Grow on deaf trees. Orange variety also safe. Jan and Feb

King Alfred’s cake hold an ember not to eat. 

Gorse flowers good on salads

Red dead nettle member of mint family, square stem. All mints are ok to eat but not always tasty. 

Speedwell blue

CAKES AND QUESHE MADE BEFORE HAND

cooking rosti with garlic leaves

lemon drizzle cake and added gorse in a syrup to it and it really tasted like lemon and coconut!

4th to 12th March. Wainrights Coast to coast, St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay

4th March. St Bees to Ennerdale. 14.6 miles in 4 hours 15
17 minute 30 average mile
881 m of ascent, 799m decent.

Trains to St Bees luckily we got an earlier connection so arrived an hour earlier at 2:34. We still had to walk a mile from the station to the start on the sea front. 

An undulating 4 mile costal stretch to the turn in land. The old path nearer the coast isn’t used now so we know not to always head for gates but to stick close-ish to the coast. The turn east was after the lighthouse. 

I remembered a few bits of the route from before such as we had to go round a house as they built over the track. After this we were on a good track but a side path had a faded white sign with coast to coast written on it at the bottom we thought we needed to head steeply back up which seemed crazy to me. Half way up this path I looked down and could see a tunnel under the railway line and knew we should head there. I’ve since found a photo from 2008 to prove it. 

A few slightly boggy paths but not enough to get wet socks. Andy knew at 9.5 miles we had an uphill climb for over a mile, before this he spotted a hill and path, he was right it was our path. We’d had a sunny start to the route and I pointed out the Lakeland mist hanging over the hills at this point. It was a fine rain as we slogged up the hill with a few false summits before the cairn at the first summit, a rainbow led the way. We did the usual thing of putting on our waterproof jackets and the rain stopped. Looking back the sun was starting to set and the colours over the next 30 minutes were wonderful over the sea. 

Andy said it was 3.5 miles of downhill but initially it was really steep and hard to run down but then a good path before the final 1 or so on the road to town. We managed without our torches as the moonlight reflected on the tarmac. 

The Fox and Hounds pub was just off route. A purple room, I didn’t use the bath. Big portions for tea. 

5th March. Ennerdale to Grasmere. 23.55 miles 8 hours 12
20 minute 55 average mile
1253 m of ascent, 1247m decent.

Massive cooked breakfast! Luckily Andy brought sandwich bags so we both made marmalade sandwiches with the toast. 

Out the door by 9. A short trot along the road to Ennerdale Water. Sunny day again so the lake looked wonderful with the snow kissed hills beyond. Our path along the south side of the Water was very gently undulating with a few tricky rocky bits, we climbed down one section where it would have been easier to climb up a short way to the good path. Hindsight is a good thing!

The signs at the end of the lake were a little confusing as we needed to go through the edge of the woods but could have turned sharp left to do 2 sides of the triangle but that wasn’t the coast to coast route. The only sign pointed left! EDIT race route is the obvious route that we didn’t do

Great track up to Black Sail YHA. After this a steady single file track over slightly boggy ground then steep easy to follow path up alongside Loft Beck. It was only when we crossed the side stream and turned left and steeply up that we missed the path but soon found the steep steps up. The track on the top to Honister Hause was easy to follow with great views around. Then the down to Honister was tricky but there were paths down the side of the rocky trail. 

Round behind the YHA at Honister and down a nice track to Rothswaite. The 2 C2C signs we saw were in good spots except the 2nd one pointed down a good track and we needed to almost immediately take a very steep left hand track down the hill and onto the riverside track we’d used on the Great Lakes 3 Day event. 

Rothswaite is CP1 on the race so we called into the cafe. Tea for me, mocha and tea bread for Andy. We’d eaten our first sandwich at 11:11 then 2nd just after this. I had the other half of yesterdays chia bar. 

Cross the road and up Stonethwaite Beck valley. I got confused thinking we’d be on the Cumbria way valley but our valley soon narrowed when we didn’t cross the bridge and the rocky trail headed up and up! It was mostly easy to follow we often chose the boggy lower paths but we’re always close to the route we needed. This valley went on and on. Eventually we climbed a steep path near the end of the valley and thought we’d be at the top but we weren’t! The path mostly disappeared over Greenup Edge but we followed the cairns until finally we reached the top. 

Down the other side was a good path to follow but rocky mostly so difficult to get a good pace.  Since our tea stop our mileage really slowed even on the downs we were doing 21 minute miles. Finally we were on the road and headed towards Grasmere. The YHA was before we reached the village a lovely old building. We booked in for tea pizza for me and vegetable tikka masala and pudding for Andy. I zoomed with Mum, dad and Joe. Shattered it was bed time

6th March, Sunday. 22.8 miles in 8 hours 22
20 minute 03 average mile
1675 m of ascent, 1451m decent.

7:30 breakfast we’d packed so were ready to head out the door by 8:15. Back up the road about half a mile to re join the ‘flat’ track to the main road which we crossed and headed up from the sunlit valley towards the cloud that hung over the pass above. We followed the main path and I’d seen a rough path ahead which I thought we’d be following but after the stepping stones Andy headed to a bridge which we crossed and started to head up the valley. There was a sign pointing out the new coast to coast route as the lower path needed erosion control. I pointed out to Andy that my GPS watch wasn’t happy but we thought it would right itself on the very new path. We’d gone about a third of a mile when I mentioned how far away my watch showed we were from the path. Andy hadn’t spotted this and on looking at the official route we needed to head back to the stepping stones. Luckily it was a good gentle path initially not the steep rough one I’d seen. It soon got steep giving us great views back to Grasmere. The clouds ahead of us had disappeared and I was soon taking a top off.

At Grisdale Tarn we took the south side path to join the path we know well from the Tour de Hellvelyn which took us down to Patterdale. It’s a stony path that’s hard to get much of a rhythm but was better than we remember from December.  I’d hoped to stop at the cafe at the farm thinking it would be open on a Sunday but it wasn’t. We were still on the Tour de Helvellyn route climbing out of Patterdale on the stepped path. Another stepped path joined in from the right we weren’t sure where from but hope it joins further back on the path we were on as that’s the race route. We headed on round and up towards Angle Tarn rather than turning left there to head back to Ullswater. The path kept going straight up we nearly turned left before the path levelled out before the tarn. 

We were seeing quite a few people today especially runners, one slipped past us we later found out he’s doing the Lakes Traverse. He was having a good look at alternative ways off the tops. 

The tarn was stunning in the sun light. We kept it to our right as we swung round it in search of higher ground. A few more gently undulating miles before the climb past a snow covered Grey Knott. Andy recognised a runner coming the opposite way, Richard Lendon, Spine racer. He was on his commute to work in Grasmere. He’ll stay in the YHA his car is there already. Just after here the coast to coast goes 2 sides of a slight rise but our route took us over the climb which seemed odd but we followed it all the way to the highest point of the whole route Kidsty Pike. We were back on the coast to coast route now. Stunning views down to Haweswater and we started the decent. It was mostly gentle and grassy tracks with a few steeper rocky sections but nothing too bad

We were delighted to be on the lake side path and followed the race route for the length of the lake. The Lakeland 100 race comes along this in the opposite direction and I’d forgotten how undulating it was. I knew it was rocky under foot! I got water from the first stream I could and we trotted along running when we could and striding out the rest. 

I could see the reservoir dam wall for ages but didn’t realise we had to go past this to the road and then through some trees to the bridge that we don’t cross on race day but we cross the road and down the side of it. For the hotel it was a 2 road miles on the other side of the lake, a little sole destroying but we pushed on. We’d talked about hitching a lift but most of the cars were coming towards us so we pushed on. There was meant to be a lakeside path but signs on the gates so it was to dangerous to use kept us on the road looking down I couldn’t even see the path!

The hotel is stunning, Art Deco, we’ll maintained. Interesting to learn the history of it that it was built by the people flooding the valley and therefore Dunn Bull Hotel at Dalemain. 

There was a bath in our suite so I enjoyed a long soak. We then washed clothes in the bath and as I pulled the plug one of Andys socks disappeared down the plug hole with nothing to stop is being swept away. 

Amazing food in the restaurant but tiny portions so we shared the cheese board which was perfect. Back to the room to watch Misbehavouir. 

7th March. Haweswater to Kirkby Stephen. 26.38 miles in 7 hours 29 (86.95 miles total)
17 minute 02 average mile
918 m of ascent, 945m decent.

A lie in as we couldn’t have breakfast until 8:30. We were fully packed and ready to go. Andy chose the vegan breakfast as it was avocado and spinach to replace the egg. We chatted to the table next to us, they’d run the Haweswater half yesterday. We talked about the 2 mile hike out from here hoping they might give us a lift. None of the frozen cars were on the move as we left just after 9. One past us half way so we just kept moving. The air was cold but the sun was shining on the far side of the lake. 3 fighter jets flew close above us, noisily. 

At the bridge we were back on route. It was an undulating day along a few streams and over fields to get us the 6.5 miles to Shap. Tired legs meant the going was slow but then the path wasn’t always easy running. I remembered the ruin of Shap Abbey just before the town but not much else. 

We headed straight through town and out on the 3 Rings of Shap route past the quarry and stone circle, (that’s off route so you don’t actually see it) but headed out onto the moors rather than continuing on that race route. Not many signs although getting more frequent and often a post which has the ‘aw’ on, they stick out of the otherwise featureless moor. We’d seen on Facebook someone mentioning a new fence in place across the path, the farmer said they didn’t intend on putting a stile in. We could see the path clearly leading away from it, it wasn’t far to go round the fence and get back on track but it was quite lumpy under foot. 

We had to check the OSmap on Andys phone a few times and I regretted not downloading the official way that was sent to us on Outdooractive the day after we started this trip. Andy had it on his phone but it’s not so easy to use. We only spotted later that there was a different route at Orton. We knew there was something different here but as there were 2 routes we followed the one Andy had downloaded originally from the event organisers. Looks like the way we should have gone will be easy to find and only takes out a short section of the route we recced today. 

From here the route flattened out quite a bit but was also on road or track for awhile. We were both still surprised how slow we were moving 3.5 miles a hour, we’d been averaging slower than 3 hour the previous 2 days with all those hills! Little trees and a bolder on its own. 

Andy had mentioned a gorge we went down. We missed a stile so were off track heading down a slope but managed to find a stile to get to the correct side of the wall. We should have stayed closer to the wall earlier to find it. Then down to a bridge before the last big long climb up. There was a choice of paths but usually they were going the same way. Over the other side along the road a little before heading under the railway and into town. There was a road behind the houses which took us into town we took a side street to get into the main road so we wouldn’t miss the pub so probably just missed the turn for where the checkpoint will be. I was shattered and my feet really hurt. 

It was another lovely day but with a lot less sunshine. At times the wind was biting cold but mostly it was a pleasant temperature. I didn’t take my long sleeve top off at all

The Black Bull pub. We were on the top floor again but I’m sure it’s good for us. We ate in the pub. I wasn’t keen to walk anywhere else. A guy from London, Rupert, mentioned he’s doing the same route as us but had no map. He’s planning on using his phone. Andy sat with him and showed him the map and gave him so advice on the route. 

8th March. Wainrights Coast to coast, Kirkby Stephen to Reeth, 22.83 miles in 7 hours 9.
18 minute 49 average mile (109.78 total miles)
1540 m of ascent, 1491m decent.

No breakfast at the pub but Brysons cafe across the road was open from 7:30. We both got egg mayonnaise sandwiches for the journey and a slice of cheese and broccoli quiche to eat as we crossed the river and started the gentle ascent. How Andy knew the route to the river from the main road, as it was a narrow passageway next to the bank, I’ll never know!

