Abraham's Tea Round

I've never really done all that much in the Lakes, for complicated reasons. I've intended to build a bit of Lakes knowledge and experience this summer, so with annual leave left to use up I made some time to go on a quick excursion. The Tea Round looked like a good way to gain some local knowledge by using someone else's suggested route, so I grabbed the GPX file from George Fisher's, got my kit together, booked an overnight pitch at Thirlspot Farm campsite and headed up.

Not being massively confident of the geography, I deliberately chose the day that MWIS said would be the nicest, to avoid cloud on the tops. That had a slight side effect, it was bloody boiling most of the day.

I parked up in Keswick at 7:20 after a 6am start, some breakfast and coffee and a short drive. I was outside Geo. Fisher's and ready to go at about 7:40. A quick photo, fiddle with the handheld gps, start the watch and off we go.

There were a number of early morning 'pre work' runners around on the run out along the beck, and a few early walkers as I climbed up Catbells. It was nice and fresh for this part of the run, and very clear.

 

Dropping down into the Newlands Valley I headed up towards Robinson. This was steady going after the initial steep climb up onto the ridge, before dropping down the RoW along the fence line to the right into Buttermere. This descent isn't much fun, it's steep and involves picking your way. It was very sheltered, starting to get warm and there were horse flies trying to drink my blood. I was glad to get down to the lakeside, although the road was busy-ish, and got more so as I neared the car park.

Along the lakeside path, then up the clear path before leaving it for a lightly trodden route up High Stile. Contouring under a crag on a sheep trod then up a dry-ish stream bed to a stile, then soon after joining a more distinct path. I was starting to feel the ascent a little and wondering if I really had 4000m in my legs, this soon after the Pennine Barrier (and I didn't exactly stop and rest after that either). But I was fine for the moment, so on and up to the top of High Stile then on to Red Pike. Red Pike was heaving with people (it was lunchtime) and I rolled rapidly on to the right, down the nasty scree then the rocky steps to the tarn.

 

Then more (and more) rocky steps down to Buttermere, and into the village. The village was also packed. I'd tentatively decided to buy some water and crisps here, but it was just too busy and I thought (wrongly) that I had plenty of water left.

The next section up Whiteless Pike I was starting to feel a bit better. I passed a woman who seemed to be making good going of the climb, but as I was running the flats I slowly pulled ahead. I saw her a couple of times later I think.

From Whiteless Pike the route goes over Hobcarton Crag, and up to Grizedale Pike. Coming back the same way, I realised that the route went up the craggy slope of Eel Crag. Arse. 

Pushing my way up the scree and rocks, I think the same walker I'd passed earlier was just behind me. Once I got clear of the crag and ran on to Crag Hill I thought the worst was done. Maybe it would all be wide clear paths and slogging up hills for the rest of the day.

Oh dear no.

The descent onto Sail was OK, and the zig-zagging paths on the other side, but then came Scar Crags and Causey Pike. Clambering up and down, up and down. Causey Pike led to an outbreak of swearing until I spotted the route off. The narrow sheep trod onto Rowling End was tough to run on, just because it was narrow and overgrown.

Coming back, I initially thought the route would follow the clear path off to the right. Nope, that goes much too far down Stoneycroft Ghyll. The GPX route involved climbing halfway back up Causey Pike before taking a vague sheep trod off to the right. The descent is moderately steep heather bashing, no sign of a path that I could see. The path up the other side of the beck is clearly visible though, and as it got closer there was a dry stream bed to follow.

The last climb up to Barrow was the point where I ran out of water. I was already a very little bit dehydrated, and didn't think it mattered with only 8km to go, but it was very warm.

Running down from Barrow to the main road, then along the side of the A591 for a couple of km I was getting drier and more baked. Through Portinscale, and a kindly bloke in a van filled up my bottle with orange and water which made the remainder of the run a lot more bearable. I charged back through the square in Keswick and reached the end point just 6 minutes short of ten hours. About half an hour slower than I'd aimed for, but that was probably attributable to dehydration (when I went to the loo in Rheged a couple of hours later I realised just how dehydrated I was).

