Speyside 100

 After Claire's fantastic run in the EBB last year she was keen to follow up with this year's LDWA 100. I didn't manage to do a hundred last year so I was keen too, so we got our entry in straight away. Like many others we were delighted with the idea of a route in the Scottish mountains.

Claire has, as I've noted elsewhere lately, been struggling with a seemingly endless series of minor injuries that are mostly attributable to menopause symptoms. Many women encountering the obstacles to running that the menopause brings simply give up, but Claire is a bit more stubborn than that. Nevertheless, we went into the Speyside with Claire on less than sparkling running form.

In the run up, there was a lot of worry about ticks and midges. The tick worries in particular hadn't really been talked about much before, and the recommendation to wear long trousers was a bit of a concern for us. We ended up tinkering with various different options, settling on very lightweight Patagonia jogging bottoms that I've worn for a couple of years as a nicer alternative to Ron Hills.

Driving up from Calderdale to Inverness on the friday took us about 7 hours, from a gentle 10am start. We got some fish and chips in the village chippy at Milton and took them back to our b&b,

Friday night we didn't sleep well. Claire barely slept at all. I got some, but rather restless. This wasn't an ideal start, but there wasn't much we could do about it.

We got up to Boat of Garten around 10.30, had a bit of trouble finding the HQ as there was no event signage but eventually located the car park and got parked up. Shifted food from the van fridge into our packs and breakfast bags, slathered ourselves in skinsosoft, smidge and P20 and went in to registration.

Registration only took a few minutes, the 12 o'clock start was extremely quiet, and we sat around drinking tea and chatting to Claire's friend Garth who was also on the 12 start. Just before we set off I spotted Matt Hutchinson. We didn't see Matt again until Recletich.

A few bits of event briefing, then the piper played and we headed out into the woods. Claire and I were near the back with Simon Pipe, who was talking to the photographer. Once people started to spread out we started running a bit and left Simon behind.

The first section through the ancient woodland to Nethy Bridge was absolutely delightful. It was pleasantly warm and there was birdsong all around us. We were deliberately holding the speed down to start gently and enjoying a comfortable pace.

At Nethy Bridge we grabbed a cup of tea and kept going, onto the start of the dismantled railway. At this point that didn't seem ominous. It was a rather pleasant path, which we were sharing with the runners, walkers and cyclists of the Cairngorm to Coast charity event. Lots of cheerful walkers and cyclists came past along this stretch, and we were soon at Grantown on Spey. It was a bit of a trek through the village to the CP, where we picked up more tea and some snacks.

Back out of Grantown on Spey and up to the Dava way, which was... disused railway. We followed this for a few km before dropping down through the woods to a girder bridge and a road section to Cromdale.

At Cromdale we bumped into Kieran and Dianne, who had been on the 10am start. We chatted for a while as we ate and drank tea, lurking around the trays to wait for sandwiches coming out of the kitchen.

We got going again shortly, and headed out along the road towards the hills of Cromdale. We were passing lots of 10am starters from here on, particularly once we left the road and started on the steep climb.

Looking back down from the Cromdale climb

Reaching the col we were directed through a gate and down through some bog to the other side of the col. The bog wasn't too bad, but my feet got fairly wet. We knew this was coming though, and it was warm so my feet dried out pretty quick.

The drop down the other side was a rocky path - always a bit hard on wet feet, then we were down at Ballacorach CP, which was an outdoor CP in a car park. No tea here - they were running short of water and asking people to only take what they needed. I think they were probably overwhelmed by numbers, you'd expect the crowd to have thinned out by this point, but if a lot had started on the 10am that should have been on the 12 that might have caused a big rush.

I munched my way through some falafels while Claire went to the loos, then we carried on up the road to the next climb through the woods. This was very pleasant, and led onto a flattish track which then became a forestry track down to the road. We rejoined the road at Glenconglas then left it again to drop down to a river crossing and back up a path into Tomintoul.

Approaching the summit of Dave

At Tomintoul we had kit check bingo. A ping pong ball marked "head torch" came out of the box and we dug in packs to locate them.

Tim Rollett was on clipper duty just inside the door and greeted us cheerfully. We sat for a little while here changing socks and eating pizza. I had some custard too, which was delicious. We took a 2nd (3rd?) cup of tea with us and set out again, cheering on the first 2pm starter (and eventually first home in roughly 21 hours).

Backtracking across the river and climbing back up to the road, we were passed by Phil Withnall & Claire Nance coming the other way. They'd set out on the 2pm start and were making strong progress.

Once we reached the road we backtracked to the turn off and started up onto Carn Daimh (pronounced "Carn Day-iv," although the dipthong just sounds like "Dave"). This was a lovely section, mostly dry, and the sun was setting as we reached the summit. We dropped down the other side on a rocky path that flattened out and I stopped to put on a warmer layer and eat a food bar.

After a little while on the flat we dropped onto a road and passed through the wonderful smells of the Glenlivet distillery, before reaching the CP by the river. Garth was here just ahead of us, and we chatted over some food and a cup of tea. I had some really rather nice soup (made up from powder I think, but still tasty) with no ill effects, then off we went with our cups of tea into the night.

This was the start of a long, long road section. Apart from a short stretch of forestry track it was road all the way to the next CP. While it was hard on the feet, it did give us chance to crack along and that we did, pulling our average pace down quite a bit.