Mostly straightforward with signs to get up the single track road towards Nine Standards Rigg. The wind was strong and I struggled to catch my breath. It didn’t take long before we were both cold but with buffs and gloves we were warm enough as we kept moving. The track up to the Rigg was frozen but clear. We didn’t pause for long at the top before turning right and following the race route off the top. There’s 3 routes from here depending on the season. We were expecting bogs but with the ground so frozen it was easy going. Just a few times it was a soft landing with a bit of cold water getting into my shoes but so much better than we expected.  As we turned towards Ravenseat we could see someone walking towards us. It was Rupert he’d gone the more direct route but turned left instead of right. He and Andy chatted as they walked the right way but I had to jog to keep up with them!

We soon pulled away and headed round Ravenseat farm. New paving slabs meant it wasn’t muddy but were hard on the feet! We took the path above Keld and on into Swaledale. We climbed up towards the mining area with signs a lot of the way but not always. Down briefly to Swinner Gill then a long climb up and over before we were heading down to Gunnerside Gill and back along the other side. We turned sharp left at the sign to Surrender Bridge and rose steeply up. We were starting to turn too much to the north so headed back towards the faint junction to keep us easterly. Over the top it wasn’t always clear but cairns guided us to old mine working area and the track back down the valley. So good to run albeit slowly down the hill. 

Mostly the tracks we took were down hill but at the 2nd bridge it was across. A little further on there were signs and we were tempted by the downhill track which we were on but my gut instinct was to head up hill on the side track to a house. We only had a few miles to go from there with 2 slight rises. It was good running until we reached the last section that between walls and very rocky underfoot. Having kept my shoes dry for most of the day it was boggy here too! Finally we were on the road and into Reeth. 

We’re staying at the Black Bull Inn again but no bath. My shoes are starting to come apart so we went in search of the outdoor shop that used to be near the pub but it doesn’t exist now. As we came back passing the tourist info Andy recognised a ranger he used to work with so they chatted. 

We had drinks then Rupert arrived. We’d started to wonder how he got on. He followed our shoe prints as far as the turn to Surrender Bridge then headed down to Gunnerside. He’d enjoyed his day and is heading to Richmond tomorrow. It was lovely by the open fire but the table we sat on was booked for a group later but luckily Andy got us a table in the bar area rather than the restaurant. Bean chilli for me and sausage and mash for Andy. 

We went back to the room quite early and watched a short film on walking the longest line in the UK that doesn’t cross a road. Then started to watch videos our friend John Kynastan made of his recces of the route. 

We both look weather beaten today especially my blood shot eye!!

9th March. Reeth to Catterick Bridge, 17.80 miles in 5 hours 27 (127.58 total miles)
18 minute 25 average mile
545 m of ascent, 685m decent.

A lazy start but we were awake early. A big breakfast then on our way by 9:15. Another lovely start to the day, my long sleeve top was off quite quickly. Down the road over the river and off towards Marrick Pirory. Here we were off the road and up into the trees. This was our big climb of the day and by 3 miles we were coming down again through fields. We mixed between tracks and fields all day. Mostly signed but a few times the sign or stile was hidden behind hay bales or a vehicle so you had to keep an eye on where to go. Crossing one field on the obvious path we soon realised we should have headed straight across and down to the road!

I kept recognising sections but not always the details. It was nice heading towards the escarpment after Marske remembering camping there before. It was also just before Richmond. 

In Richmond we noted the race route down to the river but side tracked into town to find a cafe. We’d completed 10 miles in 2.5 hours so planned a break knowing we had 5 more to do today. We past 2 cafes and headed to the main square before going back to Granny Kitchen down a side alley. Tea and a veg wrap for me, mocha and club sandwich for Andy. 

Down steeply to the river and over the bridge. We followed the river a short distance to the road, again almost taking the obvious path instead of the race route! At the road we knew the checkpoint would be off the first side street but it was a steep up!

A short section on the road then off down a track. I miss recognised the obvious track off to the side thinking straight ahead took us to a quarry or some kind of official works. Our path was next to the gate and followed its fence line, luckily we didn’t go up hill for long before we realised. 

After a short road section through Colburn Hill we were across fields and I remembered we got a bit stuck last time. This time we reached the fence and I was convinced we needed to stay in the field and not go through it, our GPS route took us across the field but there was a barbed wire fence in our way. We went back to the gate, looking back on my route from before this is what we did then!

We headed steeply down the side of the A1 and under it towards Catterick Bridge. Our foot bridge was just past here. The Farmers Inn was just down the road so we were delighted to arrive on our short day. 

No bath so we watched some more of John Kynastan’s video of the route before heading to the bar. We’d been warned the races are on in Catterick but it’s hard to know if they will get busy or not! We have a continental breakfast ready for us in the room. I asked at the bar if I could have just cheese as there was a plate of cheese slices with meat on top. They were happy to do this which means extra food for us!

Interesting for choices for tea not just your usual pub classics. I had little pancakes with various sauces. The pub filled up. We headed back to our room to listen to a podcast then watched Flatliners. I was worried I wouldn’t sleep as we were on above the pub entrance and next to a busy road but even with the window open I slept!

10th March. Catterick Bridge to Osmotherley, 20.49 miles in 5 hours 25. (148.07 total miles)
15 minute 53 average mile
381 m of ascent, 261m decent.

Funny eating our breakfast in the room as we got up. One croissant each plus quite a bit of cheese for me. We spilt the cornflakes and weetabix between us.

We were on the road by 8:45. Another sunny day and forecast to be warm so I didn’t start with my usual 3 layers, this meant my bag felt heavy as the extra top was in the bag not round my hips where I usually move it to. We followed the river initially then a little bit of road before some lakes. After Bolton on Swale, a couple more fields then at 3 miles we were off the coast to coast and hit the road for 6 miles. Seems strange but I presume it’s boggy bits that perhaps the farmers don’t like so many runners going through. John Kynastan’s recce went the other way. The road rolled gently so we were able to maintain an excellent pace at just under 4 miles an hour. 

We reached Danby Wiske and knew we had a mile still to go on the road then we were on the field edges with a few farm roads. There were a few patches of mud but mostly it was good going. We passed the end of the section we’d recced last time and continued on across the fields. It was mostly easy to follow with a lot of signs but you couldn’t always see them and it wasn’t always obvious.

Over the main railway line and the A19 which we got lucky in crossing. We’d planned a stop at The Joiners cafe in Ingleby Cross where I’d stopped with Kipper and Kate when we joined her for half a day when she walked the coast to coast. Amazing menu hard to choose! I wasn’t hungry and had planned just a drink but went for eggs florentine and chai latte, really nice. Andy had turmeric latte. We were only 2.75 miles from Osmotherly but as we were making such good progress it made sense to have an hour there. I had been a little concerned as a breeze was picking up as we approached the cafe but the sun was out nice and warm as we left!

Over the A172 and our first real climb of the day. Gently up the winding path, we turned too early to head to the junction with the Cleveland Way so had to go back down a little. On race day we’ll stay on the Cleveland Way now all the way to Bloworth Crossing but today we went over the fields and into Osmotherley ignoring the altered Cleveland Way route that takes people via the lady chapel just before the track to the village. 

Through Osmotherly centre turn right by the pubs and we were just down the road a short way. Andy found the key safe and Harriet the owner appeared to welcome us. A nice little en-suite side annex to their house. No bath though. 

11th March.  Osmotherley to Farndale, 20.07 miles 5 hours 50. (168.14 total miles)
17 minute 30 average mile
1283 m of ascent, 1274m decent.

We left by 8:10. Again breakfast in the room porridge pots, cereal and Andy kindly took the pan au chocolat to help reduce my temptation. 

We’d decided not to retrace our steps and follow the race route from where we left it as we know that section so well. Instead we followed the road up past the YHA and on to Cod Beck reservoir luckily there was a path alongside it which was nicer under foot than the tarmac. The sun shone for us again but it wasn’t quite as warm as yesterday. We know this section all the way to Blakey Ridge really well from other events. The climbs felt tamer than usual after what we’ve done in the lakes. We made good progress initially but were slowed by the ‘sisters of Steele’. 

I was amazed when we got to Bloworth Crossing that we’d done 14 miles but there were still 6 miles to go on the old railway line. Just before here some ladies advised us there was an adder sunning it’s self in the sun but we didn’t see it. 

We made steady progress along the old railway line as although it is essentially flat it did undulate slightly. We knew we wouldn’t make the Feversham Arms in time for 2pm when they close so the plan was to get to the Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge which the race goes past. To continue to our pub we just keep going south on the old railway line for an extra mile. Andy chatted to a dog walker who thought we would make it if we took one if the side tracks down into Farndale. Andy checked and thought we could do it so rang the pub and said we should be there by 2 but might be a few minutes late. That was the fastest I ran all day on the railway track despite the strong wind trying to hold me back. I thought even if I didn’t get lucky with a bath in the room it would be nicer to sit with our legs up on the bed than in a pub with our legs getting stiff, swollen and sore waiting until the 6pm opening time. 

The path off the ridge was grassy but easy to follow. A few boggy bits and we soon on the road for the final 2 miles to our pub. The road undulated quite a bit but we ran up some of the climbs. It was just after 2 when we arrived. There were people eating and drinking in the pub so at least we knew staff would be around for a bit. We had to go behind the bar to get to our room sadly no bath. We had a drink at the bar before showering and relaxing. 

The food was the most disappointing all week for me, I chose something off the vegan menu but it was cold and a small portion, it was tasty. Rachel the owner was happy to make me a cheese board for me.

12th March. Farndale to Robin Hoods Bay, 25.91 miles in 6 hours 25.  (194.11 total miles)
14 minute 53 average mile
802 m of ascent, 1249m decent.

Up at 7, full cooked breakfast at 8, paid and we’re in the car by 8:30. Rachel’s husband Allen took us up past the Lion Inn to the junction with the last bit of road. This saved us 3 miles of road from the Lion Inn pub. 

Half a mile on the single track road then we were off it and on a good track heading down hill. Where it was rocky there was usually a soft grassy section at the side to ease our sore feet. 

Rain had fallen all night but stopped as we left the pub, on the drive up low mists surrounded us but as we started down the track the clouds started to lift and we had great views down to Great Fryup Dale. Across the moors we could see Roseberry Topping, a ray of sunlight slipped through the clouds but was eaten up before it reached the Topping which also melted into the low clouds. Luckily the clouds were lifting ahead of us. 

The track led to a road for a short section then off that and onto a good track all the way to Glaisdale. 6 miles done in just over an hour! We wove through the village steeply to the station and were onto the last recce we did before covid lock downs began. 

It was warm so off came my long-sleeved windproof as we headed under the trees and onto a boggy path following the river to Egton Bridge.  Short section on the road then onto the old Toll road to Grosmont. We were still averaging under 4 miles an hour even on the flatish valley floor but knew we had a 2 mile hill to climb after Grosmont, all on the road. We seemed to get into a good pace going up the hill and were soon on the moor. Our route cut off a section of road across the moorland to rejoin the road for a short section before a good track down to Littlebeck

From here we were in the woods again on an undulating track following the river. The path was easy to follow and it was only the signpost suggesting Falling Foss or Car Park that was confusing as neither said coast to coast but on Johns recce they’d gone straight ahead instead of down to the waterfall so that was easy to ensure we did it right. Just past the waterfall is the bridge with the troll underneath. Over this and the road bridge and a bit more muddy riverside path before our final big road climb of the day. A farmer offered me a lift just before we turned off the road. Then the bog began! I’d been starting to think I’d get away with dry feet but not now. The cool boggy water was lovely as it seeped into my shoes each time. 

