Pooley Bridge
Pooley Bridge - 7.50 am.
The forecast strong winds and heavy rain overnight had not materialised into anything too bad, and the views towards High Street suggested that things may improve as cloud levels seemed to be rising. The time splits on the first three legs for the V50-54 age group are punishingly fast, and there is no room for any errors in route choice or delays of any kind. I had a really enthusiastic team with me on the first two sections. Andy Gibbons had supported a JNC run before, Rachel Hill was chomping at the bit to get a long run in, and young Joshua, only 18 had come with my on my recce of this section (in somewhat warmer weather) a few weeks earlier. Also along was Brian Melia, a really experienced ultra runner and willing to have a go at the full route.
Along the first section to High Street we had great views across Ullswater and over to Striding Edge and Swirral Edge which were in sharp focus in the early morning night. One advantage of the recent cool wet weather was the the perfect visibility. The early cloud was clearing and the weather was improving. I dropped a couple of minutes behind schedule, but I wasn't overly concerned as I new there would be chances to gain this back later in the day. Arriving at Kirkstone Pass I had already regained some time and was a couple of minutes up, my recent recce of the descent from Pike Howe had paid of! Joss's envoy was there to meet us and as I felt good I only stopped for just over a minute before starting the stiff climb of over 1,000 feet to Red Screes summit. I was met by some friends on the top and we ran along the busy paths to Fairfield in good weather but with strong winds from the West at times. Brian had fallen behind a bit at Stoneycove Pike and and it was not looking like he would catch us up at the moment. Taking a fast scree descent from Fairfield another friend Jules Coleman ran along with us for a bit, but my buoyant mood and fast pace over the rough terrain meant a couple of my support runners were loosing contact.
At Dunmail I was 7 minutes up on schedule after 4 hours 18 minutes of running and not far of a full marathon distance already completed. Now I was down to just one support runner, Steve Rhodes. The rough ground between Steel Fell and Rosset Pike is my least favourite section of the challenge, lots of grassy trackless and boggy sections and still that relentless schedule! Just keep plugging away and hang in there I kept thinking. At times I would run in the shelter of Steve to make the going easier as the strong winds weren't relenting on the exposed ground. His jacket inflated the same way you see with motorcyclist hammering down the motorway. Reading Joss's report on the first completion of this run he had done exactly the same!
Bowfell marks the return to "proper mountains" and I was 10 minutes up on schedule with the final summit of Great End looking quite close now. Positive thoughts really are a important on challenges like this, and I was looking forward to the descent down The Band from Great End. A few weeks earlier in blizzard conditions I had nearly come to grief on this descent though, tripping on my poles I had flipped head over heels off a ledge, fallen 10 feet and cracked rib (I was lucky to land on grass not rocks!). Today though the rocks and boulders were dry and although I deviated from the path towards the bottom I battled on down poor scree and boulders and reached Sty Head 16 minutes up.
My support crew (Penny, Phil and young Joshua back again) were waiting at the stretcher box and so sitting down briefly I gulped down some energy drink and eat a few bits and pieces. I got up but my team protested saying you've only been here a minute, are you going already?!
So I sat down to have my photo taken with Penny’s Collie dog who was enjoying the adventure as well. They were going to contour around Gable and Kirkfell to meet us further along the route.
I was now lucky enough to have Dave Swift as well as Steve for support to the end. It's a big ascent of nearly 1,500 feet up to the summit of Gable, but I felt amazingly fresh and rattled it off in 27 minutes, well ahead of schedule now! The winds were dropping and the majestic line of the next section of the route lifted my spirits further. Diving down the steep gullies to the West of Gable we whooped with joy on the superb scree descent. We had beaten the support team though as we could see them on the approach path half a mile away. More time gained over Kirkfell and Pillar before the brief detours to Scoat Fell and Steeple. Steve was tiring after is superb support from Dunmail and just running with Dave now I pointed out the last three summits, Haycock, Seatallan and Middle Fell. So close now! More great scree from Haycock and the long grassy run to Seatallan allowed me to reflect on what a privilege it was to have a day in the mountains like this. Late afternoon sunshine illuminated the Wasdale Screes and the peaks of the central lakes I had traversed earlier now looked very distant.
There was some more scree to be enjoyed from Seatallan and then the last short ascent of the day made me realise I didn't have much energy left. I had judged my pace well and shook hands with Dave on the final summit before starting on the last descent to Greendale. Another friend, Simon met us on our descent and got some nice photos of the view down to Wasdale.
What I didn't know was his partner Carol had tried to meet up with us on this leg as well, but she had missed us by minutes on a couple of occasions. Something that had also happened to Joss on his first run when Chris Brasher tried and failed to intercept him.
10 hours 48 minutes was much faster than I expected, my team had done me proud.
Thank you Joss for a great day, I will be back.
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