At Recletich the CP was in a barn in the farm yard. Something had clearly gone wrong here. The volunteers were really subdued, there was little in the way of food, no hot drinks and a very strange smell. After the enthusiastic billing the "continental breakfast" had in the run up, there was clearly something awry. We had yoghurts and questionable croissants and chatted with Matt Hutchinson who was waiting for transport. He'd got badly cold and was pacing back and forth to warm up. It was his first ever DNF in the many events he's done, and I really wanted to say something helpful but wasn't sure what.

We didn't hang about too long and made tracks for Dufftown.

The road section here led up to a minor side road, that then became a forestry track. Lots of camper vans parked at the side of the road must have wondered what was going on as a stream of head torches passed them.

In the woods we climbed up the track, then took a wrong turn at an ambiguous point. I was keeping an eye on the GPS and spotted it immediately. We called back the people in front (I think it was Phil and Claire) and got back on the right track, where Phil and Claire passed us within a few minutes, moving strongly on the muddy path.

An interminable (but actually only a few km) brash and rock strewn track led us down into Dufftown. The sky was starting to lighten as we arrived and were directed to the back of the building. The constraints of this building made things rather difficult. We went into a room and picked up our breakfast bags. There was some space to sit, and a couple of first aiders helping with foot care, but not much room for other things that we needed to do at breakfast (like changing clothes). The changing room was tiny and had a sign saying "one person only", so I changed and brushed my teeth as quick as I could.

A castle. Near Dufftown. We may have mentioned Homer Simpson

We sat while one of the first aiders padded a blister that had come up on Claire's heel. There were footbaths going on, which sounded like they were going well but I'd been concentrating on keeping my feet dry, so this didn't really appeal. I did have a chuckle at the footbath containers though - cat litter trays. Very practical.

We handed in our breakfast bags and returned to the front of the building to get some food. This didn't go well.

I went to the kiosk and got teas for us, then we had some cornflakes (that was a mistake for me I think). People were being asked what they wanted and brought food but no one was asking us. It seemed like they were too short handed to be able to track what was going on, and we went quite a long time before we could get anyone to help us.

We finally managed to attract the attention of one of the volunteers who was dealing with food. Several groups had arrived, eaten and left while this was going on. I had a few bits of fried breakfast but, tired and hypoglycaemic, didn't really communicate what I wanted very well so didn't end up eating much. Meanwhile the cornflakes hit my system and my blood sugar flopped. I curled up on the floor for a few minutes until I felt capable of moving, then stubbornly got going. I just wanted out of there. 

Once we got clear of Dufftown I started to perk up, and at first the flat disused railway seemed like an opportunity. We ran quite a bit and made up quite a lot of time, but Claire's feet and knees were starting to be a problem. 

Our original plan had been to stick together for at least a couple of hours to keep me from rushing off like an idiot and burning out. Claire wasn't expecting to be as fast as me, and I had in my mind to at least get under 30 hours. As it turned out Claire moved faster than expected for the first half, I wouldn't have gone any quicker and by the time we were well into the night I'd decided I was enjoying myself too much to want to go off on my own. We work together well on long events - we always have something to talk about and silly jokes to share, and can go long periods just listening to the birds without saying anything much. Claire wasn't feeling so great by this point and I'd decided during the night that this was an event to share anyway, so we stuck together.

By the time we reached Charlestown of Abelour we were starting to really dislike the disused railway. This was a shame, because we had about another 50km of it. Charlestown CP was a welcome break, we had a cup of tea and some crisps and nibbles.

Back onto the infernal disused railway for another 10km. We were at that stage where people settle into a pace, and although we were still overtaking a few we were seeing the same people more often (and seeing Garth at almost every CP).

At Advie we left the disused railway and climbed up to the CP. A very quick kit check - reflectives for Claire (the UD FastPacks are VERY reflective) and "water container" for me, which was right next to my jaw.

This was a particularly lovely checkpoint - we were made very welcome, fed and congratulated and left feeling very much better.

Leaving Advie in the rain

The rain started just as we left, but we were into the woods so it didn't matter too much. The rocky forestry path was uncomfortable going though, and hard on Claire's blisters.

From Knockfrink to Milton was the notorious section with chain gates, narrow barbed wire paths and rocks underfoot. Everyone slowed down here and it got bottlenecked. It all seemed a bit unnecessary and left me wondering whether the landowner had just been a bit of an arse about the public footpath.

We were a bit confused at Cromdale as we'd got the location mixed up in our minds with Grantown. We found the CP OK though. Claire was really struggling mentally and physically. One of the volunteers gave her a very helpful pep talk, and I taped up her blisters.

And on we went to Grantown on Spey. Fish finger sandwiches are a real treat, and made me very happy. As we left the CP we encountered an elderly couple on the pavement:

"you go ahead, you'll be much quicker than us"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that"

"Oh, have you been on a long walk?"

"...........yes. Yes we have."

Once we got into the woods Claire really needed something done with the blisters on the balls of her feet, so out came the gaffa tape again. This done, we were able to crack on to Nethy Bridge fairly well on the last section of disused railway, where we were greeted by Merrian & Dave (but no Jack sadly). I munched on some malt loaf, we picked up a cup of tea, and off we went.

Jack Cooper's handiwork at Ne(ss)thy Bridge

10km to go, and arguably the nicest 10km of the route, albeit we'd already done it once.

We walked quickly through the woods listening to the birdsong (so quickly in fact that we were doing sub 8 min/km). Sleep deprivation and exhaustion was starting to do the inevitable and Claire was seeing beavers in the tree stumps. I wasn't quite so tired but did have the distorting effects of my sports glasses, and I was starting to catch the odd green sheep in the corner of my eye which turned into a mossy hummock when I looked at it straight on. At a glance the wings of the eagle on the campsite sign looked more like rabbit ears which started me rambling about fibreglass animals. We definitely needed to stop.