The path isn’t as clear here and even our GPS route was different but we managed to get easily from bog to bog before the last few miles into Hawsker.  We crossed the main road then headed by road to the caravan park and down to the coastal path. We were back on The Cleveland Way for 3 miles to Robin Hoods Bay. We had thought of taking the Cinder Track which meant we could have caught an earlier bus but decided to do the full last section. We arrived in Robin Hoods Bay just after the bus so headed down to the official end of the coast to coast by the sea. 192 miles completed. 

We went in search of drinks and the bus stop and ended up in the Victoria Hotel very close to Thorpe Lane bus stop. We had time to get changed into dry, less smelly clothes.

The 15:55 bus arrived in Scarborough on time at 16:36, we knew we had little chance of catching the hourly service to York at 16:34. We found Lezzet Mediterranean restaurant, they were fully booked but when they knew we had a train to catch and only wanted to share a vegetarian meze they found a table for us. It was the best food I’d had all week. 

The trains worked out well as we negotiated which ones to get to get home as soon as we could.  

168. Hardmoors 30

Hardmoors 30, 1st January 2022. 33.73 miles. 1,253m of ascent. 7 hours 18 mins 27 seconds. Joint 64th of 163. 14th lady. 4th in age

My 100th Ultra

What a ride! What a day!!Loved the mud, the blustery wind and the clear skies. So good to chat to so many people as we ran. We thought the start would be crowded as within a short distance we were off the road and onto the Cleveland Way but we didn’t have to queue. We went steady along the coast and up to the lighthouse where David Bradshaw took our photo. It was too crowded to stop and pose or even think about jumping for the picture.

 We were keeping to 5 miles an hour on the coast path and even up to the Beacon above Ravenscar. That climb felt so much easier than in March when we didn’t know what to expect. Andy ran most of it knowing how strong I am on the climbs. I filled a bottle with coke having ignored the first checkpoint. The caffeine and sugar is a great fuel. We got caught behind 2 less confident runners in the narrow slippy slope down from here but then enjoyed the road into Ravenscar and back onto the cinder track. We got chatting to a novice Hardmoor runner doing his first ultra but as a triathlete he was used to long distance. He stayed with us the Cloughton Wyke then left us on the coast. We kept at 5 minute miling all the way to Cloughton Wyke. I usually feel frustrated as people glide past me on the better surface but loved over taking people this time.

Heading north in the coast path was harder as expected but the gusting wind was to our advantage. Andy was amazing running up the hills that I might have walked on. Good to overtake others but for them to catch us up on other sections. We knew the section down from Ravenscar would be easier which got us back into a good pace. The Bogglehole checkpoint was like in March off the route. I got more water here but no food. I ate a chocolate chia charge flapjack, babybel cheese and mini fake snicker bar plus a few fruit pastels all day. It felt enough which seems surprising I’m still amazed that 3 bottles of Precision Hydration is what I need to preform! I have a proper Precision Hydration assessment coming up, Andy bought me it for Christmas, so I’ll be pleased to know what drink will help my fuelling. Andy ran every step up the hill in Robin Hoods Bay. Crazy guy. I fast marched it and caught a few others up but was well behind Andy.

From here we had 2 miles of gentle climb on the cinder track before heading back to the coast. I was delighted to see the Abbey with just 1.5 miles to go. We were 7 minutes slower than March but the ground was firmer then. Loved the day especially that fast finish. Andy made ginger cake to celebrate and Kate from the Pudsey Pacers had a congratulations ballon and chocolate cake for me. Perfect way to end an amazing day.  

Yorkshire Evening Post

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/health/sue-ryder-wheatfields-hospice-nurse-runs-100th-ultra-marathon-to-raise-almost-ps30000-3512905

Wharfedale Observer

https://www.wharfedaleobserver.co.uk/news/19817955.sue-ryder-nurse-raises-money-hospice-new-years-day-run-north-york-moors/

Interview with Radio Leeds plus slide show

167.Tour de Hellvelyn

Tour de Hellvelyn, 18th December 21. 37.87 miles, 2,191 m of ascent. 10 hours 28 mins 06 seconds. Joint 123rd of 160, 30th lady

A stunning day in the lakes running above the mists which magically settled in the valley floors. Frosty initially but the lack of clouds meant it was warm running once the sun came up.

A panic before we started as Andy couldn’t find his headtorch. The Tour de Hellvelyn is well organised and has a 2 hour staggered start time, we registered and got our SI tags which would register that we’d been past the official points on the course. You then go through kit check and your race starts as you head out the door and your tag is bleeped. Wonderful to see friends faces as we headed through the process. I was ready to go but sat on the floor as Andy checked his drop bag, went back to the car then returned to say he’d need to go to the hotel to check our room. Luckily he didn’t have to go that far as he rechecked the back seat of the car. It meant the sun had come up a little more as we headed through Askham on the slightly icy road. Great sunrise views behind.

A steady stream of people over took us over the moor before we hit the Lakeland 100 route above Ullswater which had sunk beneath the clouds. I took a wrong turn before Howtown and was about to get back on track when people behind us said it was a more direct route. It took us along the icy road and then a steep climb up, we got to the church at Martindale but we were envious of people on the off road route. The marshals didn’t seem bothered which direction we came from, there were quite a few ahead and behind us. More road until the climb up and over to Patterdale. The 10 mile check point was on the road rather than the cafe, no flooding this year.

Great visibility made following the path to Sticks Pass and down to path parallel to Thirlmere easy to follow. I wasn’t as confident as those heading over the bracken on more direct lines. In previous years I’ve envied them as they raced over the mud oblivious to how slippy it was but today it was drier with the golden bracken cover but still slippy in spots. This path along the bottom was tough at times due to the sun in our eyes. Andy had been in a Tshirt after the hot climb up from Glenridding, I unzipped some zips but was just about right.

We knew the route well so expected the sharp climb towards Grisedale tarn but weren’t sure of the best way to head down back to Patterdale. People were choosing different routes. Our lower one was rolling and boggy so perhaps we should have stayed higher with the others. It was a rocky path down from the tarn, a guy caught us up saying he’d stayed close to the stream as he’d seen others doing that and that was easier.

It wasn’t long before we were retracing our route back towards to Askham, we missed the track back over the main top so had to cross the bracken to get to the stile at the top. I blame Anna Troup for interrupting us as she stopped for a chat! At the church at Martindale we took the proper off road route and really enjoyed it. I was surprised thinking I’m sure I usually out my head torch on around the church area but we were climbing up above Ullswater before we needed them. We took a few wrong or different paths across the moor towards Askham, trying not to follow others but were soon heading back to the start, very pleased with our day out especially as it was a PB! Good to catch up with others at the finish

166. Hardmoors Roseberry Topping 26.2 trail marathon

Hardmoors Roseberry Topping 26.2 trail marathon, 12th December 21. 37.87 miles, 1,571 m of ascent. 7 hours 29 mins 20 seconds. Joint 59th of 86. 20th lady

165. Hardwolds 80

Hardwolds 80, 20th November 21. 80.23 miles. 2,534 m of ascent. 20 hours 50 mins 31 seconds. 68th of 135. 22th lady of 19 finishers.

164. Punk Panther Nidderdale Way Challenge

Punk Panther Nidderdale Way Challenge, 23rd October 21. 57.83 miles, event 2021.2184 m of ascent. 14 hours 39 mins 08 seconds. Joint 10th of

Pateley Bridge to Birstwith CP1 10 miles 2 hours 13

A 7 am start so we were up at 5am before the 45 minute journey from home. Quick registration, I was a little stressed that I have few pockets so didn’t know what to do with my tracker, I put it beneath my hat an gloves and hoped I didn’t pull it out or press the SOS button by accidently pushing it when pushing stuff back in. We were both surprised to see Rachel with Jelly at the start line, she didn’t think she’d be up for 8am to see us through Dacre Banks. She has chatting to Becky in Australia but I was taken by surprise and concentrating on what was happening at the start so didn’t say much when the phone was put to my ear. We ran through the Nidderdale showground to the road behind to get onto the Nidderdale Way. It was dark but we were showered by light from other head torches so I didn’t use mine much. We knew once off the road it was a sharp climb up to Yorke’s Folly above Guisecliff. People still had headtorches on which cast shadows and made it hard to see what was rocks, luckily most listened and turned them off as it was light. A great run over the moor and down to Dacre Banks, I was surprised to see Rachel was there, we slowed a little to say hello, Jelly was keen to run with us. They met us again a few miles further on and then near checkpoint 1 which was lovely. The checkpoint was well stocked, i g some water forgetting it was just 4 miles to the next checkpoint. We’d recced this section with Jenny and Ken and it was good to see the sections we’d gone wrong on then and how much easier this next section was. We chatted to Caroline who is doing 1.5 laps so was concentrating on this section knowing she’d be doing it in the dark next time round. We over lapped her a lot through out the race with her leaving checkpoints just as we arrived.

Birstwith to Ripley CP2 4 miles (14 total) 55 minutes (3 hours 6)

This next section was straight forward with a few gentle hills, quite a bit of road then track which made it so quick. I’m sure we did something different on the recce that took us up an awful walled track that was very overgrown, but not today! Crisps, water and coke at the checkpoint

Ripley to Brimham House CP3. 8.5 miles (22.5 miles) 1 hour 49 (4 hours 57)

On this section we were quite confident except the last section towards to checkpoint which was a little confusing. I seem to remember going closer to Brimham rocks when I did the whole route many years ago. Rachel met us in the woods, she said something about she’d done quite a lot of walking to find us. We weren’t sure how good the trackers were as its a different type and company to the ones we used before. The next checkpoint was a mile further than we expected, again I went for crips and coke but also a babybel.

Brimham House to Pateley Bridge CP4. 7 miles (29.5) 1 hour 45 (6 hours 42)

Andy said a few times it was downhill to Pateley Bridge, each time was after we climbed yet another little bump. The route twisted and turned, on and off road, down walled tracks but easy to follow. The temperature was good I was happy to have leggings on but did feel warm a couple of times. It was good to get back to Pateley Bridge feeling quite fresh and bouncy. Andy went to the car, I stayed at the registration tent as I was happy to just fill my water bottles, I’d only eaten a chia charge crisp bar and a few packets of crisps so didn’t need to top up my pack.

Pateley Bridge to Bouthwaite CP5. 4.5 miles (34) 1 hour 14 (7 hours 56)

We know the next section really well as it’s the start of the Frostbite 30 as we headed out to Gouthwaite Reservoir. It’s mostly flat until along side the reservoir but then undulating really. Just before we got to Bouthwaite checkpoint Casper appeared as he headed back to Pateley bridge to win the single lap race, Andy worked out he was 15 miles a head of us.

Bouthwaite to Scar House Reservoir CP6. 8 miles (42 total) 2 hours 27 (10 hours 23)

The Frostbite route has changed a few times so I was surprised when we didn’t head straight up the hill and onto the moor, instead it felt like a low level run to Lofthouse where the ice cream shop was shut!! We knew there were going to be hills but these came after the dry fords which I remember being full of water in the past. There were a few very steep climbs which came as a shock after the gentle rises. Finally we got views of Angram reservoir at the head of the valley, beyond the skies looked dark and cars on the road coming alongside the reservoir had their lights on. We didn’t get any rain until we came close to the reservoir. We stopped to put waterproof jackets on as a cool wind dropped the temperature. My watch lost satellites for a while and I was also very aware that the battery level was low, it showed a quarter so I didn’t want it wasting more power finding them. Using the GPS line would be needed when it got dark so I tried not to check any details as although I have a power pack I didn’t have a watch charger! It was lovely to finally get down and onto the dam, the checkpoint it’s self was off route to the left so we got to see people like Caroline leaving it and getting back on route. I enjoyed the peanut breakfast bar!

