Bullock Smithy Hike 2023

By now a very familiar event, I still (mostly) enjoy the Bullock. As well as a good event in it's own right, it starts me thinking about the Fellsman just peeping over the horizon in the spring, and reminds me what I need to do before then.

When we came back from France 3 weeks ago, Claire was on good form. The hip/hamstring problems that had been plaguing her with chronic pain for weeks fled in the face of daily 15km walks and several days in the mountains. Even sitting down in the van while we drove 1500km home didn't hurt.

A week back at work and she was back to the same levels of pain. Desk work really is bad for you. By this time we'd entered the BSH though, and a reassuring trip to the physio ('yes, you should go out and do this 56 mile ultra tomorrow, it's the best thing you could do') settled it.

We'd arranged to give fellow valley resident, Runfurther member and CVFR member Francis Wooff a lift to the start, so on saturday morning we set off around 9 and picked him up from the middle of Todmorden. We chatted about Bullock Smithy route things and previous years as we headed across the motorway and arrived in plenty of time for registration.

The Runfurther banners etc had already been set up by Nick, so I had nothing much to do. We registered and hung around the scout hut. Claire's friend Garth was there, so we sat down with him and talked about races.

At twenty to twelve we walked across to the field, collected our tallies and got ready to set off. There was the usual briefing, then the anvil was hammered and we were off running.

I set off at a brisk pace but from the back, so I overtook almost the entire field in the housing estate behind the park. There were brief pauses as I went along to say hi to various people then we were into the fields and the woods. In the woods I passed Nick, who was having a bad start to the day (he ended up retiring at Chinley Churn). I maintained around 6:30min/km for the first 10km or so, which was probably a bit quick but I was having a lovely time in the sunshine.

After Bowstones I dropped onto the path to the right and across the road & stream. As I climbed up the other side I noticed a few people coming in from the left, who'd carried on down the road. That's probably a route to try out.

I was feeling warm but strong at Chinley Churn. I chatted with a couple of guys on the climb who hadn't done the event before and pulled ahead at the CP. Picked up some crisps and put them in a plastic bag at the road side stop and marched on.

Coming down the path on the far side of the pass towards the long climb to Edale Cross it took me a few extra seconds to find the stile in the field corner - it's lower than I remembered. Another runner followed me off the path and down the hill.

Back up the other side and I pushed on up to the top. It's a long, gruelling climb but I think I took it a bit steadier than last year and arrived at the top in better shape, to be greeted by two volunteers and about a million flying ants.

I checked in, and headed onward down the heavily travelled path towards Edale.

Once I reached the road to Edale I pushed on quite quick, and arrived fairly soon. There was no one visible behind me. Ashok Gurung was just leaving the CP as I arrived. The CP layout was more restrained than last year, and I missed that there was rice pudding set out on the table. I popped inside and helped myself to a small portion without fruit, then thanked the volunteers and headed out again.

Run/walking up to Hollins Cross I still felt fairly fresh, and I dropped down the other side towards the gate, stopping for a pee halfway down.

At the gate I held it open for a quicker runner who was overtaking me (who I saw several times during the day) and promptly slammed my leg between the gate and the stone block next to it. 2nd time I've hammered my leg at this bloody gate! This time was a bit less painful than last year and after some swearing I got going again.

At Castleton the guy in front of me took the long way round by the road, while I sneaked through the carpark and appeared just in front of him. He was stopping to talk to his partner in the CP and I filled my bottles and, after thanking the volunteers for all their years of duty (it was their last year on the CP) I got going up that awful field out of the Devils Arse.

I followed my GPX on my watch up the field, catching up with Ashok & someone else at the top. They got ahead of me again as we followed the paths up through the fields past a group of people doing cartwheels.

We were seeing a lot of people finishing the Peveril/Limestone series at this point, climbing up the hill towards us as we descended. There was a short break in the people passing through during which a farmer enlisted me to open the gate while he herded his sheep through.

Approaching Peak Forest I passed someone walking. He'd run out of steam, no injury just unable to keep food down in the heat. I think he was heading for the CP to retire. I was still enjoying the heat although I was a little dehydrated.

The walk up the side of the road out of Peak Forest was worse than normal, with a transit van of aggressive knuckle-draggers taking issue with my presence. They got the appropriate gesture in response. Most motorists were considerate and safe though, and I was happy to reach the crash barrier and get over onto the field. For the next mile or so I ran with a guy called Phil whose wife was meeting him around the course.

I dropped down through the tracks to Millers Dale and stopped just long enough for water. Usually there is soup at this CP, but it has given me indigestion in the past so I wasn't disappointed by the lack of it. Could have done with a cup of tea though. Claire was very disappointed there was no tea at Millers Dale.

From here I struggled badly for a few miles. Climbing up from Millers Dale I was passed by two guys moving much more easily than me. I pushed myself on the climb and eventually had to sit down and eat some malt loaf. That perked me up a bit but I still had a good solid hour of "I'm shit at this, why the hell do I bother?".

Approaching Chelmorton someone asked me my name, then told me I was 9th, to which I responded "FFS, no wonder I'm tired!". In fact I'd been higher up the field last year. I was just tired because it was hot and I was really dehydrated. It was starting to cool off though, and I was conscious of my hydration and things were improving.

At Chelmorton I was feeling rough but on top of things. I filled up with water, ate a biscuit and walked on. Intending to walk for a couple of miles I started running again within a couple of hundred metres and cracked on towards Earl Sterndale.

Dropping down the road to Earl Sterndale I actually felt pretty good. Earl Sterndale is always a welcome sight in daylight. I stopped for 5 mins or so to get a cup of tea which I shoved in my bag to cool, ate a load of crisps and checked on Claire's location. She was about 30 minutes behind me - fantastic news but if I didn't want her to catch me I needed to get a move on. After the Fellsman I didn't want Claire to catch me up - we'd probably do the rest together and she might not achieve as good a time.

I hopped it out of Earl Sterndale. It's a short leg to Brand Top and I had plenty of daylight left. At Booth Farm I crossed over the paddock before the buildings only to hear the dogs going berserk. Muttering to myself that there's not much point bypassing the farm if the dogs go nuts anyway I clambered over into the boggy field to find two runners who'd followed the Bullock-supplied GPX file straight through the farm. In spite of asking us some years ago to be sure to bypass the farmyard, the organisers have never updated the GPX file to do that.

The runners in question were Ashok Gurung and another guy whose name I never did catch. I chatted with them on the way up to Brand Top and mentioned that I was planning on taking the easier route from 3 Shires Head. They elected to stay with me to avoid the nasty track past Cumberland Cottage so we stopped briefly at Brand Top to sort out lights and reflectives and on we went.

At 3 Shires Head we took the left hand path and the lower road crossing through the fields. I worked it out later to be 7 minutes faster than the right hand path, so it's one to stick with.

Coming down the road to Clough House Farm our companion ran ahead to meet his partner while Ashok and I followed. I was struggling a bit having perhaps pushed it too much to avoid holding up the other two, so wasn't very talkative. Apologies to Ashok if I wasn't very responsive at this point!

At Clough House Farm I needed a short rest. I told the other two to crack on, and I sat down for a cup of tea and some food to sort me out. Crisps, malt loaf and tea got me going again after 5 or 10 mins chatting with one of the volunteers. I was cold leaving the CP and there was a breeze coming up the valley so I put my windproof on. I was planning to walk for a mile or so. Once I got going I felt OK and started running again almost immediately, maintaining a good pace as far as Quiet Lane where I had to walk up hill anyway.

I walked briskly up Quiet Lane and towards Macc Forest. Climbing the stony track up to the summit I made a stupid mistake. I turned off to take the path under the edge of the trees and for some reason thought I needed to be through the gate. Obviously this was wrong, but I continued to follow the (lovely smooth but wrong) path through the woods for quite some way. At some point my misgivings reached the point where I needed to take action, and I took a MTB track up through the woods to regain the main path. This turned out to be quite gnarly in places, blocked by fallen trees, but eventually I made it out onto the track and ran down towards Walker Barn.