Soon we were passing the Boat hotel and the GPS was telling us there was only 600m to go. It was a very long 600m, but finally we were welcomed into the finish with the ringing of the bell.

Once through the door we encountered a problem. I surrendered my tracker and dug the timing chip out of my bag. The volunteer who collected them was asking Claire for her red timing chip, and she was completely flummoxed and upset because she had no idea what he was on about. It transpired there had been a problem at registration and not everyone had been issued a timing chip, but seemingly no one had told the guy who was pressing Claire to find hers. We had kit out on the floor trying to find it, every dry bag emptied, and no sign. Eventually someone conceded that perhaps she'd never been issued one and we were able to repack and take a breath.

At this point I needed to eat. I went into the food hall to be told that the haggis wasn't currently available, and all there was available was pasta and ratatouille. Obviously pasta makes me very ill, so that wasn't an option, and ratatouille with or without cheese really didn't sound appealing. Just then I started to feel faint and once again had to lie down. I found a corner and hit the deck, while someone went and found Claire to let her know where I was.

This passed within a few minutes as it always does, and we were feeling a bit jaded and overwhelmed by the noise of the finish, so just picked up our badges and certificates and headed for the hotel, via the camper to pick up a change of clothes (and a few midge bites - the car park field was the midgiest place on the entire event).

We had lots of savoury snacks in the van fridge, so we gathered them up and limped our way 600m to the hotel. Claire was really struggling so I went on ahead to check us in. By the time she arrived we were able to go straight up (2 flights of stairs!) to our room where we had a few nibbles and a cup of tea, a quick shower, then fell asleep for 9 hours.

Kit Hacking - The Ommtanelight Frankenblazer 8 mk2

I prefer a rucksack to a race vest, particularly when training. A rucksack has a little more structure, but occupies a bit less space on your body. They're easy to take on and off to grab things out of the main compartment out on the hill, and are more practical to leave half/fully packed in the kitchen ready to head out the door.

These are two of my favourites. I've had the one on the right a few years. It's a Montane Trailblazer 8l. I wasn't sure about it to start with, it's not as minimal as I'd expect for a tiny running bag. It's an incredibly stable fit though, it sits squarely on my back and doesn't slide around thanks to the very clever double shoulder straps.

There are a few things I like less about it. I love the huge stretchy pockets you get on the back of UD Fastpacks (like the one on the left) for shoving food, waterproofs and hill litter in. The thing that I really find a pain on the Montane bag is the lack of a water bottle pocket on the front.

I've always just squeezed a 500ml bottle into the right hand zip pocket and left it slightly open, which bugs me. The latest version of the Trailblazer has a bit of fabric sewn into the zip pocket to make it a bit better to put a bottle in, but it still doesn't look that practical.

Partly inspired by my recent kit repair successes, and by something on Joe Faulkners website about customising kit, I decided to do something about it. So I carefully snipped off one of the zip pockets (recycling the zip puller for another project), and stitched on an "Omm-e-gami" pocket I had kicking around in the kit box. These are supposedly universal pockets that velcro onto rucksack shoulder straps, but they're no use for water bottles - the velcro comes loose and they fall off.

The resulting hybrid (which already had an old raidlight pouch sewn onto the shoulder strap to hold my keys) looks like this. So far the OMM pocket has worked fine for a 500ml UD water bottle.

Next step is to do something about mesh pockets on the back. I plan to remove the bungee and webbing, stitch the back up then put a big mesh pocket over the top. Then I might start hacking around the UD Blazek 10 that is also "almost but not quite just right".

Harvey Howgill Tops

 I've had this on my list for a long while. I really like the Howgills, and the HHT is a practical sized round to complete without too much preparation (I'm really bad at preparation). With a gap between the Fellsman and the Speyside 100 of about 5 weeks there was some space available.

We drove up on the Friday night, getting to the Cross Keys about 10pm. The picnic area further down the road that I stayed at last time has been blocked off, so we ended up in a layby close to the Cross Keys itself. Late Friday night was the really vivid aurora display, so we were out until about 12.30 with cameras.

6.30 Saturday I got up, drove down to the Cross Keys and got us parked up. Made some tea while I got ready to head out. My bag was packed, I just needed to have some breakfast and get going. Claire hadn't made any firm plans, but was tentatively heading out the other side onto Baugh Fell (plus Wild Boar Fell, Swarth Fell & Bluecaster as it turned out).

A lot drier than last time!

I set off around 7:40, heading up towards Narthwaite. I wasn't sure what to do about the river crossing here but as it turned out it was almost dry (the last two times I've been here it was ankle deep all the way across). Passed through the farm and out along the track towards Mountain View, turning right just after the old farmhouse to head straight up the fell.

From Harter Fell towards the main range

I was on top of Wandale pretty quickly. It was already starting to get warm and very clear. I paused to sort out shoe laces before heading down the other side to Adamthwaite.

Taking my cues from Tony's simple route diagram on the gofar website I went up the road from Adamthwaite instead of doubling back as I did last time, then got onto the fell at the bridleway. Straight up the gill to the top, and then down to the road crossing below Knott, filling my bottle at the stream.

Green Bell

Knott is straightforward enough, cross the stream near the road then head straight up, then onto the trod towards Green Bell, veering off briefly to reach the summit of Knoutberry Haw. Green Bell was the first trig point of the day, and I still hadn't seen any other people.