Scar House Reservoir to Bouthwaite CP7. 6 miles (48 total) 1 hour 43 (12 hours 6)

We both still felt good and strong knowing although we’d slowed we were on course for 4 miles an hour, we knew the hills of this section weren’t our friends. Another climb about the reservoir and then I knew it was easy route finding to Middlemoor but the track was going to be rocky, luckily there were sections of grass on the side which gave us chance to get a good pace at times. I love the tree near Middlemoor with views of Gouthwaite Reservoir. We knew it wouldn’t be long before it got dark. Through the lovely village of Middlemoor and then off road down to Stean Gorge but road side. I remember we went through a caravan park before climbing onto the hill, they were having a bonfire which was just being lit, we heard the fireworks later but didn’t see them because of the trees. We mostly found the way in the dark but a few times misjudged the line of the path. I was glad I had the powerpack as Andy’s phone with the map on power wet to 1% because of the cold, I tried not to be anxious about route finding in the dark. Finally back to Bouthwaite and another peanut breakfast bar.

Bouthwaite to Pateley Bridge finish. 9.83 miles (57.83 total miles) 2 hours 30 (14 hours 36)

We knew we still had a few hills to climb, Andy had printed out the profile and the climbs were steep. I knew there were a sections I’d recognise such as the caravan park and the mine. The mine wasn’t as easy to find our way out as I thought it would be, I remembered it being a good track but in the dark it wasn’t easy to follow. We were soon up high and on the road heading back to Pateley Bridge. The moon was rising but we didn’t really feel like we were heading due east. We nearly missed the turn off the route as instead of following the Nidderdale Way we turned and headed straight into Pateley Bridge half a mile before the finish. I expected there to be a punk panther sign to guide us. We made it! 57.83 miles instead of the 55 we’d expected, our average pace was 15.12 minutes per mile so only a little bit slower than our hoped 4 mile an hour. I was really pleased as I had struggled a lot on our last long run but felt strong today just starting to get tired before we finished. It sounds like a few people had dropped out but when there are 4 races going on simultaneously it’s hard to know who was on which race, we’ll find out later if we were 10th in the one lap, I missed out on being first lady over 50 by 19 minutes. A nice medal we’d chosen not to get Tshirts but did ask in case any were going spare. A quick change then the 50 minute driver home with protein shakes to fill us. Back by 11pm, a very good day out. All in all very well organised, regular checkpoints meant we didn’t need to carry much and the weather held other than those few drops of rain

163. Yorkshireman off road marathon

Yorkshireman off road marathon, 12th September 21. 26.41 miles, 2nd event 2021. 958 m of ascent. 5 hours 39 mins 23 seconds. 10th team of 22nd, 5th mixed pair of 13. Joint 109th of 182.

Andy’s calf was sore after parkrun the day before but he used the foam roller and I kept him moving most of the Saturday, he also wore compression socks on the day and we were delighted that he manged to run with just his usual calf stiffness! He’d seen Richard the physio on the Wednesday before and I managed to book him in to see Andy Kirk for a massage 2 days post run so hopefully he’ll be ok.

My race had been doubtful as I got one of those lovely boils in my right armpit and felt dreadful Tuesday to Thursday, the pain was incredible! I was given a high dose antibiotcs, flucloxacillin 1gm QDS, the doctor on Tuesday was hoping I’d not need to be operated on. Luckily it burst overnight into Friday morning and with Katie’s district nurses skills the puss was squeezed out and inodine mepilex dressing applied. I felt so much better on Friday so Saturday I knew I’d be fine.

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I was meant to be a pair with Rachael Newton but ankle injuries meant Andy and I teamed up. A warm, muggy day. We started by the fleece and it was a long slow climb up to the Moors. We took it easy on the climbs but it was soon apparent that Andy was going to be fine. Good to see people like Rose George, Neil Wallace was on the course taking photos. Darren Barham and Richard Allen were also running as a team but soon disappeared.

A great day out a few climbs initially then the long flat section towards the wind turbines. This kept our speed at 5 miles an hour but then the hills rolled gently and we knew we’d slow down a bit. The ground under foot is mostly runnable and little tarmac making it a great run route. Although we didn’t have totally blue skies we had great views of the Howarth area. The day was muggy with little breeze.

We’d recced the course a couple of times, the first 2 visits we’d walked half and then the other half, parking the car in Denholm so I just had to make sure I wasn’t looking for the turn off back to the car, plus the 2nd time we took a short cut as the day turned out to be longer than expected so the route wasn’t the race route towards the end just to confuse me!! We did the full route 4 weeks before the race, taking 6 hours 13 although moving time was 5 hours 52. I did the race 11 years ago in 5 hours and 8 so really hoped to be close that. The race is under FRA rules so no GPS allowed, I kept the map in hand and knew we should be ok except for a few turns possibly. There were race marker stickers on some gates and stiles but not all. I was amazed at one point when Andy realised we needed to turn left through a gate and called back the runners who went on in front of us!

The checkpoints were stocked with jelly babies, bananas and orange slices, sometimes with chocolate bars or biscuits and at one place cups of tea, I only remember water and biscuits last time, I struggled with the lack of food back then!

We did really well, it felt like loads of people overtook us near the start but then we slowly pulled back past them. Especially after the last checkpoint, where we were surprised by how many people we saw.

Rachael had Bill and Carrie with her, they were there at the start and then we saw them at checkpoint one, they would see the half marathoners that started an hour after us. I’s just said to Andy they’d be watching the halfs finish when we heard cowbells just before the viaduct that we cross, so nice t get one of Rachael’s chocolate cookies. The next time we saw them they were at the pub at the bottom of the final hill, Andy sped up the hill past them as I struggled to get any speed. A great finish in 5 hours 39, my WAVA (age related score) was 46.87%, it was 45.58% 11 years ago so I was faster than expected, delighted!!

There was pizza at the finish so I was extra pleased. Bill, having had a couple of pints, was keen to talk And into running it as a team next year! Home to a hot bath as always!!

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162. Great Lakeland 3 Days 28th to 30th August 2021

Wainwright Long Course day 137KM (23) 2200 m, actual 24.44 miles and 2,349m. 9 hours 24.07.58th joint of 82nd. 4th FV lady of 7.Nab Scar, Fairfield, Steel Fell, Harrison Stickle, Pike of Stickle, Great Crag, Grange Fell

97th Ultra

Wainwright Long Course day 2
39km (24.2), 3,100m, actual 27.29 miles and 2,936m. 11 hours and 48.08.34th joint of35. 3rd of 3 FV ladiesCastle Crag, Hindscarth, Red Pike, Haystacks, Lingmell.

Wainwright Long Course Day 3
22km (13.7), 1,900 m, actual 16.44 and 1,848m. 6 hours 56.1438th joint of 44. 2nd of 3 FV ladiesGlaramara, Pike of Blisco, Lingmoor Fell.
Overall68.17miles7,133m28:07:3326th of 27. 8th of 8 FV men3rd of 3 FV ladies

161. Hardmoors 30

Hardmoors 30, 24th April 21. 33.5 miles, 1st event 2021. 1,304 m of ascent. 7 hours 10 mins 09 seconds. 21st lady of 77 (7th F50), Joint 138th of 222 finishers.

For the Hardmoors 30 we had to predict how long we thought it would take us. Having done it nine times before we plumped for six hours 25 halfway between our fastest and slowest times. This gave us the 8:34 start time slot. We were set off in groups of 6 every two minutes. The weather forecast has showed a little bit of cloud with sunshine and around 12° with no wind so I was quite happy with shorts and vest top with sleeves just in case. It was a minimal kit list although we had to take a head torch even though this is April and not the 1st of January and we were guaranteed to finish before sunset at 8:30 pm.

When we arrived at the abbey car park at Whitby it was quite overcast and I started wondering whether I really needed a T-shirt instead. There were two portaloos so we queued for this saying hello to all friends and new. We took turns to register as we queued and then were allowed to jump the loo queue as it got close to our start time. We said a brief hello to Ralph McDermott from the Pudsey Pacers he’d arrived very early for the 15 mile race.

The rest of our start crew disappeared in no time and I was surprised by being overtaken within the 1st mile and a half but perhaps 10 days of fatigue and not as much training as we should’ve done meant we weren’t on for a PB this year. The course is different more of a lollipop heading along the coastal path to Robin Hood‘s Bay then onto the coastal path and all the way up to the beacon above Ravenscar so quite a bit more elevation and road than normal we then headed along the cinder path to south of Heyburn Wyke to make up the extra mileage that we were missing by not going through the streets of Whitby. Along the cinder path I tried to push myself as I kept getting into a steady plod at the same distance behind Andy so I pushed myself to run alongside him and get the pace going a little bit more. We made a good pace to that checkpoint at Cloughton Wyke at 17 miles before heading back on the coastal path. Here we slowed down on all the ups and downs that lead us through Heyburn Wyke back towards Ravenscar.

It had been warm on the cinder path but breezes cooled us on the coastal path. We kept seeing the same people as we were quick through checkpoints and they’d overtake us later. There was a diversion before Boggle Hole to get to the checkpoint and on to Robin Hoods Bay. A short section of cinder path before the last fast section of coastal path. It was all very dry so I was pleased I was in road shoes. Very pleased with how it wentespecially the push we made at the end.

Cheese and onion pasties and a few protein ball snacks. Just enough water stations to start with a litre but only fill up 500mls when I needed to afterwards. We didn’t hang around long afterwards and managed to get to Thornton or Dale for Baldersons icecream before it shut! 

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160. Hardmoors 55

Hardmoors 55 24th October. 54.11 miles, 7th event 2020. 2,192 m of ascent. 13 hours 49 mins 03 seconds. 26th lady of 47 (2^nd F50), Andy 114th of 170. Joint 139th of 217 finishers out of 254 starters not including the 10 relay teams, (149th including relays)

160th marathon

95th ultra

56th Hardmoors race completed, 6th 55

2114 Hardmoors miles completed

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We stayed overnight in an amazing AirBnB in Helmsley. It was the fear of not knowing where to park and if road works would delay us getting to the start. It also meant at least an extra hour in bed! We’d agreed to coordinate the coaches, everyone had been given the number of the coach they were to get on depending on their start times. Mark Dalton had got people organised marking off who was on each coach when we arrived. Oddly the 2nd and 4th coach turned up before the 1st. People were missing from each coach so we sent the early starters off first and waited an extra 15 minutes just in case.

We were in Guisborough by 7.30, we weren’t due to start until 8:46 and due to COVID restrictions, we couldn’t go the race start until 20 minutes before our 8:46 start time. We headed to Costa as did many others.

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Pre race and 08:46:15 start.

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It was all well set up. Drop bags and finish bags in Rod and Hollys van. Wait by the portaloos to be called forward. You were given your tracker then placed your bag on the table so this could be attached, we then got our race numbers and headed up in our group of 6 to the start. Up on the railway line Jon and Shirley welcomed and started us.

Guisborough to Roseberry Topping 10:15:20 (1 hour 29)

We chatted to John Kynaston as we moved through the process and then ran together. We didn’t have a plan to stay together except we’d put down the same predicted time, he has a 100 mile race in 2 weeks so was taking this easy. We had our splits from 2015 when we ran the race in 12:45. John had his from last year but that was the 50th anniversary of the Cleveland Way race and a different route at the start.

We were caught by others before we even left the railway line to head up to the woods, a steady stream of people came by but we stuck with our plan of not going out too fast. Someone kindly stopped and took a photo of the 3 of us. We made it to Highcliff Nabb on schedule. Clear views across the Roseberry topping. The wind was starting up but the trees had sheltered us. It wasn’t until we were heading up Roseberry its self that we noticed how strong they were getting and it was really hard work, especially as we went to the very top and the trig point. We lost 10 minutes or so getting up there.