Looking to my left I could see lights. Some of them looked like they might have been torch lights, and I fretted that I might have sent Ashok & friend into the woods by giving them bad advice to go through the gate. As it turned out it was fine, they'd stuck to the track anyway.

Approaching Walker Barn I could see lights behind me, which I took to mean whoever it was had escaped (actually it was Orla Haigh who finished first female, and many times BSH veteran Julian Brown - they passed me at Rainow).

Walker Barn to Rainow I was tiring and unable to eat since I'd forgotten to refill my water at Clough House Farm. I was finding descent a bit difficult so I was slow. At Rainow I ate some crisps and refilled my bottle and felt better. I ran on through the complex of paths to Bollington and got on the canal.

I aimed to run the whole of the canal section and did, albeit slowly. I ate a couple of jelly babies at the canalside CP, filled my bottle then got onto the Middleway. I aimed to run all of this as far as bridge 12 and almost did, only dropping to a walk just before bridge 12. There was a light just ahead of me all the way, which could have been Orla and Julian, although I'd expect them to take the faster Poynton route.

I turned off at bridge 12 and skirted round the edge of Poynton. At one point a lone walker said "well done, good effort" which surprised me since I was on my own in a random village on the route.

I started to flag badly in the last couple of km, and struggled to keep running. I alternated, and finally made it to the scout hut 13 hours and 12 minutes after I'd set out from the park.

I lay on the benches and as usual shook and twitched for ten minutes or so, then picked myself up and got a cup of tea. I was cold and uncomfortable, and didn't have a dry T shirt (I'd changed into my dry dayglo base layer at Brand Top). I gradually dried out though, and it was warmer in the sports hall.

Claire was about 22 minutes behind me still, and was in fact the next finisher. I heard the Felltrack sound and a moment later she appeared in the sports hall where I was sat with Julian and a couple of others who'd finished before me. As last year, Claire struggled to eat or drink afterwards (dehydration we think). We sat around for a while as she waited for the nausea to pass, and in the end decided to head back to the van to sleep it off.

We were cold until we got into bed, and the sleeping bag was really uncomfortable with crampy toes. I think we need to find a better way to sleep in the van when we're grubby. We got little sleep, but I was refreshed enough to drive home safely.

Swiss International Mountain Marathon 2023

 We decided a while ago to make the SIMM the centrepiece of this year's summer holiday in the same way that we did last year's Mourne MM. We decided to stay in France for the majority of our time (for the language practice among other things), so we looked around the Grand Est border. We ended up with Besançon (because it's near the border and moderately hilly) and for the first week Vesoul, for no better reason than because we knew of it from the Jacques Brel song (also covered by Pomplamoose in a slightly less manic version here ).

We drove the camper down to Vesoul, staying over in a picnic stop near Arras on the way down to break up the journey. In the picnic spot, because we'd been driving all day we ended up walking in circles for about an hour to get Claire's daily steps up to 10k. The rabbits and truck drivers must have been most confused by these two idiot rosbifs walking round and round a tarmac carpark.

We spent a pleasant week in Vesoul exploring the modest local hills and extensive local forests, and seeing lots of wildlife. Near the end of the week we got the email from the SIMM organisers to say that there was a problem...

The expectation was that competitors would park in the Stillerenbuhl cable car carpark for the weekend. Unfortunately the Stillerenbuhl car park doesn't permit overnight parking, and this had only come to light at the last minute. The alternative offering was the underground carpark in the centre of Adelboden.

This was a bit concerning, as underground carparks tend to be too low to get the camper into. Mandy & Phil said they'd probably drop out since their camper definitely wouldn't fit. After an email to the organisers didn't elicit any response I went digging for information and discovered that in theory the van would go under the 2.2m barrier. OK, we'll take a punt on it.

We drove down from Vesoul to Adelboden, which took a good few hours. There was some confusion at the border when the customs officer asked Claire if she spoke English or French, and she responded that either was fine in perfect German...

The SIMM organisers had suggested getting an official map of the area which took up most of the free time we had before registration (along with getting money out of an ATM in Spiez, since the IBAN payment method had turned into a bit of a mare). In the end the official map wasn't that helpful - the maps provided by the organisers had as much detail as we needed. We went to registration and more linguistic confusion ensued. The SIMM official language is Swiss German, but they do a great job of speaking alternative languages and since we both speak French and some German (not much in my case) we tended to respond in whatever language we were addressed in. Or sometimes the last one we'd spoken. Or the one someone standing next to us was using.

Once we'd finished registration (then gone back to pay, which everyone had forgotten about including us!) we walked down through Adelboden to our accommodation at a youth hostel type ski lodge on the outskirts. This was eye wateringly expensive at 120E for the night, and I took particular issue with it because it was distinctly shabby and unsupervised. A group of 3 young people were sharing a 2 person room next to us and made a lot of noise well into the early hours. The two Italian guys on the other side were quiet, although one of them snored like a walrus the following night when they happened to be pitched next to us at mid camp.

Early saturday morning we got up, had some breakfast and walked up, up and more up to the Adelboden Post to catch the bus to the start. The bus was full of MM competitors, and quiet subdued conversations were happening in French, German and Italian. Plus one very loud conversation in English. A couple and a young woman standing just behind us were chatting VERY VERY LOUDLY in an embarrassingly British kind of way. Claire and I talked quietly between ourselves and tried to pretend we were French, something we found ourselves doing quite a bit this holiday.

At the cable car there was a huge gravel car park, which would have been a good place to park as it happens. A couple of camper vans were visibly informal camping there, which might be useful to know. I'd anticipated that Switzerland might be a bit restrictive on that front, I'll have to look into it.

We loitered around the cable car station and allowed the crowd to get ahead of us while we filled water bottles, then took a car up to the top. There was a path coming down the steep mountainside that looked horrifyingly exposed, which didn't fill me with confidence. Once we reached the top we found a quiet spot to wait, then we waited.

We'd been booked on the 8am bus to the start, and the mass start was at 10:30. This meant a long period of sitting around. The mass starts are a slight drawback of the SIMM - easier for the organisers but it does mean the competitors in the linear courses end up in a long drawn out line more or less following each other (unless like us you're slow or insist on going your own way for the fun of it, even if it's slower than the orthodox line).

At the start we filed into the taped off area and collected our maps. Once the start signal was given we opened the maps. It took me a while to get my head around the orientation - Claire was quicker and took us in roughly the right direction. We climbed too much over a nearby hillock while the rest of the Parcours 3 people went round the bottom, then dropped to the approximate location of the control.

We stood next to the control for a while trying to puzzle out if it was right, and eventually just went and looked at the number on it. Sure enough, it was right (the little rock next to it didn't look much like a crag as the control list had it) but now we were oriented and got going on to the next one. We had a bit of confusion over map scale on this leg which led us false about the appropriate distance, but sorted it out. Next up was a control on the far side of the bowl. It was clear enough where it was, but in trying to scrupulously avoid OOB areas we ended up on the wrong path and had to correct.

Climbing the slope to the control we caught up some of the teams ahead of us. A couple of boulders on the path made a good attack point and a very neat line to the control, then we were contouring on to the next one.

This was in the junction of two reentrants and as it turned out was partially taped. We missed the tapes but came up onto the control and got wet feet on the river crossing. The leg to the next control was fully taped and we followed it to the manned control, where we were greeted by a couple of the very friendly SIMM volunteers. That was an ongoing theme throughout the weekend - the volunteers on the SIMM are really, really friendly and enthusiastic. Such a happy bunch of people, it really helps the atmosphere of the event.

We crossed another stream on the climb towards the Ammertepass. I refilled my (filter) bottle at this point as I'd gone through half a litre of water. I think I didn't drink enough on day one, although I had about 2 litres.

We slogged our way up to the top of the Ammertepass. It started to get colder as we got up around 2400m and the breeze was cooler. We were still comfortable in shorts and t-shirts though.

At the top we dibbed at the control and moved along the path. There was a warning of a narrow exposed path (not my favourite thing!) and we checked the map. I thought we needed to backtrack slightly and stay on the other side of the ridge for another 100m, but the marshal on the control corrected us and as we progressed I could see there was no path on the line I'd expected to follow. Looking at the map later without contact lenses in, it was clear that it went along the ridge top, not sure why I read it differently at the time.

