The gate pillars are our start line, at 7am we toe the line & are off, tentatively across the fields, up through the Germanic-ally organised caravan site & out onto the open fell, it felt pleasantly familiar – we’d recced it twice. The forecast was for low cloud lifting by 10:30, light SW winds and a bit of wet. Sounded alright.
Steadying up to Arthurs Pike we chatted nervously away, though visibility was soon down to about 20m, it was great to be on the hill – we all know how valuable time like this is & how privileged we are to be up here, it’s a great feeling, the four of us trotting along in our own little bubble of clag – guided only by the compass needle.
We know what views we should be enjoying, but none can be seen and the familiar summit cairns are all that we have to confirm our passage – even Thornthwaite Beacon, normally visible from High Street and beyond, can’t be seen until we are practically under it. At least we know the easier running line off the top and are soon down to Threshthwaite Mouth & climbing to Stoney Cove Pike. Checking timings we confirm we are pretty much on schedule for a 2:45 leg 1 – pleased with that as I always felt it was a fairly quick schedule & was feeling alright.
We slithered our way down to a wet Kirkstone and the welcome sight of our road crossing team; Kev and Tom Saville along with Rainer Burchett V70 champ & our JNLC meet & greet. Grabbing a tuna & sweetcorn sarnie & downing a Yop we are swiftly on our way up Red Screes, about 15 minutes into the climb, young Tom suddenly emerged panting at our sides – we’d forgotten our second map – what a fine effort legging up after us.
Having both supported & recced this leg I’d hoped to put this knowledge to good use with a few optimum lines, however, lack of visibility meant it was not to be & we stuck like limpets to the well trodden paths.
Arriving at Dunmail it was time to say good bye to Simon & Jon who’d done sterling work providing the banter & navigation in challenging conditions. Quickly fed & watered we were passed onto to Messrs Saville Snr & Junior. The Senior Saville - Kev has both a JNLC valiant attempt & a successful completion on his CV and Tom has considerable pedigree including a very impressive Winter solo 99.9% BG (except 200 yds on Bowfell!) – so we were in capable hands. The climb up Steel Fell is always a challenge, but lack of visibility at least meant we never had the opportunity to keep looking at how far we still had to climb. The slog across the bogs to High Raise had always been the section where I thought I’d have to dig deep, having suffered here on an earlier leg 2 & 3 link up with Paul – whilst navi was challenging and we wandered a little, my regular snacking seemed to have staved off hitting the wall and we rumbled on toward Rosette. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Paul who despite having been the stronger of us in training in the months leading up to the attempt had suffered a knee injury 3 weeks earlier, and it was with a tinge of sadness that we said our goodbyes at the foot of Bowfell.
With Paul & Kev headed for Angle Tarn it was left to Tom & I to make head way. For the first & as it transpired only occasion of the day there was a brief break in the clouds & we were able to make out the hulking mass that is Bowfell, it was only a brief glimpse, but it was enough – we ploughed on up the zig-zagging path toward the summit. Tom let me know I needed to start making in-roads on the schedule as I was about 8 minutes down – we cracked on and by the summit of Great End we’d clawed 4 of those minutes back. I knew that I could get another two in the bag if I nailed the decent to Styhead – having recced it 3 times I reckoned I had it dialled – Tom handed me the controls, the first 150 yards from the summit went swimmingly, I recognised every rock, however with my usual landmarks of Sprinkling Tarn and the flanks of Gable lost in the mist I was rudderless and eventually led us way too far left, traversing the whole of the Band & dropping onto the corridor route. We scrambled our way over to our waiting support crew at Styhead, now about 16 minutes down. I had some work to do.
No time to stop other than welcome the newcomers; Richard Bradbury, Mike Bourne and Steve Mathews who’d made a massive effort to come from the Peak to assist. I managed another Yop and a third sarnie on my way up Gable – the steady stream of grub was working & I was pretty pleased with how well my legs were still feeling – they needed to have some running in them if I was going to succeed. We knocked along catching the race route lines, soon we were heading for Haycock, & then legging it down the runnable lines towards Pots of Ashness I’d pulled back most of the time deficit and felt it was doable if I could keep knocking on up the last two. In a bit of a blur we found ourselves under clearing skies with the bridge at Greendale in sight, I could see familiar faces & hear friendly voices shouting encouragement. The bridge was touched at 6:55pm Joss wasn’t there to meet us, but his neighbours very kindly were.
The line that Joss chose is a cracker, the time set is tight – for me it’s been a proper challenge, as these things should be. It’s been a pleasure to do the training / preparation & the run in the company of great friends and to be able to make a donation to an organisation; 1st Burnmoor Scouts, who along with my parents first gave me an interest in the outdoors and showed me what the pointy bit on a compass is for.
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