A little out and back to Grere Fell, then back up onto the rather featureless summit of Stockless. From Stockless it's another short out and back to Hooksey before Randygill. I encountered a dog walker on the out and back, and warned her that I'd be coming back that way shortly in case she

Brunch on Yarlside

was alarmed by my apparently weird behaviour. After Randygill the route then leads over a slightly boggy col and the smaller prominence of Kensgriff onto the steep climb up Yarlside.

I don't like the scree up this side of Yarlside, so I veered right off the obvious trod at the bottom and climbed up a steep but pleasant grassy strip between two minor reentrants onto the summit. Perching on the cairn I dug in my bag for the Jamaican pattie I'd put in my bag. I texted Claire, who was on her way up Wild Boar Fell, then dropped fairly sharply left down the side of Yarlside in the direction of Rams Gill. I aimed for the confluence of the two streams to fill my bottle from the smaller, steeper stream. I had a good drink while I was there, then climbed up onto the ridge to follow the clear track to Hazelgill Knott. 

Rubbly scree on Langdale Knott

From Hazelgill Knott the route continues on the track to West Fell. There was a group of people ahead of me as I faffed around trying to find the exact spot height location of West Fell, but I never got close to them. Then I dropped off on the tongue towards Langdale Knott. From Langdale Knott it's quite a steep drop, and most of the slope is covered in rubbly scree. It was this that put me off on my recce in October 22 (as well as the weather). Contouring north a bit, I found a stretch without much scree (although the grass was a bit deep and tussocky) and came down into the valley, noticing what looked like hut circles in the valley as I descended.

The river here was too wide to jump, and as I stood on a rock my foot slipped into the water. It was a very hot day though, so the cold wasn't a bother. I refilled my bottle from a side stream and headed up the next slope.

It's a steady climb up Middleton to the 2nd trig of the day, and I paused a minute to eat some malt loaf and cheese, then continued up Simonseat.

Docker Knott is a funny summit. When you approach on the trod from the Fell Head plateau there's a sudden very steep kick of about 10m. From this side that slope was clearly visible against the sky behind.

From Docker Knott the route calls for a visit to an 'unnamed spot height'. The OS map calls it "Hand Lake", and it's a not-very-distinguishable grassy summit. On then towards Rispa Pike and the little wind shelter, pausing again to fill my bottle. The minor stream I was aiming for wasn't running, so I filled up from the main stream which was flowing OK.

Rather melty cheese and malt loaf in the wind shelter, then something new. I'd never been to Archer Hill before. It's quite a nice little prominence over a small tarn. The next section was tussocky and boggy to Hare Shaw, and features something unusual in the Howgills - a fence. I hopped over the fence on each side of the enclosure and wandered around until my altimeter read something like the highest point, then headed on towards Blease Fell. From Blease Fell there's a clear trod that goes off slightly east to avoid the top of the gill, then zigzags a little to avoid bog but ultimately leads to the top of Uldale. More cheese and malt loaf on the top, then on towards Black Force.

Last time we were here we opted to drop all the way to the valley bottom and back up onto Ling Haw. That's a lot of height loss, although it's very direct, and the climb up the other side is pretty tough. Quicker to drop to the stream above Black Force and contour round on the path beyond. My planned bearing would have led to a section of stream that was in a deep gully, so I contoured round to the left to make the crossing. I drank lots of water at the stream crossing, then got onto the path.

Approaching Black Force

Here I met some more people. First of all a young woman who seemed quite nervous of the
drop (it is quite an exposed path above a big drop). Then a couple more young women 50m or so behind (I assume they were a group) who were much more relaxed.

At Ling Haw I cut across the col to the summit, then returned to the main path which drops quite sharply around the edge of Fell Head to Brown Moor.

From Brown Moor it's a long hard climb up to Fell Head. From a distance it looked like there was a slightly zigzag trod, but it turned out to be a series of interconnected sheep trods. Some of these were actually useful, but it was still a tough climb. At the top the double summit foxed me once again, and I had to recheck the map to work out what was going on.

Looking back at the Tebay Fells from Brown Moor

There were a couple of people ahead of me at this point (looked like young people), who I eventually passed between Bush Howe and White Fell Head. I could see people on the Calf ahead of me as I searched around for the spot height on White Fell. There was a little cairn by the trod, which I took to be the summit, and passed on towards the Calf. I expected the people there to have gone, but there were a couple of young lads sat on the base of the trig and a chap in a vivid orange jacket taking a selfie (he arrived back at the Cross Keys a little after me as it happened). One of the young guys asked which way I'd come - I gestured vaguely in a loop and said "sort of that way", then wished them a good day and headed off along the main track towards Bram Rigg. After Bram Rigg I veered off fairly early across rough ground to the top of Great Dummocks - another new one for me, then back to the cairn on Calders and down the horrible gravelly track. Near the bottom I met a mountain biker who asked where I was heading and where I'd been, and was a bit startled when he realised I'd done the whole range.

I got a bit confused before Arant Haw until I looked at the altimeter and realised the spur to my right was much too early and I needed to keep going to reach the substantial cairn. I'd last been up here in thick fog in 22 and struggled to find the summit. This time it was clearly visible, and covered in flags for the Junior Champs fell race the next day (or the adult friendly associated with it).

Down onto the Nab then the long slog back up. Contouring round towards Winder Fell I found myself approaching a very still young lamb. There were a few flies around, and I thought for a second the poor little thing had died - I've seen so many dead lambs and ewes this year. When I was almost upon it, it suddenly looked up and ran away bleating, so while I was sorry to startle it, I was glad it was OK.