The path across the pass was quite exposed. It dropped off quite steeply to the right and was fine loose scree. With a big pack on I didn't like it at all, and neither did Claire. We baby stepped across until the exposure improved, although it was slippy and gnarly for quite a long way down.

Eventually we cleared the scree and started dropping down a zigzag path down a very steep nose. On a section across a large boulder assisted by a rope, a woman ahead of us fell (bruises only) which alarmed me - the prospect of doing first aid in this situation was a bit much. Luckily the photographer slightly below shouted "artzt!" and ran to her assistance, getting me off the hook.

We made our careful way down across this rock, and others assisted by chains, and reached the next control which was in a ruin by the path. No, not that ruin, this ruin. Sneaky!

The next leg was long-ish and offered some route planning opportunity. We sat in a hidden spot past the ruin and worked out what we thought was a good line (others followed it too, so I guess it was probably OK) then set off. Passing a refuge hut as we descended I filled my bottle (non-filtered).

We followed a good path for quite a way then climbed up a steep slope (as usual ducking under multiple electric cow tapes) to reach a farm, then picked up another good path that took us most of the way to the control, just following a bearing for a section. Claire fell on this section trying to get through a really awkward stiff gate - I wrenched the thing open and held it for another pair who overtook us just here after having travelled with us for a while.

Around this point it started to thunder. As we followed the contouring path there was a loud CRACK, I turned around just in time to see the lightning hitting the top of Ammertespitz a couple of km away. It was a pretty spectacular strike.

We reached the next control (manned, in a bog), then planned the next leg. I made a mistake here and chose to keep height and drop down, when a contour round would have been much more efficient and given us a better attack point. We dropped down a steep slope onto the control then climbed straight back up it again. We followed a fence line all the way to a path that took us through a narrow channel through OOB almost to the final control.

Mid Camp

we arrived at mid camp and were immediately kit checked. Just a couple of items then we set out to find a good camping spot. The mid camp was, of course, stunning but of course (being the alps) richly supplied with cow pats. We found a spot that was fairly cow pat light and reasonably flat and pitched our tent. I went and fetched water then we changed into clean, non-sweaty clothes.

A cup of tea, then Tent Meals overlooking the mountains, followed by some cheese. Every once in a while another team would arrive, to be greeted by what we later learned to be a chorus of Alpen horns but sounded at the time like a rather morose harmonium. We joined the crowd of people watching the sun set over the mountains then went back to our tent for a couple of glasses of wine and some more cheese.

Day 2

Mass start was at 8am, although there was an announcement by loudhailer at 6am that we didn't understand. We sat drinking tea and took down our tent in plenty of time and were ready and packed apart from toilet visits. The queue for the toilets was huge, and we were finally ready about 7:59:45.

Once again we filed into the taped area, dropping our litter into the bag provided and collecting our maps. The start signal went, and we opened the maps and worked out the direction of the first control. I misread the contours (again. Contact lenses, again. I need to make more use of the magnifier). We didn't gain excessive height though, and only dropped about ten metres onto the control. The next control was easy, a boulder near the path, then we were following the track down the valley to a control partway up a crag. This was another obvious one once we got close and we were able to follow a bearing right up to the control.

Back down to the track then along to a path junction that was a handy attack point for the next control. Then a decision point. There were two possible actions here - carry on down the valley to a path a few hundred metres away, then work a way through the OOB or take a long route by road. Or go straight up the steep incline and down the other side.

We were a bit sick of following other people. That's always an issue in a linear course, but more so when there's a mass start. SIMM do the rather neat thing of setting everyone off on day 2 with the same spacing as they had at the finish of day 1, unless you're over an hour behind the fastest team. For those of us just out for a fun bit of orienteering it's a mass start. This was only the second linear course we'd done in a MM, and we chose it out of caution. If we come back next year we'll definitely do score.

We looked at the steep slope of Hüendersädel above us. It looked steep but do-able, something we wouldn't hesitate to climb in the Lakes. We considered both options for a while - faffing, as Mandy would probably say.

We chose the steep climb and worked our way up it. The undergrowth was much deeper than we'd anticipated and it was tough going. On smooth ground Claire can match me or leave me behind - she has much greater strength and cadence. On the rough stuff I have the advantage of much longer legs, I can step over things she has to climb and burn much less energy for the same distance. Towards the top this slope got really rough and quite steep, and at some point Claire lost her map squeezing under an electric fence. By the time we reached the top she was hypoglycaemic and totally fed up.

We couldn't get down the other side as the tree cover was too dense (another map symbology fail on my part) so we rambled steadily south westwards along the top towards a path down. Once we dropped into the valley below and paused for something to eat Claire started to feel better, especially after she saw a couple of marmots running by.

We worked out a route to avoid the scattered OOB areas in the vicinity of Gilsmeder and ended up with a pretty good line from where we were towards the next control under the cable car lines at the other side of the valley. I looked at the type of control and got it completely wrong. 'Circle' does not denote a hill, that's 'oval'. Circle denotes a 'special control'. In this instance it turned out to be a cable car pylon, as I discovered by looking down from the top of the hill I was scouring fruitlessly in search of the control.

We set off down to the control. I took my bag off and slid under the wire, then Claire did the same. Losing her grip on her bag on the steep slope it plummeted down ten metres, bouncing off the hillside and landing in a pond. I was partway down and rushed over to grab it before too much water soaked through. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any damage, although I was sure I'd seen something spinning in the air before it landed.

That turned out to be Claire's phone. "Find my phone" from her Garmin led us to it buried in a bush nearby, completely unharmed. We dibbed the control and clambered back up to the fence line.

The next control was on a stream at the top of a gully. We set off on a bearing for the top of the gully and plodded up the steep slope. Near the top we caught 2 young women who'd been ahead of us at the last control. We all left the path together at the obvious attack point of a small tarn and worked our way round the gully until we found the control, a bit further north than we'd anticipated.

After that there was another contour round to a control on a forest corner. One team was climbing much higher up the hill, not sure why, we contoured pretty much straight to the control in a stream bed on the corner of a forest. We'd pulled slightly ahead of the team who'd been with us at the last control and met them again as we started plodding uphill to the top of Sillerenbüel. I stupidly didn't fill my water bottle at the stream, and as we climbed the hill we started to get really thirsty.

We reached the top, passing another team of two young women (who we passed and repassed until they ran into the last couple of controls and we continued to walk), then spent about ten minutes trying to find public loos where we could get water. Eventually we learned that you could just walk into the restaurant and use theirs - not sure if there was a cultural convention there we missed, or if it was just Sillerenbüel.

Down the slope past a wooden carving of Heidi, then a control on a tree in the middle of the forest. It was actually pretty easy to find if you came in on a decent bearing, and we dibbed and headed out. The next control was more or less straightforward, a hill (yes, an actual hill this time) across the valley. We found a path that made a good approach then climbed up to the right height. I've not mentioned it up to now but we used the altimeter more on this event than ever before, which shouldn't be any surprise.

The next leg took us down a dried up river bed/moraine slope that was really hard underfoot. It was interspersed with belts of shrubby tree growth and really hard to hold a bearing on. The team we'd passed on the way up Sillerenbüel were close behind but fell further back as we battled through. We finally came out almost on top of the control which made me very happy. After that we tried to drop straight down the field to the river, which was a 3 or 4m drop onto rocks so not really feasible. Eventually we worked out there was a path on the side of a tributary that we could follow, and we crossed over, Claire taking the opportunity to fill her bottle with fresh glacial melt water.

The rest of the way was pretty much downhill. We got onto the road (and were immediately passed by two young women we'd seen several times that day who'd decided to run the last bit) and walked on to a path from the next village. The control was on a rather diminutive tree off to one side. Then further along the riverside path to a control plainly obvious on a bridge (but in a circle containing 2 bridges!), finally reaching a control at a road junction in Adelboden before finishing at the school.