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Roseberry Topping to Gribdale 10:42:14, running time 1 hours 55 (26:54mins) 8.3 total miles

Despite this mostly being downhill or flat I just struggled to get any speed up, I’ve still got that caution and fear of tripping when the ground is uneven. It was also tough as we were going into the wind so I wasn’t surprised we lost another 5 minutes. This was the first drop bag, I had plenty of water and knew I’d be fine to get to the next checkpoint so moved on through. John had a drop bag there and I think Andy might have got more water. I was carrying 1 litre of water with mountain fuel in both bottles. I also had a pasty, snickers and chia charge bar. I knew the checkpoints were well stocked with easy to grab foods if I needed more.

The spilt cards that Andy produces are great for knowing how far it is to the next food checkpoints but have a few split markers along the way with the time we should have arrived there if we were keeping to our 2015 schedule.

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Gribdale to Warren Moor 11:37:06, running time 2 hours 50. (54:52mins) 12.5 total miles

A sharp climb up to Captains Cooks monument then back into the respite of the trees and down to Kildale. Sportsunday were taking photos here again and we ran together but didn’t coordinate our jumps. I still felt like there was a steady stream of people passing us although I was overtaking people on the climbs but recognised the same faces or patterned leggings as they passed us again. We lost a few more minutes here but I knew it was the strong winds slowing us.

The climb towards Bloworth crossing was tough because of the wind but I’m sure last year and 2013 were worse. Warren Moor came before I expected it although matched the expected mileage. I thought it was where we left the road but that was perhaps a bit too windswept for the poor marshals!

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Warren Moor to Clay Bank 13:28:48, running time 4 hours 42. (1 hour 51) 20 Total miles

I didn’t stop feeling I had enough water still, I was sipping as we went but with it not being too warm I was fine. I had made so many changes to what I was going to wear in my mind before we left but the thin long sleeve top I got from the Frostbite 30, Tshirt then my Gore windstopper top were perfect. I wore a buff when I needed to stop the wind ringing in my ears.

Once off the tarmac it was a long slow slog of undulating rough track to the turn at Bloworth crossing. The wind battered us at times but was calmer as we took the right turn and headed along the edge of the escarpment. The guys ran together chatting a lot, slowing to let me catch up although it as interesting that John said how fast I walk as he couldn’t keep up and had to run. Once we reached the slabs I did wonder if I should have worn my Scotts rather than my Altra, King MT 1.5 Trail Running Shoes as they were so thin. Later I would be pleased as I don’t slip on the wet rocks and they manage pretty well through muddy sections.

Andy as usual was good at chatting to others as I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

I went to get my face mask out as I got to the roadside checkpoint but they said none of the other runners were wearing them but all the marshals were. I was straight across the road, had my water bottle filled and headed up the steps to where the drop bags were. I didn’t even stop there long, just enough time to add the mountain fuel to my filled bottle and add the chia charge bar to my pocket, I walked up the hill with my snickers. I’d put the old bag in the bin and had forgotten to remove my new strip of splits but nipped back for them!! We were praised for how clearly we’d labelled our drop bags, I pointed out I’d copied John Kynaston’s as he appeared.

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Clay Bank to Scarth Nick 15:56:23, running time 7 hours 10 (2 hours 27) 28 total miles

I moved on as the guys sorted through their drop bags. I knew I’d be faster up the climbs but would slow down on the tops. We did well over the three sisters but as we were coming down towards Lords Stones Andy stopped to put his jacket on, we’d had a touch of rain before this but this time the dark clouds had been threatening for a while. I was quite quick getting my jacket on and had crossed the road after the cafe before I saw the guys again. John however powered on and we didn’t see him much after that! I felt good on the this section, knowing once we got past Osmotherly we’d done most of the climbs. The rain was heavy when it fell but it didn’t seem to fall for long.

I chose not to get water at Scarth Nick as I presumed there’d be a checkpoint at Square Corner and I had plenty.

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Scarth Nick to Sneck Yate Bank 18:50:59, running time 10 hours 4 (2 hours 54) 40 total miles

One last climb up before we slipped down to Osmotherly. John was sheltering under the tunnel as we followed the Cleveland Way out of the village. He appeared to be sorting through his bag I said hello but kept going. Andy led the group up about 6 of us, I was pleased to get to the hill to be able to pass the others and get to Andy. I’d been dreaming of the pasty he was carrying, he agreed it was a good time to eat it. The climb up to Square Corner went quicker than I expected, I’m very motivated by food. I was surprised by the lack of food here but I guess I’d not really looked at the information but knew there was a cut off here so presumed it was a checkpoint as usual. Luckily there were lots of supporters here and a lady kindly filled a bottle for us both. Andy tried to steal some pasta but wasn’t allowed!

One last big climb which seemed to go on for ages. John caught us up here as we stopped to changed layers. I added my waterproof trousers and Andy changed damp layers for dry. His waterproof jacket started to fail. John stayed with us awhile but we edged on before we got to High Paradise Farm. Not far from there was the checkpoint at Sneck Yate Bank, I powered up the hill excited to get my next drop bag. Again I didn’t take any food from the checkpoint just a bottle needed filling and the mountain fuel adding. I put my 2^nd pasty in my coat pocket thinking I’d be eating it soon. The snickers and chia charge bar went into my top pocket ready for eating.

Sneck Yate Bank to White Horse 20:10:55, running time 11 hours 24 (1 hour 20) 45 miles total

A gentle climb from here, we were keeping to under 4 miles an hour most of the time which kept me motivated that we were doing so well still. We’d put the head torches on just before the woods that head to High Paradise Farm, it was a very dark night but beneath the escarpment we could see the lights of Thirsk. Two ladies moving very smoothly commented on how quickly I walk up hills, I was running at the time so think it was a compliment!

The final section to the White Horse check point always seems to take longer than you expect. With the staggered start times we weren’t sure how many people we’d see but there were a few coming back towards us before we dipped down the side into the trees. We could hear the checkpoint long before we could see it as they cheered us in. Such a great welcome! I handed in some rubbish but kept going knowing I had what I needed.

White Horse to Helmsley 22:35:18, running time 13:49:03 (2 hours 24) 54.11 total miles

I started my final chia charge flapjack as we climbed the steps up the side of the White Horse. The evening actually improved for us, I even started to feel warm and took my gloves off. Rachel Hewit ran with us for most of it, Andy chatted away as I powered up the hills. It was muddy but nothing bothered my lovely Altras. In Cold Kirby someone gave us some very nice chocolate orange fudge brownie, it went down a treat, very soft and tasty. It gave me the kick I needed to really power up the hill from the road towards Helmsley, I felt rotten leaving Rachel behind but she started 2 minutes after us so I needed to make up 2 minutes to beat her time. I also powered past another lady on the those awful steps but she went past me on the flatter surface that I struggle on with along with several other fast paced runners who were in relay teams.

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Such a fantastic feeling to be in Helmsley and head up the road to the finish at the swimming pool. Katrina was at the finish and Andy chatted to her as I sat down as usual.

I was so pleased with how we did despite us being 49 minutes slower than the prediction. We’d only really started to train 3 weeks before! Andy felt I was a bit lopsided towards the end. I had a few aches and pains especially shin splints on my right leg. I’d warn the altras hoping to have less ankle the following day, it was a touch tender but not to bad. We walked back to the airbnb and got changed in the driveway and Andy drove us home. We had recovery shakes in the car plus pringles. I thought I’d eaten enough but overnight I was soon hungry and thirsty. It was an odd night with lack of sleep but mostly from feeling so pleased that we’d done our first real race since January!!

Hardmoors 55 training virtual Fryupdale marathon and other half of the Farndale marathon 10th and 11th October 2020

Saturday 10th October. Hardmoors virtual Fryupdale marathon. 31.6 miles, 7 hours 20 (average 13.55 minutes per mile), 1,030m of ascent (32.6m of ascent per mile).
We checked into the Yorkshire Cycle Hub and headed down the drive to the road for our start. We both put rain jackets on as it felt cold and looked dull about us. As usual Andy took his off quite quickly when the rain shower eased off. I kept mine on not tempting the fate of knowing it would rain again as soon as I did.

The official start of the virtual race is at the bench so we turned right and headed to the bench took a quick photo and headed back past the entrance to the Cycle hub. The route was undulating initially on the road for a mile then climbed up to the ridge line that would take us to Blakey Ridge and the Lion Inn. We’d done most of the route in reverse in July but skipped the bit down to the cycle hub so I knew what to expect from here on. I was delighted to get to 9 miles in just under 2 hours, 5 minutes quicker than last week and we were taking it easy!

I was impressed by the mountain bikers coming down on our narrow, very steep track up to the ridge and it was lovely seeing lots of hikers heading east.

We spent the day dancing between rain showers and slices of bright sunshine. Lo cloud was mostly in the valleys around us so we didn’t always get a good view. Rainbows teased us into thinking the day was brightening up just for another rain shower to hit us.

After the Lion Inn we had a long, cold, flat section on the old railway line. I remember it seemed to take forever to get to the pub in reverse so wasn’t surprised by how long the section was before we turned right and headed north downhill. I’d hardly drunk anything but also felt hungry so had a piece of sweet naan bread left over from our trip to Prashad the night before. The downs were tricky preventing our average pace from improving much plus I still didn’t have the umpf I was missing last week.

Over the golden covered moor and down to Castleton and a good long flatish section to Danby. The memories were flooding back of the route. I suddenly realised we were joining the half marathon route that we’d done with Kipper as we approached the visitor centre. We both pushed ourselves up to the beacon keeping the average pace under 14 minute mileing. It was definitely the flat sections between the hills that allowed us to get to 4 hours and 5 minutes for 18 miles!

Andy slipped ahead easily towards Leaholm as I munched on a chia bar soon followed by more naan bread trying to get more energy. A flat section to the railway line then the final big climb. I was impressed to see Andy running past me up the the village but he wanted to get in a marathon under 6 hours. I started running again and was seconds too slow. That climb up wasn’t as bad as I expected. I slowly ran on up the hill and only really walked the steeper sections. Andy was teasing me that we might get back by 5pm for hot chocolate and cake, I was sure the cafe shut at 4. Why hadn’t we asked for cake to be put aside!

The final 2 miles to the cycle hub we’d done in the dark last time and struggled to find the path. The route on my GPS didn’t tally with what we had to follow but I kept going knowing we were close to it and we soon joined GPS trace and path under foot. A very slippy, tricky downhill slowing our pace further down to the road. I was delighted to keep running on the road despite there being 3 steep climbs pushing every last step. It was just gone 5, we’d managed 7 hours 20 for 31.5 miles! Such a strong finish compared to last week, I was delighted!! 69 m’s more ascent this week than last Sunday but over 4 more miles which only added 35 minutes onto our time, averaged 13.55 minute miles today but 14.39 minutes last week. I felt strong all day despite lacking the push to move faster on the down I didn’t ever feel as low as last week.

We stretched, washed our shoes and headed in for warm showers and recovery shake. WiFi was limited so Andy read to me then we heated up the chilly and settled down to watch Wild Rose before more Knife Edge and sleep by 10.

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Sunday 11th October. Other half of the Farndale marathon. 21.24 miles 5 hours 18 (14.48 minutes per mile), 701m of ascent (33m of ascent per mile).

The cycle hub spoiled us with their breakfast bap. 3 veggie sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes. I made coffee for the journey but we also drank a Cafetiere of coffee in the car made from their self catering kitchen. We bought some carrot cake for later.