 

90 minutes of guzzling water, fish and chips, coffee and crisps and I was about ready to head off. Except that my thighs were completely knackered. After a very slow and gruelling drive home, including several leg stretching stops, I now have a new rule: more than 2000m of ascent and more than an hour from home, and I book a campsite.

As a long-ish route to get to know some of the local geography it was absolutely perfect, and I had a good day for it. I definitely need more Lakes running for the ascent training though.

 

 

 https://www.strava.com/activities/5512368979

 

 

Kit list:
 

• Montane gecko VP12
• Raidlight performer top
• Omm flash 0.5 shorts
• drymax socks
• Altra King MT 2.0 running shoes
• Montane coda hat
• buffs (2)
• 2 squeezy snackers of instant mash/tartex/walnut oil mix
• 2 500ml montane water bottles
• 2l platypus
• exped drysack containing:
• Inov8 AT/C thermoshell
• montane minimus smock waterproof
• regatta waterproof trousers
• SOL emergency survival bag
• OL4 OS map (waterproof)
  
• silva ranger compass
• Garmin 20x handheld GPS
• Suunto Ambit 3 peak
• Samsung xcover 4 rugged phone
• Goodr sunglasses
•  

 

Pennine Barrier 50

Ultra number 14

This was the first race I'd done with GB Ultras. The runfurther race for June is the Lakeland 5 passes, which has been full for ages, so I was casting around looking for something fairly long. I know the south western dales well, it's not far to travel from Calderdale, so the PB50 was a good choice.

I drove up to Malham on friday night and parked for the night on the race field, along with a load of other camper vans and a few tent dwellers. Things quietened down very early, and I was in bed by around 10.

0530 - what's the '0' stand for? Oh my god it's early

I sleep badly before a race as a rule, so I was awake by the time my alarm went off at 5. Coffee, breakfast (skyr yoghurt, walnuts, peanut butter and walnut oil), and I was ready to register by about 5.50. The advice was to turn up ready to race 15 minutes before your start time. When I looked at the queue it stretched right across the field by 5.55, so I joined the queue at 6, 20 mins before my 6.20 start time.

The queue groweth

That worked out about right, after a quick scoot across the field to pull my normal shoes out from under the van in case I forgot about them in the evening, I set out at 6.28

As usual, I forgot to start my watch for a couple of minutes, remembering as I went out along Cove Road from the village.

The cove is beautiful very early on a summer morning, and there were a few early people out other than PB50 runners. Up onto the limestone pavement, briefly reassuring a couple of runners that the route does indeed lie across the deeply fissured ankle wrecking rocks, then left up towards the tarn.

I was making reasonable time and chatting vaguely to people as we passed through this section, then onto Henside Road for the out and back. This is just a short section (a couple or 3 km or so) to regulate the distance to 50 miles I think. Not much fun, especially coming back against the wind, but quite short. I spotted Linda M. heading the opposite way as I returned, then didn't see her again until we were dropping back to the limestone pavement ten hours later. Along the side of the tarn, up behind the activity centre and up the path towards Fountains Fell.

I was just starting to properly warm up as we climbed up from the farm towards the top of the fell, and my legs were still a bit stiff.

Coming down Fountains Fell I made up some time, letting my legs go and enjoying a fast descent. Quickly through CP1 for just a 500ml water refill, and off up PYG.

Sunny and bright

PYG was pretty busy at this time of day, lots of 3 Peaks walkers out. PB50 runners were excusing themselves, dodging round, finding other lines. I know the scramble pretty well and got up quickly, then down onto the long run out to Ribblehead. This was heaving, so so busy with 3 Peaks walkers. It was slow in places calling out to try and get past, or leaving the path. Coming up to Nether Lodge I met and got chatting with Matt, and we ran together a good part of the day talking about books, language, variation in culture and of course food and running.

climbing Whernside

Crisps and a litre of water at Ribblehead, and up Whernside on the walkers route via Force Gill. It was just before noon when I passed the Whernside trig (maybe 11:45) and I was happy to note that I was bang on target.