There were still a few teams out on the course so we weren't last, which was nice. We guzzled down some very welcome iced tea, collected our very pleasing commemorative mugs and headed back to the van parked across the road. We were on a tight schedule to get to our Airbnb in Héricourt 4 hours away so we needed to get going.

Lakeland 5 Passes 2023

 Claire and I both had a pretty good run on the L5P last year. It's exactly our cup of tea - climbs and fells and long distance.

This year as last, I'd booked to stay on the site the night before. We finished work and drove up (through the rain, again) and parked up on the showground about 8pm. Fran and Paul were registering as I arrived. We got ourselves settled in for the night, and slept pretty well.

The walkers were just setting out as we got up in the morning. We had some coffee and breakfast, and headed over to registration. I'd misplaced my race belt in the ongoing building works in my house, so had to pin my number to my shirt, which always bugs me because I often put a waterproof over the top.

The usual fairly low key race briefing and start, and off we went. The weather was muggy and not actually raining, which was a plus.

Along the lane and over the fell side to Ambleside, then up Loughrigg. We passed Karen surprisingly early (it didn't last, which wasn't surprising), but Claire and I were pretty much matching speed for the first few miles.

The descent to the CP at Kentmere is rocky and gnarly. I quite like it, but Claire hates it. I pulled ahead a little, then she caught me and overtook at the CP while I was guzzling water & food.

We stuck together for the next couple of miles, but I pulled ahead on the last bit of climb before dropping to Gatescarth Pass. I chatted with another runner who had been sorting his shoes out at the bridge before leaving him behind on the climb. I was feeling a bit dehydrated by now, in spite of drinking quite a lot, and it was also getting rather windy.

On the top of Harter Fell it was extremely windy, and that slowed progress on the climb. I reached the top and veered off right for the next leg towards Kirkstone. Thorneythwaite Beacon came and went, and the CP at Nan Bield, then I encountered a photographer at the foot of Stoney Cove. This was a nasty surprise, I'd forgotten about Stoney Cove Pike and the scramble took it out of me a bit in my thirsty state. I was still eating OK mostly, but tiring as I dried out and running low on water.

I ran on from Stoney Cove towards Kirkstone and saw no one around me. Reaching the CP I gratefully filled up with water, drank some, then filled up again. A couple of cheese sandwiches cheered me right up, and while I was emptying gravel out of my shoes Karen caught up. We left the CP together, Karen adamant that I'd outstrip her on the climb (until she overtook me near the top), then from the top of Red Screes I ran down into Scandale pass. I overtook Karen again on the rocky descent, but it didn't take long on the hard track towards Ambleside before she passed me again. I stopped for a pee (I wasn't that dehydrated then) and she drew further ahead.

The coffin road is hard going at this stage, even though it's not far. The path through Rydal Mount with all the relaxed tourists completely nonplussed by the exhausted runners is particularly hard work, but I was able to refill my bottle at the tap by the tearoom. 

I plodded/walked/ran the remainder of the way to Grasmere, coming in a few minutes behind Karen and within a minute of my last year's time. Claire knocked a few minutes off her time, coming in 5 minutes or so behind me.

Kit

• Decathlon shorts (with lining removed & lycra undershorts)
• Raidlight performer t shirt
• Altra Superior 
• UD Blazek 10 rucksack
• OMM Kamleika jacket
• Decathlon waterproof trousers
• Buffs
• Powerstretch gloves
• Montane Coda hat
• Small first aid kit
• Printed map
• route on my Coros watch
• UD Body bottle (should have carried a 2nd bottle, it was hot)
• 
  

Food

• Peanut butter in squeezy tube
• quiche at CP1
• cheese sandwiches and a few jelly babies at CP2

Supporting on the EBB

Claire was really keen to do a hundred this year. She'd originally joined the LDWA with that in mind, and had wanted to do the Trans-Pennine. Fitness, confidence and the lack of a qualifying race meant that she couldn't, but with the Bullock and several other longer ultras to her credit (including an outstanding 3rd F performance at the PWiaD) she was definitely ready.

We debated about different races for a while. The Punk Panther Dales High Way looked like a possible but, with a 36 hour cut off and only 2 weeks after the Fellsman, Claire wasn't sure she felt confident about it. In the end, despite serious reservations about the relatively small amount of climb, she entered the EBB100.

One thing you can be sure of with the LDWA Hundred is amazing support. Everyone is there with the express purpose of making it the best possible experience it can be, and getting you to the finish if you possibly can.

I tried to cover all the "not actually running/walking" stuff. I booked us into self catering accommodation in Moseley for the weekend. This meant that while Claire was out roaming around the west Midlands I had somewhere to go eat/sleep etc. The original plan (which went a bit awry) was somewhere with a bath for a good soak afterwards, but I managed to find somewhere pleasant at short notice.

We drove down to Birmingham after work on Friday. Google maps tried to take me through the ULEZ, which would have cost a bonus 12 quid in the camper, but apart from that it was straightforward and we landed about 8pm. Dinner didn't take long to cook, and we had a fairly early night with a couple of glasses of wine.

Saturday morning we headed down to the rugby ground for about 11, leaving plenty of time for registration (for the 12 o'clock start). This had been the source of some agonizing. The organisers had only talked about the 10am and 2pm starts, asking runners to take the 2pm. This meant averaging 5mph for the first 20 miles, which was do-able but didn't leave much wiggle room for variations in pace. The 10am on the other hand meant going painfully slowly for the first 20 miles. At the last minute there was mention of a 12pm start, which Claire grabbed enthusiastically.

At registration Claire collected her tracker, tally and mug, then we sat around for a while. We bumped into Imtiaz, who was volunteering on the event, and chatted about the EBB, the Dales High Way and the upcoming Stanza Stones.

At 11:55 the walkers set out (at a rapid running pace) with Claire at the very back trying to go steadily. I wandered back towards the stands with Imtiaz, then got in the camper to plan out where I was going to meet Claire first.

Lickey Hills looked like a good candidate, I'd wanted to do that section anyway, so I headed in the direction of Kings Norton. I popped into a local Nisa to grab some food for the day/evening, and followed the sat nav to the Lickey Hills visitors centre.

Once there, I made myself a brew and read for a bit, then changed into running kit and ran out towards Waseley Country Park.

It was a hot day, Lickey Hills wasn't massively busy though, and it was pleasant running through the woods. Coming down the steep slope just before the CP I encountered a lot of EBBers plodding up the loose mud and gravel, and the first queries about whether everything was OK (I obviously looked like a reversing EBBer!). I made it to the checkpoint at Rubery and stood around for a couple of minutes chatting with a couple of other people who were supporting their family members.

I set off from the CP into the Waseley Hills park and almost immediately bumped into Claire. We ran together into the CP then I sat outside chatting with some other spectators in the sunshine while she grabbed some food and water.

Head to the right of the 'DPB'

That done, we set off into the Lickey Hills leg.

Claire was pretty jolly, although a few things were hurting. Her rucksack straps were rubbing her collarbones pretty painfully and she'd padded her shoulder with her windproof. We climbed up into the woods of the Lickey Hills park and ran on along the ridge in the sunshine.

Beyond Lickey Hills we had a strange little excursion through Barnt Green railway station, then into Alvechurch and the CP at the church (Ark St Leonards).

I turned back here and ran back to the van, dodging oncoming runners and walkers. I spent a lot of time over the two days saying things like "people with tallies have right of way". As I arrived back at the van in the Lickey Hills car park, some fast moving people were arriving. I think these were probably the 2pm starters.

Back in the van I grabbed the map and looked at the tracker, to see where the next sensible place would be to catch Claire. We had a longstanding joke about Aston Cantlow because an obscure piece of legal precedent is named after it (long story), so I decided to head for there.

At Aston Cantlow the Irregulars were setting up their CP. What I later discovered was the food van arrived at the same time as me. I parked way the other end of the village out of the way and set off back along the route to find Claire.

Once you crossed the road near the village the way was marked with hazard tape. It soon became obvious why as the nettles and umbellifera crowded over the path.