Winder Fell

Winder Fell was also covered in flags. More people - dog walkers this time. Claire had texted worried about where I was. We were trialling a cheap Sinotrack GPS tracker, and it was showing me some distance back. I reassured her that I was OK and nearing the last couple of summits. More malt loaf and cheese, and a really nice protein bar. Back down the track to Crook, a gnarly looking little hill with a huge cairn overlooking Sedbergh, which was also flagged for the fell race route.

Obvious path is obvious

From here I contoured round to the weir further up the gill, only to find there was a clear track I could have followed if I'd descended a bit more. A lesson for me there.

Up Sickers Fell, then down onto Knott. The light was starting to fade just a little, and it was becoming a rather nice evening. Unfortunately the route from Knott onto the fell side path for the run in is a pain in the arse.

Final summit - Knott, looking back to Sickers

Instead of the direct descent and climb I tried going further up the gill roughly where the streams meet (and the path shows a footbridge that was nowhere to be seen). Still not great, rocky and with the bracken starting to grow, but much nicer than last time. I think just a tiny bit further up the gill, then climb another 20m higher up the opposite slope before contouring round will avoid the gorse.

Green Bell on a fresh warm morning

Speaking of gorse, once I was happy that I'd gone far enough on the clear trod round the corner, I dropped straight down a clear ride through the gorse onto the main path. After that it was a pleasant steady run in to the very end. I was now out of water and starting to get thirsty but not dehydrated, and still running OK. Claire met me near the footbridge at the bottom of Cautley beck and we ran in together.

Final time was around 12:20 - I'd thought 12 hours was about right, and I'd stopped quite a bit to enjoy the view, eat, and around ten minutes chatting with the biker on Calders. It was a fantastic day out and one I'd cheerfully repeat. One to share with Claire perhaps when her various niggles have eased - the constant climbing is great fun and excellent training. 

A cup of tea in the van, then home by about 10pm.

Kit List

• UD Blazek pack
• Raidlight T shirt
• Decathlon shorts (butchered to remove the horrible built in liner shorts)
• Columbia outdry ultralite waterproof
• Decathlon waterproof trousers
• Printed map with route shown
• Harvey Howgill Fells map (out of print, got a couple from ebay)
• Suunto A30 compass
• Salomon water filter & 2 Hydrapak bottles
• Inov8 X talon ultra 260 shoes
• Black Diamond Talus gaiters
• Montane windproof gilet
• Sinotrack GPS/GSM tracker
• Drymax ultra light crew length socks

Food

• Large malt loaf
• 5 slices of edam cheese
• Nice salted caramel nut bar
• a LOT of water, mostly stream water through the filter.

Repairing Kit - a zip fix

At Christmas Claire bought me this little book, sort of jokingly as we fix just about everything with gaffer tape. It turned out to be a rather handy guide to a whole range of repairs that you can do to prolong the life of your kit.

I've had this Montane lightweight windproof for over a decade. It was an impulse buy when I was trying to travel lightweight, and although it's very thin and doesn't provide much warmth I ended up using it an awful lot for running. Having torso covered on a windy day provides me with just the right level of warmth on a breezy day, especially in the Spring and Autumn.

So I was quite put out a couple of weeks ago when the zip puller snapped. Looking closely the hinge where the tab joined the puller was intact, but the tab itself had corroded away. So we found a suitable sized steel ring from Claire's jewellery making kit and poked that through. I soldered it shut, pulled on it and... the hinge snapped.

Bugger.

It sat around waiting for me to come up with another bright idea for a couple of weeks. I had a look online and found that a replacement was quite costly (85 quid). There were Alpkit and Ron Hill alternatives around half the price but both were quite heavy in comparison. Zip pullers were only a couple of quid from ebay but I wasn't that confident about removing the stopper and didn't want to commit to a job that I'd never get around to.

Meanwhile, I've been modifying a Montane rucksack to suit my purposes better, which involved removing the zip pocket from one of the shoulder straps and replacing it with an OMM pocket. As a result I had a small size C zip kicking about in the kitchen.

Whilst waiting for a cup of tea to brew I carefully removed the zip stopper (a little plastic grommet) from the top of the zip (on the side where the puller was) with a very sharp pocket knife. Taking the puller from the spare zip (by just cutting the zip open and sliding it off) I slid it onto the windproof zip. Tested it and hey presto, worked a treat.

A few stitches in the zip in place of the stopper I cut out and it works fine. Good as ever, saving me quite a bit of cash, and avoiding a big lump of polyester in the landfill.

In the process I learned that zips come in specific (standard) sizes, the bits are interchangeable, and 'stoppers' can be removed/replaced (just with a few stitches of cotton is easiest).

Fellsman 24 - another fantastic Fellsman

This year was the 60th Fellsman. After almost being called off last year due to low numbers, it was a sell out event with 360 (of a 500 limit) showing up on the day. There were a lot of first timers, but a lot of veterans too.

We drove up on the friday night for registration and parked up in the quarry. It was obvious that there were more people just by the volume of vehicles in the car park, but even more obvious when we reached the school at around 8:15 to find the registration/kit check queue extending all the way out onto the street. The queue moved fairly quickly though, and we passed the time chatting with a chap I'd met last year while warming up at Cray.

Once registration was done we queued a short time for kit check. Karen popped up to say hi, pleased at having sold some mats and dog toys in aid of Mountain Rescue. Kit check was really well organised, they'd anticipated the increased volume and got lots more people at the desks than usual. The usual problem with people dropping things and losing them though - the advice to use a shopping bag to carry your kit is good, and the bigger the bag the better. When getting everything out from a race bag people inevitably drop things on the floor. I have a huge 150 litre bedding bag - as things come out to be checked, they can just be dropped back in to pack later.