We parked where the half leaves the road on the long drag up as we didn’t need to do the section from Hutton Le Hole via Gillamour again. We headed down the road to warm our legs up and took the turn for the marathon. My right heal ached a little bit not like last week. My left hamstring soon eased and I was pleased with our speed. Andy didn’t think he’d done this version of the marathon but I had memories of a couple of sections which may overlap from other races. Road initially then fields and a few sharp turns as we headed east. The rain held off just a few sharp showers, we were mostly warm. Low cloud filled a few views but improved as the day did.

I remembered my errors from last time plus told Andy the tale of my 2nd lady finish last time as Alison, who eventually won, and I crisscrossed during the day. She was stronger downhill unfortunately!

We ran through a deserted farm which Andy felt was the blueprint for his ideal home. Sadly no road access and he felt it wasn’t quite the right location.

Initially the day rolled by but the second half as we headed back to the main edge track gave us the hills which slowed us. I was already saddened that 8 miles took us more than 2 hours but still impressed on my energy levels compared to 6 days ago!

I still have that slow trudge that doesn’t improve until downhill tarmac as I have that fear of tripping. Still over 2 days we’ve managed 53 miles in under 13 hours. Fingers crossed we can repeat that in weeks!

We picked up a restless Kipper from Sashas I had a hot bath as usual as Andy ordered a take away from the Thai Sun Inn. Kipper needed a walk before he finally settled down!

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Hardmoors 55 training Saltburn marathon and Farndale half 4th and 5th October 2020

Training for the 55 was going slowly. September started well with a Yorkshire three peaks run and Great North Run virtual half marathon. We then had two weeks in Dorset and my hope of getting out and running a minimum of 3 miles a day didn’t go to plan. I walked Kipper a lot doing 17 miles with Kate and 10 with Andy but only managed 4 runs.

I was pleased we’d arranged for Sasha to have Kipper 2 weekends running so we could get out and do some back to back runs. We knew the weather forecast of heavy rain for Saturday 3rd but still set the alarm for 7am, planning to drop Kipper off at 8 on our way to Saltburn. Andy sent Sasha a message she was happy to skip a day and so was the BnB. 

Sunday 5th. Hardmoors Saltburn marathon training run. 27.7 miles. 6 hours 45.49 (14.39 minutes per mile), 961m of ascent (34.95m per mile).
Sunday morning we ran the Saltburn marathon from the door of our BnB. Up and onto the coast headland with a really good pace covering 9 miles in 2 hours. We were a little confused by the path up to the farm road where I’d dropped out on the 200. The route took us along the coast further but I know I’ve done this version before. The day was warm and I regretted having long sleeves on. Luckily I was in shorts. 
I’m not sure when I started to feel myself slowing but we took an alternative path to get to Skelton Green to miss a bit of road and I powered on when Andy stopped to talk to 2 hikers. I knew Andy had been pulling ahead so I didn’t want to slow him further. We overshot the turn but we’re soon heading towards Guisborough woods. Andy suggested we miss the Tees Link path and head straight up to High Cliff Nab. We chatted to 2 Hardmoors runners. One was doing the virtual London marathon. I don’t think they knew we’d skipped a bit and I’m sure I’ve not done that version of the route. 
I plodded along and each time I realised I was getting slow I’d remind myself to bounce more to get some speed. The weather stayed good for us over the moor just a couple of showers. I was pleased to finish the 27.7 miles under 7 hours.

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We’d stayed at Ruths BnB before. No one else was there so she was happy for me to spend 2 hours in the bath as Andy ordered pizza and brought me wine. Square pizzas!! One was too much for me. We watched A United Kingdom in bed then Andy read more of Knifes Edge to me

Monday 5th. Hardmoors Farndale half marathon training run. 16.5 miles 4 hours 25.32 (16.03 minutes per miles), 648m of ascent (39.27m of ascent per mile). The plan was to do Hutton le Hole marathon. I hadn’t slept well and my Achilles hurt! Andy’s did as usual but loosened off with walking. Paracetamol didn’t help, I rang and booked to see Richard the physio then swapped out of my Scots and into Andy’s Altras. Instant relief! I was tired though and my suggestion of doing the 10k because of the pain switched to the half marathon because of the fatigue. Luckily we’d not reached where the full marathon peeled off so we could keep going along the road and up the track to where the marathon route re joined the half. I was slow going downhill!! As always I was anxious about falling but had no umpf! 
We had rain at one point enough to put jackets on but despite the dark skies it didn’t stay long and the jackets were removed as we heated up. Mostly sunshine brightened the skies and the green and golden bracken covered hills. 
We took a slight detour just before Hutton le Hole to miss out the road section and came back into the village the way we’d left. We’d actually gone wrong here on the way out thinking we’d missed a turn but we hadn’t quite got to it. Usually the route is filled with runners when we do an event but we know we knew that section as it was part of the Tabuler Hill route! I was pleased I’d run most of the hills that last 3 miles. 16.5 miles in 4.5 hours. We’d parked at the pub so stopped there for lunch as we could reclaim our parking ticket. 

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I’m pleased with what we’ve done and hope with more runs next weekend we’ll manage the 55 ok. I did say to Andy a couple of times he should run it with John Kynastan as I’ll not keep up with him! 

51st Birthday Lockdown Triathlon

Monday 25th May
9am
BIRTHDAY LOCKDOWN TRIATHLON
51 PRESS UPs on my toes
51 miles CYCLE on turbo trainer in the front garden 2:02:55
51 km RUN around the block, 90 times!! 7:03:40 31.69 mi 2,904 ft

Took just over 9 hours, £3,400 raised in total for Wheatfields.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/SarahandAndyNorman

Lady with the dog

Karen and Sharon 

Kelly And olly and Amelia

Adele and Claire

Rachael Newton

Bill and Freddie

Pete Covey

Wavy

Joy and Friend

Becky Becky and shouty baby +3

Tim and Sally

Martin and Suzanne

Jane and Ian

Jo Khan

Julia & Mark

Gwyneth

Kath and Joan 

The ladies from opposite

People clapping from their windows to boys on the bike people who stopped me and chatted

159. Arc of Attrition

Arc of Attrition 31st January.  104.62 miles, 4th event 2020. 4986 m of ascent. 34 hours 13 mins  44 seconds. 100th /111. 10th lady of 12.

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I was anxious to find Andy trying to fix his race vest just 16 minutes before the start. We’d got the bus from the finish area to Coverack and I’d just come back from the toilet. It’s not the first time the threads have broken and slipped through but he needed to be left to fix it. The pumping music didn’t help calm him! I felt panicked after 5 minutes and still no fix in sight! I think he ended up just tying them together and hoping. It worked, phew!! 
I’d not seen Jon at the registration but saw him now. We warned him of how quickly the course goes to single file and slows down. Other runners we knew included David Betteridge, Mark Collision and Chris Worton as well as a few others.

Video of the start

We set off on time at 12, again they had the blues flares as we headed down the road. Rain was forecast. Most people seemed to be in waterproof jackets. The temperature was forecast to be 12 degrees so I removed my windproof on the bus and just wore my string vest and thin long sleeved top beneath my waterproof jacket. I was just the right temperature. Andy wished he was in shorts within no time of us starting to run. He wore leggings as you have to carry them so you might as well wear them. 
The first section where the route narrowed was missed out and we headed up the road but it didn’t take long to be on the narrow coastal path. Jon was running with us until we got to the junction with last years diversion. Andy was ahead of me and followed the crowd up last years route. A guy near us said we needed to go left instead to follow the official path! I called Andy but he was too far ahead. I looked at the route on my watch and struggled to know exactly where we were. My watch has been playing up for months. I’d had various conversions and emails with Garmin support as the map didn’t seem to load any more. It just kept saying ‘Garmin Europe’ although there was a squiggle of a map and all other GPS setting worked. I was told there was nothing they could do. Andy found a cheap 2nd hand replacement which arrived just in time. However the night before we left Leeds this was doing the same as my original and when we checked Andy’s map, which had worked fine on Saturday, he too could only get the Garmin Europe arrow. A late night message to Bill and I knew we could pick his up in the morning but luckily Andy worked out that in settings, system then map the watch had turned location on, location being their head office in Southampton!! Shame to have bought the new watch but good to have a spare! My watch was working but didn’t like me to see the 200 or 300 foot page I was used to just the 500 or 800 foot which wasn’t as detailed. I knew I couldn’t be separated from Andy so followed him up the hill. He finally heard my calls when we were near the top of the hill. We debated going back to follow the other group but others around us convinced us we were on the right path. It wasn’t a small group that headed up. 

Race plan

Andy had gone into a lot of detail with our times from last year. He looked at what time we needed to do to get to St Ives before the cutoff and what Colin Bathe’s spreadsheet of success suggested. We wanted to be ahead of last year’s times. He’d printed off a list with a few key places and times to be there, our race plan. It was motivational to know we were mostly just ahead of the times we were aiming for. Somehow, despite the field being larger this year than last, they increase entries by 50 every year, it didn’t feel as busy on the course. There were only a few times I felt we got stuck behind anyone. At one point I thought someone had pulled a plug as suddenly a long line of people streamed passed us.

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Jo Bigg was at quite a few points along the way, Chris always seemed to be just behind us. A Hardmoors runner told us Jon was just behind at one point but had fallen. We knew Shirley had gone ahead to have a run and were pleased to see her waiting for Jon just after the Lizard. We found out later he ended up dropping out here having fallen a few times and hurting his back I believe.

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12 miles in Shirley’s photos I think

Lovely that people recognised my Hardmoors 2000 mile number that I had on my rucksack. Someone talked about my videos reminding us of how often we talk about cups of tea. I confused others with that number as they wondered why I had a different number or was I doing a different event!

The rain was never very hard. In my mind I described this section as wet, windy and warm but it wasn’t too wet. Again, as last year, I chose not to take photos or video but it was never as stunningly bright as last year. 
We crossed Loe Bar Beach before the final climb then descent into Porthleven. The light was fading but the street lights saved the need for head torches, I had mine at the ready.

Checkpoint 1. Porthleven 24.7 (25.2) miles. 6 hours 5 minutes, ahead of plan by 5 minutes, 25 minutes ahead of last year.

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We were met by Arc Angels again but they seemed to dump us at the door rather than hand us over. The room was busy. We found chairs and I headed straight for a cup of tea then checked the food table. I knew this was the cream tea stop, Andy had printed the food options on our race plan sheet. I also chose soup and vegetarian sausages in bread rolls. I grabbed 2 of everything after checking Andy was happy with it all. Andy sent a quick WhatsApp update to family. We were gone within the planned 15 minutes.

It was dark as we headed out of town. We knew we’d gone wrong a few times on this section last year so I tried to be attentive to the course and not those ahead of us. I spotted we’d gone off course quite quickly and Andy worked out we didn’t need to go far back to get back on course. A runner ahead of us had jumped over the stile at this point but as there were no acorns on the sign we’d all kept going. On looking later we should have turned off this path a bit before!
We knew there was another section before Marazion where 50% had gone wrong last year heading onto the beach. Just before here we saw Jo again and she told us Jon had dropped out. I remember the smell of cabbages from this section last year. We could see why we’d gone wrong when we reached it this time as the path we needed was tucked away. Luckily Colin Bathe had put a lot of detail on Facebook to help guide us. I’m so glad we didn’t have to climb that cliff again!! A guy was running with us at this point. He said he’d gone wrong loads last year, he tucked in alongside us. Andy was good at chatting to him, telling him what lay ahead especially when we reached the road section at Marazion which led us into Penzance.
I felt this section was muddy, murky and muggy. A warm evening, misty at times. People kept talking about the mud but we thought what did anyone expect this time of year. It was sloppy stuff not deep. We both had good grips for it although Andy‘s shoes weren’t so grippy on wet rock. 
From Marazion Andy ran for 100 steps then marched until we reached the new checkpoint in Penzance at the end of the road we’d stayed on when we were last here. Again the Angels checked we were ok and delivered us to the door.