'The path'

First of all I found the current front runner, who had set off at 10am and made quick progress. We stood around chatting for a while then separated. Next I met Nick, who was making better progress than he expected. I was pleased to see Nick doing OK, retiring from the Fellsman had knocked him back a bit.

Once I cleared the gnarly overgrown paths I was on pleasant arable countryside for a couple of miles. I had a little warning of reaching Claire as someone from PFO & Rossendale Harriers let me know she was just behind. I met her in a lovely field of buttercups.

We ran on together. She was now 20+ miles into the route and starting to feel it a bit. We crossed various little streams on interesting metal bridges, passed an old Riley turned plantpot and followed a scenic canal section for some considerable way.

 Eventually we found our way to Aston Cantlow. I waited outside while Claire went in and got a sandwich and refilled her bottles.

Someone here recognised us both and knew me from Runfurther and this blog which surprised me. I mostly write this so that I can look up the details of the kit I carried and the experiences I had on a race for my own reference. I never expect anyone else to read it!

Moving on to the wide field track out of Aston Cantlow Claire was feeling a bit low. I was going to be heading back to Birmingham for the evening and she was feeling low on energy. I pestered her into eating a packet of crisps that she'd been putting off, and that made a big difference. We had a big soppy moment and I headed back to Aston Cantlow to pick up the van.

I drove back into Birmingham and grabbed some shopping for the following day in the Tesco near Moseley. Back at the apartment I plonked some salad on a plate, had a couple of glasses of wine and planned out my morning rendevous. Meriden looked like a good meeting spot. Off to bed once I'd got a tentative plan. The neighbours were playing some extremely loud hip hop but I can sleep through just about anything.

At 6am I took a look at the tracker and was very awake immediately. Claire had said she'd probably walk quite a bit overnight, but it hadn't really worked like that. If I was going to meet her near Meriden I had to get going quick. I had a coffee and some malt loaf for breakfast, made another coffee and got out the door.

At Meriden I parked up at the CP. Put plenty of sunblock on, hitched up my pack and headed out. This was a pleasant section and at 7am it was a lovely fresh day. The route crossed some huge arable fields and squirmed through some tight overgrown corners. Claire was running through one of these when I found her. She'd had a fantastic night section and run most of the way through it. Stratford had been  a town centre full of drunks, but generally she'd had a great time running through the night. We both love night running so I wasn't surprised by this.

We got on to Meriden across the many fields. Meriden CP was rather plush, like a wedding venue rather than a CP. The marshals hadn't seen many people yet, which should have given me a clue that Claire was doing rather well.

Bottles filled, food eaten, we cracked on through Midland villages, past scenic churches and less scenic dual carriageways and HS2 works.

I'd decided I was going to stick with Claire for 10km past Meriden. That made a 30km run, as I'd run out 5km on the other side. At 9km I realised I'd have to get my arse in gear or I'd miss the run in to the finish the way she was going. I took my leave and ran at a brisk pace back to Meriden.

Back at the Rugby club I dropped off the van and headed out along the route into the finish. My aim was to get past the final CP before meeting Claire. I passed a guy I recognised wearing a flag as a cape and said hi, and a few other people I'd seen the day before (but surprisingly few). The route through Small Heath wasn't as run down as I was expecting.

I reached the CP in a rather strange location on the edge of an out of town shopping centre, to find that Claire was already there. Jack and Mick were feeding her and filling her bottles and she was ready to leave. I got my own bottle filled, we said 'bye' to Mick and Jack, and off we went.

I was amazed at the pace she was making at mile 96. We ran the bulk of the remainder of the route, along the side of the beck and through many many road crossings. We finally made it back to the rugby club through the woods and I peeled off to the 'non walker's entrance, while Claire went through to the sound of ringing bells to be relieved of her tracker.

She'd completed the 100 miles in 27 hours 15 minutes. 

We sat and drank tea for quite a while after. As usual Claire didn't feel like eating straight after, so in the end we headed back to the apartment (5 minutes drive away) and she grabbed a couple of hours sleep while I sat drinking tea and reading. 

I popped back to the rugby club a little later to pick up Claire's drop bag, in time to catch Nick who'd finished an hour quicker than the trans-pennine. 

I'd laid in pizzas and ice cream for the evening, along with some beer and wine so we had a nice relaxed evening reading the many many congratulations messages on Strava, Facebook etc. Claire hadn't wanted people to know what she was up to in case things hadn't gone to plan, so a hundred suddenly popping up on Strava was a surprise for most.

We stayed on until the Monday morning then headed back to Calderdale in the busy Bank Holiday traffic. Claire was delighted to have completed something she'd placed so much store by, and was happily assimilating the experience. We had loads to talk about on the journey home, not least plans for 2024 and Speyside.

Stanza Stones 2023 - from behind the scenes.

In 2012 I lived in Silsden, Keighley. One day I was running along a regular route when I was stopped in my tracks by a stone. Two stones actually, with a poem carved on them. It was the Dew Stone, the 4th of the Stanza Stones. That year the poet laureate Simon Armitage had written 6 poems on a theme of water and placed them in locations along the South Pennines between Marsden and Ilkley.

From the start I wanted to run the whole lot in one go.

But in 2012 I wasn't running ultra distances, and my life wasn't really set up to do that. So it waited.

In 2022 Daz told us he was organising the Stanza Stones ultra. We knew he'd need all the ultra experienced crew he could get, so we decided to forgo running it for now in favour of helping.

........

We'll quietly elide months of planning. Ideas being put forward and carefully written down (or completely forgotten). Early draft art work. Watching Sientries lists growing. Recces and GPX files.

Planning out the route - 2022

........

Let's resume at 5.45 Saturday morning. Claire had choir practice Friday, so we'd driven down to Marsden late Friday night and just about managed to get to bed for midnight. At 5.45 the loud birdsong from the recorded robin I use as an alarm tone dragged us out of bed. Daz had messaged the team Whatsapp late the night before to say that we couldn't get into the building until 6.30 rather than 6, then again at 5.30 to say that they had vehicle trouble and were running late. So I made some coffee.

By 6.15 we were in the building and waiting. It turned out the vehicle hire firm had let us down, so we were down a vehicle. This is the kind of thing that happens, and adapting quickly to hitches - hopefully without any of the entrants noticing - is part of the fun.

Early doors at MCC

We'd used the extra waiting time to work out where to put kit check and registration, so when Daz and Joolz arrived we were able to unload and set up very quickly. Karen and Bob appeared with the Runfurther flags and I lent a hand setting up.

Coming up to 8 the bus arrived from Ilkley and we started kit check and registration. A few people had registered on Friday night in Ilkley, but the majority were registering Saturday morning. I had time for a couple of kit checks then I was heading out to flag the descent from Pule Hill to the Snow Stone. This is a faint trod that allows easy access to the quarry from the south, and we wanted to make sure it was clearly visible to keep people away from the cliff edge. It was chilly and windy on the way up, but I was climbing reasonably quickly so I wasn't too cold. Once that was done I placed the clips and kites at the stone itself (taking care not to block the stones in case anyone wanted to take photos) then followed the route down to the road crossing at Manchester Road.

Snow Stone

On reaching the road crossing there was a ewe and lamb on the wrong side of the gate. I popped to the farm next door, where I was told "it's just like this in Marsden. They wander around all over the place. We've only got four in the field".

Claire on a recce earlier in the year

Promising to keep an eye on the four in the field while 78 people came through, I went back to my station at the side of the road.

Thankfully it was too early for the road to be particularly busy, and I was able to wave most of the entrants straight across, keeping an eye on both gates and all four sheep as much as possible.

Road crossing - picture courtesy of Nick Ham

Towards the end of the rush, Claire popped up needing the keys to my van to get some stuff out. Once she brought them back I trotted back up to the quarry, gathered in the flags and kites and returned to the van to get to my next assignment. Plans were shifting and, instead of going to Haworth to set up, I was due in Mytholmroyd. I turned on the radio and got a R3 program about 'Peter and the Wolf' and dragged my way up Scapegoat Hill and back down into the valley.