Giant kit check bag

Once we were done we dropped our finish bags at the sports hall and headed back to the quarry. We were back in the van at 10pm for some wine & cheese and an early night, in bed by about 11.

....

4:45am. It never gets any easier. The stove in my van is horribly slow, so although we managed to scarf down some pain au chocolat we didn't have any tea before it was time to catch the shuttle to the school. Boo.

Down at the school we saw a few people we knew: we'd seen Ros spectating last year, and this year she'd entered. Dom Camponi was there, and we talked briefly about the upcoming Stanza Stones. 

We had time for a cup of tea, then on the bus at 6am to Ingleton. While queuing to pick up trackers we met someone who works with Daz Graham, who told us he'd dropped out the night before. That added a bit of weight to my bag as I was carrying a hand held GPS for him.

More tea, sorting out race numbers etc, then out onto the field for the start. The crowd was noticeably bigger than recent years, and that probably contributed to the 25 minute delay in starting.

Once we got going I kept my speed down. I'd gone out a bit too quick last year and got caught up with a crowd. This year I took it easier and Claire caught me up fairly soon. I spotted Adrian Gosling in passing and said hi.  I didn't bother with the Turf zone on Ingleborough, and carried on down into the valley. It was much nicer being further back in the pack without the crowding down the hill into Humphrey Bottom. On to the checkpoint, and I ate a pitta pizza on the way up the lane towards Whernside, while chatting with a runner from the IoM who I saw on and off to the finish.

I saw Bill Johnson briefly as I reached the summit path on Whernside, but no sign of Karen so I wasn't overcooking it. Up to the trig, clip, and down to the stile. Over the stile feeling fairly positive and down through the tussocks into Kingsdale. Picked up some fluo yellow gloves from the path and just on a hunch asked someone I was overtaking if they were hers. They were, which was good (especially if she didn't have spares!).

At the checkpoint at Kingsdale I grabbed a couple of jaffa cakes and carried on up the hill. I was taking bites out of the 2nd pitta pizza from time to time to keep a bit of food going on, but should probably have been eating more.

Up to the top of Gragareth, noticing an unexpected pickaxe left on a crag near the top. Clipped at the CP, and back to the wall. This year I opted to stick to the left as per the points to observe (last year I did the first couple of hundred metres on the right), which wasn't too bad except for one large bog. I went in both feet up to the knee, then sat down in wet moss. Took a few moments to drag myself out then plodded on. It was sunny although the wind was cool, so I was drying out OK. I had 2 base layers and a windproof on, and although I didn't feel warm I was quite sweaty inside the windproof. Something to improve on there. In the past I've had a windproof gilet which was much better, but the zip failed recently and I haven't replaced it yet. With the big bag on acting like a coat I could probably have got away without the windproof. The general theme during daylight was "fresh and cold on the tops, warm in the valley bottoms". 

At Crag Hill I took a much better line than last year, passing slightly to the right of the big reentrant and joining the trod at the wall. It was boggy all the way down to Flinter Gill CP. On then to Flinter Gill itself, picking my way slowly down the gravel & setts into Dent. Claire told me later there were people going down the path along the field edge to the left, which looks like an OK route but probably violates the "Points to Observe on the route" (hereafter referred to as "PTO"), which tells you to use the "walled track".

Rather than the shortcut to the right, I stuck to the route specified in the PTO and dropped right down into the village, before turning right up to the CP at the campsite run by my home village scout troop. I noticed when I took my pack off to get something out of the back that the straps were white with salt. I have a habit of dressing a bit too warm.

I filled up my water bottle and ate a couple of cheese and onion rolls, then set off walking along the road as I chewed. Once I'd eaten I alternated between steady running on the flat/down and walking the uphills. At the climb up towards Boot of the Wold I caught up with 147 (Gary Bradley) for the first of many times. We chatted a bit as we'd both done the Fellsman multiple times, as well as other races (including the LAW100). He passed me again as I stopped for a pee before crossing the moss between Boot of the Wold and Blea Moor, then I caught up again shortly before the CP.

Coming to the fence on the way down from Blea Moor I stuck a bit closer to the fence before hopping over and cutting down to the air shaft. I'm still not sure about this shortcut - the terrain is rough underfoot so I'm not sure it's better than staying on the clear trod. Better than passing way to the right like I did last year though.

I was feeling a bit tired coming down through the woods, but kept a good pace on the road. Julian Brown overtook me just as we reached the CP at Stonehouse and were directed into kit check.

As directed, I displayed my head torch, waterproof, map & compass and warm layer then went into the food tent where the volunteers were all entertainingly dressed as Alice in Wonderland characters. Not being able to eat pasta, I had a cup of tea and ate my Jamaican pasty and rested for ten minutes or so talking to Julian. Before leaving I swapped my windproof for the waterproof, anticipating that it might be cold on Great Knoutberry.

Fed, I got going up the hill feeling pretty good. I marched at a fair pace up to the Great Knoutberry turn, then on up to the summit. Back down from the CP (NO URINATING!) and just as I was about to reach the Artengill track again I met Claire. She was fighting a range of different pains but still pushing on, we had a hug and she set off for the top. I headed on towards Redshaw. I found a really good trod just beyond the point where the path veers left, and followed it through a gully and along for almost the whole way, turning uphill slightly towards the base of the scar near the end. Turning downhill towards the CP, I found another good trod that paralleled the wall all the way to the gate. I seemed to be the only one using the gate as per the PTO as everyone else was climbing the wall in the corner.