Leaving CP3 at Chapel le Dale

More crisps (prawn cocktail) at C-L-D and a litre of water, then across Southerscales and the long slow march up the Humphrey Bottom slabs to the steep climb. The erosion work has made this last bit of the climb much more friendly, although it was a bit of a plod. Finally up onto the plateau and across to the trig, where RD Wayne was taking photos of competitors.

The run down Ingleborough is hard on the feet and ankles, although it eases off towards the bottom. About this time we encountered Donna, who it later turned out had pranged her knee on this stretch (didn't seem to slow her down much until later).

A litre of water at CP4 Horton in Ribblesdale, then behind the Post Office and through Brackenbottom. We chatted about the many offensive words in the French language as we climbed back up to the PW at the bottom of the scramble. I stopped for a pee on the way down to CP5 and lost the other two.

CP5 was both bottles again, a reassuring marshall told me I was looking strong although to be honest I was starting to tire, then trying to keep my pace up along Silverdale Road. Turning off up Fountains Fell I was back to a slow plod. My hill routine probably contains too much that is very steep and technical, I should do more climbing on easier slopes for stuff like this.

Back up Fountains Fell

Leaving the top of Fountains Fell (downhill all the way!) I caught Donna again. She was struggling with the steeper sections of downhill, then outpacing me on the flat. 

Here hare here

I remembered to grab a photo of the hare sculpture near the activity centre as we got back on the lane, then got a water refill from a very cheery couple out supporting friends by the tarn.

The rocky section down from the tarn to the limestone pavement was particularly gnarly for Donna, and a big group including Linda passed us at this point.

Finally we dropped through Janet's Foss, which was beautiful on such a lovely day and not too busy. My left quad cramped up as we came out onto the path, but with a stern talking to it got moving again and we finished the run to the event field. My chip time eventually came out to around 11:25, which was right in my target range. Matt had finished a few minutes before, Linda too with an impressive 3rd female.

Back to the camper to get changed into dry stuff and make some coffee, then hung around for a couple of hours chatting and waiting for my legs to stop hurting enough to drive. Linda was waiting to cheer Tom in, then they were off to the pub.

I headed home to my squeaky cat, who had been fed by the timer bowl at 5pm promptly, but wanted attention. He wasn't too keen on my lap though, I had to keep stretching my legs which annoyed him considerably.

GB Ultras go all the way to give races a sense of occasion. The organisation is excellent and seamless, in spite of the challenges of the pandemic controls. The volunteers were all full of enthusiasm and support, Wayne was popping up all over the course cheering people on and taking photos. The 3 peaks area and Malham are popular for a reason, they're some of the most scenic parts of the Dales, which makes for a fantastic course (and easy navigation).

I'm more used to very low key races, so this made a fun change. I'll be looking at the GB Ultras race list to see what else looks interesting.

Unusually I had no low points at all during the day, which I ascribe to a combination of good company and getting my food pretty much right. Maybe tapering properly helped a bit too. Sunday my legs were a bit too battered to run, so I stretched them a bit by climbing up and down the step ladder washing the van. Monday I got out for a nice slow 17km in the evening sun and felt a lot better for it.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5459490046

Kit:

• Raidlight Performer t shirt
• Omm 0.5 flash tights
• Altra King MT 2.0 shoes
• Drymax crew running socks
• Montane coda hat
• Montane Gecko VP12 race vest
• Montane anniversary windproof
• Montane minimus waterproof smock
• Zebralight H600fw mk IV main light
• Zebralight H53fw backup light
• Awdis long sleeved base layer
• 2 spare eneloop AAs
• Garmin 20x handheld GPS
• Suunto Ambit 3 Peak watch
• 2 squeazy snacker baby food containers with a mixture of instant mash, tartex and walnut oil
• 3 snack size cheddar cheese prewrapped
• some jelly babies
• cheapo ebay foil blanket
• buffs
• Silva Ranger compass
• OL2 lamfold
• 5 x 40g Romneys kendal mint cake

Handheld GPS for ultras

My route to ultra running was via hill walking and fell running. GPS units were available in the early 2000s for hill walking, and I had a Garmin Vista Hcx from about 2008, but they are usually against the rules for fell races. In any case, I learned to navigate in the scouts 35 years ago using map and compass.