At Mytholmroyd it was absolutely baking. The volunteers there had everything set up, and I spent half an hour or so filling water bottles and fetching food, then Claire turned up with her van which had been parked at my house and we loaded up with food and kit for the finish. I set off for Haworth, with Claire not far behind me.

The traffic through Hebden wasn't awful and I got across to Haworth fairly promptly. The CP was already set up and Ricky, Louise and Anthony were there, along with Andy Smith from CVFR cheering on some of their members, Steve Foster (who was supporting Sally) and a lad from the Scouts helping us with the village hall facilities. The next couple of hours mostly consisted of fetching jugs of water from indoors and filling up runners' bottles. Kev Hoult turned up and hung around for a little while eating and rehydrating. We had a few retirees early on, including James Chapman who had been in the top 3.

Still fresh and cloudy - 8.30am on Pule Hill

Once things were definitely settled into a rhythm at Haworth I headed down to Bingley. I still had the food for the finish to deliver and time was getting on.

At Bingley things were fairly quiet still. Claire and Joolz were just about to leave for the finish, Andy Brookes from Peak District Ultras was helping out, and Mick and Alan appeared soon after. The first couple of runners came through, then a very frustrated Kev Hoult turned up having struggled to find us. Navigation through built up areas is always a pain, and the map we supplied was an OS 1:25k rescaled to 1:50k. I've noticed before that printing OS Explorer symbology at 1:50k makes it really hard to read. Next year we'll have better signage for the Bingley CP. This time we quickly put out some signs we'd collected from earlier in the route, and that seemed to help.

A hectic spell of filling bottles, cooking pizza and checking on people. It was mid/late afternoon and a lot of people were coming in much the worse for the heat. Jono Wright appeared and quietly lay down in the back room, so I was kept occupied checking on him and feeding him water & electrolytes for a while.

Kites in place

Generally though most people were in pretty good order. A lady came in asking for blister plasters. We don't generally keep Compeeds or anything like that - foot care is really personal. We also have to be quite careful about 'treating' people - I'm first aid trained so I'm equipped to deal with emergencies but I am not a doctor. Mostly I clean up grazes and cuts, and check for anything more serious. I checked her blisters and they were pretty bad - blister plasters most likely wouldn't have helped anyway. In those circumstances what I'd do for my own feet is to tape the area with gaffa tape to reduce friction. I have some gaffa tape that isn't too madly sticky, so it comes off after a race fairly easily. I checked she was happy with that then taped them up, and I did see her at the end so I guess it worked ok. Quite a few of us are first aid trained to some extent, but Helen W and I are the usual FRA trained first aiders and Helen wasn't around, so I was pretty busy.

Jono was still not well, and I wasn't convinced he was going to be finishing. But with the CP open until 11pm, 17 miles to go and the temperature dropping rapidly things could (and did) change. Around 7pm or so I got a call to go to the finish as there had been a couple of falls on the final descent, and they wanted me around just in case. Just as I was packing up to leave and cleaning the bars of the oven  Laura and Sarah arrived, and Jono was on his feet looking tired but fully functioning. I checked he really was functioning properly, then off he went, and so did I. We had 2 retirees (one was Bernard, I'm terrible with names so unfortunately the other escapes me) waiting to head to the finish, so we all squeezed into the front of my van and headed for Ben Rhydding. We had a nice chat on the way over and my passengers were full of compliments about the event, which was great to hear.

It took me a while to figure out how to get onto the field, but once I was there I parked up and went into the school to help out. Claire and Joolz were looking after the timing, so I got on with distributing water, tea and chilli to the finishers, gathering in trackers, occasionally taking a finish with the scanner when the others were unavailable. The Opentracking scanner wasn't working quite as expected, so we tinkered with things a bit and worked out a reliable process.

Dave Garner had put up the Runfurther banners along the finish funnel which looked great. Later on when we took the flags down I put up some fairy lights as well which made for a nice atmosphere.

Runfurther flags (just before Karen finished)

The night spell is a bit of a blur. I was bustling about most of the time, making sure people were fed and looked after, removing trackers and checking occasional finishers in, and keeping a close eye on some of the finishers who were more than just tired. I spent quite a while with one guy who had some slightly worrisome symptoms, but seemed to be just exhausted and hypoglycaemic. He was actually suffering very much the same effects as I sometimes get. After a lot of tea and some food (and several warm layers) he was fine. Merrian (LDWA stalwart and regular at the last CP of the hundred) was around helping (while she waited for partner Dave, but actually mainly because she enjoys being involved).

There were other impromptu helpers around the course - partners of runners helped out in various ways, one guy was handing out water at Warley Moor reservoir. Chris Driver of the Fellsman set up an impromptu water station in front of his house in Riddlesden while his kids guided people in and kept them company.

Various Runfurther friends showed up at different times: Karen, Nick, Jenny (Ken had retired at Bingley with knee problems while I was there). Imtiaz Ilahi came in looking only slightly tired. Other Craggrunner & Tod friends too: Jack Cooper, Guy Whitmore (who retired but made his own way to the finish), Mark C. Jono came doggedly in, and around 3am or so Dianne & Kieran arrived, very tired and footsore but glad to have finished (and only a couple of weeks after the EBB100 at that). A little later Dom Camponi was greeted in by some CVFR members who had been waiting up for him to finish. I read about Dom's backstory in a blog post a couple of years back and noticed he'd had a couple of DNFs due to injury last year, so I'm always happy to see him finish a tough race.

Hedgehog a-gogo

At 4:15 we only had 2 people left still on the course. They were over by the swastika stone and I estimated their remaining time at 2 hours. Claire and I crawled into bed for a couple of hours, and at about 6:20 I heard the final finishers walk past our van. We popped into the hall to see how things were going, then went back for 'a couple of hours' more sleep. Unfortunately we forgot to set an alarm and slept until 10. By that time the hall had been cleared and we were pretty much all done and dusted.

The feedback we got on the event was fantastic, everyone seemed to have a great time in spite of the weather. The hitches we had were handled smoothly and hopefully weren't apparent to the competitors. Next year's event looks assured - in fact as I write this there are 12 confirmed entrants, and less than a week has passed. By Sunday afternoon Whatsapp was already crackling with suggestions and ideas for next year's race.

I've volunteered at a lot of races, particularly Craggrunner ones but also other ROs and our club races. The Stanza Stones was intense and exhausting to be involved with but enormous fun. Being able to look after people while they undertake something like this is an absolute joy.

Next year we'll be back. Claire and I will probably run the course ourselves in the interim so we can be part of the organisation of the event. Maybe we can get a few more walkers aiming for that quiet 20-24 hour slot, especially if we're a qualifier for East Anglia 2025. Hopefully it'll be a bit cooler!

Yes, I made Daz run all the way round them as well

Gastric Emptying (Dumping) Syndrome and running

 WARNING! The following is very definitely TOO MUCH INFORMATION. It's only useful if you have abnormal effects from sweet/carbohydrate food and want to know what to do about it.

2nd Warning. I am not any kind of doctor. I do not have a formal diagnosis of Dumping Syndrome. My only formal diagnosis in 45 years of consulting doctors about my symptoms is "you don't have diabetes and you seem to manage your diet OK. Whatever it is, it's not serious.". The friend who suggested Dumping Syndrome is a doctor however - a consultant in a teaching hospital.

I struggled with blackouts, dizziness and other symptoms from early childhood. One of my earliest memories is a trip to Barnsley hospital for a blood test for anaemia. I was booted out of school for bad performance at 16, due to blackouts and dizziness that always occurred after lunch. The GP said I should go to bed earlier (I had insomnia, nightmares and night sweats quite a bit as well).

I also struggled with mood regulation in the early evening - obvious blood sugar problems like being irritable, weepy and clumsy. Cold sweats were occasionally a thing, but not often enough to be obvious.

I finally started to understand what was going on when I started training in my late 30s for long runs, particularly off road marathons. When I ate anything sweet, almost immediately after I would get symptoms. These symptoms could vary but included:

• nausea
• bloating and stomach cramps
• wind
• dizziness
• prolific cold sweats (followed by appalling chafing)
• clumsiness and disorientation.
• explosive diarrhoea (you do not want explosive diarrhoea on an ultramarathon...)