Down to Redshaw and some malt loaf and cheese.  I still hadn't had a cup of tea, but was keeping my pace sensible. A short break in the CP and on towards Snaizeholme. This next section was even boggier than usual and at one point I jumped over a large pool. The far edge broke under my foot and I plunged in up to the thigh. The temperature wasn't too bad at this point though, so it didn't make me uncomfortably cold.

I was feeling pretty much OK on the way up to Snaizeholme, in contrast to last year. A very young volunteer clipped my tally at Snaizeholme and told me I was the lowest number so far. I could see Gary not far ahead of me, and carried on up to the Pennine Bridleway.

Just as I reached the Cam High Road at the corner with the Pennine Way it started to rain quite hard. I was feeling a lot better than at this point last year, and was making OK time along the lane. I zipped up and kept myself cosy and it was all good.

Up Dodd Fell. The climb was a bit slower than I'd been earlier in the day, but I'd eaten what I thought was plenty. Just tiring a little bit. Clipped at the top and headed out into the bog.

I was overtaken by a group of 4 at this point, then caught them up along the wall. They climbed through a broken section of wall which looked well sketchy to me - more stone was sliding out from the breach and worsening it. I opted to go round to the cattle grid to avoid any further damage. As I approached the cattle grid 2 runners came from the right through the cattle grid in the wrong direction and set off along the wall directly towards the CP, a variation on the wrong route I was taken along in 22.

Through the two gates - with beacons on them this year for the walkers later in the evening. I opted to take the track down to the road and climb back up, rather than run across the rough tussock on the top. Claire later told me there was a nice clear trod all the way over (there wasn't last year, but I guess it's been cut by people recceing).

Up to the CP and got a cup of tea to drink while I changed my socks. My feet had been wet for quite a while and fairly cold, and I could feel a wrinkle in my sock under the ball of my foot that was starting to turn into maceration & could cause problems. I was concerned about immersion foot, having had problems in previous races (including last year's Fellsman). Reaching my feet turned out to be tricky, and I had a bit of a battle with cramp while I changed my socks over. Once I was sorted with the socks, I scoffed down some rice pudding and some malt loaf from my bag and got going.

Claire arrived at the field corner just as I left the CP, and we had a quick chat, then I headed down the road. This was the first sign that I was in far better condition than last year, as I was able to run the whole leg to the CP at Deepdale, overtaking several people as I went.

I had a lovely run down the Dales Way to Yockenthwaite farm, although the sips of peanut butter I was taking made me burp a bit and feel nauseous. At the bottom of the climb I stopped and sat on the grass verge to get my torch and hat out. The hat was a bit of a nuisance - it's a Montane Prism hat, very warm but one size "fits" all. It's a bit small for my big head and tends to chafe my ears. It's great as a compact hat for mid-camp, but I don't like wearing it to run. At this point it was about 8.30pm, so we were coming up on 12 hours.

Up the track, which is a nice steep climb, then as the track veers off hard to the left on top of a rise, I took a bearing towards the gate. I climbed a little too high and in the growing gloom struggled to make out the main gate, so ended up going through a gate about 20 vertical metres higher. This was a perfectly OK route (handy to know the alternative, since the main route is quite boggy), and I carried on along the same bearing. This actually translates as heading for the right hand end of the flat spot on the scar ahead, and in the end I climbed to that exact point which put me right on the correct level for the CP, not far ahead. I followed the edge of the scar and was at the CP. As I climbed, a nearby runner told me he thought I was too far left, which was nice of him. They were only slightly behind me at the CP so their line must have been pretty good.

At this point I should have put my primaloft jacket on, but I felt warm enough so just cracked on along the wall to Hell Gap CP in the now pitch dark. I was surprised by head torches rather than a searchlight and no music - the volunteers had walked in this year. They were awfully jolly considering they were standing in a very cold place on a hilltop in the dark!

Dropping down to Cray it got cold. I realised later that this track is a) exposed; b) too rough to run on well in the dark and fog; and c) downhill. So having been nice and warm while I was working hard, I lost a lot of heat very quickly and arrived at Cray rather cold. The CP was really crowded and I ended up sat on a bench barely inside the door, which didn't help at all.

The crew at the CP were all hands dealing with other cold people. Marie (according to her hat) spotted that I wasn't right and shoved me next to the fire with a blanket. This year I only took 20 minutes to warm up rather than the 90 minutes it took last year, but as I got up to leave Claire arrived. We talked briefly and decided that, since we'd been averaging the same speed up to now, we might as well stick together for the rest. By now we were both tired enough to have converged on roughly the same pace.

I checked that I was OK to leave (last year I was told to stay put in no uncertain terms), and we got going. Claire had a good line up Buckden Pike and we were at the top wall in no time, catching my IoM acquaintance as we climbed. 

We made good time up the Pike and ran steadily along the top. Paused to touch the fox, and headed down through the bog. Claire had a rather neat logical process for avoiding the worst of the bog, I just slogged my way down it.

Turning right through the small gate in the wall, we dropped out of the cloud as we approached the Starbotton Moor path and had no difficulties finding it. We followed it without any problems since we know this leg well, and were soon at the CP (which seemed to be further down the path than last year, or  maybe it was just me).

As we approached Park Rash I started to feel wobbly again. 4 hours sleep and 50 miles of running was taking it's toll. We stopped for a few minutes at Park Rash while I ate some chocolate and drank a cup of coffee. This worked miracles (I need to do something about caffeine during races - I drink a lot of tea on a normal day, and not consuming enough caffeine is a problem I've encountered on long drives too).

