I enjoyed doing the Joss Naylor Challenge when I was 50. I always knew I would have another attempt when I was 55. Training had gone well, so I set myself a 13.45 schedule.
Leg1 supporters Mark Whittaker and Martin Haworth
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| Pooley Bridge |
After a photograph on the bridge we set off from Pooley Bridge at 6am. We didn’t bother with head torches as it was going to come light soon. The weather forecast was to be hot and it didn’t disappoint. We were looking forward to a lovely sunrise, but ended up with clag and spectacular cloud inversions instead. We made steady progress talking about anything and everything. Ticking the tops off as we went. We nearly overshot Rampsgill Head in the clag, but bagged it and we were soon at Thornthwaite Beacon. No spectacular views today. We were soon dropping down to Kirkstone via the tourist path due to the bad visibility. We were 5 minutes down but no issues.
Leg 2 support Mark Whittaker and Martin Howarth.
It was nice to meet our greeter at Kirkstone. Who’s name I can’t remember (Rainer Burchett - Ian). A quick feed stop and we headed up Red Screes. We followed some encouraging signs put out by some event team on the climb. I was climbing well and soon we were at the Fairfield summit. The clag had lifted and we were blessed with the first amazing views of the day. Seat Sandal came and went and we were soon at Dunmail. 5 minutes up.
It was nice to meet our greeter at Kirkstone. Who’s name I can’t remember (Rainer Burchett - Ian). A quick feed stop and we headed up Red Screes. We followed some encouraging signs put out by some event team on the climb. I was climbing well and soon we were at the Fairfield summit. The clag had lifted and we were blessed with the first amazing views of the day. Seat Sandal came and went and we were soon at Dunmail. 5 minutes up.
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| Dunmail Raise |
Leg 3 support David Fort and Matt Dunn.
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| Approaching Great End |
It was lovely to see Lisa and my leg 3 support. Another quick feed of muller rice and a can of coke and we were on our way. Dave and Matt set a good pace up Steel Fell. They were spot on with the nav in the clag. We were soon at High Raise and 12 minutes up. Bowfell is always a tough climb, so I had a gel at the start of the climb. I was still climbing well. We were moving quickly and soon descending Great End and on our way to Styhead. 37 minutes up.
Leg 4 support Helen Buchan and Charlie Parkinson.
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| Middle Fell |
Plenty of food at Styhead. I was feeling good climbing Great Gable. It must have been the jam butties. We made good progress on leg 4 passing a couple of BG supports going the other way. We were soon descending the scree off of Haycock. We were running low on water which was a bit of a problem in the heat. We spotted another challenger in front that had set off 15 minutes before us. The Seatallan climb had been playing on my mind as I wasn’t sure how much I had left in the tank. I tucked in behind Charlie and followed his ankles. We were soon at the summit. The last climb was here. I was climbing well and soon passed the other challenger before the summit. A speedy descent and we were soon in Greendale. In a total time of 12 hours 49 minutes.
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| Greendale Bridge |
I was so happy to see Lisa, my awesome road support.
I’d like to thank my support crew, Mark, Martin, David, Matt, Helen, Charlie. I’d like to give a big thank you to Lisa who was my road support for the day and as always encourages and supports me through all my crazy adventures.
I managed to raise £520 for Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis
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