The penny finally dropped when I ran home from work along the canal - 23 miles of boring, pancake flat running. I put a couple of dextrose tablets in my water to keep my energy up. Until 18 miles I made good time, and I looked like being around 3 hours 30.

At 18 miles I realised I was thirsty and took a massive drink, probably 250ml in one go. So that's about 1 dextrose tablet.

Within a mile I was doubled over with excruciating stomach cramps. These didn't pass, but they eased off intermittently and gradually they got less acute. My legs were like lead, I had no energy or motivation, I was freezing cold but sweat was pouring down me and I was on the verge of tears for no obvious reason. It took another 3 hours to do the 5 miles home. By the end I was crying and felt like just stopping and lying down.

Obviously the problem was sugar.

A couple of weeks later I did the same run again. No food after lunchtime, plain water only.

3 hours 20 minutes, finished feeling fine.

So that was OK, because I just trained up to run to marathon distance without eating. Simples.

Until I started doing ultras.

The story doesn't go on much further beyond that point. Ever since then I try things, they work (or not). Peanut butter in a baby food pouch works well. Malt loaf works surprisingly well, especially with peanut butter. Cheese fixes a lot of things and is good generally. Pitta mini pizzas looked promising but are just 'ok', a good additional option but not a standard staple. Toast is OK-ish, un-toasted bread is a complete no no. Wholemeal is better, but still has to be toasted. Anything more than a small quantity of pasta is a bad idea.

There's no easy answer, it's just a constraint I have to work within.

The Fellsman 2023 - it gives you something new to think about every time

 The original plan for this year's Fellsman was: Claire would run solo and finally get a handle on the scope of the beast that is the Fellsman; I'd do exactly the same as last year but without the navigation failures. It didn't quite work out that way, and as you might expect the reason was down to preparation.

For a couple or three weeks beforehand I was aware that I had a lot of tightness in my legs. I'm crap at stretching regularly, but I'd made time to stretch and roller for the last 2 weeks.

Oops. Should probably have left well enough alone.

My ongoing attempts to reconcile gastric emptying syndrome with ultra-running had resulted in a new go-to food: mini pizzas made from pittas and cheese. I opted not to take any peanut butter and relied primarily on the pittas. This was a BIG mistake.

So anyway. I drove up friday night after a quick and convenient meal of scrambled egg, potato and some veg. This was also probably a mistake as that meal has caused me stomach problems when racing before. I took all our kit to kit check, said hi to a few people and headed back to the camper to wait for Claire, who was coming up after choir practice. We got to bed around 11:15, and were up at 4:45 to drink some coffee and catch the bus down to Threshfield. Leaving the van at about 5:20 worked out about right for the 6:15 Threshfield to Ingleton bus.

We picked up our trackers, had a couple of cups of tea and by then it was time to set out. There was a minute's silence in tribute to a couple of members of the Fellsman crew who passed recently, in particular  Kate Metcalfe who had been greeting exhausted people at Threshfield for a good many years.

And then we were off. The speedy people rushed to the right of the field and jockeyed for position (no one going left this year), and the rest of us followed behind. Once we got out onto the road I said goodbye to Claire and picked up my pace a bit.

I made a steady pace to the top of Ingleborough, overtaking a lot of people who'd rushed off but keeping a lid on it to the extent that Claire briefly caught me up near Crina Bottom. During the last climb there was a chap in front of me who was recording his video impressions - I'd see him on and off all day, including a spell sat together at Cray CP.

Ingleborough to Whernside was uneventful. As I got off the end of the corner cutting path on Whernside I spotted Karen ahead of me. It was very early for me to be catching her up, and she had the posture that I've seen before that meant something was wrong.

I stopped to tie my laces, then checked in at Whernside summit and headed down towards the wall crossing, seeing Claire climbing up towards the summit. Dropping down towards Kingsdale I caught Karen and sure enough she was struggling with back pain. After a brief chat I overtook her and carried on up to Kingsdale CP. A quick water refill then on up Gragareth.

I felt OK climbing Gragareth, although I had no chance of keeping up with Bill Johnson from CVFR who powered past me on the last steep bit (I later found out Bill had retired at Park Rash). A quick out and back to the trig for the CP, then back to the wall. We hopped over the wall briefly to avoid the worst of a bog, then on towards Green Hill.

Approaching Great Coum I remembered that the path veers away from the wall and followed it to the gate. Others went to the top of the field and climbed over by a large boulder, so that route is passable. The next stile would be a good one to take for the CP, but once again I carried on (this time climbing over at a high viz left on the wall, rather than backtracking as I did last year).

At Great Coum CP a lot of us carried on to the north west. I was following the route used by Damian Hall last year, on the assumption that he'd have asked around/reccied and found the best lines.

Wrong. I should have figured that out when I saw his route in Langstrothdale.

Once the view down to Flinter Gill was clear I took a bearing and headed down across the rough ground, along with many others. Partway down I fell heavily and both legs cramped up - quads and calves. They stretched out to the point of being able to run, but they caused me increasing pain all day to the point in the early hours where every descending step was painful.

As I made it back to the wall path (which I took last year, and is far superior [and mentioned in the Points to Observe - oops!]) Karen came past, looking a little better than she had earlier. I caught her on the approach to Dent, where she was struggling with the rocks on the steep path in her new Inov8 shoes. She left Dent CP before me and I didn't see her again after that.

A cheese and onion pasty courtesy of Mytholmroyd scouts at Dent, then out along the road. I chatted with another runner on this section as far as Boot of the Wold, where I lost everyone while I stopped to get out the next section of map.

I'd thought Damian Hall's route across to Blea Moor was slightly different, but it actually just follows the trod the whole way. Sticking to the left of the crag, I inevitably ended up in the awful bogs just before the CP. I'm not sure there's a good alternative, I must look.

I tried to head straight for the path through the woods from the CP, hopping over the fence early. This was a mistake as I ended up a little too far east and missed the path. It's probably not worthwhile taking that shortcut, but if I do I should aim off slightly east to counter the tendency to drift downhill. Someone shouted me as I dropped to the forestry road and I picked up the path and followed them down the hill towards Stonehouse. Thankfully no vengeful poultry were in evidence at turkey farm (although Claire encountered the geese a little later) and I got onto the road and down to Stonehouse CP.

A short stop for something to eat in Stonehouse and off I went again. My legs were really starting to hurt and my concentration was slipping. I left the CP without my section map & compass, and had to drop back down to the CP again.

There was a little rain on the climb to Great Knoutberry (although it was very localised because on Blea Moor it absolutely pissed it down!). As I reached the top and the stile I spotted another runner heading up the wrong side of the wall and called him back. I was keeping my cadence up although holding back from actually running, and drew ahead of the others. I saw lots of people I recognised on the way up, including a much healthier looking Karen.

As I arrived back at the stile to head towards Redshaw I spotted a woman heading down the other side of the track in the direction of Widdale. I yelled to her that she was going the wrong way which she didn't seem to hear, so I blew 2 sharp blasts on my whistle. That did the trick and we were able to direct her back onto the route. I headed onto the trod towards Redshaw and took a fairly immediate descent to the wall, handrailing to the stile. A higher line would probably be better.

At Redshaw a guy with a camera who'd seen me go back for my compass at Stonehouse checked I still had it. I demonstrated it dangling from my wrist where I'd attached it. I popped into the tent at Redshaw and asked if anyone had the tracker working. The crew told me Claire was only about 30 mins behind me which cheered me up a lot. I was flagging a bit here though and really should have eaten more. This was mistake number 2 (number one being the stretching regime).

I headed out into the sunshine and listened to the moorland birds as I climbed up to Snaizeholme, chatting with a couple of others. My stomach was starting to get troublesome, and I forced down a cheese pitta as the others drew ahead. At the wall crossing where the Dales High Way joins they overshot and I called them back to the gate. They drew ahead again soon after, and I quietly made my way towards Dodd Fell. At the Cam Road junction Roz was spectating, I stopped for a quick chat and let her know Claire wasn't far behind.