We waded through the bog and rushes at the bottom of Black Dyke until we found the trod, then climbed up to the stile. This seemed like a particularly long climb. As we contoured round towards the summit of Great Whernside a group that had left Park Rash ahead of us came down to meet us. They were having some nav problems and ended up sticking with us all the way to Capplestone Gate.

At the CP the Felltrack box wasn't working correctly and the marshal wasn't having a great time. He seemed surprised but happy about the flask of hot water I'd brought up from Park Rash CP.

We followed the trod along the top of the ridge, keeping an eye on the compass. The trod trends SSE, then turns south and then SW to follow the fence down. Our companions were occasionally checking their GPS but seemed content with the route we were taking.

At the bottom of Sweet Hill is the worst bog in the whole route. We noted but didn't take the early trod (mistake, but not a costly one) and worked our way to the west to avoid the worst of the groughs, then roughly SW across the sedge to land on the wall. Not the best line I've taken there, but not bad by any means.

Claire and I marched fast along the path to Capplestone Gate, clipped, and headed down to the wall breach. We both stopped to pee after the wall crossing, and our followers passed us, pausing to check with us that the trod directly ahead was the right route. Another group passed us here too, which we later deduced must have contained Ros.

Although we were walking most of this section we were moving pretty quick. Once we got onto the walled track to Yarnbury we started to run a bit more, and after Yarnbury CP we ran the rest of the way down to Threshfield, passing Ros and then our earlier followers near the bottom of the market place. We got into the finish and checked in with Felltrack with a time of 19:27. It was about 4.30am, quite a bit earlier than last year.

I was in better shape than I've ever been in at the end of the Fellsman - testament to taking it a bit easier; eating more and the flexibility I've been gaining in the last few months. Claire had a bit of a sit down while I popped into the kitchen to get us cups of tea. Bob was in the kitchen and said that Karen had had a pretty good run. It later turned out that Bob had done about 40 hours in the kitchen over the weekend, which is an endurance feat in itself!

After a couple of cups of tea and a much appreciated jacket spud, we headed back to the van for some sleep. It was about 6am and Claro Orienteers were just getting ready to set up the course for the northern champs. We crawled into our van bed and slept like logs, waking up at noon as the orienteering was winding down. 

A short drive into Grassington for some lunch, then home to deal with kit & washing, and start plotting next year's Fellsman. Possibly next year we won't decide to walk 120 miles the week before.

Kit List

• UD Fastpack 20
• short sleeved awdis base layer
• long sleeved awdis base layer
• spare long sleeved awdis base layer
• OMM flash tights
• Montane windproof
• Montane Element stretch waterproof - really good choice this. Was concerned about it being lower waterproof rating at 10k, but it was waterproof enough and far more breathable and comfortable than any of the alternatives.
• Montane Prism primaloft jacket - coupled with the waterproof I was very comfortable. Good combination and one I'll use for the Speyside I think.
• Montane Prism hat
• Silva Trail torch
• Zebralight H60 backup light
• primaloft buff
• couple of other buffs
• buffalo mittens
• rab powerstretch gloves
• Inov8 Ultra 260 shoes
• Old Bridgedale hiker socks & spare pair
• Bridgedale liner socks (probably unhelpful)
• Montane Trail gaiters
• Whitefurze screw top plastic mug
• Spork
• Garmin eTrex (unnecessary - Daz was supposed to be using it but didn't turn up)
• SOL survival bag
• foil poncho
• first aid kit
• dry sacks
• Montane coda cap
• 2 * UD body bottle
• phone
• Suunto A30 compass
• Fellsman 24 map
• pre-printed route map
• earplugs (after the perforated eardrum incident in 22)

Food

• Pitta pizzas * 2 (unpleasant once it started to get cold. 4 is too many to carry)
• Malt loaf (large) - ate about half of it
• Peanut butter 100mls - ate about half, useful to keep eating a bit, but it did make me gassy
• cheese - about 50g or so. Delicious
• 2 * cheese and onion rolls at Dent. No problems
• Jamaican pasty (carried, eaten at Stonehouse, no problems and a good boost)
• fig rolls * 5 or so. No problems
• jaffa cakes * 4. No problems
• Malt loaf (2 slices at Redshaw with some cheese)
• rice pudding at Fleet Moss
• soup at Cray
• chocolate and coffee at Park Rash

Lessons learned

• Carry a couple of boil-a-bags or something for rice pudding. Maybe a silicon cup or soft cup
• Route - check the Great Coum and Boot of the Wold routes with Claire / do a recce. Don't bother cutting the corner off Blea Moor, stick to the fence to the stile. Hop over the wall where it's solid (slightly to the right) off Dodd Fell. Look at the Gragareth line - maybe stick to the right of the wall for 100m
• Gaiters were adequate but annoying. I didn't get any gubbins in my shoes, but the hooks to attach to laces are crap, and the gaiters ride up badly.
• Inov8 shoes worked really well, but durability is a problem (as usual with Inov8). They were almost new at the start, and aged badly in the 100km
• I was warm and comfortable right up to Hell Gap, then got cold between there and Cray. That track is so rough and un-runnable (and downhill) that you cool right down. Layer up at Chapel Moor, or Hell Gap at the absolute latest.
• I ate a lot more than last year, but still not enough. The pitta pizzas were more palatable than last year but by the time it got cold they weren't very appealling. 4 is too many. A much wider variety of food needed, and more salt.
• Take a jetboil or something to boil kettle for tea in the morning