Checkpoint 2. Penzance. 40 (40.5) miles. 10 hours 35. Behind by 20 minutes but 20 ahead of last year. 25 minutes instead of 15 minute break.

Sweat potato soup and lasagne. Just what I needed plus a very rich chocolate pudding. This time they came to us and were really helpful. It seemed more organised. I’m not sure what took us so long but didn’t worry about it. Andy swapped batteries around in his head torch, he doesn’t have any faith in the lithium batteries. He really struggled on the Hardwolds 80 last year going through several sets far too quickly. I think I swapped to my spare head torch. 

Jo was outside as Chris was just arriving, great to know he wasn’t far behind us. 
The guy who’d been following us moved quickly to head out the door as we left. We marched on to Mousehole. The evening was still warm so Andy altered his clothing before we left the road knowing we’d be on more technical ground soon. It didn’t take me long to have doubts about my head torch. Andy had some spare batteries handy so swapped them, I was annoyed as I’d tested all of the batteries before using them, again they were lithium!
We had a good run to Lamorna Cove. A couple of times I saw a little mouse running along the path, just once a dead one was on the path. Andy chatted to Amy who was a strong runner and soon disappeared off but we saw her a few times on this stretch. I think we only did one turn wrong but just took a lower path which soon rejoined the path we should have been on. We didn’t see Amy again as she headed to the beach rather than across to the climb up to the Minack theatre, she was listening to music so didn’t hear our shouts. We saw her turn so knew she got back on course but know she dropped out somewhere. We also lost our shadow somewhere around here. 
It felt good to get past the Minack theatre. I remember being shattered here last year and having 2 cups of coke which I regretted as I burped all the way to Lands End. The only caffeine I’d had so far was tea and paracetamol with caffeine in. 
Andy asked how I was feeling as we approached Lands End. I was feeling great. Just so much better than last year. I knew we were behind our race plan but we were ahead of last years times and I didn’t need a sleep. I felt determined, can’t think of any others d’s. The game I play of what to write in my blog keeps me going on most races and focused and delays the need to ask ‘What’s for tea?’ 

Checkpoint 3. Lands End. 55.4 (56.4) miles. 16 hours 20. 35 minutes behind schedule but 5 minutes ahead of last year. 25 minute break.

Lands End hotel lights ahead teased us. I knew we weren’t far but my watch distances were out by a mile so we had the extra mile to go. I can’t believe I walk that much in the checkpoints or where else do I make the extra! Finally we were on the better path and Angels were coming out to greet us. This time I had my own Angel who asked me what I needed plus my race number to check I’d get my bag. Andy being in front had already asked for my bag. Having the trackers meant they had some bags including mine ready. I was guided to a table as Andy got his. Tea, soup and veggie chilli. I didn’t seem keen on the pudding which is odd as they had rice pudding on offer!! I was eating plenty on the move but mostly chocolate bars.
I changed my waterproof socks as planned. I felt bad making such a mess but the Angels were so lovely to us. We both knew time was short so we worked as quickly as we could to get out if the door. I got my MP3 player out just in case. Made sure I had 2 pasties, Andy kept just the one. I swapped most of the rest of the food for mars and snicker bars and soreens. I’d been eating those really well and wondered why we’d stopped getting malt loafs. 
We’d hoped to be out by 4:15 but 4:30 at the latest. A 25 minute turn around and we were gone by 4:45. 

It’s always hard to get moving again especially when you’ve sat for awhile. It was a good solid path most of the way towards the turn for Sennen Cove which we overshot but soon found. Andy really felt he was struggling as we plodded along the sea front. An Arc Angel was guiding people out of the car park and onto the track. She had coke in the van which I suggested he try. 
I spent the next hour or so being as positive and supportive as I could. He was getting slower and started talking about dropping out to support me. I reminded him the sun would be coming up soon as I desperately tried to work out what time it would. After Cape Cornwall, 6.5 miles from Lands End, we shared a pasty as I knew he needed more energy. I kept trying to think of all the things he’d said to John Kynastan on the Hardmoors 160 that got him to the finish. 
I loved hearing the dawn chorus as the sun rose. We were moving well, we knew we could get to Pendeen before the cut off. We could see the light house a few times as we approached Geevor Tin mine area. We followed someone instead of going with Andy’s instincts but were soon back on course being careful to use a path and not cut across open mine shaft land.

We made it!! 8:20am, 66.1 miles done. 40 minutes ahead of last year. A guy from the spine support team recognised Andy. He was supporting someone. He filled our bottles and gave us a banana each.

 
Such a stunning day from here on round the coast. Milky seas crashed into the cliffs beneath us. Blue skies around us. I wish I’d taken photos but at the time the thought of taking my phone out of its waterproof cover was too much. Time was always on our minds. At times I was too warm as I kept my rain jacket on but it didn’t take long to get in the shade and feel cool again. I’d used my warm waterproof hat overnight but nothing else such as gloves.

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Such stunning coastline. We chatted to others as we overtook or were overtaken. The usual joy of watching people trying to avoid the mud as we went straight through. A few times there was a choice of path and I’m sure others took the easier route across the headland as we dropped down on the official route. Either that or they really slowed down as we didn’t see them again and had been close to the same few for quite some time. This is the tough section. You know the 5 hours cutoff times they allow from Pendeen to St Ives is tight time wise for a reason despite it only being 13 miles. So many little ups and downs, so many rocky sections. So hard to run for any distance! The lure of making it to St Ives pulled us along. Andy was much stronger and even tried to be funny! The first runner from the 50 mile race overtook us before we reached the town. They’d started from the Minack Theatre at 08:30.
You don’t see St Ives until you’ve almost been through it already. The occasional house and Godrevy lighthouse a lot further up the course help but it’s not until you are rounding that final bend that you can see the beach and harbour and know you’re there. The route through St Ives was tough as the signs disappeared. I think we should have just gone straight ahead until we saw the next one. My GPS and passerbys helped guide us to where the Arc Angels were waiting to guide us up to the Checkpoint. The lady who chatted to me walked alongside me keeping up with me as I tried to jog along, I pointed out the guy with Andy was jogging, so she jogged a few steps which made me feel better.

Sunshine, sea and success as we made it!

Checkpoint 4. St Ives 79.2 (79.9) miles. 25 hours 25. 24 minutes behind schedule but 35 minutes ahead of the 14:00 cutoff.

I was keen to have soup again but it was cold, I was excited about having beans on toast with cheese but the toast was hard to eat. We’d allowed for a longer break here but didn’t plan to take the whole time especially as we were late arriving, from here we knew the cutoffs were easier to reach. Andy switched socks here. He then ran out of the entrance way to a round of applause, just down the road was Jon and Shirley. It was so lovely to see them, I felt quite choked up! A hug, photo and we were on our way.

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It was a long section of tarmac from here to Hayle. We mostly walked but ran small sections. It was nice to get to the edge of Hayle and get off the road side but the beach side path wasn’t well marked after the initial sign post. This was the only section we hadn’t recced so were pleased to be rescued by 2 guys who pointed us back to the road when we came out on a side street. There was a sign missing on a side path or else we should have stayed on the road. We were never far off the route.

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We saw quite a few other runners along this section, mostly from the 50 mile race although a few 100 milers. We were through the Dunes of Doom and at the Godrevy car park before nightfall. We were a bit confused on reaching that final cut off as we followed the coastal path route but others took a straight line to avoid the pools of water. 89.9 miles done, just 11 miles to go. We’d made good time from St Ives, despite leaving there 15 minutes behind the schedule, we were now only 5 minutes behind. We needed head torches soon after here but the going was good. I’d forgotten the long flat section before Portreath where Andy chatted to Tom and we did sections of running, Andy knew Tom from the Spine. I said I was dreading the last 4 miles knowing there were 2 tough ups and downs, Tom said he thought there were at least 4! We did a few tricky downs before the main down into Portreath and Tom ended going on ahead. A fews times I wondered if I should have asked Jo to meet us in Portreath with my poles as I’d given her my bag with winter paramo and poles in incase the weather turned bad. I think I would have struggled despite poles as it was easier to have your hands free on the steep sections.

There was a big group out cheering as we went through Portreath. 96.7 miles, my watch said 100 miles, at 20:05 we were 30 minutes behind our schedule. We knew there was no hope of us getting in before 9pm! I was right about the steep, uneven steps down on the 2 really nasty downhill climbs that then had a steep uphill climbs afterwards, there was a long flattish section between them but then we were on a rocky road section which was hard to get moving on especially as we both had sand in our shoes from the dunes. My feet were rubbing but I kept going. Finally, we turned to go towards Porthtowan and the rocks turned to mud but we missed the turn as we followed others who had turned too soon. They were heading back up and we were all soon on the road down to Porthtowan. We knew once there we still had a road section then a narrow muddy track up the side of the hill to the Eco Centre. The rain had been coming down for the last few hours and I was starting to feel cold but hadn’t added anything including gloves hoping the cold would keep me awake, as it did. We caught a few others on that climb despite my quads screaming out we are good climbers. Andy realised one was a 100 miler lady so told me there was a ladies place for the taking, he said it loud enough for her to hear. I knew I couldn’t run anymore so didn’t expect to catch anyone but we were quicker than she was as we crossed the last field to the finish, we actually ran, well jogged, the last section to the finish. We could hear announcements and cheering which really encouraged us but as we approached the cheering had been for the previous runners and there was nothing for us! A guy took our trackers from us. The finish area was busy with people. I was given my finisher buckle and moved forward in search of a seat. As usual, all I wanted to do was sit. Andy was interviewed briefly. 34 hours 13 minutes and 44 sections, very pleased, well within the 36 hours.

104.6 miles, 34 hours 13 minutes and 44 sections. Joint 100th of 111. 10th lady of 12

Through in the finish area David was there to greet us before he headed off to sleep. Andy found our bags and finish time slips. I got hot chocolate and someone filled our recovery shakes. Andy found lots of food but I didn’t feel hungry at all. I got changed as I was starting to feel cold. My socks were stuck to just beneath my ankles, a guy offered to cut them off, I asked for water to soak them off, which worked. Andy had moved the car close to the door. We headed back to our AirBnB delighted to have finished. We both got bad cramp in our hands which felt odd.

We met David back at the Eco Centre for the presentations, the following morning, which was nice to watch and support. We headed back to Devons to Bobs house for Champagne. I had a pastie and alcohol free beer and long hot soak as they watched the rugby. I ate little all day but enjoyed the cream tea he’d got for us.

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The oval with a line through it under my number is because I DNF’d last year, somehow Andy didn’t get this on his number!! Next year it will be a solid oval to show I’ve completed it!

Go back to 10:10 PM to see us arrive, just!!

158. Hardmoors 30

Hardmoors 30 1st January.  30.23 miles 1st event 2019. 957 m of ascent 5 hours 54 mins  47 seconds. 66th /166. 16th lady. PB

We sadly left Kipper behind as he’d been struggling with a sore left leg and we didn’t want him running so far so soon. Luckily Bill, Martin and Suzanne Came to the rescue with walks. 
We arrived at 8:30 after 1 hour 45 minute drive to Robin Hoods Bay. We had time to talk to Shirley, Jenny and Ken before the 09:30 start. Andy had looked at last years times for each checkpoint, I hoped to be 15 minutes quicker than that to get sub 6 hours 14 and a PB. 

I’d not turned my watch on early enough so didn’t have GPS for nearly a mile which was frustrating. The map hasn’t worked for a few weeks but at least the rest of the setting work so I know how far we have to run etc but with me trying to get the satellites to work I managed to loose that function. This is my 9th running of the event having missed just one when we went  up Kilimanjaro. The course has only changed its start location so I know the route. 