In most ultramarathons though GPS units of some sort are the norm, and if you insist (as I initially did) on sticking to paper navigation you're putting yourself at a disadvantage. For most of my training I use a map and local knowledge, 

In races most people use the navigation options of their GPS watches, but I find that for the extra couple of hundred grams carrying a handheld GPS unit saves me a lot of bother. I can see at a glance whether I'm on the track, but also zoom out to see the context of the area around me, where the track is going to go next, and even the shape of the landscape nearby and any navigation features.

The unit I use is a Garmin eTrex 20x. That's been obsoleted now by the 22x, which has a lot more memory. If I was looking for one now I'd probably go with the 32x, just because the option to connect via bluetooth to a heart rate monitor would give me a bit more flexibility for what device to use. I'll come to that in a moment.

The red line across the bottom of the map is the route I'm following, and the black arrow is my position on it. Speed and distance remaining at the top.

I still wear a GPS watch - a Suunto Ambit 3 Peak. The navigation features on that are fairly primitive, which makes a difference to my choice of device, but the handheld still has the following advantages:

• secondary device. If one device packs up I still have the other. On one occasion I accidentally paused my watch during a race when taking a mid layer off, and didn't notice for 10km. I was able to get an intact GPS trace of my route from the handheld later.
• I can have my choice of display fields on my watch so I know my pace, distance covered etc.
• AA batteries. If my watch runs out of charge (which is starting to become a possibility as I look at longer races) the handheld lasts a lot longer, and the batteries are easily replaced mid race without having to restart the GPS recording. The 20x records to GPX continuously (although you can switch this off if you prefer).

The handheld has the following advantages over an app on a phone:

• recording the GPX trace (as above)
• It's much tougher. In the 2020 Spire I dropped it in a puddle then fell on it. Not even a scratch.
• the controls are buttons not a touch screen. Easier and faster to zoom in and out, and a lot easier in the rain
• batteries (as above)
• the phone battery isn't depleted by screen/navigation use, leaving it available in case of emergency

You can just about see the speed/distance display at the top of the map

 With some customisation, it's actually just about usable as a replacement for the sports watch. I've switched off most of the menu options and tweaked it so that I toggle between 'dashboard'. and map view by hitting the 'back' button. I've also added 'speed' and 'distance to destination' to the map view. The only problem is that at the start of a race you have to 'delete current track/totals' rather than 'start activity' which is slightly more fiddly and a bit less precise. This is also where integration with a HRM comes in, I'd actually be tempted to use a HR strap with a handheld for very long races, rather than coupling the HR strap to my watch. That reliability of being able to replace AA batteries makes it feel like it'd be a more dependable way of keeping records.

The 'dashboard' view contains a lot more information (and is customisable)

Disadvantages:

• The design of the battery cover to fit into a bracket makes it thicker than it needs to be.
• no 'one click start'
• customisation is a bit fiddly

Maps

The standard map that comes with the Garmin is Garmin's own 'Topo' map. This is basically an OpenStreetMap with shading for height. I found the shading pretty unhelpful, so I replaced it with a Talky Toaster OSM map with contours.

The right of way information on the OSM isn't 100% accurate, so I wouldn't want to rely on it for working out routes, but it's fine to follow existing tracks.

Alternatively for about 200 quid you can get 1:50 OS maps on an SD card.

References:

TalkyToaster maps - https://talkytoaster.me.uk

These are well curated maps with a good choice of detail for walking and running. The source data comes from the Open Streetmap project, an open source mapping project.

Customising and configuring menus on the eTrex series:

http://www.aukadia.net/gps/lw3_4.htm

This site generally has a tonne of useful stuff for the Garmin handhelds.