The climb up Dodd Fell is easy-if-you-know-it, although I was going quite slow. I checked the bearing of the path at the top to be on the safe side and sloshed through all the filth to the wall corner. Karen had mentioned that there was a good wall crossing where a stream went under the wall. The only one I could find was blocked with pallets and while Karen could probably get through there my 6' 12 stone would have done damage. Another option was a sheep hole low down in the wall (I think Rory might have taken that), but in the end I followed the wall round to the gate the conservative way.

At Fleet Moss I was feeling distinctly ropey. I had a cup of tea and some food - I don't remember what, something from my bag - and set off after 20 mins to get the road leg done. I was very sore and struggling to make any pace on the road, in huge contrast to last year when I ran fast all the way down to Yockenthwaite. I managed to run most of the way though, then got onto the Dales Way to Yockenthwaite and up to the turning point on the track.

I later worked out that although the cramp had given me problems to this point, I was remarkably close to last years time. I reached Yockenthwaite in 11:04 in 2022, against 11:08 this year.

Climbing up to the turning point I checked my height against my planned leg start, and climbed right up to the flat spot. From there it was an easy cross country leg to the gate, where I met a guy called Keith who joined me for the next leg across to the CP. We aimed just below the CP on the wall - about 2 contours, and pretty much landed where we wanted to be. We chatted with the marshals for a bit then Keith took off and I followed rather slower towards Hell Gap.

Lights and Fleetwood Mac greeted me as I arrived at Hell Gap and Christopher Street's off roader. The music gave me a bit of a boost, although as it faded behind me I heard the curlews calling and that was absolutely joyful. I could feel my mood imploding and knew I'd messed up food badly.

The crew at Cray are used to wiped out people staggering off the moor. They wrapped me in a blanket and gave me a cup of tea, and kept checking on me to make sure I really wasn't hypothermic. I was clear enough to be able to reassure them that I was just hypoglycemic and knew how to manage it. After an hour spent wrapped in a sleeping bag, drinking tea and eating malt loaf I felt well enough to get to Park Rash, although at that point I wasn't too sanguine about finishing completely. The first aiders and crew were fantastic, very careful but ever so helpful and kind. Just as I was about to leave (wearing 2 primalofts, a waterproof and my winter hat) I checked the tracker and discovered Claire was practically there. In fact just as I checked she arrived and rushed over.

We talked things over. She'd had some nav issues in the clag and felt a bit nervous about the night section. I wasn't able to move any faster than her, so we decided to finish the event together. Jackie and Phil arrived while we were sorting out, and moved on almost immediately.

Claire and I headed out into the now quite thick fog, crossed the road and headed up toward Buckden Pike. I opted to handrail the big reentrant in the clag, although I'd forgotten that we needed to go through the first wall we met, so we had a brief excursion to the right until I looked closely at the map. Lesson for next time: write down the heights of stopping features on climbs!

We plodded up to the top of the Pike, clipped and got on towards the fox. I popped over to the monument and asked the fox to keep an eye out for us for the rest of the night, then we puzzled over some poles stuck in the mud by the path for a while and shouted into the fog before following the wall down.

The next leg is one of the trickier ones, but I know the area pretty well now and had prepped reasonably (although I think I'm going to recce a couple of other lines before next year). We followed the path down to the track towards Buckden, then turned off onto the path towards the old mining tips. I took a careful note of our height to make sure we didn't drop and that helped us to stay on the path. We hit the big reentrant below the tip (which looks deceptively small on the map) where we found Jackie and Phil reorienting themselves. They climbed up to meet us and we climbed another 5 metres or so to cross above the reentrant and get back on the path.

At some point between here and Top Mere CP I slipped on a wet rock which really, really hurt. A catalogue of swear words and dragged myself to my feet, and kept on going.

We clipped at Top Mere and headed on up to Park Rash as the Scarfes drew ahead. At Park Rash I badly needed another rest, so we stopped for half an hour and I had some tea and more malt loaf. Eventually I felt up to carrying on and we waded through the bogs up to the top of Great Whernside. Clipped at Great Whernside and got onto the trod towards Green Hill.

We followed the trod right into the wall corner rather than cutting the corner, to be certain we were in the right place, then handrailed the fence down to the bogs at the bottom. Following the trod out away from the fence to avoid the big meres that mark the fence corner, we picked our way across to the boulder field and down to the wall. It was starting to feel like the end wasn't so far away, although it was still a fair trek.

Capplestone Gate, a clip, and on through the broken wall, and on to the clear trod nearby. This time I knew where I was, although the fact that the gate is impossible to open foxed me again. We clambered over and walked up the track until we reached the beacons. From there it was field paths clearly marked all the way to Yarnbury.

At Yarnbury I sat down for ten minutes and ate a couple of bourbon biscuits. This was a calculated risk - I needed fast energy but I knew it would hurt. It did. We got about a hundred metres beyond the CP and I started to get stomach cramps. Thankfully it was nothing more than moderate cramps and I could carry on, bent forward slightly.

We passed a guy who was clearly absolutely exhausted, but still moving. He was very cheerful and after we'd made sure he was properly lucid we got on down the road.

The curlews and lapwings were singing on either side of us now, and these changed to hedgerow birds as we neared Grassington. The sky was starting to lighten as we reached the town and walked into the school. 

A hot shower and a fry up improved things considerably, and we were ferried right back to our van by a kind bus driver. We slept from 8 until 12, then a bit more, and finally got up and headed into Grassington for a coffee and more food.

We finished around 20:48 in the end. A very respectable time given the 2 hours I'd spent managing my blood sugar in CPs and the fact that my legs had been cramped up since Great Coum. We'd had the opportunity to hear a wonderful dawn chorus and we'd spent a good chunk of the event together. The Fellsman was pretty kind to us this year.

Kit:

• Raidlight performer long sleeved top
• OMM 1.0 flash tights
• thin Drymax socks
• Altra Superior (the 'altrananas')
• Montane cap
• Primaloft buff
• Couple of other buffs
• Montane Ember insulating layer
• Inov8 Insulating layer
• Columbia waterproof (ultralightweight white one)
• Evadict waterproof trousers
• Montane windproof
• UD Fastpack 20
• Rab powerstretch gloves
• Buffalo mittens
• Montane Prism hat
• Silva Trail SR headtorch
• Zebralight H60w backup torch
• SOL survival bag
• First aid kit + gaffa tape & penknife
• maps: Harvey Fellsman map, plus printed OS 1:25 on waterproof paper, annotated
• Silva Ranger compass
• spare socks
• glasses (just in case)
• cheese emergency food
• spork
• Whitefurze screw top mug
• ...there may be other things...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Food:

• 6* cheese pittas (ate 3 or 4?)
• 3* quorn sausage rolls (ate 2)
• cheese (ate most of it)
• malt loaf (350g, ate all of it)
• quorn cocktail sausages, didn't eat
• cheese and onion roll at Dent

Lessons learned:

• I've got out of the habit of carrying peanut butter on races. It's messy and a bit fiddly. It's also guaranteed to work for me. Next year: peanut butter, more malt loaf, fewer cheese pittas. Generally try to aim for some variety instead of trying to simplify things too much.
• Read ALL the Points to Observe, and mark them on the map
• Mark important heights on the map.
• The Fastpack 20 rucksack was far better than the 15. In fact the whole event was like an Ultimate Direction fan club meet, there were hundreds of Fastpacks of varying sizes and colours.
• 2 thin primalofts gave me just what I needed when it went a bit wrong.
• When closing one eye to squint at the map, close the one with the DISTANCE contact lens in!
• Opentracking trackers fit really neatly in the chest pocket of a Fastpack20
• Fellsman tallies are awkward to get at in the side pocket
• So are pittas
• Do not, under any circumstances, forget to plan what times to eat

Conclusion

Although if I'd managed food better I'd have moved faster, I was still struggling with cramp. The outcome was good despite the mistake - walking in was painful and slow and we didn't always enjoy it much, but the last walk in with the birdsong was worth it.

The Fellsman always comes with lessons.