We were pleased with our steady run to Whitby along the flattish cinder track, we’d hoped to do the first 6 miles in an hour but knocked 5 minutes off that. I grabbed a few peanuts and some coke as Andy ran through. I’d drunk very little mountain fuel.
My right foot was rubbing on the underside so I stopped at the top of the 199 steps to tape it. Who’d wear new shoes on a 30 mile run? I did 11 miles without problems last week! I’d bought Scott supertrac ultras from Lets Run before Christmas as the tread on mine, from a year ago, has really run down. I’d wanted something else with good grip and Peter Kidd agreed that the Altra King mt were good but they didn’t stock them, luckily I’d tracked down a pair. I thanked Peter for his input as he ran by me. The coastal path wasn’t wet enough to need them so I would have been fine with the Scots that I’ll wear on the Arc in a months time. 

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It was 7.5 miles (13.5 total) back to Robin Hoods Bay along the coast path. As we reached Whitby a guy commented that he knew our tactics of letting people overtake us on the cinder track then we glide past them on the coast path. We can’t lie we know that happens and sure enough it did. Although a few people caught us as we got back to Robin Hoods Bay checkpoint. 
We were pleased to leave Robin Hoods bay 10 minutes ahead of time. We were a little longer at the checkpoint as Andy had tripped on the cinder track within the first 2 miles so he wanted to clean the dirt out of his hand! He left his blooded knee to dry out. I was pleased Andy ate here as he’d had nothing at the caravan park checkpoint or Whitby either.

A lady who arrived with us recognised me from my Hardmoors YouTube videos. She said they helped her to decide to enter the race, I apologised for leading her astray! She later said she was wearing Hokas after I’d mentioned about the wide fitting in a film! I suddenly feel responsible that people listen to what I say.  

I was pleased that we pushed steadily along the cinder track to Ravenscar. A gentle incline the whole way. Just before the checkpoint Andy spotted a guy was running towards us he was the race leader and he’d not realised he should have gone down to the coast but instead was retracing his steps!. He cursed as he turned back, luckily it wasn’t far. At the checkpoint they said no one else had come through so he’d not lost his lead. He’d done a 3 hour 15 marathon at that point, took us 5 hours to get back to that point!
We’d managed to make up more time in the 5 miles (18.5 total) to Ravenscar and arrived 15 minutes early. More peanuts and coke plus filled my bottle a little as they said there was water at Hayburn Wyke. 

The cinder track from here was downhill over the 3.5 miles (22 total) to Hayburn Wyke. I usually struggle here as I feel people overtake me but not many did. We were delighted to arrive 25 minutes ahead of the plan, 4 hours and 5 minutes instead of 4.5 hours. The plan said it took us 2 hours to finish last year. I was hopeful that a PB was guaranteed but was also wondering if sub 6 hours was possible. The GPS route we were following on our watches was last years with a diversion so we were delighted to knock half a mile off that. Even though the coastal path had steeper hills than the diversion last year we arrived back at Ravenscar and were now 35 minutes ahead of the plan. Last year it had taken us 50 minutes to do the final 4 miles which would be just 5 minutes under the 6 hour mark.

I was slowing and despite having half a bottle of coke to sip I found it a struggle. It was hard to pace knowing the were 2 steep hills to climb before the final hill to Robin Hoods Bay so I did what I could on the downs and flats. Andy was stronger but waited for me. We caught up with a few who’d overtaken us before and despite the route not being slippy we overtook them as we are confident on the steep downs and ups so pulled away. 
I couldn’t run that final hill but pushed as hard as I could. Then ran the last gentle up to the carpark and hall. 5 hours 54 minutes and 47 seconds for 30.23 miles. Just over a 20 minute PB and I felt good. So pleased. It was a lovely day, the route was mostly dry which helps and I’m delighted after a month of December Daily Dashing to have done so well. Roll on the Arc of Attrition! 

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Sunday 10th to Tuesday 12th October. Recce Coast to Coast Kirkby Stephen to Northallerton

Sunday 10th October. Bus to Leeds train station, train to Kirkby Stephen, 14.21 miles, 4 hours 50 mins 13. 741 m ascent

We caught the 8:02 bus from The Marsh to Leeds city centre. We then had 30 minutes to wait for our train however the 8:59 to Carlisle was delayed by 40 minutes because there was no train driver. The train then took us through the dales to Kirkby Stephen. We arrived at 11:35 which was still a better option than the next train that would arrive just before 1 pm. It was a good path down into Kirkby Stephen. 
We missed the path initially but were soon crossing the river in the sunshine and following the road for several miles gently up hill to Nine Standards Rigg. There was a slight breeze and less sunshine which meant it got cooler as we summited. Thin ice covered the track but it was easy to avoid. We met a few groups and as we left the standing cairns a guy who mistakenly had stood on a non frozen section and ended up quite muddy. Along the ridge line for a short way following smaller cairns and a section of slabs we reached a crossroads that gave us the choice of routes. We wanted to follow the race route but that said May to July. We dutifully followed the August to November path, I remember earlier seeing a sign about path erosion but that was well before the summit so I presume that was the junction for the green December to May route.
The slabs didn’t last long then it was one bog after another. Luckily Kipper was off the lead most of the time. Just the occasional sheep not always still alive! Post marked the way as the path wasn’t always clear. It was only a few miles then we were back on the main track and heading to the bridge and the Yorkshire Shepherdess’ farm at Ravenseat, the sign said closed. I remember she’d just started serving tea etc in 2008 when I was last here. 
Andy’s knee was bothering him but ankles we’re mostly feeling fine. So we jogged when he could and took it easy the rest of the time. We crossed the bridge then it was a clear but muddy path through the fields down to Keld. Instead of following the road straight into Keld we went past the village to join the Pennine Way then over the stream and back towards it and up to the old YHA which is now Keld Lodge.     
Kelly the chef was the only person on duty so it was just us and another couple as guests. We’d already washed kipper in a stream but she gave us a dog towel for the rest of the mud. 14 miles in 5 hours or so. Large bedroom but shower rather than a bath. WiFi was only in the lounge we went down at 5:;30. I joined Andy in a pint of Black sheep. I had vegetable balti and Andy fish pie. No chocolate pudding on the menu but she found some watered down hot chocolate and brought that in a teapot.
We watched His Dark Materials then the final World on Fire in bed. 

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Monday 11th. Keld to Richmond. 22 miles 6.5 hours. Stayed at the Buck Inn

A good breakfast at 8 but heavy rain outside which luckily slowed to drizzle as we left at 9:05. The owner, Matt, has run the Spine challenger this year so we’d got caught chatting. The colours around us were deepened by the damp and sunlit as the rain stopped when we left. Back over the river and down the valley but after climbing up a little. We knew the first 6 miles or so were up hill but down to a few stream crossings.  Kipper ran after a rabbit after one stream crossing and we spotted a runner coming towards us as we waited for Kipper to return. Mark Collinson recognised us from the Spine race and was full of compliments. He was staying at Keld and doing the same route and will be on the race with us in April. 
I remembered crossing Gunnerside Gill with Gill on a holiday especially the sign for Surrender Bridge as she posed with Duncan. We paused here but followed Mark up the steep gully. We missed a path off to the right and hoped our route would join it. We had to cross a fair way over once we reached the top of the gully and were initially on a good path but then off route if we’d continued on that following the cairns. The gpx route seemed a little off, we followed it and soon realised we could have stayed on the main track. The GPX seemed to be lot of straight lines joined up or if taken from someones route they didn’t have it picking up many data points hence the straight sections linking points. This main track took us down to the river again and Surrender bridge. 
Andy’s knee was sore mostly but he was delighted by how good his ankles were. He tried running a few times and was moving well. We picked up the pace as we headed into Richmond. Seems like the physio is right and he needs to get moving it got sorer as the day went on.
There was ‘Sunshine on Reeth’ as we approached but we missed the turn and followed a rocky path to the town, it felt right to me from when I’ve down this route before. The cafes and bakeries were shut, just open for winter opening hours now. Luckily the post office sold sandwiches which we ate as we walked downhill and out of town. Despite the sun the breeze made it too cold to sit. 
We were on a side road from leaving the town towards Marrick Priory now residential activity place. It was a sharp up hill then through woods for awhile. We came down to another town and almost went wrong before heading over fields and up to an escarpment that led us on towards Richmond. Route finding in general was fine all day often a few well signed diversions round buildings but mostly no signs at all. We relied on our gps routes plus Andy checking the route on his mapping system in his phone. 
We met Toby, a reporter out having a walk as he’d arrived in town early. He’d missed his turn so Andy redirected him after checking the map in his phone and we walked back towards Richmond with him. It was wonderful to point out the North York Moors in the distance including the white horse, can’t believe I didn’t take a photo! We ran off after finding his turn and into Richmond to the Buck Inn. The lady gave us a bowl of warm water and 2 white towel to wash Kipper off. We signed in and requested our breakfast, they don’t do evening meals but recommended a pub nearby. Our bedroom was on the 2nd floor, away from the noise of the bar. Sadly no bath!
The Black Lion was very dog friendly and had a good menu and generous portions. Andy nipped out to get lunch for tomorrow plus some dog treats for Kipper. 3 ladies came up to say hello and offer him treats! We had really good portions Andy had fish and chips and I had sweet and sour tempura vegetables. After an hour or so I asked for pudding but said chocolate brownie instead of fudge cake and they told me they only had it on Sunday. 
Michelle and Si arrived just before 8 so we chatted for an hour or so.

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Tuesday 12th October. Richmond to Northallerton, diversion at the end to get to the train station. 22 miles in 6 hours. Train home via Leeds 15:25

We had a cooked breakfast and left just before 9. Kipper didn’t eat his breakfast but then had a runny poo so we wondered if he had an upset stomach although he accepted Andy’s breakfast black pudding. 
Through town was straight forward then we followed the river Swale. We were lucky that there weren’t many sheep in fields so Kipper was off lead a lot. Navigation at times was tricky one part we thought the path continued through a field as a sign by a gate seemed to indicate but it meant to say go through the gate and not follow everyone elses misguided foot steps. Another time at Catterick signs pointed on but we needed to go over the bridge above us. I don’t think I spotted any problems with the A1 as I believe last time they had to do a diversion there.

There was a lot of road sections to link to paths along the sides of fields, the section to Danby Wiske was meant to be along the road but the coast to coast path went through fields a few miles before the village so we followed that, it was very water logged. This whole section is very flat and twists and turns round fields with few signs, we’ll be keeping an eye on our watches if we do this a night.

The plan then was to turn off the route and head to Northallerton to get the train, Andy had worked out a few suggestions for us, we were happy with the longest route and Kipper seemed very happy except when getting his feet dirty. When we came to the turn there was no footpath sign or an easy gate to get through, we looked for another option but that was even harder to get to. We went through the original gate and found a barbed wire fence and a very overgrown wooded area at the end of the field. We climbed the fence and walked along the edge of the adjacent field which was accessible, we knew we couldn’t get into to trouble as there are clear footpath symbols on the map! From there on the paths were well marked and we easily got to Northallerton, we walked in from the back of a garden centre and found a hose to clean Kipper of with and he proudly marched us to the station. At the station he advised us it was cheaper for us to miss the next train which would have meant a change in York and Leeds and to got the next train, we managed to get a table seat so Kipper slept beneath it. I spotted a connection to an earlier train to Pudsey but we only had 3 minutes in Leeds, we made it but mostly as the train was packed and took awhile to fill. We were in Pudsey in just over an hour from Northallerton.

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A good recce and time on our feet as good preparation for the Hardmoors 80 next week. Andy knee hurt less over the 3 days but he had pain at night.